Valley of the Dinosaurs

As a kid faced with the scheduling conflict between this show and Land of the Lost, chose Valley first, unless it was a rerun.

It was definitely the better show.

It had a greater diversity of situations and cast...one can only stick the flyswatter in the carnosaur's mouth so many times before even a kid begins to roll his eyes and fall asleep.

More character development and better acting, too. Which is ironic since it was animated.

You know, that ten line minimum for making a contribution probably just invites a lot of boring filler at times like this, when being succinct would benefit the readers more.

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).

I avidly watched this series as a 10 year old in 1975, when it was shown by the BBC on children's TV, and thoroughly enjoyed it!!

OK, I may be 42 now but I would love to own this series on DVD just for old times sake!!

Sad I know, but I don't remember seeing an episode I didn't enjoy!

Yes the idea of a family being propelled into a lost world is silly, but the story lines were always original without being overly moralistic....as far as I remember...it's been a long time!

Does anyone know if Hanna Barbera have any plans to release it?

Am I being nostalgic? Or am I just having a mid-life crisis? !!!

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.

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...