Dinosaurs, The Sitcom Before Time

Debuting back in 1991, this sitcom used full-body puppets to create a show that used a kid-friendly aesthetic to deliver shockingly relevant political and social commentary. It was also pretty darn funny. And thanks to its use of practical effects, it's also aged visually considerably well too.

This video is a look at some of the major themes that ran through this short-lived series, only lasting a mere four seasons, including one of the most memorable finales in TV history.

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[JoseBird]

I see a lot of people asking what the broadcaster at 24:00 is saying.

The term he's using is "Four-Leggers".

[xenosbreed]

'Obviously I'm not talking about productive members of society, I'm talking about teenage boys and the poor' 30 years later this show still slaps so freaking hard.

[bgiv]

I loved that line about "why are we counting backwards? What are we waiting for?"

[fpedrosa]

Not sure how appropriate this story is, but this show aired in my country, dubbed, and there was an episode where they had this thing called "hurling day" where you threw your family members that were too old to contribute into a pit or something. I was very young when I watched it.

My grandma watched the episode with me and laughed her head off. To this day she jokes that her "hurling day" is coming up. She's still doing well though, despite COVID and I'm super lucky she's still around.

Nothing much else to add, just a random family story.

[PiedraDeIjada]

"School is not for asking questions. It's a place you go to be out of this
Damn that sounds like something the pandemic has highlighted nowadays.

[stevenyukabacera]

Every time I re-watch Dinosaurs, it strikes me just how *hard* that show went. They did not mess around.

[worm.]

"You're not a soldier you're a kid!" Is such a fucking heavy line and it came from a sitcom about puppet dinosaurs

[Snarl_Marx]

Rest in peace, Jessica Walter. She was a huge personality and her talent and humor will be missed.

[TheChrisHype]

Alan Trautman (Fran Sinclair's puppeteer) was my Improv coach in College. Anytime he spoke of Dinosaurs, and his time on it, he had such a joyful glee to his tone and personality. You could tell that he absolutely loved doing this show.

[chenstormstout]

I’m honestly just amazed at how much the animatronics can emote. Like there’s some serious hardware under those costumes.

[vabvaab]

It's still amazing how expressive their faces are, I don't think it's ever been topped. You forget you're looking at pretty weird puppets and just buy into the world.

[lancerguy]

Dinosaurs is like classic-era simpsons. It's a show you watch religiously as a kid, laugh your head off, and don't think too much about. Then, as an adult, you remember it fondly, revisit it one day, see all the social and political commentary, and think "...how the hell did I miss ALL of that?"

You basically get to experience it for the first time twice. That's the sign of something really special.

[maikefaltings]

I still remember to this day the one episode where the teenage girl of the family came into her womanhood and developed a smell that attracted one male dinosaur. On that fact alone they were considered to be engaged. She didn't like the guy at all (basicly a cole of her father) and hiked across the world in search of a flower that was supposed to change her smell. The only spot where these flowers grew was turned into an adventure park or something. So she didn't get the flower but as she arrived back home the male dinosaur didn't like her smell anymore. Just buy trying so hard to change her smell she changed her smell.

As a little girl I just loved that episode. :)

[lostmarble]

The dinosaurs starting a war over pistachios is eerily similar to how the American pistachio industry lobbied for war with Iran a few years back

[GodzillaX]

Never liked this even as a huge dinosaur kid, absolutely respect it for that ending. It's absolutely wild the network literally let them end the show with "and then they all died" type scenario

[LexYeen]

5:02 Can we just take a second to appreciate just how much effort it takes to pull off a spin like that in a costume like that _without_ breaking the set, the costume, and/or your own ass?

[smalls]

Lol I just realized that their calendars are backwards. Starting with day 30 and ending with day 1 in a month. That kind of detail is amazing. The people who worked on this show were so talented.

[qwellen]

There’s something profoundly sad about all of these puppets rotting away and all that left of them being their metal skeletons underneath. It’s like there actual Dinosaurs.

[danielpierce]

My niece fell in love with this show when she found it on Disney+, and has watched the whole series a couple of times. I loved it too when I was a kid, but it sure hits different rewatching it as an adult.

[PedroBenolielBonito]

'The breakout star' just as Baby literally breaks out of his egg was a nice editing touch.

Also, back in the day, he was EVERYONE's reason for watching the show, and his catchphrases were the ones being repeated around the playground, especially 'Not the Mama!' right before whacking someone upside the head. (By the way, everyone thought that was a frying pan too.) Although Earl's 'Honey, I'm ho-ome!' was also quite popular.