Dinosaucers is a 1987 animated television series co-produced in the United States and Canada; developed and produced by DIC Animation City in association with Lightyear Entertainment and Coca-Cola Telecommunications. The show was created by producer Michael E. Uslan, who considered it a "harebrained idea". Despite only running for one season, it did run for a total of 65 episodes as ordered to be a 13-week-long series, when it aired on first-run syndication.

Plot

The show follows the Dinosaucers and their battles against the evil Tyrannos. Each group is composed of intelligent anthropomorphic dinosaurs or other prehistoric saurian species. The Dinosaucers are also allied with four humans known as the Secret Scouts. The two groups originally come from a planet in a counter-Earth orbit known as Reptilon. Most of the characters are named after the type of prehistoric animal they are based on, or some pun of the name. Both groups have a central base of operations. The Dinosaucers' base is called Lava Dome and is located in a mountain area in a dormant volcano. The Tyrannos' base is located under a tar pit which is next to an abandoned amusement park. Each of the groups' members save for Teryx and Terrible Dactyl–who can themselves fly–have flying ships in which they can travel and do battle. Most ships actually resemble the personae of their respective owners. Along with their individual ships, both groups have a large mothership of sorts as well.

Dinovolving

All the Dinosaucers have a button on the front of their uniforms which instantly devolves them to their primitive ancestors dinosaur state, while retaining their intelligence and speech capacity. This special ability is called Dinovolving and initially appeared to be a significant element of the series, as both Allo and Bronto Thunder Dinovolved in the first episode. Despite the apparent technological advantage, most of the later episodes did not feature any Dinovolving. Teryx was the only Dinosaucer who would never Dinovolve throughout the series, while Allo, Tricero, Bonehead and Bronto Thunder would use the ability in more than one episode. The Tyrannos don't have the secret of Dinovolving, and a few episodes even revolve around their plans to steal the technology somehow. However, they do possess a special raygun called a devolver. Blasting a living creature with this weapon has the same "devolving" effect as Dinovolving, but reduces the victim's intelligence to that of the devolved form. For those from Reptilon, the form is that of a normal dinosaur while humans get reverted to primitive cavemen. In any case, the device often winds up being used against them, to much comedic effect, rather than on the Dinosaucers. In this fashion, Genghis Rex, Ankylo, Quackpot and Brachio were all changed into primitive dinosaurs at various times in the series. The Tyrannos also possess a weapon called a "fossilizer", which is capable of turning its target into stone, as well as reversing the condition. The Dinosaucers were also shown to have access to this particular type of weapon in one episode, though it may have been on loan from the Tyrannos, as both factions had united to battle a group of anthropomorphic sabertooth tigers, who also hailed from Reptilon. These creatures possessed fossilizers as well, and also had a device which could disrupt the equivalent weapons belonging to the Dinosaucers and Tyrannos while leaving their own in perfect working order.

Characters

Dinosaucers

Secret Scouts

The Secret Scouts are four teenage humans who help the Dinosaucers as allies. According to the opening credits, they met them when they first arrived and gained powers through magic rings they were given. They are some of the closest friends the Dinosaucers have while they are on Earth.

Tyrannos

The Tyrannos are the forces of "evil" in the series and, like the Dinosaucers, have a total of 8 members in their group. The picture above does not show Princess Dei, as she does not appear at the presentation of the series and is only introduced later as a means to balance the difference in numbers and power of the two opposing factions. During the course of the series, Plesio, Terrible Dactyl and Quackpot would all betray Genghis Rex at least once over matters of conscience. Nevertheless, they would eventually return to Rex's side out of loyalty to his cause.

Minor characters

Media

Home video releases

U.S. releases

There have been four tapes in total released on VHS cassette in NTSC format specifically for the United States and Canadian markets. None are still in print or available, making these four VHS tapes rare. Dinosaucers has not been released on DVD and there are no known plans to do so from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

UK releases

There were two tapes in total released for the UK market in PAL format. Unlike the United States released tapes that had two episodes on each tape, the United Kingdom tapes had five episodes each on both tapes released. The first 21 episodes were previously purchased and downloaded online on Amazon.com as well as on iTunes until summer of 2013 with no current plans to return as of 2023.

Toys

There were originally plans by Galoob to release a Dinosaucers toyline, and prototype figures were produced. The toyline were to include the characters Stego, Bronto-Thunder, Allo, Bonehead, Plesio, Quackpot, Ankylo, and Genghis Rex. However, the line was scrapped when the show was canceled after airing its initial 65 episode. As a result, some markets began pulling the series from their cartoon line-ups instead of re-running the show's episodes for the remainder of the full 1987-1988 television season. In 1989, after Dinosaucers premiered in Brazil, a company named Glasslite contacted Galoob and purchased the molds. As such, Glasslite produced 5 of the 8 unproduced Galoob molds of the 8" figures although they can be extremely hard to find.

Comic reboot

In 2018, Uslan joined with publisher Lion Forge Comics to revive Dinosaucers as a comic book. The 5-part mini-series however was left on a cliff hanger when the comic book was discontinued after a trade paperback was published in January 2019.

Episodes

Stephan Martinieri directed all episodes.

Development

According to Uslan in a 2019 interview with Syfy, the show was inspired by his son, David, who has an interest in dinosaurs and outerspace. He then started to brainstorm his ideas of Tyrannos and the Dinosaucers with his son listening to him explain it. The Secret Scouts were named after members of his family, including his own son. Uslan worked on a deal with Andy Hawyard at DiC Entertainment to air the show through syndication with Coca-Cola Telecommunications.