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The "Dinosaurs" series was not only funny, it was poignant AND it offered rather profound insight into all of the silly madness of modern life. The master stroke of setting 20th century, ostensibly American life within an imaginary context of dinosaurs should say enough about the aim of the show. There was a strong environmental message within it. In the last episode, the corporate entity which ruled the Pangean subcontinent made a grave error which caused a climatic change resulting in eternal snow and the Dinosaurs' extinction. It was a genius of a finale and terribly sad, especially for those of us who'd come to love the somewhat hapless but nearly invincible Sinclair family.
Visually, the production was a real delight, and a lot of grist was packed into the 23 minutes each episode ran. The humor was not entirely topical and thus endures well. The show lacked the raw "edge" of the Simpsons, for example, leaning instead toward a sweetness and softness that are long gone from television, and in the end (except at the very end), everything turned out all right for the Sinclairs. Its appeal, therefore, is quite a bit different from a show like the Simpsons, to which it was often compared. But it is a different genre entirely, much more refined, purposeful, and more gracefully done.
This show was a big commercial gamble for ABC and had no precedent in commercial television. And it did what good television should do: entertain, inform, delight, and even stir the imagination. When it had run its course, it became another part of television history. But unlike most of recent TV history, this one is not only memorable, it will always have redeeming qualities, which will only become more apparent as the world goes in the direction the show predicts.
score /10
russwollman 23 September 2003
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0290001/ |
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23-4-2020 00:14:12
