Valley of the Dinosaurs

*Valley of the Dinosaurs*
Valley of the Dinosaurs
Genre	Adventure; Action; Drama; Science fiction
Directed by	Charles A. Nichols
Voices of	Melanie Baker; Shannon Farnon; Joan Gardner; Kathy Gori; Jackie Earle Haley; Alan Oppenheimer; Mike Road; Frank Welker
Narrated by	Don Messick
Composer	Hoyt Curtin
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	16
Production
Executive producers	William Hanna; Joseph Barbera
Running time	30 minutes
Production company	Hanna-Barbera Productions
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	September 7 –; December 21, 1974

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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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

Nº	Title	Air date
1	"Forbidden Fruit"	September 7, 1974 (1974-09-07)
2	"What Goes Up"	September 14, 1974 (1974-09-14)
3	"A Turned Turtle"	September 21, 1974 (1974-09-21)
4	"The Volcano"	September 28, 1974 (1974-09-28)
5	"Smoke Screen"	October 5, 1974 (1974-10-05)
6	"Pteranodon"	October 12, 1974 (1974-10-12)
7	"The Saber-Tooth Kids"	October 19, 1974 (1974-10-19)
8	"After Shock"	October 26, 1974 (1974-10-26)
9	"Top Cave, Please"	November 2, 1974 (1974-11-02)
10	"S.O.S."	November 9, 1974 (1974-11-09)
11	"Fire"	November 16, 1974 (1974-11-16)
12	"Rain of Meteors"	November 23, 1974 (1974-11-23)
13	"To Fly a Kite"	November 30, 1974 (1974-11-30)
14	"Test Flight"	December 7, 1974 (1974-12-07)
15	"The Big Toothache"	December 14, 1974 (1974-12-14)
16	"Torch"	December 21, 1974 (1974-12-21)

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.^[3]

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"^[4] 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.

References

^ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series. Scarecrow Press. pp. 304–305. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 884–885. ISBN 978-1476665993.
^ "Valley of the Dinosaurs - 'The Complete Series' DVDs Now Up For Sale: Pricing, Specs, 3D Box Art". Archived from the original on 2011-09-13.
^ "'Jellystone!': C. H. Greenblatt Re-introduces Thoroughly Modern Hanna-Barbera Toons". 26 July 2021.

External links

Valley of the Dinosaurs at IMDb

[Woolery-1] Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series. Scarecrow Press. pp. 304–305. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 22 March 2020.

[2] Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 884–885. ISBN 978-1476665993.

[3] "Valley of the Dinosaurs - 'The Complete Series' DVDs Now Up For Sale: Pricing, Specs, 3D Box Art". Archived from the original on 2011-09-13.

[4] "'Jellystone!': C. H. Greenblatt Re-introduces Thoroughly Modern Hanna-Barbera Toons". 26 July 2021.

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v t e Children's programming on CBS in the 1970s
First-run animated series	Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (1963-72) Tom and Jerry (1965-72) The Bugs Bunny Show/Road Runner Show (1968–73; 1975–85) Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines (1969–71) Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969-72, 1974-76) The Perils of Penelope Pitstop (1969–71) The Adventures of Batman (1969–70) Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1971–74) Groovie Goolies (1970–71) Josie and the Pussycats (1970–72) The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (1971–72) Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch! (1971–74) Archie's TV Funnies (1971–73) The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (1972) The New Scooby-Doo Movies (1972–73) Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids (1972–84) Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space (1972) Jeannie (1973) My Favorite Martians (1973–75) Bailey's Comets (1973–75) Speed Buggy (1973–75) Partridge Family 2200 A.D. (1974–75) Valley of the Dinosaurs (1974–76) The U.S. of Archie (1974–76) Clue Club (1976–77) Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle (1976–77) The New Adventures of Batman (1977–78) What's New, Mr. Magoo? (1977) The Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour (1977–78) The All New Popeye Hour (1978–82, 1983) Tarzan and the Super 7 (1978–80) The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle (1979–81)
First-run live action series	Captain Kangaroo (1955–84) In the News (1971–86) You Are There (1971–72) CBS Children's Film Festival (1971–78; 1982–84) Shazam! (1974–77) The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine (1974–75) The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show (1974–75) The Secrets of Isis (1975–77) Far Out Space Nuts (1975–76) The Ghost Busters (1975) Ark II (1976) Way Out Games (1976–77) The Skatebirds (1977–78) Space Academy (1977–79) Wacko (1977) 30 Minutes (1978–82) Jason of Star Command (1978–81)
Rebroadcasts	The Monkees (1969–72) Wacky Races (1968–70) The New Adventures of Superman Jonny Quest (1965-70) The Jetsons (1967-77) Sylvester and Tweety (1976–77)
Related	Animation in the United States in the television era