Best and Worst Dinosaur Cartoons of the '90s

It paid to be a dinosaur in the 1990s.

For some reason, the '90s had more dinosaurs on-air than any era before it. '90s kids consumed a consistent diet of dinosaurs, lasers and explosions every morning...how cool is that? That stuff's freakin' addictive, and you can bet that as a kid I was glued to my seat whenever my favorite dino-shows were on.

And so, in celebration of Dinosaur Week, I went back in time to revisit the cartoon dinosaurs that defined the extreme '90s! From the anthropomorphic to the annoying, from the Cadillac-driving to the cutesy, we're ranking the best and worst dinosaur-themed cartoons of the '90s!


EXTREME DINOSAURS


With a name like that, it could only come from one point in time: the '90s. Anything "extreme" was in vogue in those days, and in 1996 Mattel decided to cash in on the trend with a series of toys featuring 'roided-up dinosaurs doing, well, extreme things. And so the Extreme Dinosaurs was born. And where a '90s toyline was, a TV show wasn't far behind, and thus we were treated to more or less the equivalent of one of my 10-year-old self's fever dreams.

With names like T-Bone, Stegz and the prolific Spike, the Extreme Dinosaurs were deliciously '90s, and they fought what were basically chiseled velociraptors with retainers in their mouths amidst wanton destruction and explosions. If Michael Bay made cartoons in the '90s, this would have been his magnum opus.

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DINK, THE LITTLE DINOSAUR


This is as kiddy as a dinosaur can get. Dink aired in the very early '90s and was basically the poor kids' The Land Before Time. It was pretty cute in a way, and it gets points for having the legendary Frank Welker as part of its cast of voice actors, but it was too cutesy for its own good. It does get a pass though for having Dink be such a bad enough dude to be considered an enemy by a goddamn Tyrannosaurus.

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 CADILLACS AND DINOSAURS


Cadillacs and Dinosaurs spun off from the comic book of the same name by Mark Schultz. The animation was gorgeous for its time, and the image of driving around in a Cadillac in the 26th century among dinosaurs probably exploded a lot of little kids' minds back in the early '90s.

I feel sorry for not catching this on TV when it was on, but from what I've seen, it looks and sounds awesome. If I ever saw Hannah Dundee on TV when I was a kid, it would have been an awkward phase of puberty for me.

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 DINOSAUCERS


Now we're getting to the good stuff. Dinosaucers was a cartoon series in the late '80s that featured anthropomorphic dinosaurs from outer space that battled it out ala The Transformers. The noble Dinosaucers fought the evil Tyrannos using fists, claws and rayguns, and they even had meat shields human allies called Secret Scouts who were basically useless in a war between giant anthropomorphic dinosaurs.

It was a winning formula (it certainly was for me) and Dinosaucers became a favorite of mine as a kid because of it. My favorite part has got to be when they shed their human-like ways with a push of a button, "dinovolving" into their true dinosaur forms to basically curbstomp the poor Tyrannos, who were taking a page from the Stegosaurus' playbook by owning brains the size of walnuts. It was crazy, stupid, and very '80s fun. Also, dat opening theme.

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 DENVER, THE LAST DINOSAUR


Ugh. Denver, the Last Dinosaur was the bane of my childhood existence, for reasons I cannot fathom but nonetheless burn deep inside my heart like an all-consuming flame. Denver tried too hard to be 'hip' and 'cool' and 'cute', and his human friends were annoying. It had promise, certainly, and it was 'dino' in its own way, but when your sworn enemy is an evil concert promoter (certainly the most evil of promoters!), there will come a time when you gotta ask yourself if you can stomach 50 episodes of that. Avoided the failing grade due to his pretty catchy theme song that you just can't get out of your head decades later.

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DINO-RIDERS


Human history has seen its share of great inventions: the light bulb, the printing press, the automobile, and humans riding dinosaurs strapped with laser guns and missiles. Dino-Riders was the be-all and end-all of all dinosaur cartoons back in the day for this geek, and even though it was primarily a vehicle to sell Tyco toys, it made its mark by how crazy awesome the concept of Dino-Riders are.

Dinosaurs get a choice of either being befriended by the peaceful Valorians or mind-jacked by the evil Rulons. After that, they're outfitted with mounted laser cannons, trapping nets and other weapons. Only then will they get to dance the dance of steel and flesh against other dinosaurs in a war of survival. It's probably a rite of passage for children to see a giant T-Rex turned into a mobile attack platform armed to the teeth with missiles and laser guns. And if it's not, it should be. Because that's just freakin' awesome, man.

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Man, it really was a pretty awesome time to be a kid in the '90s! Agree with my ratings? Think I forgot a show? Leave me a comment and let's talk about it! I hope you're enjoying Dinosaur Week! Thanks for reading!

Post a Comment

50 Comments

  1. I'm looking for the cartoon with the city of dinosaurs and this group would go down a seated tunnel and turn into a crime fighting squad. they drove a van

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    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VxDUxaqNm0

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    2. I love you I been looking for name of that show for ages tho I remember them being more colored maybe I saw an updated one or memory iffie =3

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    3. Holy carp Batman! I've been scouring the internet for years searching for this show!

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  2. Found what we are looking for.
    The Adventures Of T Rex is the name of the cartoon.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I have been looking for that shows name for years!

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    2. I have been wondering this for about 2-3 years now. You have really help me out.

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    3. Was there a show that was simular, but they were mecanical? Or is it the same and i was remebering wrong?

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    4. I think it was the same show, as their crime fighting outfits were metalic and made them look like robots/cyborgs

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    5. Oh my god thank you thank you thank you. I have been trying to work out the name of that cartoon for 15 years!!!!

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    6. [Was there a show that was simular, but they were mecanical? Or is it the same and i was remebering wrong?]
      I am thinking of the same one and the adventures of t rex is not the one

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  3. My all time favorite is Denver the last dinosaur. I miss that cartoon. I give it 5 dinosaur heads since you all can't.

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  4. yeah yeah BB!!!

    LOVE that show when growing up!!!!

    Thanks for that!!!

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  5. Trying to remember a cartoon that had humans as rodents the Dinosaurs were trying to get rid of, anyone remember it?

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    1. Terrible thunder lizards I think?

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  6. Does anyone know the name of a cartoon about a family of archaeologists that got sucked down a whirlpool and end up in a prehitoric land? They meet a prehistoric family that mirrors theirs. There are dinosaurs and sabrecats and the like. I remember watching it on Cartoon Network in 1994-95. It came on in a block with Pirates of Dark Water.

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    1. Sounds like Valley of the Dinosaurs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-8TPrEU3nU)

      I'm trying track down a dinosaur cartoon and all I can remember is one scene where there were children in danger, and a baby (?) triceratops pushes a t-rex off a cliff. The kids are sad, but I have the feeling the triceratops somehow survived. And that's all I've got. Any hints would be greatly appreciated :)

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    2. OMFG O.O I've been searching for that animation for years, couldnt remember the name, the show was on Cartoon Network in 1994, I was 7 years old. Ty.

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  7. Does anyone know the name of a cartoon that was a omda people traveling with a vehicle and had relation with dinosaurs and an uncle were looking for the father of someone from this group and eventually find and had fallen into a cliff ty if some one know :)

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    1. I was also trying to remember this cartoon.

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  8. Let's not forget the TERRIBLE THUNDERLIZARDS! Granted, it was more of a side cartoon to Eek the Cat, but still pretty awesome!

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  9. does anyone know the name of a dinosaur animated series where they use to be a group of different dinosaurs they had an airship, they could do different things like one could take tape out of its mouth one could blow bubbles one could staple etc.. i cant remember the name of it we use to watch it in the 90's growing up in saudi.

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    Replies
    1. Ahh, this has been bugging me for near 20 years. Thank you!

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    2. I have been searching for decades.

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  10. What was the name of the short cartoons featuring two dragons? It was on Nickelodeon, probably on Nick Shorts. Mid 90s. The punchline was the call and response between the two dragons. One would say 'balabala' and the other one would say 'whooosh!' and set light to something.

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  11. And "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_T-Rex" ??? :((

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  12. im looking for a dinosaure cartoon that a kid hops into a pale with his toy dinosaures coming to life

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  13. Harry and a bucket full of dinosaurs

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  14. Does anyone remember the programme/movie where a group of children are out camping or staying in a cabin in the middle of the woods on a school trip of something and through the forest there are lots of dinosaurs but only the children know. There is one dinosaur that all the others are after it so the children help the lonely dinosaur

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  15. Does anyone know of a dinosaur cartoon from the 90s that had a girl named Wendy in it???????? I only remember the character named Wendy.

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    1. http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Wendy_Richfield this maybe?

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  16. Dose any 1 know a dinosaur cartoon whare the people turned into dinos when they were in danger

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  17. Guys, just wiki "Television series about dinosaurs" all the shows you're asking about are listed.

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  18. does anyone knows the cartoon where dinosaurs were "playing the roles" of Hansel and Gretel?

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  19. Does anyone knows the name. A bunch off ppl use to travel in a train like army vehicle with mini helicopter inside and other stuff the train use to split in 2 they used to save dinosaur.

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  20. Does anyone remember; I'm pretty sure its a cartoon movie, about a girl and a boy (brother and sister?) going to their grandpas hotel?..... so they found a secret door that lead to the basement?, I cant remember if they followed a noise or just found the door in their room... but they found dinosaurs who could float in bubbles because they wear this collar around their necks?.. I can't member if the collar makes them invisible or just float.Then this evil man captured one of them then he fell off a cliff? or got struck by lightning...

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  21. Absolutely fantastic post which aided me in my quest to remember my favorite dinosaur cartoon series (Dino-Riders) from my childhood!! Thank you very much for the trip down memory lane! Jay

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  22. hii thr...does anybody aware of this cartoon charactr the one which is a friendly skeleton wearing blue jumpsuit and always smiling and including group of dinos or maybe peoples i dont remember except this charactr.

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  23. Thanks so much for good article and for reminding me Extreme Dinosaurs! I was searching for that show for ages. I remembered very little of it only that it had some sort of a team of reptiles and I loved it as a kid. And that I enjoyed watching it one great summer. It was driving me crazy I couldn't remember. You rock :)

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  24. anyone know where to buy DVDs of these Cartoons?

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  25. Im looking for old cartoon in wich the main character is very hungry dinosaur and wants to eat all the food(especially cakes) . It lives in a village with his friends and they act like humans, drive cars etc. I remember that it was pretty bad quality even back then but I liked it. Does anybody remember the name?

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  26. does anyone remember an old animated show where two of the characters die. I believe a trex and a triceratops and are revived somehow and come back stronger. I
    want to say it's almost like beast wars but can't find it.

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  27. I'm looking for a dinosaurs cartoon I have enjoyed when I was a kid ( maybe 15 years ago). It was my favorite but sadly I can't remember the name. It's about a team of 3 dino-human (a boy look like a triceratops, a dino-girl and a tall guy who is the leader) on a spaceship journey to prehistoric earth to research or sth else ... and they try to prevent the invasion of the dino human lead by the team girl's father. This is everything I remember about it - Does anyone have any clue, please?

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  28. I have Googled many times but I still haven't found the name of a TV series with dinosaurs that when I was a kid, seemed very frightening to me. Dinosaurs who would catch humans and kill them, saying a word like "Decay" or something, I don't know the original I watched in my own language. Lately I think I might have imagined it!

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    Replies
    1. Is it possible you misremembered the Inhumanoids cartoon? There was a character called D'compose there who would touch humans and they would transform into monsters that scream "Decompose!" which is the same as the word "decay"

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  29. Holy crap! Man! inhumanoids! I was looking for this since i turn 18 know im 38 and finally found it, thanks to you guys! Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
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