Dinosaurs Finale

[CountFan1998]

I just watched the Dinosaurs series finale, and..... I don't know what to say!
You can just feel your heart break as soon as you look into Baby's eyes when Earl tries to explain what's going to happen. Just the fact that he says they are all going to stay together (and eventually die) just tears me apart. I know this is the ending that Jim wanted, but couldn't he have created a happier ending?
What do YOU think about it?

 

[RedPiggy]

The thing is, this isn't Fraggle Rock (which is basically the anti-Dinosaurs in many ways). We KNOW how the dinosarurs ended up (at least, from a certain POV). It was teased as the ending multiple times, even in the pilot.

That being said, if it makes you feel better, consider these facts:

1. Dinosaurs was a show and the characters had the exact same "we are just actors" thing that Muppets do. In one commercial for the show, Earl and Robbie are watching TGIF and complaining about how all the shows are about humans. How can they be watching OUR TGIF? They CAN, if they are just present-day actors. Heck, they were even attending WDW, IIRC, in a parade.

2. There are episodes after this episode. They can't be dated too much before the finale if that is what was meant, because Earl and Pearl, the very last episode, uses the final character suits that didn't exist up until nearly the end. Thus, regardless of what they say is the year (and the crappy timing is the bane of my fic existence and a running gag given how vague real science is about the dates of things), you can use clues such as character models and such to determine just where it should go. Also, in Earl and Pearl, the announcer mentions Pearl "being country before the planet was cool". If taken a certain way, this cannot happen at all, as there WASN'T a winter until the nuclear one. The climate was ALWAYS tropical. If the announcer is correct, Earl and Pearl (assuming the phrase is literal) takes place after the finale, which is the only time we see real snow (Refrigerator Day using snow machines).

 

[mupcollector1]

I know this is the ending that Jim wanted
What do YOU think about it?

It's hard to say. I know that Dinosaurs was Jim's idea and it was suppose to be made in 1990 but due to his unexpected passing, it was moved to 1991. I'm just curious how far he got in terms of ideas for the show. According to the dvd sets, I remember hearing that Jim Henson wanted a half sitcom and sort of a satirical show that mocked how Dinosaurs were very similar to human society and how they were more extreme, basically the satire of it all using Dinosaurs to satirize human society. Genius lol. But in terms of the ending, I knew the ending was the Dinosaurs die at the end basically what actually happened historically.

Though wasn't the idea going to be more extreme then what they decided to go with for the final episode? I thought the ending was sort of an emotional ending of the show and it was made due to the fear that the younger viewers who happen to see the program would know that Baby Sinclair will die.

Personally I would have loved a more satirically funny ending, it was sort of going to that point. I don't remember the plot 100%, it's been a few months since I watched it. Something about Wesayso Corporation doing something to the threes and wiping everyone out or something.

I would have loved something like complete anarchy of the police quitting or something that just goes out of control social wise that's so stupid and maybe Earl thinking violence solves everything and take a TNT plunger and blows up the world or something then it comes back but it's only humans. I know it's kind of a disorganized idea but something with Anarchy and a BIg Bang that ends on a funny satirical mark of how the Dinosaurs caused their own extinction.

But yeah the ending was sort of a tear jerker. Especially Howard Handupme's final statements and then he says bluntly "Goodbye." It kind of leaves a pretty cold ending to the series but very very interesting. Sad but it's totally and ending.

I always love it when a TV series has a big ending to put a cap on the series if whatever cause in which the show needs to end.

 

[RedPiggy]

I'm just curious how far he got in terms of ideas for the show.

I wish I still had "The Works", a bio of Jim. I think that book addressed it. I'm not sure if he would have gone for that ending (him being against ending FR, after all), but late Jim work tended to be more cynical anyway, so it's hard to tell.

something that just goes out of control social wise that's so stupid and maybe Earl thinking violence solves everything and take a TNT plunger and blows up the world or something then it comes back but it's only humans

That's kinda what happens: Wesayso built a plastic fruit or whatever company, which destroyed a beetle habitat, which then let the mother of all kudzu overtake the planet. Earl and Roy assist BP in making the stupid suggestion that the plants should be poisoned. Roy is a bit miffed, I think to imply he still cares for his big girl herbivore. Anyway, ALL plant life is basically toast. Wesayso realizes this is a disaster and tries to make it rain. BP, Roy, and Earl come up with the idea of using nukes to blow up all the volcanoes, thinking that ash clouds are the same as rain clouds. Naturally, all they do is create a nuclear winter theorized by Handupme's scientist contacts to last for millions of years. They don't show human reactions, but as they were most recently in the show exiled to God knows where, they surely survived, just as modern crocs and birds and stuff are survivors of what killed off the dinos.

 

[mupcollector1]

I wish I still had "The Works", a bio of Jim. I think that book addressed it. I'm not sure if he would have gone for that ending (him being against ending FR, after all), but late Jim work tended to be more cynical anyway, so it's hard to tell.

I've got a copy of The Works, in fact probably almost every Jim Henson Biography book or footage. lol I totally got to read the whole book. I got the book when I was at Disney world back in 1996 when I was a kid because I used to check it out of the library all the time and just fascinated by the pictures. But now as 24, I've heard lots of great things about it reading wise. So I might as well catch up on the text. lol

I wish Round House made a kindle version so I can read it on my PC as well There's only one Jim Henson biography and there's Kevin Clash's book, Caroll Spinney's, Bernie (Jim's agent) and Street Gang. I totally want to get the kindle versions when I get some extra money

That's kinda what happens: Wesayso built a plastic fruit or whatever company, which destroyed a beetle habitat, which then let the mother of all kudzu overtake the planet. Earl and Roy assist BP in making the stupid suggestion that the plants should be poisoned. Roy is a bit miffed, I think to imply he still cares for his big girl herbivore. Anyway, ALL plant life is basically toast. Wesayso realizes this is a disaster and tries to make it rain. BP, Roy, and Earl come up with the idea of using nukes to blow up all the volcanoes, thinking that ash clouds are the same as rain clouds. Naturally, all they do is create a nuclear winter theorized by Handupme's scientist contacts to last for millions of years. They don't show human reactions, but as they were most recently in the show exiled to God knows where, they surely survived, just as modern crocs and birds and stuff are survivors of what killed off the dinos.

LOL, sounds hilarious. I got to watch that episode again. Dinosaurs was so cleaver with their satire. Especially the controversial subject matter like mating (Mating Dance), Drugs (Happy Leaf) and religion (All hail the giant potato with sour cream lol). Genius program. lol

 

[Drtooth]

If there's one thing I hate, it's endings of a show that peter out and just disappear. Dinosaurs was not one of those shows. I mean, killing off the entire cast to make a point? That's the same guts I'd expect from a show that said that both political parties are controlled by the same companies, questioned organized religion, and mocked Scientology a decade before South park (and unlike South park, got away with it).

Dinosaurs was the most subversive thing on television, and they got away with EVERYTHING with no complaints. Using the last episode to be a very dark assumption of the human race and their lot on the planet was just the icing on it. The whole thesis of the show was to put a fun house mirror in front of humanity and say "Hey... you know what killed the Dinosaurs? The same ^%$# YOU'RE DOING!!! Cut it out!"

I do find it sort of heavy handed, no where near as heavy handed as Captain Planet... but poignant. The fact it starts out as an ordinary day just makes it all the more shattering. It's a depressing ending, but I've yet to find one that isn't on some level. Especially Seinfeld. That was soul shattering.... soul shatteringly TERRIBLE!

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder if they planned on ending the show this way when it started. Though the box set for the first season says that the creators made the show to figure out what really killed the dinosaurs: "Was it the ice age? A meteor? No, those were trivial compared to what really killed the dinoaurs... Having kids". Of course, the way they died on the show is not the fault of them having children and raising families.

I remember when I first saw the episode, I didn't know it was the last episode. Actually, it seems the show was frequently on and off, and I usually didn't know when it would be on (or if it would be on). I just happened to find out it was on, and was surprised there was no "to be continued..." at the end. I was confused. It wasn't until a few years later when I remembered the episode and started wondering if it was the last episode.

 

[CaseytheMuppet]

Wow, I just watched it on YouTube. So sad.

"What's going to happen to us, Daddy?"

 

[Princeton]

The final episode just re-affirms my theory that Richfield is one of the most evil TV villains ever. I mean, they established as early as Season Two (specifically Endangered Species) that he was a villain, but he just got more and more evil as the series went on.

 

[mupcollector1]

If there's one thing I hate, it's endings of a show that peter out and just disappear. Dinosaurs was not one of those shows. I mean, killing off the entire cast to make a point? That's the same guts I'd expect from a show that said that both political parties are controlled by the same companies, questioned organized religion, and mocked Scientology a decade before South park (and unlike South park, got away with it).

And before Dinosaurs and South Park was Britian's Spitting Image. AMAZING Show. It's one of my top favorites. I must be the only American who knows about it. I own almost every episode but it's such a rare show. And it was huge on Britian. It was from 1984-1996. And the only thing simular to the show that's still strong from 1988-today is French's Les Guignols De L'info. Amazing show, I watch it all the time on their site. I only wish I understood French. But the puppets are amazing and the visual satirie is dark and strong like Spitting Image, though Spits was more sillier. So if you like silly british humor and political, social and celebrity satire, I strongly recommend it. One of my all time favorite quotes was there was these two shakeshear actors they lampooned on the show. Larry and Johnny. Johnny has a duck by his feet saying hello to his friend Larry who's reading a newspaper at the park. "Johnny, Dear Johnny, Dear Dear Johnny, what are you doing here at the park today?" "I came to throw ducks to the bread" "No, it's throw the bread to the ducks!" "Really, I thought it was expensive." And I was just bursting with laughter. That's totally my kind of humor. lol

Dinosaurs was the most subversive thing on television, and they got away with EVERYTHING with no complaints. Using the last episode to be a very dark assumption of the human race and their lot on the planet was just the icing on it. The whole thesis of the show was to put a fun house mirror in front of humanity and say "Hey... you know what killed the Dinosaurs? The same ^%$# YOU'RE DOING!!! Cut it out!"
!

Well I think there was some sort of controversy with Ethel being thrown of a cliff by the Senoirs of America or something like that who didn't bother watching the ending of the show. The early episodes are funny, plus they swear more, usually just the H and D works, maybe the A word once. I remember Robby saying "Jesus Christ" and I was laughing. But the later ones, they didn't swear. Perhaps Disney got mad over that or something, I was amazed Disney allowed it to be satirical. Thumbs up for them on that.
But yeah the social satire is genius and totally one of my strongest influences in my comedic work. But my favorite thing about Dinosaurs was DinoTV and the hand and rod puppets. Lizzard Skizzard cracked me up, the Guns N Roses satire. "Welcome back to DTV, your in the middle of macho idiot rock, that's right, all weekend long, adalesent males shouting out meaningless songs. this weekend is brought to you by Beer! Now for our smashingly new band Lizzard Skizzard, they won the DTV award for fasted editing." lol Again, totally my sense of humor. There's so much detail in how those lines are written. And I'm still trying to master writing like that. I love it. Plus Steve Whitmire's Axl Rose sounded great. "I'M BETTER THAN YOU! YOU THINK THAT YOUR BETTER THAN ME-HE BUT I'M BETTER THAN YOU-HOO WOOOOW!" lol I wonder if Axl ever seen that. lol He seems like a guy who can't take a joke. How people can get mad at puppets and cartoons is beyond me. They can get away with more than humans could because they look so innocent plus they're a work of fiction. lol
That's why I love this industry and want to be a part of it someday.
I think Dinosaurs was probably the greatest alternative project from The Jim Henson Company besides The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.

I still need to put some Dinosaurs episodes back on my ipod so I can watch while I'm working out at power fitness lol