Helen, Martha, Skits, T.D., Truman, and Alice are in the Lorraines' backyard, lazing on the ground. They start asking silly questions: T.D. asks if bathroom floors or snow down one's pants are colder, Truman asks if an invisible person or a chameleon would win at hide and seek, Martha asks if a dog or a cat would be more interesting to speak to, and T.D. asks whether a bulldozer or dinosaur would be more powerful. While most of the questions are answered unanimously (the floor is colder, the invisible person would win, and the dog would be more interesting), the bulldozer/dinosaur question is not. Both of the boys think the bulldozer is, but both of the girls think the dinosaur is, and the dogs have no opinion. The kids are unsatisfied with the "tie", but Martha claims it's moot since it's impossible to know without seeing a dinosaur, which obviously can't happen.
T.D. decides to ask O.G., but he's busy, so T.D. starts drawing bulldozers and dinosaurs in his notebook while he waits. He's about to ask O.G. his question, but then he sees that O.G. has invented a time machine. T.D. asks if they could send a bulldozer back in time, but O.G. says that a bulldozer would be too big, however, a dinosaur might fit so they could send one to the present. Thus, the Kennelly guys travel to the Mesozoic area, retrieve a T-Rex, and send it to the present.
T.D. then brings the dinosaur, on a chain, and shows the others. Luckily, Martha can understand the dinosaur and reveals that she is a female dinosaur named Susan. The kids take Susan to where a bulldozer, nicknamed "Old Smokely", is, and Susan believes that she is most powerful. Martha then reveals that "Old Smokely" is sentient, apparently male, and is confident that he will win against Susan.
Old Smokey and Susan begin fighting, but they seem to be equally-matched, so the main characters decide to have them do a tug-of-war. The rope breaks, so they use a chain, but it also breaks. They try using a rope made of many ropes and chains, but it breaks too. Then, Old Smokely says that he's too busy to play anymore as he needs to knock down two buildings, clear the lot, and dig new foundations. The kids decide to have Old Smokely do one building, Susan do the other, and whoever finishes first wins.
They ask Old Smokely's owner, and he replies that other people aren't allowed to interfere with the construction business unless it involves a dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period. So, Old Smokely and Susan begin, with Helen and Martha riding on Susan and the boys inside Old Smokely. Old Smokely almost wins, but then a pipe bursts, filling the hole he and the boys are in with mud so they can't get free. Helen, Martha, and Susan help them by pushing Old Smokely out. However, his engine breaks, and Susan refuses to finish if the match is uneven.
Then, it turns out that all the scenes with Susan and Old Smokely were all in T.D.'s imagination, and O.G. asks him what his question was, but T.D. says he's figured it out himself. He goes to the Lorraines' yard and tells them that the answer is that bulldozers and dinosaurs are equally powerful, and one needn't take sides.
This episode provides examples of
- Aesop Amnesia: Martha still thinks cats are smug even after befriending one in "There Goes the Neighbourhood".
- Animal Jingoism: Martha thinks cats are arrogant and claims she's "sensitive" about them.
- Animate Inanimate Object: "Old Smokely" is able of moving by himself, and his engine noises (according to Martha) are a language of their own.
- Argument of Contradictions: The boys have a stereotypical one-word-each argument against the girls over whether the bulldozer or dinosaur is more powerful.
- Artistic License – Linguistics: The dinosaur's name is Susan. "Susan" is a Hebrew name, and the Hebrew language was invented by humans long after the dinosaurs (if birds aren't counted) died out. Justified in that she turns out to have been thought up by T.D., who's Book Dumb and so probably wouldn't know the origins of the name Susan.
- Cats Are Superior: Discussed when Martha claims cats only talk about themselves.
- Daydream Surprise: All of the scenes with Susan and Old Smokely turn out to have been in T.D.'s mind.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Helen says that an invisible person would win against a chameleon in hide and seek because "the invisible person is invisible".
- Foreshadowing: The bulk of the episode being in T.D.'s imagination is foreshadowed by unexplained oddities, such as the bulldozer being sentient, and the construction worker being able to speak Dinosaur.
- Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: While riding on Susan, Martha wears a hard hat and a high-vis vest.
- Happy Dance:
- The kids, Martha, and even Susan start dancing happily when Old Smokely agrees to compete against Susan with his job.
- The kids dance happily while chanting, "Bulldozers and dinosaurs!" upon deciding they're equal.
- Hollywood Chameleon: Truman imagines a chameleon changing colour to match its background to play hide and seek.
- Hypothetical Fight Debate: Helen says that the only real way of determining if a bulldozer or a dinosaur is more powerful is by having them fight, then in T.D.'s imagination he has them do just that.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: T.D. claims that Old Smokey and Susan wouldn't possibly be strong enough to break a chain, but then the chain breaks.
- Kids Love Dinosaurs: The kids get into a goofy debate that involves a dinosaur.
- Older Is Better: O.G. has this opinion when it comes to movies, since he refers to "when movies were good" as a time in the past.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Subverted. T.D. leaves after the argument, so Helen thinks he's storming off, but actually he's going to look for O.G.'s opinion.
- Slapstick: After starting the contest, Alice is knocked over into the dirt.
- Speak in Unison:
- When the kids are shouting their sides in the bulldozer v. dinosaur argument, both sides speak in unison.
- At the end, they chant, "Bulldozers and dinosaurs!" in unison.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Old Smokely's owner speaks Dinosaur.
- Tempting Fate: Alice says that nothing could break the very big rope made of ropes and chains, but moments later, Old Smokey and Susan do break it.
- Time Machine: O.G. invents a machine to travel in time.
