Valley of the Dinosaurs (TV series)
- This article is about the TV series. For other uses, see Valley of the Dinosaurs.
| Valley of the Dinosaurs | |
|---|---|
 On-screen title card. | |
| Network | CBS |
| Production company | Hanna-Barbera |
| Distributor | Taft Broadcasting |
| Original release | September 7―December 21, 1974 |
| Run time | 21 minutes |
| Starring | Mike Road Shannon Farnon Jackie E. Haley Kathy Gori Alan Oppenheimer Joan Gardner Franklin Welker Melanie Baker |
| Executive producer(s) | William Hanna Joseph Barbera |
| Producer(s) | Iwao Takamoto Zoran Janjic |
| Music composed by | Hoyt Curtin |
| Writer(s) | Sam Roeca Peter Dixon Peter Germano James Henderson Ernie Kahn Ben Masselink Dick Robbins Henry Sharp Jerry Thomas |
| Director(s) | Charles A. Nichols Wally Burr (voices) |
| Animation director(s) | Peter Luschiwitz |
Valley of the Dinosaurs is an American animated action-adventure drama television series produced by the Australian arm of Hanna-Barbera Productions for CBS' Saturday morning children's programming. It ran in 1974, airing 16 episodes that spanned one season.
While rafting in the Amazon, the Butlers get caught in a whirlpool, emerging in a hidden realm where man and dinosaur coexist together. Upon their arrival, they are met and befriended by a neanderthal family who helps them adapt to living in this strange world, while the Butlers try to ease their everyday living by introducing them to simple modern inventions.
The series is similar to the then-concurrent prehistoric-themed live-action TV series Korg: 70,000 B.C. on ABC.
The entire series has been released on DVD.
Production
Development
Music
The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin, who was credited as the musical director, with musical supervision from Paul DeKorte. The music was edited by Pat Foley.
Episodes
| Episode | Original air date |
|---|---|
| 1x01 | September 7, 1974 |
| 1x02 | September 14, 1974 |
| 1x03 | September 21, 1974 |
| 1x04 | September 28, 1974 |
| 1x05 | October 5, 1974 |
| 1x06 | October 12, 1974 |
| 1x07 | October 19, 1974 |
| 1x08 | October 26, 1974 |
| 1x09 | November 2, 1974 |
1x10
|
November 9, 1974 |
1x11
|
November 16, 1974 |
| 1x12 | November 23, 1974 |
| 1x13 | November 30, 1974 |
| 1x14 | December 7, 1974 |
| 1x15 | December 14, 1974 |
1x16
|
December 21, 1974 |
Release
Dates are in order of release:
- United States: September 7, 1974 at 10:00 am on CBS
- United Kingdom and Ireland: February 4, 1975 at 4:45 pm on BBC 1
Cast
- Mike Road as Professor John Butler
- Shannon Farnon as Kim Butler
- Jackie E. Haley as Greg Butler
- Kathy Gori as Katie Butler
- Alan Oppenheimer as Gorok
- Joan Gardner as Gara
- Franklin (yes, Franklin) Welker as Lok, Glump, and Digger
- Melanie Baker as Tana
Crossover
| Episode | Number | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: "Beyond the Valley of the Dinosaurs" | 1 | August 28, 2005 |
Legacy
As mentioned above, Gorok and his teenage daughter, Tana, had cameos in the Adult Swim parody series Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law. In Max's (formerly HBO Max's) 2020s children's sitcom Jellystone!, Glump had cameos in the first season episodes "Ice Ice Daddy" and "The Big Stink;" in the former, he could talk and was dealing with being a character in Valley of the Dinosaurs, thus breaking the fourth wall. While Gorok and the rest of his family joined Glump as guests in the second season episode "Epic Rager."
Merchandise
Home media
On March 22, 2011, Warner Archive Collection released the series as Valley of the Dinosaurs: The Complete Series on DVD.
Reading material
After the series ended, Charlton Comics continued it in comic book form for eleven issues from 1975 to 1976. In 1993, Harvey Comics reprinted stories from issues two and nine for a one-shot.
In 1975, Rand McNally published a children's picture book, simply called Valley of the Dinosaurs.
In 1976, K.G. Murray reprinted five issues of Charlton's comics for the Australian market.
