Line #1 Trivia/Dinosaurs


1	* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: Robbie Sinclair sports long, forward-facing spines on his head meant to resemble a mohawk, and the creators freely admitted that he's [[CartoonCreature not based on any particular dinosaur]]. Flashforward to 2019, and we describe the small sauropod ''Bajadasaurus'', [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajadasaurus#/media/File:Skeletal_reconstruction_of_Bajadasaurus.png which sported a row of long, forward-facing spines on its neck]], which look oddly similar to Robbie's hairdo. [[note]] Though some have argued that the spines of ''Bajadasaurus'' and the related ''Amargasaurus'' supported a fleshy sail or display structure of some sort. [[/note]]
2	* ActingForTwo:
3	** Many of the puppeteers portray 2 or more characters, with some of them[[labelnote:*]]mainly Bruce Lanoil and Allan Trautman[[/labelnote]] also doing voice work for those secondary characters on occasion.
4	** The show also made use of Creator/JasonAlexander, Creator/TimCurry and Creator/RobertPicardo as reoccurring voices. Resulting in a lot of vocal YouLookFamiliar moments.
5	* CrossDressingVoices:
6	** In the Latin American Spanish dub, Creator/MariaFernandaMorales voices the male Baby Sinclair.
7	** Same for the Brazilian Portuguese dub, where Baby voice actress is Marisa Leal.
8	* DuelingDubs: A rather odd case happens in Latin America: There's two dubs, one done in Mexico, used in that country and the rest of the region, and another one done in Venezuela, used exclusively there. The reasons for the existance of the Venezuelan dub was because two of the main national TV networks, Venevision and RCTV, were fighting for the rights of the show. At the end, RCTV won the bid, but they were forced to dub the show by themselves in Venezuela, since Disney, for some unexplained reason, didn't sell them the Mexican-dubbed version.
9	* EditedForSyndication:
10	** Because of music clearance issues, the Creator/{{Netflix}}, [=WatchABC=], and Creator/{{Hulu}} version of "A New Leaf" replaces the scene of Mr. Richfield singing "Purple Haze" while high with an alternate scene of Mr. Richfield singing an original song about how happy the happy plant is making him. It's not as clumsy as other examples, but it is a screw to people who wanted to see the episode as originally aired. Averted when Disney+ uploaded the show with the original version of the scene.
11	** On a lesser note, the original run of the series on ABC had a laugh track, which was removed for syndication and home video releases. Many agree the series is better without a laugh track. The foreign dubs also lack the laugh track as well.
12	* InMemoriam: A dedication to Creator/JimHenson appears in "The Mighty Megalosaurus". Henson died before the series premiered on ABC.
13	* KidsMealToy: In 1992, UsefulNotes/McDonalds released a set of plastic hinged moveable toys with finger-pumps of the Sinclair family, Ethyl, and two different toys of Baby Sinclair.
14	* MissingEpisode: The Disney Channel did not rerun "Baby Talk" (due to its theme about profanity and censorship) or "Dirty Dancing" (the episode is one giant metaphor for a boy experiencing erections for the first time and trying to lose his virginity). Surprisingly, the episode "What 'Sexual Harris' Meant" wasn't banned, as that had heavier subject matter (the episode centers on Monica [=DeVertebrae=] getting a job at [=WESAYSO=] and getting fired after calling her supervisor out on his constant sexual innuendos and turning down his offer for a date).
15	* TheOtherDarrin: Played with. Fran's animatronic was redesigned for the second season so it absolutely does not resemble her first incarnation, but her voice actress (Jessica Walter) stayed on and played her for the entire series. Her suit performer also varied during the first couple of seasons before settling on Tony Sabin Price as the main performer.
16	* OutOfOrder: Even though Charlene grew a bigger tail in "Charlene's Tale", certain episodes filmed prior showing her shorter tail such as "Employee of the Month" and "Unmarried... with Children" aired after it. There's also the seven episodes filmed prior to the series finale that were shown afterwards when the show moved to syndication.
17	** Disney+ moves "The Clip Show" ahead in the episode order, before some of the episodes the clips come from.
18	* PlayingAgainstType: Since she's now known for playing cynical, emotionally abusive, sexually promiscuous, alcoholic matriarchs (see: Lucille Bluth on ''Arrested Development'' and Mallory Archer on ''Archer''), ''Dinosaurs'' is now considered the only time Creator/JessicaWalter has played a traditional sitcom wife and mother (read: one who's loving, supportive, and understanding to her husband and children, though the episode where Fran is a StageMom when Baby Sinclair is signed on to be the spokesbaby for a frying pan company does show Fran being cold and narcissistic to her family, but snaps out of it when Earl calls her out for only letting Baby Sinclair be a child star for selfish reasons).
19	** Creator/ChristopherMeloni is best known as the gung-ho cop [[Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Elliot Stabler]]. Here, he voices Spike, who's almost the diametric opposite of Stabler: an easygoing juvenile delinquent.
20	* PropRecycling: The giant swamp monster that appears in "I Never Ate For My Father" and other episodes is reused from "Monster Maker", an episode of ''Series/TheJimHensonHour''.
21	* RealitySubtext: When walking, Earl has a habit of briefly pausing, slumping, and sighing before continuing on. This was because suit actor Bill Barretta was trying to peek through the mask's mouth and see where he was going. The action was incorporated into Earl's characterization.
22	* RecycledScript: Episodes revisit premises from earlier Creator/JimHenson productions:
23	** "Endangered Species" borrows its central premise from a "Land of Gorch" sketch from ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. Both involve a species of creature so delicious to eat that the main characters have reduced it to near extinction.
24	** "Changing Nature" has commonalities with the ''Series/FraggleRock'' episode [[Recap/FraggleRockS2E24InvasionOfTheToeTicklers "Invasion of the Toe Ticklers"]]. Both involve the removal of a species of insect from the environment and how that results in an overgrowth of undesirable plants the insects eat. Except while the ''Fraggle Rock'' take on the premise ends happily, the ''Dinosaurs'' version... [[DownerEnding not so much]].
25	* ReferencedBy: [[ReferencedBy/{{Dinosaurs}} See here]].
26	* ScrewedByTheNetwork: During production of the fourth season, [[Creator/AmericanBroadcastingCompany ABC]] cancelled the series altogether and aired "Changing Nature" as the series finale.
27	* TorchTheFranchiseAndRun: This is why the series ended with the ecological disaster that killed off the dinosaurs.
28	* WordOfGod: Creator/KirkThatcher, one of the show's producers, confirmed that "Changing Nature" was the last episode to be taped and aired. He also said it was not meant to be the series finale; it was originally supposed to be just another episode. But after being notified that the show was being cancelled, it was made the finale.
29	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
30	** This was originally intended to be a dramatic feature film called ''The Natural History Project'' with Warner Bros. set to distribute and Creator/JimHenson directing. However, when ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTime'' was released, Henson decided to turn the idea into a sitcom, which CBS greenlighted. It wasn't until Henson's death and CBS putting the show into turnaround that the show got made.
31	** Earl was meant to be gruff and intimidating, with a lantern jaw. To make him more likable, he was softened and his lantern jaw became a double chin.
32	** A ''Dinosaurs'' [[TheMovie movie]] was planned at one point, but the project fell through.
33	** A video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was in negotiations in 1993. By the time it came to negotiating a deal for Dinosaurs, the fad had worn off and negotiations were dropped, along with a board game too.
34	** In the early development phase, Ethyl (Fran's mother) was originally conceived as a pterodactyl who hung upside-down in the closet, but after coming up with a few story ideas for her, they quickly realized that keeping her in the closet would limit what they could do.
35	** UsefulNotes/McDonalds had a Happy Meal tie-in with the series. While the final product was a set plastic hinged moveable toys with finger-pumps of the Sinclair family, [[https://www.instagram.com/consumertc/p/CoFSWASuQk1/ concept art]] reveals that [=McDonald's=] had originally planned to have plastic figures with diorama playsets, such as Earl in the living room and Fran in the kitchen. It is unclear if these dioramas would have been made from the Happy Meal boxes or if they would have been wrapped with the figures.
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37	!!General Trivia

Context Trivia / Dinosaurs