Dinosaurs - Season 1&2

Dinosaurs DVDs

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Created before the days of computer animation, Dinosaurs is an early 1990s television comedy series featuring impressive anthropomorphic, animatronic creatures created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. The story lines challenge some of society's most basic assumptions and explore some of the most universally troublesome aspects of "civilized" life. Set in six million three BC, the Sinclairs are your "typical" blue-collar dinosaur family attempting to adjust to the relatively new concept of communal living. The adjustments of moving from a nomadic lifestyle to one of domestication and social interaction are many, and challenging issues like the concepts of right and wrong, faith, and the intricacies of family relationships are forever besieging this every-man's family. Naturally, the Sinclair family approach is to address each obstacle with an abundance of slapstick comedy. The Dinosaurs episodes regularly function on dual levels: the puppetry and silly antics like Baby Sinclair's penchant for hitting her father over the head with a pan while hollering "Not the Mama" appeal to even the youngest children, but the often pointed social commentary and sometimes mature themes are squarely aimed at an adult audience. As a result, parental discretion and guidance are key in determining whether this series is appropriate for children under 9 or 10 years old. --Tami Horiuchi

 

Episodes guide

Season 1: 1991
# Title Original airdate Production code
01 "The Mighty Megalosaurus" 1991-04-26 D301
Fran has one wish in life: a new set of pots and pans with mesh screens for lids -- the better to keep dinner in the pot! Earl realizes that he can't afford to buy the simplest of pleasures for his family, which leads him to ask boss Richfield for a raise, with disastrous results. A chance meeting with the escaped "dinner" saves the day (and job) when dinner reappears as Earl's new supervisor at WESAYSO Development Corp.
02 "The Mating Dance" 1991-05-03 D302
Earl shoulders household duties for a weekend, sending exhausted Fran to her mother's for a little rest and relaxation. When she returns to a frazzled Earl, singed baby and demolished household, Earl discovers that Fran's unhappiness doesn't stem from the kids--it's him! At Roy's suggestion, Earl takes a refresher course in the Mating Dance, attempting to once again woo and win his wife.
03 "Hurling Day" 1991-05-10 D303
Earl is excited to throw Ethyl into the tar pits on her 72nd birthday, an old dinosaur tradition. Ethyl mentions that the tradition was started by an old dinosaur named Bob La Brea, which is also the name of the school Robbie and Charlene attend: Bob La Brea High School. The tradition specifies that men have the honor (and pleasure) of throwing their mother-in-law off a cliff. The real La Brea Tar Pits are located in Los Angeles, California, but no dinosaurs have actually been found there.
04 "High Noon" 1991-05-17 D305
Earl is challenged to fight to the death by Gary, a 50' Dilophosaurus who took a fancy to Fran in the frozen food section of the supermarket. Earl must decide whether or not to fight for what belongs to him, or to follow the law of the jungle and run like hell.
05 "The Howling" 1991-05-24 D306
When male dinosaurs turn 15, they go through a rite-of-passage known as "The Howling", during which the youngsters join the adults on top of the mountain to howl at the new moon. Robbie doesn't see the point, and rebels. This sets off a chain of events, including the dissolution of Earl and Roy's friendship, which causes Robbie to understand that rituals that get dismissed as superstition are actually designed to protect the tribe. Robbie gains a new appreciation for being a dinosaur


Season 2: 1991-1992
# Title Original airdate Production code
06 "The Golden Child" 1991-09-18 D310
Baby, unappreciated by the family, inexplicably grows a golden horn from his forehead. Earl is appalled, until he learns from the dinosaur elders that the appearance of a golden-horned baby was foretold in The Book of Dinosaurs. Baby becomes a cult object and Earl is a celebrity by association. The horn eventually comes off, but Earl comes to appreciate the treasure that his baby is all by himself.
07 "Family Challenge" 1991-09-25 D311
Fran accuses Earl of not spending enough time with his family. When a meteor crashes through the roof of their home, the enormous cost of repair leads the family to try their luck as game show participants. Earl bones up on obscure areas of knowledge, but is humiliated when all the questions focus on how well he knows his family -- which is not well. They study their history, but by time they appear on the show, all of the categories have to do with television.
08 "I Never Ate For My Father" 1991-10-02 D309
Robbie refuses to join a Young Carnivore Association and considers becoming a herbivore. Earl is appalled and hauls Robbie off to hunt in the wilderness, to reinforce the carnivore ethic: bigger eats smaller. When Robbie is eaten by an enormous dinosaur, Earl is forced to reconsider his philosophy. When Earl, too, is eaten, the father and son continue their argument inside the belly of the beast.
09 "Charlene's Tale" 1991-10-09 D307
Charlene is despondent because she's the last girl in the eighth grade to grow a tail. Her outlook miraculously changes when her tail appears overnight. Earl's awareness of his little girl's budding womanhood drives him to distraction, but reassurance from Charlene that she'll always be her daddy's little girl cheers him up.
10 "Endangered Species" 1991-10-16 D308
It's Earl and Fran's 20th wedding anniversary - the Grapdelite anniversary. Grapdelites are the sweetest tasting, most adorable little animals, who are also quickly disappearing from the earth. Earl's got a pair, and everyone else wants them, particularly Richfield. Robbie befriends the creatures, and soon father and son are at each other's throats over the fate of the Grapdelites.
11 "Employee Of The Month" 1991-10-23 D304
Richfield institutes an Employee Suggestion Box, which has Earl and Roy racking their brains in an effort to impress the boss. At Earl's suggestion, the employee coming up with the best suggestion each month will receive dinner with Richfield and their name on a plaque--with Earl named the first "Employee of the Month". Earl's big moment is somewhat tarnished, though, when Richfield doesn't show up for dinner.
12 "When Food Goes Bad" 1991-10-30 D312
Charlene is left to babysit Baby Sinclair, who is teething, while Fran and Earl go out for a nice romantic dinner. Fran gives into temptation to call home, but no one answers: The children have been kidnapped by food that has been left in the refrigerator for too long and goes bad. Charlene must use her wits to foil the food before Fran and Earl get home.
13 "Career Opportunities" 1991-11-06 D314
Robbie is assigned Tree Pusher as his life's vocation by the all-powerful The Job Wizard. In the process of showing an unenthusiastic Robbie how wonderful a job Tree Pusher is, Earl comes to realize instead how pointless his own life actually is, and retires to bed unable to move. When Robbie has to replace Earl at the worksite, he gets into trouble and Earl must rally to rescue his son.
14 "Unmarried...With Children" 1991-11-13 D315
Earl and Fran's marriage license expires. When Earl bungles the renewal test by displaying complete ignorance of the details of his marriage, Fran considers not picking up Earl's option. Earl is forced to move in with Roy, while the Sinclair's new next door neighbor, Monica -- a brontosaurus and the first divorced female in history -- shows Fran that the single life has possibilities.
15 "How To Pick Up Girls" 1991-11-20 D316
Robbie hires Spike, a rebellious classmate, to teach him how to pick-up a girl that he has a brutal crush on, but Spike's unique advice gets Robbie grounded; a situation that Robbie finds not nearly as unbearable as the discovery that Spike, having refined his flirtatious technique, is dating the girl of Robbie's dreams.
16 "Switched At Birth" 1991-11-27 D317
Planning for the Baby's first birthday, the Sinclairs discover evidence that their baby may have been switched with another baby while still an egg. Earl is tantalized by the notion that there is a polite, well-behaved baby out there somewhere who might be his son. Fran is unwilling even to consider the possibility until she meets the other baby -- who looks just like the Sinclair baby except he's green like Earl -- and the other father shares certain personality traits with the Sinclair's baby.
17 "Refrigerator Day" 1991-12-11 D318
The happiest holiday in Pangaea is approaching and Earl, carried away by the commercial side of the occasion, overspends on presents for the family. When the traditional WESAYSO bonus fails to come through for Earl, the family is placed in financial jeopardy. Any hope for a joyous holiday is dashed when their refrigerator is repossessed. With no food, no refrigerator and no money, the family is forced to fall back on the spiritual side of the holiday.
18 "What "Sexual Harris" Meant" 1991-12-18 D319
Monica begins working for Mr. Richfield where she first meets her supervisor Sexual Harris. Sexual Harris uses suggestive language but Monica turns him down. Sexual Harris fires Monica who in turn takes the company to court with charges of sexual harassment. This forces the courts to try and determine what exactly "Sexual Harris meant".
19 "Fran Live" 1992-01-08 D321
Fran calls a phone-in TV advice show with a suggestion for the host and ends up hosting the show herself. Fran's anecdotes over the air expose Earl to ridicule at work, and pressure builds for her to quit her job.
20 "Power Erupts" 1992-01-15 D322
As a science project for school, Robbie comes up with an idea for tapping the geothermal energy of volcanoes to heat the homes of all Pangaea. The idea is taken seriously by the government and Robbie seems to be a hero, except that his plan for free energy threatens the business interests of the WESAYSO Corporation which sell energy for a profit. When WESAYSO puts the screws to Earl to squash his son's idea, Earl is put in conflict with Robbie.
21 "The Clip Show" 1992-01-22 D313
Sir David Tushingham, a self-important archaeologist, attempts to shed light upon the mysterious world of the dinosaurs in a mock-documentary featuring clips from the first eleven episodes that proves the theories of modern science to fall far short of the real world in which Earl and his family inhabited millions of years ago.
22 "A New Leaf" 1992-02-05 D320
Following a fierce argument with Earl, Robbie storms out of the house to meet Spike and discovers an appealing leaf that when ingested makes them both effusively happy. Upon returning home, Earl is surprised to find Robbie in such an elated state until he samples some of Robbie's leaves. Expecting to find father and son at war, Fran is puzzled when she discovers Earl and Robbie arm in arm. Suspicious of the tantalizing leaves, Fran exhibits cautious restraint and becomes increasingly concerned when her family happily decides to remain at home rather than go to work or school. Earl's lack of concern after discovering he's been fired forces Fran, who refuses to become co-dependent, to abscond from the house and leave a delirious Earl, Robbie and Charlene to hopelessly fend for themselves. Having run out of leaves, they are forced to recognize what they've become, but Spike tests their resolve when he uncovers fresh leaves. Will they choose their lives or the mysterious plant?
23 "The Last Temptation of Ethyl" 1992-02-12 D323
Ethyl's near death experience lands her a television show pitching the after life.
24 "Nuts To War (Part 1)" 1992-02-19 D324
A petty territorial dispute between our dinosaurs and the four leggers across the swamp escalates into the first war ever. Robbie is selected to go into the 'Nuts To War' war. But Fran is worried and scared to death that Robbie will be killed in the war. So she decides to let Earl and Roy go to the battlefield.
25 "Nuts To War (Part 2)" 1992-02-26 D325
Earl and Roy join Charlene as USO entertainers, and rush to the front to retrieve Robbie, because it looks like this war thing is getting a little bit out of hand. Earl tries to stop Robbie from going through with the war, but Robbie ignores his father's wishes.
26 "And The Winner Is..." 1992-03-27 D328
When the Chief Elder dies in the process of naming Baby Sinclair (now "Aaah Aagh I'm Dying You Idiot Sinclair"), Earl becomes embroiled in an intense but unsurprisingly non-substantive campaign with B.P. Richfield for Chief Elder of Pangaea: first as Richfield's patsy, and later as a self-made, come-from-behind candidate bent on preventing a bleak homeland under what appears to be Richfield's imminent rule.
27 "Slave To Fashion" 1992-03-30 D326
Feeling like a social outcast at school, Charlene begs her grandmother for money to buy an expensive fur coat none of the other girls have. The coat indeed makes Charlene the envy of her friends, but, unlike other status symbols, it talks (it's a live animal), and begins to make demands that cause Charlene to become alienated from her family and friends, especially her best friend.
28 "Leader Of The Pack" 1992-04-24 D327
Robbie is drafted as the leader of Spike's gang when the former leader disappears after a wild night with Robbie.
29 "WESAYSO Knows Best" 1992-05-08 D329
To improve its public image, the WESAYSO Corporation picks the perfect employee family to be featured in their company advertisement. Earl's dream comes true when his family is chosen, but WESAYSO feels Roy has more audience appeal. When the ad campaign is a hit, Earl moves out of his own house so Roy can move in. Is Earl expendable? Will Roy crack under the strain of parental responsibility? Will Earl allow his family and best friend to be successful without him? Yep. Yep. Not a chance.