These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
YMMV: Dinosaurs
Anvilicious - On at least one occasion, Lampshaded and mocked to death. Played straight many other times, though, especially in later seasons.
Genius Bonus: Earl's job is pushing trees. Paper is made from trees, so he's really a paper pusher.
Harsher in Hindsight: In the episode "And the Winner Is..." Earl has a nightmare where the world ends as a result of him being elected as Chief Elder. In the last episode of the series, Earl causes the end of the world.
Not the momma, not the momma, not the momma, not the momma!
Moral Event Horizon: Richfield crosses it in the final episode, when he brushes off the fact that his and his employees' actions have doomed the world because he's making an immense profit from it.
The Downer Ending borders on Nightmare Fuel. In the span of an episode, the world has been thrown into an ice age. The world is dark and cold, and will be for "tens of thousands of years." We last see the family alive and grasping at futile optimism...picturing them, along with countless other sentient dinosaurs, slowly watching the power die away, the food run out, the question of suicide...
Mr. Richfield can be extremely scary for kids at times.
Tear Jerker - The final episode, especially in contrast to the light-hearted nature of the rest of the show.
When Ethyl finally gets to her class reunion (at Earl's expense) only to be told that she's the only one of her classmates still alive.
Earl: This is why TV stinks! One show's a hit, they make fifty more like it with the same characters and the same premise!
Baby: Don't have a cow man! (laughs)
Somewhat averted in that the show actually began development before The Simpsons premiered. It was originally intended to be Jim Henson's follow-up to Labyrinth and would have had a more serious slant to it. Then The Land Before Time opened and Henson decided to go in a more comedic direction.
Unfortunate Implications: Early episodes were not exactly great examples of feminism, to say the least.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Despite its use of puppets, Dinosaurs isn't what would be considered just "kid's stuff", what with its occasional use of profanity and adult jokes.
This was actually lampshaded in one episode. Earl is watching a sock puppet show on TV that noticeably has a lot of adult humor, but Fran dismisses it as just a kid's show. Earl says that it seems like a kid's show because of the children's aesthetic evoked by puppets, then turns to the camera and says:
Earl: Yet the dialogue is unquestionably sharp-edged, witty, and thematically skewed to adults.
