"Valley of the Dinosaurs" (1974) TV series

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Charles A. Nichols

Writers:

Peter Dixon (writer)
Peter Germano (writer)

Genre:

Adventure | Animation

Plot:

Animated children's show about a modern family whose plane crash lands in a prehistoric valley. They...

Plot Keywords:

Dinosaur | Lost World

Cast

Melanie Baker	...	Tana (voice)
Shannon Farnon	...	Kim Butler (voice)
Joan Gardner	...	Gara (voice)
Kathy Gori	...	Katie Butler (voice)
Jackie Earle Haley	...	Greg Butler (1974) (voice) (as Jack E. Haley)
Alan Oppenheimer	...	Gorak (1974-76) (voice)
Andrew Parks	...	(voice)
Mike Road	...	John Butler (voice)
Frank Welker	...	Digger / Glump / Lok (voice) (as Franklin Welker)

Runtime:

30 min (16 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Hanna-Barbera Productions

Trivia:

Debuted on 7 September 1974, the same day as the similarly themed "Land of the Lost" (1974).

Not liked its precessdor,but was the least passable of all of the Hanna-Barbera animated series of that time(1974)

Unfortunately,this animated series premiered the same year as Krofft's live-action adventure series "Land of the Lost"(which was on NBC),but was similar to Hanna-Barbera's other animated series,"Dino Boy in the Lost Valley" and recently elements films of that time, "AIP's(American International) The Land That Time Forgot",and Disney's "Island At The Top Of The World"(both were released the same year as this show came on the air in 1974)and there you have it..."The Valley Of The Dinosaurs",one of the underrated cartoons that Hanna-Barbera produced in the mid-1970's.

Of the 16 episodes that this series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions for CBS-TV's Saturday Morning schedule,this show was one of many that didn't go beyond the norm of its precessdor like another H-B produced series,the live-action but short-lived series "KORG 70,000 B.C."(which was on ABC),which was very hokey since both shows(as well as the live-action version of Land of the Lost) premiered that same year in September of 1974,but it also offered a lot of high action and adventure but also some educational value as well dealing with scientific concepts,lessons of geological aspects and that's about it. The story consisted of The Butler family who on a camping triping while rafting goes down a whirlpool into a land where time forgot---filled with hidden dangers and unexpected surprises where they are saved by a unknown caveman and his family where each day is a fight for survival in a lost wilderness. It was good in some aspects,even though in only produced 16 episodes for CBS-TV from September 7, 1974 until September 4,1976 with only the original episodes airing in the first season while its second season consisted of repeated episodes which the network moved the show from Saturday Mornings to the bliss of its graveyard Sunday Morning schedule for the 1975-1976 season.

The voicework was done by a talent cast,most of them Hanna-Barbera stockplayers. The voice of John Butler,the father figure and leader was done by actor Mike Road. Road was known as the voice of Race Bannon in the Jonny Quest animated television series as well as the voice of Zandor of "The Herculoids" and other known H-B characters. His wife,Kim Butler was voice by Shannon Farnon,who was known as the voice of Wonder Woman on another successful Saturday Morning show "The Superfriends". Other voices were done by Jackie Earle Haley(aka Jack E. Haley as the voice of Greg Butler),Kathy Gori(Katie Butler),and Joan Gerber(another H-B stockplayer voicework cast member).