Dino-Riders

Yes, Dino-Riders was, in the end, basically a half hour toy commercial dedicated to selling overpriced plastic dinosaurs to young children. As a cartoon, it was inseparable from its toy line. That said, it did the selling very well.

As a six year old child obsessed with dinosaurs, this series was a dream come true. It combined sci-fi action with dinosaurs-everything a boy wants! When you're that young, you don't recognize commercialism, no matter how crass.

Looking back, the show is obviously silly. One of the smaller plot holes is the fact that the alien Valorians look just like humans. Still, it's a fun piece of nostalgia.

There is nothing more awesome than a bunch of armored dinosaurs blasting the snot out of each other with lasers. I can't believe it's been 20 years since this show first aired, and it still hasn't been revived for TV or the movies. I'm actually going to be going to animation school this fall, and one of my dreams is to one day create a new Dino-Riders cartoon series for TV. The franchise may not have had the widespread popularity or recognition of GI Joe or Transformers, but at its heart Dino-Riders is just as classic. If they were to make a new Dino-Riders show today, I think it would be far more popular than when it had originally aired, if they'd do it correctly. This franchise is a goldmine waiting to happen. All it needs is someone with the vision and someone with the means.

I watched a few on youtube for nostalgic reasons and...I am going to try write this review like I saw it as an 8 year-old boy.

It's what made being a little kid in the '80s great, it was the era before the government ruined Saturday Morning Cartoons.

Here you have...

1: Outer Space 2: Adventure 3: Action 4: Dinosaurs 5: Science-Fiction

What little boy is not going to love that? What little boy is not going to watch that and, in typical '80s fashion, what little kid is not going to want the toys to play with?

The only problem is, exercising greed and lack of scientific knowledge, instead of adding new dinosaurs, they changed the Second Season to Ice Age Animals and killed it all.

Trust me, the Ice Age is fascinating to me as an adult that works in history...but I was once a little boy and according to some people I still am a little boy and little boys want dinosaurs not wholly mammoths.

So the cartoon died in its second season and the toys stopped selling and we lost what would have otherwise been an epic childhood cartoon.

If there is one thing that young boys love it is Dinosaurs. Another thing they love is high tech weaponry. Dino Riders combined both Dinosaurs and high tech weaponry to create a very entertaining action packed show.

THe basic story of Dino Riders takes place on a planet Valoria. Valorians, telepathic humans, are forced to leave their planet due to an invasion of an evil race of beings called the Rulons. The valorians power crystal called the S.T.E.P (Space Time Energy Projector) rips a hole in the fabric of time and sends both the rulons and the valorians back to prehistoric earth. Using their telepathic devices the Valorians befriend the dinosaurs and become Dino Riders. The Rulons use their evil brain controlling devices called brain boxes to control the dinosaurs and force them to be their slaves. Soon both the Valorians and Rulons engage in battle against each other equipping their dinosaurs with immense weaponry. Thus begins the story of Dino Riders.

The Valorians are basic humans. Questar is their leader, a very brave and considering leader. Other notable Valorians are Turret (an inventor), Gunner (tested warrior), Serena (healer), and Youngstar(young guy with lots of confidence).

The Rulons have human bodies but the head of various animals. Rasp has the head of a cobra. Rasp is the typical cowardly assistant who wants to impress his leader to help his own good. Hammerhead has the head of a Hammerhead shark. Hammerhead is very over confident and downright arrogant but is no doubt skilled at hunting missions. Antor has the head of an Ant. Antor is the loyal one to Krulos. The Rulons leader is Krulos who has the head of a frog and has his head covered with a bubble that is filled with water. Krulos is quite the opposite of Questar and imposes fear upon his own troops and only cares for his own good. Krulos is my favorite character and is truly one of the best and most under rated villains ever in an animated series.

Voices used in this film are very similar to the cast of Transformers. Frank Welker provides the voice for Krulos, sounding similar to Soundwave and Megatron. David Gilvezan is the voice for Questar while Peter Cullen is Gunners voice. It is often believed that Chris Latta was Rasps voice but Latta is not in this series at all.

There is a great variety of Dinosaurs that are greatly animated and portrayed in this show. THis could quite possibly be animated dinosaurs at their best, in fact I think that it is. SOme of the dinosaurs include Diplodocus, Monoclonius, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Torosaurus, Kentrosaurus, and of course Tyrannosaurus.

This show is a lot of fun. It is must see t.v. and one of the best animated cartoon shows that I have ever seen. I recommend that if you are lucky enough to have a chance to watch this show to do it.

Hey everybody remember Dino-Riders. No well that's too bad because i know everyone has heard of it. i might have been a little guy when i saw it but i could tell it was destined to become a classic. So what happened? Where is the legacy now. I think Dino-Riders is in need of an update or remake. and i don't usually approve of remakes. but this generation of minds needs Dino-Riders it could be bigger then Pokemon.