I was cruising around on Wikipedia and noticed a few names of TV shows that I used to watch when I was a kid, and I felt compelled to read up on them. I mostly watched all of the usual cartoons that everyone watched back in the day. Ghostbusters, He-Man, Ninja Turtles, and so forth... But here is one little gem that I had completely forgotten all about.

It was a show called Dinosaurs.


Looking back on it and reading about the stories and themes for various episodes, I realized that Dinosaurs covered MANY pretty serious issues that I would have in no way picked up on as a six or seven year old kid. Dinosaurs dealt with issues such as racism, harassment, censorship, and even masturbation.

I don't remember if this show was geared towards a broad audience or what, and I forget what time it originally aired, but I always used to watch it at 7:00 in the morning as I would be getting ready for school.

Looking back on Dinosaurs and the issues it covered has given me a sort of new appreciation for the show as I realize that there was more to it than just a fat dinosaur getting smacked on the head by his abusive baby son who demanded love simply because he was, well, a baby. 

Loony Toons was much the same way. I remember watching that as a kid and just seeing silly violence such as Wile E. Coyote constantly being squished/incinerated/blown up/etc. and other things, and not the pretty mature themes that were in the cartoons at times.

But yeah, Dinosaurs. I might want to torrent that series now or something, because I suddenly have an urge to watch it again for the sake of nostalgia and so that I can appreciate it for the things it covered that I could not comprehend as a kid.

Anyone else have any shows like this from your early years?

A few years ago I downloaded almost every episode of Dinosaurs that had been ripped from VHS tapes and watched them all, falling in love with it all over again.  It was the best. show. ever.

And then a week or two after I finished watching them it came out on DVD.  Right after I had spent countless hours downloading them from the handful of people who had torrented it too.

I'm sure there are other shows I could talk about but after getting into this topic all I can say is DINOSAURS.

edit: speaking of the serious themes in dinosaurs, I thought the war episode(s?) were excellent.

as soon as it started i remembered the theme tune to Dinosaurs. Maaan this is great!

you know dinosaurs actually kind of sucks.  it is a surprisingly standard sitcom.

every show I watched growing up was drugs

Adventures of Pete and Pete, Pee-wee's Playhouse, Muppet Babies, I even liked that episode of the Simpsons with the coyote and stuff

oh yeah and Kablam!

and Rocko's Modern Life had a lot of really bad messages for kids if you watch it today

well I'd really have to go back and watch some but there was a LOT of innuendo

I vaguely remember this too


I actually liked a lot of cool stuff I just can't think of it all right now

Edit: Oh yeah I totally liked The Tick when it was brand new and everything

anybody else remember Eerie, Indiana

I really hated dinosaurs. I was scared of the baby.

all that, real monsters, keenan and kel, salute your shorts, wild and crazy kids, GUTS aggro crag, legends of the hidden temple, DOUBLE DARE

do you guys ever wonder what your kids will watch

dinosaurs I use to watch, the only one i remember was  the epsode when the grandmother kept dying. I watch some freakazoid and animaniacs recently and noticed all the innuendoes that i would have never picked up on as a kid oh and the show that had Action League Now! and i watched a pete and pete episode on youtube yesterday

I watched the first two episodes of Dinosaurs on YouTube last night and wow, that show is so much better now than it was when I was an ignorant child. It has some pretty good jokes that no young kid would probably REALLY get.

I need to watch more now, what a fun show! maybe I'll get the DVDs, haha.

Also I completely forgot about Rocko's Modern Life. That was a great show. I will need to hunt it down on YouTube!

you used the wrong rugrats clip here let me help you

poor chuckie

pretty much every show on nick from late 80s through the 90s was awesome.

maybe i've just grown out of that age but the stuff i see on nick/cartoon network now is really bad.

The difference is that now on pretty much every children's show they have an educational specialist who reviews the material before it is produced. Broadcasting standards basically prevent cartoons from being half-hour long toy commercials, which is pretty much what all the good stuff from the 80s and early 90s was.

The difference is that now on pretty much every children's show they have an educational specialist who reviews the material before it is produced. Broadcasting standards basically prevent cartoons from being half-hour long toy commercials, which is pretty much what all the good stuff from the 80s and early 90s was.

okay maybe but i don't remember like any of the cartoons that I watched growing up really try and tell me to buy anything or sell me anything maybe I just didn't CATCH SUBLIMINAL MESSAGES or whatever the animaniacs were secretly throwing at me but I just don't remember a single product placement or any allusion to real-life products in any of the shows that I watched growing up

p.s. who remembers histeria?

It was at its worst between 1982 and 1990. After the lisence to print money that was Ninja Turtles, concerned parents groups began to put pressure on the FCC to tighten the bolts. The period from 1990 to about 1997 was a time of creativity then, where Warner Brothers especially tried to do more artistic and progressive things with children's animated programming, but the massive anime invasion at the end of the 90s (again a huge commercial force for japanese transmedia franchises) forced broadcasters to take another look at the social value of domestic programming and the bolts were tightened once more. After 2002, you will find action-adventure series in a slump and struggling to be realized. Example that comes to mind is the award winning re-imagining of He Man and the Masters of the Universe, which only got two seasons of air time despite its rich artistic appeal and engaging serial adventure storyline.