Valley of the Dinosaurs

{{Infobox television

| image = Valley of the Dinosaurs.jpg

| caption =

| genre = Adventure
Action
Drama
Science fiction

| creator =

| developer =

| voices = Melanie Baker
Shannon Farnon
Joan Gardner
Kathy Gori
Jackie Earle Haley
Alan Oppenheimer
Mike Road
Frank Welker

| narrated = Don Messick

| theme_music_composer =

| opentheme =

| endtheme =

| composer = Hoyt Curtin

| country = United States

| language = English

| num_seasons =

| num_episodes = 16

| list_episodes =

| executive_producer = William Hanna
Joseph Barbera

| producer =

| editor =

| location =

| camera =

| company = Hanna-Barbera Productions

| runtime = 30 minutes

| network = CBS

| first_aired = {{Start date|1974|9|7}}

| last_aired = {{End date|1974|12|21}}

| related =

}}

Valley of the Dinosaurs is an American animated television series produced by the Australian studios of Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on CBS from September 7 to December 21, 1974, and in syndication from 1977 to 1983.{{cite book |last1=Woolery |first1=George W. |title=Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series |date=1983 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=0-8108-1557-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/childrenstelevis0000wool/page/304/mode/2up |access-date=22 March 2020 |pages=304–305}} The series, about a contemporary family sucked by a vortex back to the Stone Age was intended to be educational as well as entertaining, demonstrating the early human uses of fire, clothing, weapons and cooking.{{cite book |last1=Erickson |first1=Hal |title=Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 |date=2005 |edition=2nd |publisher=McFarland & Co |isbn=978-1476665993 |pages=884–885}} It debuted on the same day as Land of the Lost.

Plot

Science professor John Butler and his family – wife Kim, wisecracking teenage daughter Katie, young son Greg, and dog Digger – are on a rafting trip along the Amazon River in an uncharted river canyon when their raft hits a rock and capsizes. They are swept through a cavern and caught in a whirlpool.

Upon resurfacing, they find themselves in a mysterious realm where humans coexist with various prehistoric creatures, including dinosaurs. The Butlers meet and befriend a clan of Neanderthal cavepeople led by Gorok, his wife Gara, their teenage son Lok, and their young daughter Tana. Gorok and his family have a pet of their own in the form of a baby Stegosaurus named Glump. Gorok's family saved the Butlers' upon their first arrival.

Gorok's family aid the Butlers' efforts to find a means of returning home. For their own part, John and his family do what they can to make the Neanderthals' daily lives easier. Examples of such included introducing Gorok's family to basic technology, such as simple machines (particularly the lever and the wheel), sailboats and windmills.

Episode list

class=wikitable style="background:white"

style="color:white"

! style="background:#006400; width:20px"| {{abbr|Nº|Number}}

! style="background:#006400"| Title

! style="background:#006400; width:135px"| Air date

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 1

| Title = Forbidden Fruit

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|9|7}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 2

| Title = What Goes Up

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|9|14}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 3

| Title = A Turned Turtle

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|9|21}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 4

| Title = The Volcano

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|9|28}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 5

| Title = Smoke Screen

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|10|5}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 6

| Title = Pteranodon

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|10|12}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 7

| Title = The Saber-Tooth Kids

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|10|19}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 8

| Title = After Shock

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|10|26}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 9

| Title = Top Cave, Please

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|11|2}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 10

| Title = S.O.S.

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|11|9}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 11

| Title = Fire

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|11|16}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 12

| Title = Rain of Meteors

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|11|23}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 13

| Title = To Fly a Kite

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|11|30}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 14

| Title = Test Flight

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|12|7}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 15

| Title = The Big Toothache

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|12|14}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

{{Episode list

| EpisodeNumber = 16

| Title = Torch

| OriginalAirDate = {{start date|1974|12|21}}

| ShortSummary =

| LineColor = 006400

}}

Cast

Frank Welker - Glump, Digger, Lok
Melanie Baker - Tana
Shannon Farnon - Kim Butler
Joan Gardner - Gara
Kathy Gori - Katie Butler
Jackie Earle Haley - Greg Butler
Don Messick - Narrator
Alan Oppenheimer - Gorok
Andrew Parks -
Mike Road - John Butler

Comics

Charlton Comics published 11 issues of a comic book series based on the TV cartoon featuring new stories from April 1975 until December 1976. Harvey Comics published a one-shot reprint of the comics in 1993.

Home media

On March 22, 2011, Warner Archive released Valley of the Dinosaurs: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna-Barbera Classic Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.{{cite web|title=Valley of the Dinosaurs - 'The Complete Series' DVDs Now Up For Sale: Pricing, Specs, 3D Box Art|url=http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Valley-Dinosaurs-The-Complete-Series/15152|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913152328/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Valley-Dinosaurs-The-Complete-Series/15152|archive-date=2011-09-13}}

Popular culture

Characters from the show appeared in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Beyond the Valley of the Dinosaurs" with Gorok voiced by Chris Edgerly and Tana voiced by Mary Birdsong.
Glump has a cameo in Jellystone! episode "Ice Ice Baby"{{Cite web|url=https://www.animationmagazine.net/streaming/jellystone-carl-greenblatt-re-introduces-thoroughly-modern-hanna-barbera-toons/|title='Jellystone!': C. H. Greenblatt Re-introduces Thoroughly Modern Hanna-Barbera Toons|date=26 July 2021}} voiced by Fajir Al-Kasai. He appears as Top Cat's therapy patient. The cave family appeared in season three as Captain Caveman's cousins.