(Source: muppetnewsflash.blogspot.com)
The Jim Henson Company has just released the details for the second and final Dinosaurs DVD box set, coming to shelves May 1st.
The 4-DVD set will contain the last 36 episodes (some of which never ran during the show's time on-air), including the brilliantly downbeat series finale which anticipated Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth by about 13 years. Extras include audio commentary tracks by executive producer Brian Henson, Kirk Thatcher, Kevin Clash (the voice of Baby Sinclair) and Bill Barretta (body of Earl Sinclair) for two episodes: "Into the Woods" and "Nature Calls."
There's a six-minute featurette included in the bonus disc, called "I'm the Baby, Gotta Love Me!" which discusses the popularity of Baby (briefly named "Aaah Aagh I'm Dying You Idiot" in one episode) Sinclair. Viewers can also check out the music video Henson produced, based around the character's famous catch-phrase.
Producers added a nine-minute featurette called "Creatures With a Cause: The Issues of Dinosaurs," which examines the many political issues (including the environment, racism, civil rights and censorship) the show tackled in its three years on-air. There are also several Easter – I mean, Dino – Eggs for the viewer to uncover.
For those of you who don't know (or remember), Dinosaurs was one of a long line of Jim Henson (The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock) shows that were criminally underappreciated during their time on-air. It ran from 1991 to 1994. The situation-comedy followed the adventures of the Sinclairs, a family of dinosaurs living in a world not dissimilar to our own. That allowed the show's producers to parody modern society yet keep it within the context of a children's show. However, Dinosaurs' producers also snuck in many jokes geared towards an adult audience (such as the Joni Mitchell quote "Paved paradise, put in parking lot" in one episode).
Dinosaurs also mocked many shows of the moment, including Barney and Friends (it's believed the creators of Barney at one point threatened to sue), The Simpsons (Matt Groening accused Dinosaurs of being a Simpsons rip-off), America's Funniest Home Videos (recast as Pangaea's Funniest Home Injuries) and 1990's Candid Camera update Totally Hidden Video (turned into Totally Hidden Predators, in which a camera records the reactions of various dinosaurs as they are devoured by a huge hidden monster).
Unfortunately, Dinosaurs was perhaps too sophisticated for kids, and adults missed the fact that it was for and about them, which limited its life on network television. Let's hope this under-rated show finally gets the audience it deserves on DVD. The box set hits shelves on May 1st.
Fun Fact: Kevin Clash, who voiced Baby Sinclair on Dinosaurs, is better known as the voice of Elmo from Sesame Street. He is effectively immune to any insults you may throw at him for his chosen career path because, thanks to a lucrative deal he signed with the makers of Tickle Me Elmo, he makes tons of money. He's also a big black man.
