Did you know that the Dinosaurs show, with the Jim Henson creations, was an environmentalist critique?

[entremet]

You know, the one with the baby? Not the mamma. I was too young to get these themes, but it's rather cool in hindsight.

Earl, the father, works for Sinclair, a company obsessed with profits to the detriment of the environment.

And we see this in the final episode, which is very dark, especially for a family show. The TDLR is that Earl destroys tons of essential foliage at the behest of his company and causes a nuclear winter—The Ice Age.

What's crazy is that the big boss guy, the triceratops guys, was happy at Earl's task. Because it meant their quarter earnings were hit. Kinda insane, but that's the capitalism we have today.

With all the climate change talk of late, and companies and governments just ignoring it, it seems very prescient today.

 

[St. Elmo's Fire]

Yeah. Especially the final episode hits hard.

 

[Westbahnhof]

The lesson I took away from it was "Wow l also want to push over trees", so me and my cousins went out and knocked over old dead/dying trees.

So yeah.. We also didn't see any themes, back then

 

[PlanetSmasher]

Yes. The series finale was incredibly brutal about it. But honestly when I was young most of the discourse about the show was about Baby and his catchphrases.

 

[Binabik15]

Yes, it was pretty obvious watching some episodes as a teen. As a kid I didn't get it, but it made damn sure I'd never try anabolic steroids 🤣

 

[Hollywood Duo]

Based on the ending it was fairly obvious

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Sad ending when they're all scared huddled in the house.

 

[Mesoian]

Yes, the ending of that show was pretty famous.

 

[BobbyRawlins]

now? yes
then? NOT THE MOMMA

 

[Digital Dinosaur]

Considering the era it was made in, it was one of the most consistently subversive, anti-establishment, and outright hippie / left-wing / progressive shows on American network television.

The Henson name and puppet characters were used to sneak it totally under the radar. The baby was a weaponized device for strategic distraction.

IIRC there was even an episode tearing into born-again evangelical christianity.

 

[entremet]

Considering the era it was made in, it was one of the most consistently subversive, anti-establishment, and outright hippie / left-wing / progressive shows on American network television.

The Henson name and puppet characters were used to sneak it totally under the radar. The baby was a weaponized device for strategic distraction.

IIRC there was even an episode tearing into born-again evangelical christianity.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, kinda crazy it was a 90s show.

 

[Grue]

I never saw the finale at the time but having watched it since, boy that's admirably dark.

 

[RBH]

View: https://youtu.be/p7E7TTcYKvs?si=_lNYXjgcKYUPSORb

 

[Platy]

Also the racism episode about how dinosaurs hate mammals but love their music hit a little too close

 

[metsallica]

Of course. Lot going on there.

 

[Omegasquash]

They were subtle enough to get by, but there were a few episodes, especially the last, that didn't pull punches.

 

[entremet]

Also the racism episode about how dinosaurs hate mammals but love their music hit a little too close

Click to shrink...

I forgot that one. Memory unlocked lol. Wow. So prescient.

 

[Lulu]

They didn't even have TVs back then.

 

[Amalthea]

Yeah, stuff like that made me aware of climate change very young. Honestly it feels like a nightmare to spend all your life seeing how the climate and pollution gets worse and worse and so little has been done in all this time...

 

[Aldo]

The baby was a weaponized device for strategic distraction.

Click to shrink...

There were some shocking (for a young kid) episodes focusing on the baby too. I still remember how scared I was when an episode was about how they were considering splitting him in two in order to share him between two families or something.

 

[mhayes86]

I watched the show as a kid and loved it, but the themes definitely went over my head at the time. As much as I enjoyed it back then, it was one that I've never gone back to as an adult like I did with some other shows over the years, so I'm only aware of its overall message from online sources like this thread. I really would like to watch it again one day.

 

[entremet]

Considering the era it was made in, it was one of the most consistently subversive, anti-establishment, and outright hippie / left-wing / progressive shows on American network television.

The Henson name and puppet characters were used to sneak it totally under the radar. The baby was a weaponized device for strategic distraction.

IIRC there was even an episode tearing into born-again evangelical christianity.

Click to shrink...

To further add to this excellent statement.

The fact that they were puppets also helped them target these themes more than other shows. A superficial glance and you think it's just a family sitcom with puppets.

But I guess that how art has always done it. Can't be too obvious.

 

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Yes

 

[Zan]

Yes. The series finale was incredibly brutal about it. But honestly when I was young most of the discourse about the show was about Baby and his catchphrases.

Click to shrink...

Hell, the baby seemed like they were poking fun of other characters like it in it's catchphrase: "I'm the baby, Gotta love me!"

 

[toy_brain]

Man this brings back memories, albeit very patchy ones.
It aired on UK TV back in the day, probably not too long after its US broadcast. I don't remember much about it, but I recall it being a lot less about the environment and extinction than I was expecting - though that might just mean they snuck that stuff in better.
Vague memories of the show include:
The fridge full of rabid critters.
NOT THE MAMMA
The teenage son howling at the moon (?)
Earl singing/quoting female pop-songs as part of his speech because someone tricked him
It being a lot like Gophers!, but I forget which one came first.

(Fake Edit: Apparently Gophers! came first....... and it was made in the UK!?)

Actual Edit. I completely don't remember the ending for Dinosaurs. At the time I kinda knew it had to end with their extinction, I guess the fact that it wasn't a meteor must have thrown me for a loop and I just discarded my entire memory of that episode.

 

[Rated-G]

What 'Sexual' Harris Meant is still a fantastic episode and is still super relevant, to a frustrating and sad degree, as it really shows that like 32 years after airing, not much has changed.

This show is full of topics and episodes that were ahead of their time and very progressive.

 

[Joe]

I think it is maybe the most famous thing about the show, yes.

 

[Digital Dinosaur]

One episode that is perversely funnier today involves the kids of the family believing a theory that the earth is round and not just one large flat continent (Pangea). They're arrested for heresy and sentenced to death, but the law allows them to choose how they're executed.

So they demand to be thrown off the edge of the world, knowing it's impossible.

 

[BringBackSonics]

Yeah..?

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

Is having an environmental message really that unusual for the time?

 

[entremet]

Is having an environmental message really that unusual for the time?

Click to shrink...

For a prime time TV family network show? Definitely.

I think the nostalgia of Captain Planet and such forgets that those were kids shows, not prime time, and also produced by Ted Turner, an avid environmentalist.

But this was not too common in primetime TV.

 

[Bizazedo]

Is having an environmental message really that unusual for the time?

Click to shrink...

No, it was pretty common (at least for some episodes, maybe not the entire show), but the thing this show did a bit better than others was to make it less obvious it was preaching.