Your Thoughts: Dinosaur Train

[Phillip]

Here’s a reminder that Henson’s new family series, “Dinosaur Train” debuts tomorrow on PBS nationwide. Check your local channel for times in your area. Most PBS stations are airing a marathon of Dinosaur Train episodes for Labor Day. The show will continue to air every weekday on PBS along with Henson’s Sid the Science Kid.

Here's a video preview...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6i3Z1tmfMA

And here's the official web site...
http://pbskids.org/dinosaurtrain/index.html

After you see the new series, post here and let us know what you think.

 

[da web croniclz]

i'm not saying it's a bad show! but what the henson company needs to do is bring back the puppets (muppets). what ever happened to funny education. sesame street is funny and educational and teaches kids about life lessons like death, birth, marriage, etc. we need more muppet television like that. i thought that this was gonna be that type of show.

 

[MJTaylor]

Judging from what I've seen on the website they could be onto a winner.

 

[GSmiley2007]

I watched it, and it's not too bad. Though I hope Henson doesn't give up on real puppetry forever.

The characters aren't too bad either, and they're kinda cute (especially Tiny). Who knows if years from now, Buddy, Tiny, Shiny, and Don will be as significant with the Henson Company as Kermit, Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, Big Bird, Elmo, Bert, Ernie, etc., are? And I wonder if there will be toys in the works...

I'm definitely gonna continue watching it!

 

[GelflingWaldo]

I caught the show today and loved it! Great characters, great educational content, and super catchy songs (I still can't get the theme song out of my head).

And if you want to learn a bit about what went into developing and creating the show, check out these great interviews on YouTube:

• Interview with Craig Bartlett & Lisa Henson
• Interview with Paleontologist Scott Sampson

 

[dwmckim]

I liked it a lot more than i though i would. When i first heard the original annoucements, it seemed just way random and out there and didn't think it would be that great a show. But now i see how it works out and comes together. Now it's certainly not one of their classic shows...it's not up there with the best of the best but as said, it's way better than i thought.

What i really liked is that it didn't follow a predictable formula in the same way that Sid the Science Kid, Animal Jam, or Animal Show does/did. When i saw the first episode, i though "okay this is how the show works...this is how each episode will play out." But then when the next episodes came on, they went in different directions. I also liked how it didn't wait until like the last episode for Buddy to discover his species - and how him doing so didn't change the continuity/concept since as he stated it made him want to learn about the different species of dinosaurs even more.

I also liked the live action segments since the Paleontologist has a good screen presence and plays well to the camera. I was kind of hoping that they would go a little more comedic during these parts as i could see some hint of that with the showing how he "looked with horns" and the "points of fact" but they didn't take those as far as i felt they could.

So overall i think i'll enjoy it - i don't see a really long run...i imagine there's only so much you could do within 40 episodes and how it might be hard to sustain that after those, and even though it doesn't follow a set formula, i still like Sid better, but this is one that will still be fun to watch as opposed to one i feel is a chore to check out out of Henson loyalty.

 

[Drtooth]

I liked it a lot more than i though i would. When i first heard the original annoucements, it seemed just way random and out there and didn't think it would be that great a show. But now i see how it works out and comes together. Now it's certainly not one of their classic shows...it's not up there with the best of the best but as said, it's way better than i thought.

What i really liked is that it didn't follow a predictable formula in the same way that Sid the Science Kid, Animal Jam, or Animal Show does/did. When i saw the first episode, i though "okay this is how the show works...this is how each episode will play out." But then when the next episodes came on, they went in different directions. I also liked how it didn't wait until like the last episode for Buddy to discover his species - and how him doing so didn't change the continuity/concept since as he stated it made him want to learn about the different species of dinosaurs even more.

I feel the same way to. Giving it an Arthur/ Curious George style run of 2 10 minute cartoons and some live action talk segments is what makes it work different from Sid, which does have that rigid formula (obviously using the rigid schedule educational stuff, and emulating pre-school). Only thing I think it could have used was a little more tension when they discovered that their adopted kid is the notorious killing machine of the dinosaur world. But it didn't seem to need it.

I find it interesting they clearly dubbed this thing in Canada... I heard Kathleen Barr's voice used for the T-Rex mother and Laura. Kinda curious why they didn't use Henson people to do the voice work. But as everyone knows, dubbing in Canada means working with a Canadian union, which is cheaper than an American voice acting union.

pretty good show, seems the kids have a very very light shade of Hey Arnold's kids (Craig Bartlett created this after all). All and all, I think i like the look and feel of Sid more, but I prefer the substance of Dino Train.

 

[GSmiley2007]

You know-- I myself thought it was odd that they used general voice actors and not the Muppeteers for doing the voices of the characters, considering it's from the Henson company. If they decided on Muppeteers instead, here's who I would've gone with:

Buddy - Kevin Carlson
Tiny - Leslie Carrara (or Alison Mork)
Shiny - Donna Kimball
Don - James Murray (or Steve Whitmire)
Mrs. Pteranodon - Julianne Buescher
The Conductor - Victor Yerrid (or Tyler Bunch)

 

[Drtooth]

I am just TOTALLY diggin' the theme song. Anyone else?

 

[oldschool]

I was very upset when Dinosaur Train interrupted the lineup on PBS, but now I'm hooked, especially with the theme song. In fact, we watch it so much that I was wondering if the theme song has changed since the show started. I thought that it originally said that "We may be different, but we're all God's creatures, all dinosaurs have different features." Now it sounds like "God's" has been omitted. Has anyone else noticed this or am I getting old and hard of hearing (or just can't hear over the babbling of my kids).