Il treno dei dinosauri

Not a bad show. It's got a catchy theme song and suitable for people interested in trains or dinosaurs or both

BACK IN THE Day, which means to a typical "Boomer" the 1950's, young boys, as they do now, loved to read about, draw and collect toys & models of Dinosaurs. This phenomenon usually began when a lad was about 8 years old.

SO WE FAST-FORWARD to 2015 and we see that the awareness of that which is Mesozoic, like so many other things, has a much earlier onset. We can testify to the veracity of this; after observing our 3 year old Grandson, Jack. He knows a "terrible lizard" when he sees one in a drawing or painting and even can tell you some of heir scientific names. Even his younger Brother, Patrick, has a pretty good handle on recognition of the long extinct beasts.

NOW HOW CAN this be? We found ourselves asking this very question. WE can modestly boast that the kids are innately bright and get a lot of attention; but still, it was a puzzlement.

THE ANSWER WAS provided by their television viewing habits, which have generous helpings of PBS and SPROUT channels. Needless to say the boys see a lot of THOMAS & HIS FRIENDS, CURIOUS GEORGE, DANIEL TIGER'S NEIGHBORHOOD and a curiously rendered hybrid animation show called DINOSAUR TRAIN.

THE HALF HOUR episodes combine the modern computer generated animation of brightly colored anthropomorphic dinosaurs with a cutely designed railroad train, that rivals that of Walt Disney's DUMBO. As with all worthwhile kiddie shows, there are always problems for the dinosaur families to solve and some little life lessons for the young 'uns to learn.

THE LAST PORTION of each installment is the province of real-life Paleontologist Scott Sampson; who gives us (parents, grandparents as swell as the kids) some background info about some creature that was featured in the story. We recently learned about Hespiranis, a large, flightless sea bird from the Cretaceous Period, who had teeth in his beak!

THIS FORMULA IS hard to beat or criticize in any way! It gives the child a strong dose of educational material, without being heavy-handed or obvious.

SO WE SAY: "Hats off to you, Craig Bartlett (creator), Jim Henson Productions and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS for short).

This show hits all the right notes for kids and is entertaining enough for the parents. Lovable characters, compelling voice talent and surprising plot variety given its long run and narrow subject. My 4 year old daughter is dinosaur obsessed and this show has hours of fun and educational content I can trust. She now knows the difference between a theropod and a sauropod, plus it offers great life lessons on friendship and family.

My little one loves this show, probably because it's so colourful (although the animation has dated now!) but it's also very educational. The little characters are very inquisitive too, and explain things simply for kids, and the bit at the end of every episode where the palaeontologist explains what each dinosaur was like is interesting even for grown ups.

It's a clever little premise for a show too, as the characters travel between the three main time periods and meet different types of dinos.

I even learned that pteranodons (the main characters) weren't technically dinosaurs so I picked something up from it too!

Trains? Dinosaurs? Why they were never put together before has to have folks not associated with Jim Henson's studio scratching their heads.

Dinosaur Train completely changes how kids learn about dinosaurs. Finally, all the mistakes I was taught as a kid are repaired! Dinosaurs use tails for balance, have proper names, sometimes are tiny, have feathers, fly, are birds, swim, hunt, etc.

Mix in some really well done music and clear, quality animation, and you've got a great show. Best of all is a moment after each episode with a real paleontologist who clears up fact from fiction and even gives great details about what was learned in the cartoon - finally, a TV show is using standard teaching methods like reinforcement and repetition without boring us to death.

Thank you, Dinosaur Train! You've created a show on a great subject that I can learn something new from right along with the kids! Well done!!