Valley of the Dinosaurs

This was pretty good from what I remember, same old plot as Land of the Lost-but they seemed to take care to stay away from the shrill campiness of that particular show. I remember as a kid liking it, they seemed to work in some morales and psuedo-geological lessons amongst the action.

Plus the pet mini-stegosaurus was kinda cute too...

**1/2 outta ****, it worked...

I personally liked "Valley of the Dinosaurs", and for the record, the Butler family did *not* arrive in a plane as a previous poster wrote, but in a rubber raft while on a trip down the Amazon (I believe). A whirlpool sucked them into a land that time forgot--not that different from the live-action "Land of the Lost", which I also liked.

"VOTD" was to me, underrated because it was very educational as well as adventurous. I learned a thing or two about submarines, paddleboats, air pressure, as well as expanding sticks of wood that could split a cliff! I think somebody from H-B actually did some reasearch!

The Butler family, along with Garak's family, was always barely staying ahead of the dinosaurs that wanted to, say we say, feast on them (at least the carnivores, that is). I enjoyed the ways how they could get out of their predicaments. I recalled that me and my mother enjoyed the cartoon very much when I was around ten. Yes, Garak's family, for a "backward caveman's", spoke English, but so what? It was a fun show to watch! And before Daria Morgendoffer, there was Katie Butler. Now, *there* was a girl who could hang with Daria in the sarcastic department! She could give a funny crack even during the most dangerous of situations, and I laughed! Good show, that was...

One of my favorite shows as A kid, But its serious enough to be enjoyed by adults as well with A modern family getting trapped in A prehistoric world and helping a prehistoric family get along usually applying some modern technology and know how to solve various problems, couple that with the children adding to their problems you have A very entertaining show for both the young and young at heart, I only wish it had A longer run (I believe it was 16 episodes or so) than 1 season and I would like to see it released on DVD soon, lord knows there are some shows released to DVD that are A lot worse and not near as enlightening as this show!

In addition to never meet your heroes, in general, I think it's best to not re-watch TV shows you thought were awesome when you were 6 years old.

Still, I loved Valley of the Dinosaurs so much when I was six I decided to break the second rule and streamed some episodes from Amazon.

And I was more than pleasantly surprised. For Saturday morning kiddie fare, this wasn't half-bad. Hellz I'd stack it up against prime-time 'adult' TV shows of the same era such as 'The Brady Bunch Hour' any day.

Despite the title, the heart of the show was actually the dynamic between two families - one from modern times, and one from the stone age. If you can get past the convenience of the stone age family speaking English - it works quite well without being preachy as an example of how different groups can come together to become stronger as a whole. The modern-day Butlers brought very helpful scientific knowledge to Gorak's family; while Gorak and his family taught the Butlers how to survive in a prehistoric jungle. One episode the Butlers would save Gorak's family with some sort of improvised stone-age fire engine, submarine, drilling rig or what not; the next episode Gorak and crew would save the Butlers with their ancient knowledge of Pterodactyl egg medicine.

And the characters were quite likable and engaging - and much more believable than typical Saturday morning characters. Teenage daughter Katie in particular was just snarky enough to be believable; but still caring and sympathetic enough to be endearing. And each Butler family character was paired up perfectly with a Gorak family member. Father John with patriarch Gorak; mother Kim with Gorak's wife Gana; young Greg with Gorak and Gana's young daughter Tana; and of course teenage Katie with Gorak and Gana's strapping teenage son Lok - who gets in one of the best completely-over-the-heads-of-children lines ever when he brags to Katie of a 'giant snake' that he's had to tame.

That line alone makes VOTD one of the best Saturday morning cartoons ever.

Unfortunately,this animated series premiered the same year as Krofft's live-action adventure series "Land of the Lost"(which was on NBC),but was similar to Hanna-Barbera's other animated series,"Dino Boy in the Lost Valley" and recently elements films of that time, "AIP's(American International) The Land That Time Forgot",and Disney's "Island At The Top Of The World"(both were released the same year as this show came on the air in 1974)and there you have it..."The Valley Of The Dinosaurs",one of the underrated cartoons that Hanna-Barbera produced in the mid-1970's.

Of the 16 episodes that this series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for CBS-TV's Saturday Morning schedule,this show was one of many that didn't go beyond the norm of its precessdor like another H-B produced series,the live-action but short-lived series "KORG 70,000 B.C."(which was on ABC),which was very hokey since both shows(as well as the live-action version of Land of the Lost) premiered that same year in September of 1974,but it also offered a lot of high action and adventure but also some educational value as well dealing with scientific concepts,lessons of geological aspects and that's about it. The story consisted of The Butler family who on a camping triping while rafting goes down a whirlpool into a land where time forgot---filled with hidden dangers and unexpected surprises where they are saved by a unknown caveman and his family where each day is a fight for survival in a lost wilderness. It was good in some aspects,even though in only produced 16 episodes for CBS-TV from September 7, 1974 until September 4,1976 with only the original episodes airing in the first season while its second season consisted of repeated episodes which the network moved the show from Saturday Mornings to the bliss of its graveyard Sunday Morning schedule for the 1975-1976 season.

The voicework was done by a talent cast,most of them Hanna-Barbera stockplayers. The voice of John Butler,the father figure and leader was done by actor Mike Road. Road was known as the voice of Race Bannon in the Jonny Quest animated television series as well as the voice of Zandor of "The Herculoids" and other known H-B characters. His wife,Kim Butler was voice by Shannon Farnon,who was known as the voice of Wonder Woman on another successful Saturday Morning show "The Superfriends". Other voices were done by Jackie Earle Haley(aka Jack E. Haley as the voice of Greg Butler),Kathy Gori(Katie Butler),and Joan Gerber(another H-B stockplayer voicework cast member).