The skinny:
Valley of the Dinosaurs is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by the Australian studios of Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on CBS from September 7 to December 21, 1974, and in syndication from 1977 to 1983.
Science professor John Butler and his family - wife Kim, teenage daughter Katie, young son Greg (the siblings always go barefoot), and dog Digger - are on a rafting trip along the Amazon River when their raft hits a rock and capsizes. They are swept through a cavern and caught in a whirlpool; upon resurfacing, they find themselves in a mysterious realm where humans coexist with various prehistoric creatures. dinosaurs. The Butlers meet and befriend a clan of Neanderthals led by: Gorok; his wife Gara; their teenage son Lok; and their young daughter Tana. Gorok and his family have a pet of their own, a baby Stegosaurus named Glump. Gorok and Company aid the Butlers' efforts to find a means of returning home; for their own part, John and his family do what they can to make the Neanderthals' daily lives easier. (Examples of such included introducing Gorok's family to basic technology, such as simple machines - particularly the lever and the wheel - sailboats and windmills.)
"Hanna-Barbera and CBS likely felt that they had a hit on their hands with Valley Of The Dinosaurs. After all, what kid doesn’t love dinosaurs, right? Unfortunately, a live action show with an amazingly similar premise debuted in the very same time slot that year on NBC. Land Of The Lost ended up being the hit of the season, while Valley Of The Dinosaurs was relegated to history. (More trivia: H-B also found themselves competing with one of their own shows, with Devlin being run at the same time on ABC. Meanwhile, H-B’s prehistoric live action show Korg, 70,000 BC failed to click with audiences a half-hour later.) Of course, ratings failure does not always reflect quality. Valley Of The Dinosaurs was as good or better than any other Hanna-Barbera show of the era.
On that level alone, this show is full of fun and adventure. Even better, it makes a point of using science to not only help the Butlers, but also educate the audience. Scripts make good use out of Mr. Butler’s science teacher background, while the rest of the family also proves to be pretty bright when it comes to applying science to help them out of danger. On the surface, this looks and feels much like any other H-B program, but as a viewer I appreciated the attempt to be just a little more academic than other shows. Of course, the emphasis on science and dialog may have doomed the show, with kids preferring more excitement and dino action. As an adult viewer, though, it hits the spot." - Animated Views
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