Valley of the Dinosaurs


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. 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.

Plot

Science professor John Butler and his family - wife Kim, teenage daughter Katie, young son Greg, and dog Digger - are on a rafting trip along the Amazon River 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 Neanderthals 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, a baby Stegosaurus named Glump. Gorok and Company 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.

Episode list

Cast

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.

Comics

published 11 issues of a comic book series based on the TV cartoon featuring new stories from April 1975 until December 1976.

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 Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com.