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(reverting; not true that Muppet Show was aimed at "small children," nor many of the other claims made here; topical subject matter is worth noting, but as written it's awkward and not very coherent)
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:''For the Sesame Street direct-to-DVD movie, see [[Dinosaurs!]]''
 
:''For the Sesame Street direct-to-DVD movie, see [[Dinosaurs!]]''
  +
[[Image:Dinosaurslogo.jpg|frame]]
 
{{tv|first=April 26, [[1991]]|last=July 20, [[1994]]|network=[[ABC]]|seasons=4|episodes=[[:Category:Dinosaurs Episodes|65]]}}
+
{{tv|image=Dinosaurslogo.jpg|first=April 26, [[1991]]|last=July 20, [[1994]]|network=[[ABC]]|seasons=4|episodes=[[:Category:Dinosaurs Episodes|65]]}}
  +
[[Image:Dinosaurs-CoreFamily.jpg|thumb|300px]]
[[Image:Dinocast.jpg‎|frame|The Sinclair family; Charlene, Fran, Baby, Earl, Robbie, and Fran's mother Ethyl]]
+
[[Image:Dinocast.jpg|thumb|300px|The Sinclair family from left to right: Charlene, Fran, Baby, Earl, Robbie, and grandma Ethyl]]
 
[[Image:Insideearl.jpg|thumb|300px|A cutaway showing the animatronics used to move the faces of the characters -- in this case, Earl Sinclair.]]
 
[[Image:Insideearl.jpg|thumb|300px|A cutaway showing the animatronics used to move the faces of the characters -- in this case, Earl Sinclair.]]
 
[[Image:Dino_Sketch.JPG|thumb|300px| Early Sinclair family concept sketch]]
 
[[Image:Dino_Sketch.JPG|thumb|300px| Early Sinclair family concept sketch]]
  +
[[Image:Franbaby.jpg|thumb|300px|Fran with Baby Sinclair.]]
  +
[[Image:Dinosaurs-SinclairChildren.jpg|thumb|300px|The three Sinclair children.]]
  +
[[Image:DinosaursPromo.jpg|thumb|300px]]
   
 
'''''Dinosaurs''''' was a half-hour sitcom which aired on [[ABC]]. The series, conceived just before [[Jim Henson]]'s death, focused on a family of dinosaurs, the Sinclairs, and used ground-breaking full body, animatronic puppets.
 
'''''Dinosaurs''''' was a half-hour sitcom which aired on [[ABC]]. The series, conceived just before [[Jim Henson]]'s death, focused on a family of dinosaurs, the Sinclairs, and used ground-breaking full body, animatronic puppets.
   
The show was a joint venture that merged the talents and resources of [[Michael Jacobs Productions]], [[The Jim Henson Company]] and [[Disney]]'s Touchstone Entertainment. Dinosaurs made use of a system known as animatronics to express and alter the dinosaurs' facial movements, a process developed by [[Brian Henson]] and his team at the [[London]] [[Jim Henson's Creature Shop|Creature Shop]].
+
The show was a joint venture that merged the talents and resources of [[Michael Jacobs|Michael Jacobs Productions]], [[The Jim Henson Company]], and [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]]'s Touchstone Entertainment. Dinosaurs made use of a system known as animatronics to express and alter the dinosaurs' facial movements, a process developed by [[Brian Henson]] and his team at the [[London]] [[Jim Henson's Creature Shop|Creature Shop]].
   
 
The show was an effective parody of human life and the American sitcom. ''Dinosaurs'' was set in the year 60,000,003 BC. Just a million years earlier, the dinosaurs behaved like animals, eating their offspring and living in swamps. But now they had evolved, raising families, living in houses, working, and paying taxes.
 
The show was an effective parody of human life and the American sitcom. ''Dinosaurs'' was set in the year 60,000,003 BC. Just a million years earlier, the dinosaurs behaved like animals, eating their offspring and living in swamps. But now they had evolved, raising families, living in houses, working, and paying taxes.
Line 14: Line 18:
 
[[Earl Sinclair]], a megalosaurus, works for the [[WESAYSO Development Corporation]], under the direction of triceratops [[B.P. Richfield]], leveling forests to make way for housing developments. Earl's wife [[Fran Sinclair|Fran]], an allosaurus, runs the house and family. The Sinclairs have three children: 14-year-old son [[Robbie Sinclair|Robbie]]; 12-year-old daughter [[Charlene Sinclair|Charlene]]; and 1-year-old [[Baby Sinclair]], whose birth is recounted in the pilot.
 
[[Earl Sinclair]], a megalosaurus, works for the [[WESAYSO Development Corporation]], under the direction of triceratops [[B.P. Richfield]], leveling forests to make way for housing developments. Earl's wife [[Fran Sinclair|Fran]], an allosaurus, runs the house and family. The Sinclairs have three children: 14-year-old son [[Robbie Sinclair|Robbie]]; 12-year-old daughter [[Charlene Sinclair|Charlene]]; and 1-year-old [[Baby Sinclair]], whose birth is recounted in the pilot.
   
The series has been released on DVD by [[Buena Vista Home Entertainment]]. The first box set, ''[[Dinosaurs: The Complete First and Second Seasons]]'', was released in May 2006. The second set, ''[[Dinosaurs: The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons]]'', was released in May 2007.
+
The series has been released on DVD by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. The first box set, ''[[Dinosaurs: The Complete First and Second Seasons]]'', was released in May 2006. The second set, ''[[Dinosaurs: The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons]]'', was released in May 2007.
   
 
==Origins==
 
==Origins==
News articles written at the time of the premiere highlighted the show's connection to [[Jim Henson]], who had died the year before. "Jim Henson dreamed up the show's basic concept about three years ago," said a ''New York Times'' article in April, 1991. "'He wanted it to be a sitcom with a pretty standard structure, with the biggest differences being that it's a family of dinosaurs and their society has this strange toxic life style,' said [[Brian Henson]]. But until ''[[The Simpsons]]'' took off, said Alex Rockwell, a vice president of the Henson organization, 'people thought it was a crazy idea.'" <ref>Kahn, Eve M. "All in the Modern Stone Age Family", ''The New York Times''. April 14, 1991.</ref> A [[1993]] article in ''The New Yorker'' said that Henson continued to work on a dinosaur project until the "last months of his life." <ref name="newyorker">Owen, David. "Looking Out for Kermit", ''[[The New Yorker]]''. August 16, 1993.</ref>
+
News articles written at the time of the premiere highlighted the show's connection to [[Jim Henson]], who had died the year before. "Jim Henson dreamed up the show's basic concept about three years ago," said a ''New York Times'' article in April, 1991. "'He wanted it to be a sitcom with a pretty standard structure, with the biggest differences being that it's a family of dinosaurs and their society has this strange toxic life style,' said [[Brian Henson]]. But until ''[[The Simpsons]]'' took off, said Alex Rockwell, a vice president of the Henson organization, 'people thought it was a crazy idea.'"<ref>Kahn, Eve M. "All in the Modern Stone Age Family", ''The New York Times''. April 14, 1991.</ref> A [[1993]] article in ''The New Yorker'' said that Henson continued to work on a dinosaur project until the "last months of his life."<ref name="newyorker">Owen, David. "Looking Out for Kermit", ''[[The New Yorker]]''. August 16, 1993.</ref>
   
 
Henson was working with designer [[William Stout]] in the late 80s on a feature film with animatronic dinosaurs, with the working title of ''[[The Natural History Project]]''; Henson contacted Stout about the project again in the last months of his life. That project may have been the inspiration for ''Dinosaurs''.
 
Henson was working with designer [[William Stout]] in the late 80s on a feature film with animatronic dinosaurs, with the working title of ''[[The Natural History Project]]''; Henson contacted Stout about the project again in the last months of his life. That project may have been the inspiration for ''Dinosaurs''.
   
The television division of the Walt Disney Company had begun working on the series in 1990 for [[CBS]], before the series landed on ABC. <ref>Grover, Ron. ''The Disney Touch''. Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin, 1991. pp. 167-168.</ref>
+
The television division of The Walt Disney Company had begun working on the series in 1990 for [[CBS]], before the series landed on ABC.<ref>Grover, Ron. ''The Disney Touch''. Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin, 1991. pp. 167-168.</ref>
   
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
* Many of the dinosaur characters' names were based on the names of oil companies (Sinclair, Phillips, Hess, Richfield) or the categories of fuels they produced, like Ethyl.
+
* Many of the dinosaur characters' names were based on the names of oil companies (Sinclair, Phillips, Hess, Richfield) or the categories of fuels they produced, like Ethyl. Sinclair Oil in particular is known for its dinosaur mascot.
 
 
* B.P. Richfield's first and middle initials were inspired by British Petroleum.
 
* B.P. Richfield's first and middle initials were inspired by British Petroleum.
 
 
* Seven episodes of the show were filmed and produced, but did not air in the initial run of the series. They were however included in the syndication package.
 
* Seven episodes of the show were filmed and produced, but did not air in the initial run of the series. They were however included in the syndication package.
 
* At one point a ''Dinosaurs'' movie was planned, but never produced.<ref name="newyorker" />
 
  +
*In 1993, Michael Jacobs produced a pilot for Fox, referred to as ''First Family'' and ''The Ooog Show'', which would have focused on cavemen and essentially continued the same concept as dinosaurs with mammals. Jacobs and ''Dinosaurs'' staff writers [[Tim Doyle]] and [[Bob Young]] wrote the script. The cast included several ''Dinosaurs'' alums: [[Joe Flaherty]] starred as caveman patriarch Ooog, while guest actors in the pilot included [[Suzie Plakson]] as Zsa Zsa and [[Michelan Sisti]] as "4th Caveman." The series was not picked up.
* At one point a ''Dinosaurs'' movie was planned, but never produced. <ref name="newyorker" />
 
   
 
==Cast==
 
==Cast==
 
'''Puppeteers:'''
 
'''Puppeteers:'''
[[Dave Goelz]],
+
[[Dave Goelz]],
[[Steve Whitmire]],
+
[[Steve Whitmire]],
[[Kevin Clash]],
+
[[Kevin Clash]],
[[Bill Barretta]],
+
[[Bill Barretta]],
[[Rickey Boyd]],
+
[[Rickey Boyd]],
[[Julianne Buescher]],
+
[[Julianne Buescher]],
[[Kevin Carlson]],
+
[[Kevin Carlson]],
[[Mitchell Young Evans]],
+
[[Mitchell Young Evans]],
[[Tom Fisher]],
+
[[Tom Fisher]],
[[David Greenaway]],
+
[[David Greenaway]],
[[Terri Hardin]],
+
[[Terri Hardin]],
[[Brian Henson]],
+
[[Brian Henson]],
[[John Kennedy]],
+
[[John Kennedy]],
[[Bruce Lanoil]],
+
[[Bruce Lanoil]],
[[Arlene Lorre]],
+
[[Arlene Lorre]],
[[Pons Maar]],
+
[[Pons Maar]],
[[Noel MacNeal]],
+
[[Noel MacNeal]],
[[Drew Massey]],
+
[[Drew Massey]],
[[Rob Mills]],
+
[[Rob Mills]],
[[James Murray]],
+
[[James Murray]],
[[David Rudman]],
+
[[David Rudman]],
[[Tony Sabin Prince]],
+
[[Tony Sabin Prince]],
[[Michelan Sisti]],
+
[[Michelan Sisti]],
[[Jodi St. Michael]],
+
[[Jodi St. Michael]],
[[Jack Tate]],
+
[[Jack Tate]],
[[Leif Tilden]],
+
[[Leif Tilden]],
[[Allan Trautman]],
+
[[Allan Trautman]],
 
[[Mak Wilson]]
 
[[Mak Wilson]]
   
 
'''Regular Voices:'''
 
'''Regular Voices:'''
  +
*[[Stuart Pankin]] - [[Earl Sinclair]]
[[Stuart Pankin]], [[Jessica Walter]], [[Jason Willinger]], [[Sally Struthers]], [[Kevin Clash]], [[Sam McMurray]], [[Florence Stanley]], [[Sherman Hemsley]], [[Suzie Plakson]], [[Christopher Meloni]]
 
  +
*[[Jessica Walter]] - [[Fran Sinclair]]
  +
*[[Jason Willinger]] - [[Robbie Sinclair]]
  +
*[[Sally Struthers]] - [[Charlene Sinclair]]
  +
*[[Kevin Clash]] - [[Baby Sinclair]]
  +
*[[Sam McMurray]] - [[Roy Hess|Roy]], [[Andre (dinosaur)|Andre]], Dolph, [[The Doctor (Dinosaurs)|The Doctor]], [[Stan (Bunch Beetle)|Stan]], [[Buddy Glimmer]], WESAYSO Interviewer
  +
*[[Florence Stanley]] - [[Ethyl Phillips]]
  +
*[[Sherman Hemsley]] - [[B.P. Richfield]]
  +
*[[Suzie Plakson]] - [[Monica DeVertebrae]], Elder #3, [[Sally (dinosaur)|Sally]]
  +
*[[Christopher Meloni]] - [[Spike]]
   
  +
'''Guest and Support Voices:'''
+
'''Guest Voices:'''
[[Jason Alexander]],
 
[[Shaun Baker]],
+
[[Jason Alexander]],
[[Jason Bernard]],
+
[[Shaun Baker]],
[[Pat Crawford Brown]],
+
[[Jason Bernard]],
[[Stephen Caffrey]],
+
[[Pat Crawford Brown]],
[[Ken Hudson Campbell]],
+
[[Stephen Caffrey]],
[[Tim Curry]],
+
[[Ken Hudson Campbell]],
[[Michael Dorn]],
+
[[Dan Castellaneta]],
[[Conchata Ferrell]],
+
[[Tim Curry]],
[[Joe Flaherty]],
+
[[Michael Dorn]],
[[George Gaynes]],
+
[[Conchata Ferrell]],
[[John Glover]],
+
[[Joe Flaherty]],
[[Buddy Hackett]],
+
[[George Gaynes]],
[[Jack Harrell]],
+
[[John Glover]],
[[Sally Kellerman]],
+
[[Buddy Hackett]],
[[Mimi Kennedy]],
+
[[Jack Harrell]],
[[Joyce Kurtz]],
+
[[Sally Kellerman]],
[[David Leisure]],
+
[[Mimi Kennedy]],
[[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]],
+
[[Joyce Kurtz]],
[[Jessica Lundy]],
+
[[David Leisure]],
[[Edie McClurg]],
+
[[Julia Louis-Dreyfus]],
[[Kate McGregor-Stewart]],
+
[[Jessica Lundy]],
[[Michael McKean]],
+
[[Edie McClurg]],
  +
[[Kate McGregor-Stewart]],
[[Susan Norfleet]],
 
[[Gary Owens]],
+
[[Michael McKean]],
[[Robert Picardo]],
+
[[Susan Norfleet]],
[[Glenn Shadix]],
+
[[Gary Owens]],
[[Thom Sharp]],
+
[[Robert Picardo]],
[[Richard Simmons]],
+
[[Glenn Shadix]],
[[Jeffrey Tambor]],
+
[[Thom Sharp]],
[[Fred Travalena]],
+
[[Richard Simmons]],
[[John Vernon]],
+
[[Jeffrey Tambor]],
[[Paxton Whitehead]],
+
[[Fred Travalena]],
  +
[[John Vernon]],
  +
[[Paxton Whitehead]],
 
[[David Wohl]]
 
[[David Wohl]]
   
Line 107: Line 120:
 
==See also==
 
==See also==
 
* [[:Category:Dinosaurs|Dinosaurs category]] for episodes, characters, etc.
 
* [[:Category:Dinosaurs|Dinosaurs category]] for episodes, characters, etc.
  +
  +
__NOWYSIWYG__
 
[[Category:Dinosaurs| ]]
 
[[Category:Dinosaurs| ]]
 
[[Category:Henson Company TV Shows]]
 
[[Category:Henson Company TV Shows]]

Revision as of 16:47, 2 April 2020

For the Sesame Street direct-to-DVD movie, see Dinosaurs!
Dinosaurslogo
Premiere April 26, 1991
Finale July 20, 1994
Network ABC
Seasons 4
Episodes 65
Dinosaurs-CoreFamily
Dinocast

The Sinclair family from left to right: Charlene, Fran, Baby, Earl, Robbie, and grandma Ethyl

Insideearl

A cutaway showing the animatronics used to move the faces of the characters -- in this case, Earl Sinclair.

Dino Sketch

Early Sinclair family concept sketch

Franbaby

Fran with Baby Sinclair.

Dinosaurs-SinclairChildren

The three Sinclair children.

DinosaursPromo

Dinosaurs was a half-hour sitcom which aired on ABC. The series, conceived just before Jim Henson's death, focused on a family of dinosaurs, the Sinclairs, and used ground-breaking full body, animatronic puppets.

The show was a joint venture that merged the talents and resources of Michael Jacobs Productions, The Jim Henson Company, and Disney's Touchstone Entertainment. Dinosaurs made use of a system known as animatronics to express and alter the dinosaurs' facial movements, a process developed by Brian Henson and his team at the London Creature Shop.

The show was an effective parody of human life and the American sitcom. Dinosaurs was set in the year 60,000,003 BC. Just a million years earlier, the dinosaurs behaved like animals, eating their offspring and living in swamps. But now they had evolved, raising families, living in houses, working, and paying taxes.

Earl Sinclair, a megalosaurus, works for the WESAYSO Development Corporation, under the direction of triceratops B.P. Richfield, leveling forests to make way for housing developments. Earl's wife Fran, an allosaurus, runs the house and family. The Sinclairs have three children: 14-year-old son Robbie; 12-year-old daughter Charlene; and 1-year-old Baby Sinclair, whose birth is recounted in the pilot.

The series has been released on DVD by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. The first box set, Dinosaurs: The Complete First and Second Seasons, was released in May 2006. The second set, Dinosaurs: The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons, was released in May 2007.

Origins

News articles written at the time of the premiere highlighted the show's connection to Jim Henson, who had died the year before. "Jim Henson dreamed up the show's basic concept about three years ago," said a New York Times article in April, 1991. "'He wanted it to be a sitcom with a pretty standard structure, with the biggest differences being that it's a family of dinosaurs and their society has this strange toxic life style,' said Brian Henson. But until The Simpsons took off, said Alex Rockwell, a vice president of the Henson organization, 'people thought it was a crazy idea.'"[1] A 1993 article in The New Yorker said that Henson continued to work on a dinosaur project until the "last months of his life."[2]

Henson was working with designer William Stout in the late 80s on a feature film with animatronic dinosaurs, with the working title of The Natural History Project; Henson contacted Stout about the project again in the last months of his life. That project may have been the inspiration for Dinosaurs.

The television division of The Walt Disney Company had begun working on the series in 1990 for CBS, before the series landed on ABC.[3]

Notes

  • Many of the dinosaur characters' names were based on the names of oil companies (Sinclair, Phillips, Hess, Richfield) or the categories of fuels they produced, like Ethyl. Sinclair Oil in particular is known for its dinosaur mascot.
  • B.P. Richfield's first and middle initials were inspired by British Petroleum.
  • Seven episodes of the show were filmed and produced, but did not air in the initial run of the series. They were however included in the syndication package.
  • At one point a Dinosaurs movie was planned, but never produced.[2]
  • In 1993, Michael Jacobs produced a pilot for Fox, referred to as First Family and The Ooog Show, which would have focused on cavemen and essentially continued the same concept as dinosaurs with mammals. Jacobs and Dinosaurs staff writers Tim Doyle and Bob Young wrote the script. The cast included several Dinosaurs alums: Joe Flaherty starred as caveman patriarch Ooog, while guest actors in the pilot included Suzie Plakson as Zsa Zsa and Michelan Sisti as "4th Caveman." The series was not picked up.

Cast

Puppeteers: Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Kevin Clash, Bill Barretta, Rickey Boyd, Julianne Buescher, Kevin Carlson, Mitchell Young Evans, Tom Fisher, David Greenaway, Terri Hardin, Brian Henson, John Kennedy, Bruce Lanoil, Arlene Lorre, Pons Maar, Noel MacNeal, Drew Massey, Rob Mills, James Murray, David Rudman, Tony Sabin Prince, Michelan Sisti, Jodi St. Michael, Jack Tate, Leif Tilden, Allan Trautman, Mak Wilson

Regular Voices:


Guest Voices: Jason Alexander, Shaun Baker, Jason Bernard, Pat Crawford Brown, Stephen Caffrey, Ken Hudson Campbell, Dan Castellaneta, Tim Curry, Michael Dorn, Conchata Ferrell, Joe Flaherty, George Gaynes, John Glover, Buddy Hackett, Jack Harrell, Sally Kellerman, Mimi Kennedy, Joyce Kurtz, David Leisure, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jessica Lundy, Edie McClurg, Kate McGregor-Stewart, Michael McKean, Susan Norfleet, Gary Owens, Robert Picardo, Glenn Shadix, Thom Sharp, Richard Simmons, Jeffrey Tambor, Fred Travalena, John Vernon, Paxton Whitehead, David Wohl

Sources

  1. Kahn, Eve M. "All in the Modern Stone Age Family", The New York Times. April 14, 1991.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Owen, David. "Looking Out for Kermit", The New Yorker. August 16, 1993.
  3. Grover, Ron. The Disney Touch. Homewood, IL: Business One Irwin, 1991. pp. 167-168.

See also