Dinosaucers was a short lived but fondly remembered Animal Superheroes cartoon from the United States. It aired for one season as a 65-Episode Cartoon that aired in First-Run Syndication on weekdays in 1987. It is about a war carried out on Earth between two groups of anthropomorphic dinosaurs from the planet Reptilon. The good Dinosaurs are the titular Dinosaucers who fight a group of evil dinosaurs, the Tyrannos. The Dinosaucers have also recruited a bunch of Earth kids called the Secret Scouts to help them in their fight.
The Dinosaucers also have a power called Dinovolving, which transforms them into normal, non-anthro dinosaurs while retaining all their other human-like abilities (talking, ect.) However it's rarely used and usually didn't appear for entire episodes. The Tyrannos themselves do not have this ability, but they do have a Transformation Ray gun that does essentially the same thing — but the now-normal animal character has that animal's intelligence as well. The device is usually used on the Tyrannos themselves for comedic effect, because in spite of all the action/adventure elements, more often than not the stories are Played for Laughs. Despite the unusual premise, it was boosted by general tongue-in-cheek writing with good characters. Compare/contrast the genuinely ridiculous Extreme Dinosaurs, Dino Squad, Kung Fu Dino Posse, Jurassic Strike Force 5 and DinoZaurs.
The show was made by DIC Entertainment, and features original characters, but it is not part of the DIC library (which is now owned by DHX Media). Its owned and distributed by Coca-Cola Telecommunications, which is now part of Sony Pictures Television, making them the show's current rights holders.note
In 2017, Lion Forge produced a comic book reboot of the show, with Darker and Edgier material that was aged up in tone from the original.
There is a Characters page that needs some love.
"The Dinosaucers are troping, Bossasaur!" "Well, follow them!"
- Above Good and Evil: The Dinosorceror rulers of Reptilon seem rather apathetic towards Allo's and Genghis Rex's constant warring over the Earth, considering it 'childish behavior' they'll soon grow out of eventually.
- Adults Are Useless: The amount of human adults who show any sign of competence in the entire series could be counted on one hand.
- Alien Invasion:
- Played straight with the Tyrannos, though due to their incompetence it's usually over before it starts. With the Dinosaucers its curiously more of a Benevolent Alien Invasion as they set up bases and want to share technology and knowledge.
- The episode "Applesaucers" ultimately subverts both sides, revealing the alien Dinosaurs already own Earth. They've taken it over the legal way, by purchasing and buying it all up. Genghis Rex easily acquired the mortgage to David's grandparents' farm for no reason other than to grief the heroes.
- All Planets Are Earth-Like: Subverted with Reptilon, which is also exactly on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth. And they speak perfect English off the bat. It has two moons. Its climate is much warmer than on Earth, that the Dinosaucers are not used to snow on our world and find the cold almost unbearable.
- Alliterative Name: Secret scout Sarah Spencer.
- And the Adventure Continues: "I Got Those Ol' Reptilon Blues Again, Mommasaur" ends with Allo, Bronto Thunder and Teryx flying back to Earth, happy that their mission isn't over just yet.
- Animation Bump: As many other cartoons of the era, the Title Sequence is better animated than the show itself.
- Animesque: Despite being an American production, the show is somewhat styled like an anime, particularly the Secret Scouts. It helps that the show—like many of DIC's productions—was animated in Japan.
- Artistic License – Paleontology:
- There's a little leeway given that these are all aliens who happen to resemble anthropomorphic versions of Earth animals. Still, there are some weird things such as Quackpot's fangs and Terrible Dactyl's long tail. Further, the Dinosaucers and Tyrannos who aren't dinosaurs (but who end up being called as such in low-quality children's books), Dimetro, Terrible, Ichy, and Plesio, keep calling themselves dinosaurs.
- Dimetro is kind of an oddball there. Dimetrodons are most definitely not dinosaurs. They are pelycosaurs, the ancestors of the therapsids, who were in turn the ancestors of mammals (in short, Dimetro is a closer relative of the Secret Scouts than he is to any of the Dinosaucers). However, Dimetrodon was and is still one of the most likely non-dinosaurs to be called a dinosaur in poorly researched children's media, and examples of it being confused for a dinosaur are numerous.
- When Dinosaucers was being created, the dinosaur formerly known as Brontosaurus had been renamed Apatosaurus, after paleontologists determined that the two species were the same and that Apatosaurus was the older, and more valid, name. However at the time Brontosaurus was still the name pop culture was familiar with, and so Dinosaucers continued to use it. This trope is lampshaded when Bronto is told that Apatosaurus is the appropriate term for his species. On his planet it's apparently a girl's name. Specifically, "Apattysaurus" is the name of his girlfriend back home.
- Terrible Dactyl. His name would suggest he's a Pterodactylus and he did have teeth like one, but he also had a crest like a Pteranodon and a tail like a Rhamphorhynchus. In fact, the animators of Dinosaucers were clearly inspired by Pteranodon and Rhamphorhynchus when designing Terrible Dactyl. This wouldn't be the first, or last time such pterosaurs would be depicted. Interestingly, the show seems to acknowledge Pteranodon and "Pterodactyls" as two separate pterosaurs, as evidenced by the episode "Eggs Mark the Spot" where Terrible Dactyl outright states Pteranodons are his "cousins" and Genghis Rex still refers to him as a pterodactyl. But that doesn't excuse the fact the Pteranodons in this show have long, Rhamphorhynchus-like tails just like Terrible, though at least they are toothless.
- In one episode, the Secret Scouts were chased into a cavern by "the largest of all dinosaurs, a Seismosaurus". There was a brief period of time when this was widely accepted as accurate, although it was later discovered that Seismosaurus was actually synonymous with Diplodocus. However, none of this excuses making the Seismosaurus look like a Brachiosaurus with a serpentine neck and sharp teeth.
- The prehistoric Ankylosaurus in this show have two spikes pronging from their tail clubs similar to outdated depictions of Scolosaurus.
- Quackpot is an unspecified "Duckbill". At the time Dinosaucers was produced, the best known duckbill was Anatosaurus - however, at the time there was some controversy over whether the species should be called Anatosaurus or Trachodon, and it's possible that the writers chose to avoid the name entirely so they wouldn't later turn out to be wrongnote . More likely that they just didn't think it important enough to bring up.
- Artistic License – Law: "Scales of Justice" seems to take this trope up to eleven within a minute of the trial in said episode:
- Some of the Tyranno's claims (illegal entry and tailgating) are criminal, not civil offenses, for which you can't sue people; instead, you call the police.
- No single court in the United States would have jurisdiction over all the charges made against the Dinosaucers. Tailgating is a traffic offense, which is usually handled by municipal courts or their equivalent. Another crime mentioned, assault and battery (civil or criminal), can be handled at the municipal or county levels, depending on the severity of the claim or charge, and illegal entry is a federal offense, which would be handled by an immigration court.
- The Judge presiding in the trial just accepts the accusations given by the Tyranno`s with no solid proof other than their word (and after Ankylo openly stated that Tyranno`s never tell the truth during his swear in oath). Allo also manages to successfully defend him and his team using the same tactic of just telling his side of things with zero solid proof on his behalf when and after questioning Ankylo. What`s even crazier is that this gets the judge to declare the Dinosaucers not guilty on one charge at a time after Allo finishes questioning Ankylo on each charge.
- After the verdict is reached on all the charges against the Dinosaucers where they are found not guilty Rex gets hostile and acts dangerous by smashing the prosecutors table and openly threatening his lawyer. Had this scene been more realistic, he would have been clearly restrained by courtroom guards and/or charged for his actions. For extra stupidity, he did all this while the judge was still in the room. However, the judge simply warns him that if he does one more outburst he`ll be held for contempt.
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Several of the dinos.
- The Baroness: Princess Dei.
- Baseball Episode: The aptly named "Take Us Out to the Ballgame" has the Secret Scouts teaching the Dinosaucers how to play baseball in Houston's Astrodome. When the Tyrannos show up, they put their newfound baseball skills to work countering their weapons.
- Beach Episode: As stated below there is indeed a beach episode. However its purpose is inverted. For some reason all the Tyrannos and every single male Dinosaucer appears... but Sarah is the only female to be found in the episode! The Fanservice that one is suppose to get with the episode is swayed in favor of the girls with all the Bare-Chested Male Anthro Dinosaur shots you could want. This all gets a little weird when you consider that the show's target audience is pre-pubescent boys...
- Berserk Button: Don't call Rex "Chiefasaur," though the exact reason for that's never explained.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Quackpot may be the biggest joker on the Tyrannos, but he has proved to be an actual menace to the Dinosaucers and Secret Scouts more than once on the show. This trait/trope Quackpot displays is also hinted at in the 2018 reboot comic with a more darker nature behind it.
- Big Fancy House: Allo's home on Reptilon, where his wife, Vera, his daughter Alloette, and his hired help, Gator Maid, all live.
- Black-and-White Morality: For any dinosaur on this show, either you're a Dinosaucer and are pure and heroic or you're a Tyranno and you're evil and malicious. (However, see Harmless Villain below.) The whole planet the titular characters are from runs entirely on this trope.
- Buffy Speak: In "Beach Blanket Bonehead", Quackpot helpfully spells the word "can't" for Rex; he calls the apostrophe a "little hooky guy".
- Card-Carrying Villain: The Tyrannos, especially Genghis Rex and Princess Dei.
- Carnivore Confusion: Allo, the Dinosaucer's leader is an Allosaurus who has a subordinates Bronto Thunder and Stego, respectively an Apatosaurus and a Stegosaurus who were known Allosauruses' prey; Conversely, Rex, has Ankylo, Styraco, and Quackpot, respectively an Ankylosaurus, Styracosaurus and an unspecified Duckbill as underlings. However in one episode shows both Rex and his sister, Dei, feasting on fern, and another shows Stego eating pastrami on rye, suggesting that all of the civilized dinosaurs on Reptilon are omnivores.
- Carnivores Are Mean: Averted with the carnivore members of the Dinosaucers who are good guys. Played straight with the carnivore members of the Tyrannos.
- Cartoon Creature: Furballs, small, round, big-footed mammal creatures native to Reptilon.
- Cats Are Mean: One episode had both the Dinosaucers and Tyrannos dealing with a pirate crew of humanoid saber-toothed cats trying to plunder Earth.
- Christmas Episode/You Mean X Mas: Three words. "Merry Dinosaur Day."
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: All the good guys had a blue color scheme. All the bad guys had a red color scheme.
- Cool Starship: All of the Dinosaucers and Tyrannos have their own personal ship (excepting Teryx and Terrible Dactyl) which echoes their species, as well as both groups having an even LARGER starship they used to arrive on Earth. The Secret Scouts were also given high-tech transport vehicles of their own modeled after a motorcycle (Ryan and Paul), an ATV (Sarah), and a surfboard (David).
- Courtroom Episode: In "The Scales of Justice", the Tyrannos try to convince a judge to deport the Dinosaucers back to their home planet.
- Cowardly Lion Stego:. Usually preferring to avoid confrontation, and typically ducking his head into his suit at the first sign of trouble, Stego has, on two separate occasions, infiltrated the Tyranno base by himself to rescue his friends. First Teryx and Sarah, and later a human boy he had just met that day. In fact, there was an episode parodying The Wizard of Oz. No points for guessing who played the Cowardly Lion.
- A Day in the Limelight:
- Styraco was probably the least-used character in the show, but he was the star of the episode "I Was a Teenage Human."
- Episodes with Ichy and Tricero doing anything important could be counted with the fingers of one hand.
- Department of Redundancy Department: "Bronto" means "thunder" in Ancient Greek. So Bronto Thunder's name translates to "Thunder Thunder."
- Depending on the Writer: More minor characters could often change their personalities completely in between episodes. Bronto Thunder would zigzag from the Dinosaucers second-in-command, to a clumsy Butt-Monkey. Styraco and Brachio would be competent one episode, then buffoons that rivalled Ankylo the next.
- Depraved Kids' Show Host: Quackpot of all people. He used to have his own kids show and was known as T.B. Duckbill.
- Didn't Think This Through: This why the Tyrannos fail half the time. In one episode, the Tyrannos go back to old jobs to make the Dinosaucers think they've given up and let their guard down, allowing the Tyrannos to attack the Dinosorcerer and Dinosorceress without any opposition. However, since the Tyrannos went back to their old jobs, they're too busy to aid Rex and Dei with the attack.
- Dumb Dinos: One of the Tyrannos' devices turns a target anthro-dinosaur into one. They usually end up using it on themselves.
- Enemy Mine: Done in one episode when Earth was invaded by pirate Sabre Tooth Tigers. The Tyrannos and Dinosaucers both teamed up to stop them, for the Dinosaucers it was because the Sabre Tooths were evil and for the Tyrannos it was because Genghis Rex didn't want them to steal Earth from him.
- Episode Title Card: Always accompanied by a still from that particular episode.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: Used sooo many times.
- Evil Counterpart/Good Counterpart: Most of the Dinosaucers and Tyrannos are good/evil counterparts of each other - Allo/Genghis Rex, Teryx/Terrible Dactyl, Bronto Thunder/Brachio, Tricero/Styraco, Stego/Ankylo, Ichy/Plesio and Bonehead/Quackpot. Dimetro is the only one left out.
- Evil Lawyer Joke: Despite losing the case in the aforementioned Courtroom Episode, Genghis Rex spares his lawyer's life, because he thinks that the man has some Tyranno blood in his veins.
- Fangs Are Evil: Played straight with the Tyrannos (like Genghis Rex) but averted with the Dinosaucers (like Allo). What`s crazy about this trope is that some of the Tyrannos who have fangs aren`t carnivores such as Brachio and Quackpot.
- Fantastic Racism: The Tyrannos, especially Rex, don`t hide the fact that they hate humans with a passion. They often refer to any human they come across as "you mammal" with contempt in their tone of voice. It`s more obvious with the Secret Scouts as they still refer to them as "puny mammal" despite knowing their names.
- Film Noir: "Those Reptilon Nights", the one episode with Tricero-centric plotline was influenced by this, since he used to be a detective back on Reptilon.
- Fish out of Water: The show derives some of its humor from the dinos misunderstanding various aspects of human society.
- The Funny Guy: Quackpot, though his teammates don`t seem to find his antics too hilarious as they often happen at their expense.
- Goggles Do Nothing: Terrible Dactyl never takes his pilot goggles off! The same usually goes for Dinosaucers/Tyrannos that wear helmets.
- Gone Horribly Right: In one episode, Genghis Rex steals a formula that would make him beautiful so the people of Earth would follow him willingly. It works, but Rex didn't realize that what dinosaurs consider beautiful, humans consider terrifying.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: For the Dinosaucers, Blue Is Heroic, while the villainous Tyrannos are red.
- Graceful Loser:
- When the Secret Scouts foiled Perry Porter's plan to photograph the captured Dinosaucers, he merely shrugged it off, saying "You win a few, you lose a few."
- When Sarah beat her rival Giselle in the school Olympics, Giselle was visibly annoyed that she lost, but still gave Sarah a congratulatory handshake.
- When Allo saved the Secret Scouts from a Tyranno film shoot, Attila Rex told Genghis not to be too upset since "That's showbiz!"
- Gratuitous Japanese: The film studio in "Karatesaurus Rex" has an entrance sign with odd-looking symbols, but also the word "studio" written in katakana.
- Harmless Villain: Most of the Tyrannos. Whenever they try to do anything really evil, they mess up. Some of them (Terrible Dactyl and Plesio) are also known to show non-evil behavior, and at times they play games with the Dinosaucers. In fact, in one episode Quackpot is allowed to babysit Bonehead's baby brother.
- Headbutting Pachy: Bonehead will use his head to ram things every now and then.
- Homage: Ohhh, let's see... One episode was based on The Wizard of Oz, one on The Maltese Falcon, another recreated a typical Laurel and Hardy skit, there was a Superman reference, "I Was a Teenage Human" plays homage to classic horror monsters films, specially Frankenstein and then there's a "Crocodile" Dundee episode.
- Humans Are Special: The dinosaurs of Reptilon love humans, their cultures and traditions. Everything. Its amusing to see the huge technologically advanced beings who often insult the people of Earth by derogatorily calling us "just mammals", forget themselves and just fanboy over us. The reason why? It's the very same reason why you think dinosaurs are so amazing.
- Human Pet: The dinosaurs of Reptilon's love for humans has grown to this point. Even many Tyrannos wanting one for themselves. Allo himself, who has become weary of the Furballs, now believes "A Dinosaucers' best friend is his mammal".
- Hurricane of Puns: Oh dear sweet god the puns. The Dinosaucers and Tyrannos use them so much its ridiculous. Even the episode titles are just essentially puns!
- Hypno Ray: One of the many uses of Quackpot's "joy buzzer" was to hypnotize Sarah.
- Hypnotize the Captive: Sarah is hypnotized by Quackpot's joy buzzer so she will help him in a magic show.
- In a Single Bound: Sarah's Secret Scout Ring allows her to jump high distances.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: This seems to be the bread and butter for the jokes on this show (like Genghis telling his allies to take a hike during a football game prompts them to go take a hike, ect.).
- Informed Species:
- Bonehead is supposed to be a Pachycephalosaurus, but only bears a passing resemblance to one.
- Ankylo has a face more like a cross between a bulldog and a warthog than an Ankylosaurus.
- Plesio is supposed to be a Plesiosaurus, but his long tail, the fact that he has hands and feet instead of flippers, and the tendrils trailing off his scalp mean that he isn't readily identifiable as one.
- Princess Dei is supposed to be a Deinonychus, but she looks more like a generic small theropod. In fact, she doesn't even have the sickle-shaped foot-claws the genus was named after.
- Insane Troll Logic: Allo uses this to exonerate him and his teammates during a court case the Tyrannos have brought against them after all other options have been exhausted. Chief among them, he argues that his team aren't Illegal Aliens because they never crossed the United States Border, they landed straight down. He then tries to discredit another Tyranno's testimony by claiming that because his tail was dragging as he raced across the ground that he was "Drag Racing" which is illegal. The most insane part of this though? It works. The Judges dismisses all charges.
- Insult Backfire:Ankylo: [The humans] are the most irritating pests on this planet.
Genghis: Only next to you, Ankylo.
Ankylo: Oh, thank you King Genghis! - Interspecies Romance: Teryx is in love with Ichy, but she's reluctant to tell him because they're different species. She's an Archaeopteryx, he's a Ichthyosaurus. Her reasoning is strange, as interspecies relations are common on the Dinosaucers' home planet (leading to some... interesting
Fridge Logic) and Ichy has no problem getting around on land anyway. It's never really made clear if Ichy and Teryx ever do go out with one another.- There's some strong hints that after "For the Love of Teryx" they do. Mostly knowing looks and rather heartfelt farewells from time to time when they separate.
- At least one episode references the fact that Teryx and Genghis Rex used to actively date one another at some point back on Reptilon. She didn't seem to have any problem with the idea back then. Thing is, he still carries a torch for her, but Teryx has long since moved on.
- Intrepid Reporter: A villainous example with Perry Porter, a newspaper photographer who was accidentally given Sarah's pictures of the Dinosaucers and teamed up with the Tyrannos to capture them and make them the scoop of the century.
- Intrigued by Humanity: In "The Museum of Natural Humans", Reptilon became fascinated with humans, much to Genghis's disgust.
- I've Heard of That — What Is It?: Bonehead, when Sarah tells him she's taking part in the Junior Olympics: "That's neat. What's an Olympics?"
- Large Ham: Genghis Rex, Ankylo, Quackpot, David, Stego, Bronto Thunder and Bonehead all seem to display this trope a lot. The other characters also have their moments of this.
- Little Girls Kick Shins: Sarah does this to Ankylo in "For the Love of Teryx".
- A Little Something We Call "Rock and Roll": Subverted when David tried to teach the Dinosaucers about music; the Dinosaucers found the sound incredibly painful on the ears, and when they had to stand in for David's band later, they naturally couldn't play a lick of good music.
- Living Dinosaurs: The first episode has the characters finding a Lost World inhabited by living Earthling dinosaurs still in their prehistoric state.
- Lovely Assistant: Sarah willingly helps the good guys with their magic show, and then later helps Quackpot's show when she's hypnotized by him.
- Magic Pants: Devolving simply makes the clothes disappear. They show up again once the victim returns to normal.
- The Millstone: Even by the low standards of the Tyrannos, Ankylo is spectacularly incompetent.
- Mind-Control Eyes: Downplayed when Sarah is hypnotized. Her eyes don't do anything weird. She just had a look of being under a trance.
- Mirrored Confrontation Shot: Used in the Title Sequence, as seen in the page image.
- Neck Lift: Genghis Rex's usual method of asserting his authority among the Tyrannos on the rare occasions yelling didn't suffice.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The episode "Karatesaurus Rex" has a scene with a videocassette vending machine (really) and a cassette that teaches karate with "Chuck Nowrist".
- No Peripheral Vision: The Dinosaucers and Tyrannos are pretty stealthy... being as big as they are. No one ever seems to notice the giant prehistoric monsters sneaking behind them... ever. One egregious example is in "Eggs Marks the Spot" when Sarah is looking from side to side in front of her while Ankylo and Quackpot sneak past behind her. Its rather ridiculous to see creatures almost twice the size of a regular human simply tip toe past people without being spotted.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Egbert Feeney, a birdwatcher who was able to capture Teryx in order to make her the find of the century, without any help from the Tyrannos or anyone else. Granted, Teryx was sick at the time, but still.
- Opening Narration: Given by Ryan during the Title Sequence.
- Off to See the Wizard: Or rather, "We're Off to See the Lizard; the whole episode plays out as Sarah having a dream in classic Oz style.
- Parental Bonus: In "Beach Blanket Bonehead", a kid meets Bonehead and runs off to tell his mother he's seen a dinosaur. She tells him to buzz off, since she's busy reading a book called "Clan of the Cave Dinosaur". This is a reference to Clan of the Cave Bear, a book series that is decidedly not kid-friendly.
- Passionate Sports Girl: Sarah, a skilled gymnast who even tries out for the Olympics in one episode.
- Phlebotinum-Induced Stupidity: The Frankenstein-esque experiment Genghis Rex uses on Styraco to transform him into human seems to also affect his intelect, since he was acting like a Dumb Muscle during the time he was in that form.
- Pink Means Feminine: Sarah's pink tights (and in "The Dinolympics", her pink gymnastics leotard), including her helmet, and some parts of her vehicle.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Primarily Stego and Bonehead, who is also the Tagalong Kid by virtue of being Allo's nephew.
- Plucky Girl: Sarah is sweet and kind, but also pretty headstrong.
- Product Placement:
- Averted Trope. The show itself was owned by the Coca-Cola Company (during the time when they ran Columbia Pictures)... and they didn't saturate it with in-show ads! It's now owned by Sony (Columbia's current parent company), for what it's worth.
- Additionally, the toy line was never released (aside from a
very small release overseas). The molds were ready, which is why they were sold to another company to make the aforementioned overseas run. The cancellation was very sudden and unexpected.
- Punch-Clock Villain: The Tyrannos, for a group of insurgents, are able to travel between Earth and Reptilon easily. They go on breaks there when they are not busy being villains.
- Punny Name:
- Allo's wife's name is Vera. Together, that makes them "aloe vera".
- His housekeeper is a Deinosuchus (a prehistoric crocodile) called Gator-Maid.
- One of the Sabertooth pirates was named Smilin' Don. The scientific name of the sabertooth is Smilodon.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: Rex and Allo tend to be the most competent in their respective teams, but this is taken to an extreme with the Dinosorceror and his wife, the Dinosorceress. An attempt to assassinate them with laser weapons simply resulted in the Dinosorceress catching them and asking the shooters if they wanted it back. They wisely declined.
- Raptor Attack: Princess Dei, a Deinonychus who occasionally aids the Tyrannos. Since this show came out before Jurassic Park, Deinonychus is used as the token dromaeosaur instead of Velociraptor. Teryx technically also counts, but it would not be until much later that Archaeopteryx was recognized as a relative of the dromaeosaurs.
- Remember the New Guy?: The Dinosorcerer appeared in one of the last episodes, despite that the Dinosorceress' previous appearances gave the impression that she ruled alone.
- Ring of Power: Played completely straight with the Secret Scouts' rings. They served as Comm Links, and when invoked with the phrase, "Secret Scouts ring, power up!", the Scouts' natural athletic abilities would be enhanced for a short period of time.
- Savage Spinosaurs: "Those Reptilonian Nights" featured a Spinosaurus (though he could be a Dimetrodon) and what might have been a Baryonyx (at the very least, he had the thumb claw) as mafia goons. The show was made before those two dinosaurs were understood to be related, so the fact they're shown together is pure coincidence.
- Selective Obliviousness: Those poor, gullible Tyrannos... For a point of reference, they heard about the Astro Dome housing the biggest "diamond" in Texas. Guess what kind of diamond they took that to mean.
- 65-Episode Cartoon
- The Smurfette Principle: Related to the above trope, as this show's target demographic is for boys. Boys usually like Dinosaurs more anyway. Teryx and Sarah are the only main female characters on the show. At the same time though, as mentioned above, Teryx and Sarah do go on adventures with the team and do help beat the bad guys time to time, so they're not just there for eye candy.
- Sssssnake Talk: Plesio, though refreshingly, he's the only reptilian character to do so.
- Stalker with a Crush: Rex towards Teryx. The episode "For the Love of Teryx" highlights this best.
- Stalker without a Crush: Terrible Dactyl is usually seen spying on the Dinosaucers and the Secret Scouts both around and away from the Lavadome, following them and reporting to the Tyrannos about their activities.
- Status Quo Is God: And how! Everything always reverts to the status quo at the end of the episode. Nothing ever changes. Like most cartoons of its time, the series doesn't follow any overarching storyline. Every episode was self contained. Ergo, there was no need to change anything. All the Tyrannos will always be evil even after betraying Rex, no characters ever die or leave, and the Dinosaucers and Tyrannos, despite meeting several humans not part of the main cast and even being involved in an actual court case at one time, always go back to fighting their battle in secret.
- Taken for Granite: The Fossilizer, a gun that turns Dinosaurs, people and objects into stone.
- Teenage Mutant Samurai Wombats
- Temper-Ceratops: While Styraco plays this straight, Tricero inverts this by being a calm voice of reason.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Ichy was definitely the Aquaman of the show. Don't expect him to have any important role in the series, unless there's water involved. Plesio, his Evil Counterpart, had more pressence than him even if there wasn't water involved.
- Title Drop
- Token Flyer: Teryx the Archaeopteryx and Terrible Dactyl the pterosaur are this for their respective teams the Dinosaucers and the Tyrannos.
- Too Dumb to Live: Some of the Tyrannos come off as this sometimes. Quackpot takes the cake in one episode where he happens to notice that Genghis Rex is just a bit crazy.... then loudly proclaims an insult regarding Genghis Rex's mental state to the other Tyrannos. Good thing Rex wasen't in a "break your face open with my fist" kinda mood that day. All the times they misinterpret simple Earth things, like thinking that toy commercials are advertisements for weapons, that summer camp is really boot camp, that 'reduced for clearance' means a guy named Clarence has a shrink ray (also that he wears stilts is proof of this), that an actor on TV is really a superhero, etc. The Dinosaucers sometimes fell victim to this too.
- Transformation Ray:
- The Devolving Gun. Reverts the victim to their prehistoric form and decreases their intelligence.
- Further explored in Dinovolving, a technology the Dinosaucers have and the Tyrannos want. Not only do they revert to their feral form, but they retain their intelligence and ability to speak.
- True Blue Femininity: Sarah's vest is blue.
- Unanthropomorphic Transformation: The good guys had the power to do this via Dino-volving, which allowed them to transform their humanoid bodies into the much larger forms of their dinosaur ancestors. They gained proportional strength and stamina, as well as retained their normal intelligence and ability to talk, but lost their opposable thumbs and outfits.
- Unpleasant Animal Counterpart: Some of the Tyrannos are larger and/or scarier-looking counterparts to the Dinosaucers: Tyrannosaurus rex (evil) is bigger and fiercer than Allosaurus (good), Brachiosaurus (evil) is bigger than Brontosaurus (good), Styracosaurus is much spikier than Triceratops, Plesiosaurus (evil) is all snakelike and sinister compared to Icthyosaurus, and Archaeopteryx (good) is mostly just a bird while a pterosaur (evil) looks like a dragon-bat. Once you get to Ankylosaurus and Anatosaurus, though, the good and evil counterparts don't line up as neatly. The character designs of the Tyrannos often had spikes and sharp fangs added to make them look more evil.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Ties into the Status Quo Is God thing above.
- Unwanted Rescue: In one episode, Plesio does a jailbreak for the underwater inhabitants of an aquarium. He essentially offers them freedom from their "Human Slave Masters". While the sea creatures are initially swayed into thinking Plesio's form of freedom is right, they quickly become disillusioned. Mostly because they grow hungry, tired, they no longer think it's very fun, and Plesio states that he hates mammals in general making the Dolphins abandon him. Plesio's plans to take back the seas from the humans only goes as far freeing a school of fish from the net of a fishing boat. The aquarium creatures were probably raised in captivity, but hearing one say "I don't think I like freedom" is kinda weird. Needless to say, the episode is like a reverse viewing of Captain Planet.
- Villain Ball: Genghis Rex is incredibly ineffectual as a villain. Not only do all his plans fail, they're never even very well thought out or clear. Name something from the Villain Ball page and Rex probably has it. Even the other Tyrannos don't seem to respect him all that much; some have betrayed him behind his back, while others just enjoy making fun of him. The episodes usually end with him suffering from a very embarrassing defeat.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Done to ridiculous extremes! Allo always lets Rex and the Tyrannos get away. ALWAYS! Rex doesn't even have to retreat, he just has to walk off and no one bothers to try and chase after him. Its so bad at times, that one has to ask if this Alien Dinosaur battle for Earth is actually taken seriously by either the Tyrannos or the Dinosaucers. One rather memorable example had Genghis Rex offer to destroy his own base for the Dinosaucers (while under the effects of a sort of loyalty-switching ray). Allo refuses.
- Water Is Air: Ichy and Plesio have no problems with speaking underwater when they need to.
- Weaksauce Weakness: How does Sarah defeat the Sabertooth tiger pirates? With catnip.
- What Does She See in Him?: More like "What DID she see in him?" when you regard Teryx and Rex's past where they dated. Rex could be described as hostile, angry and aggressive which seems to be traits that Teryx despises in regards to her kinder and more open personality.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In the finale, Rex turns two guards to stone using the Fossilizer. Even though we've seen that Fossilized victims can be restored to normal, and in almost every other instance are, Rex and Dei are made to leave without restoring the guards to normal.
