Lately, I've been watching all 4 seasons of this slightly underrated series and I forgot how amazing this TV show was.
In case you never saw the series (because of lack of cable, too young to remember or just plain ignorance), "Dinosaurs" takes the simple premise of "The Simpsons"(a mockery of society) and replaces the humans with Dinosaurs. In short, it shows us how civilization would be like if dinosaurs decided to get out of the wild, get married and settled down.
"Dinosaurs" follows the Sinclair family. There's Earl Sinclair, the father of the family, Fran Sinclair, the wise mother, Robbie Sinclair, the rebellious elder son, Charlene Sinclair, the spoiled younger sister and the iconic Baby Sinclair, who gained fame by being cute and hilarious. There are other characters that inhabit their lives, such as Roy, Earl's best friend and B.P. Richfield, the series's main antagonist and Earl's boss.
There are many things to love about the series. The first thing is that it features some really witty and sharp writing with plenty of commentary on many of society's quirks. What I love most about this is that it doesn't get too preachy and heavy handed with the morals and commentary (save for the final episode) and just has fun with the storyline, something series like "The Boondocks" and "South Park" have been doing in recent years, sometimes being successful, other times just being pretentious. There's even a full on attack on Disney theme parks (which at one pointed heavily promoted the series on the parks)!
The other thing I love about the series are the puppet characters. This is perhaps some of the best puppetry Jim Henson has ever done. Each character takes 3, count them, 3 performers to bring to life (one dons the suit, one controls the face and the actor provides the voice). And yet you would never know because all three are in perfect sync, creating an amazing performance that is full of life, character and charm. I LOVE Earl, he's my favorite character in the entire series. He is basically one ol' big lug, a loser with visions of grandeur and the representation of male stubbornness. Its hard to hate him, even if he does do some questionable things.
I absolutely LOVE the character expressions. Everything from subtle expressions to wacky double takes brings the characters to life even further. It reminds me of the days in which films were filled to the brim with fantastic looking puppet characters (like Labyrinth, which is also a Jim Henson production).
So add clever writing and incredible puppet acting and you have a winner.
You can check out the whole series on DVD now. If you love Jim Henson stuff you should check this one out.
Topic: Jim Henson's Dinosaurs (Read 3225 times)
