Dinosaur Train



Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train is an upcoming preschool television series being produced by The Jim Henson Company. The series is scheduled to debut on PBS Kids in the fall of 2009. Dinosaur Train is designed to help encourage basic scientific thinking and skills as the audience learns about natural science, natural history and paleontology. The computer-animated series is currently in production with 40 half-hour episodes having been ordered.

Created by Craig Bartlett, Dinosaur Train follows the adventures of a young tyrannosaurus-rex and his adoptive family of Pteranodons: "The world of Dinosaur Train is seen through the eyes of Buddy, a preschool-age Tyrannosaurus Rex. Rescued and hatched by a female Pteranodon, Buddy soon realizes that he looks quite different from his siblings. In response to Buddy’s enthusiasm to learn more about himself and other dinosaurs, mom takes her family for adventures on the Dinosaur Train. Kids will get on board with Buddy and his family to meet all kinds of dinosaurs and learn new fascinating facts about these incredible creatures."


 * - Jim Henson Company press release

Craig Bartlett, Brian Henson, Lisa Henson and Halle Stanford are executive producing Dinosaur Train. The Jim Henson Company is co-producing the series with Singapore animation company BIG Communications, along with participation and assistance from the Singapore Media Development Authority; UK production and support is being provided by Ingenious Media.

"Based on input from paleontologists, science educators and early childhood education experts, Dinosaur Train has developed an ambitious and creative curriculum that harnesses children’s enthusiasm for and curiosity about dinosaurs, sparking children’s interest in life science and natural history. PBS KIDS has been an incredible partner with our current series Sid the Science Kid, and our new project Dinosaur Train extends our mutual vision of creating quality, educational preschool programming by encouraging even more young viewers to get excited about science and the role it plays in our lives every day."


 * - Lisa Henson