So you would think being a program that aired during a 2 hour family television block (TGIF) would be enough to make the writers of Dinosaurs show a little sensitivity when creating the series finale episode, right? Wrong. The show ended with not so much as a glimmer of hope for the characters we had grown emotionally attached to over 4 seasons and 65 episodes. It left us crying in our dinner on an emotionally draining Friday evening in 1994. Throughout those episodes we saw the loveable family of dinosaurs deal with issues such as women’s rights, peer pressure, environmentalism, and civil rights. Anyway, the ending began when…
1.) The irresponsible dinosaurs constructed a wax fruit factory on some beetles’ swampland habitat, forcing the species into extinction. As a result, cider poppy vines that the beetles would normally devour rapidly grew out of control.
2.) Earl was put in charge of getting rid of the massive amounts of vines and he decided to spay the planet with defoliant. Problem solved, right? Wrong again. 3.) The spraying caused all plant life on the planet to die.
4.) In one final act of stupidity, the dinosaurs decide that dropping bombs in the planets volcanoes will cause them to erupt, creating clouds, causing it to rain and reviving their plants. Instead, the dark clouds cause global cooling due to massive cloud cover and scientists guesstimate that it would take “tens of thousands of years” to stop.
Realizing that his entire species is completely F’d, Earl simply apologizes to his family for ending the world. The series ends with newsman Howard Handupme delivering a disturbing broadcast that ends eerily with the delivery of the phrase “Goodnight” and “Goodbye” to the audience. Now I personally was about six years old when this aired and aside from Mufasa falling off a cliff & getting crushed by a “Wal-Mart on Black Friday-esque” stampede, the ending of Dinosaurs was the most gut wrenching thing I had to watch.
HERE’S THE LAST HALF OF THE DINOSAURS SERIES FINALE. Watch at your own risk, 90s lovers.
Did the baby have the same voice as elmo?
Baby and Elmo are the same guy. In fact, Elmo came shortly after Dinosaurs ended.
Actually Elmo was on Sesame street before dinosaurs
Thank you for tearing out my heart
Traumatic, at best. I remember when this aired and I just bawled. What a way to end a show…sad music to boot…
But there really was no other way to end it. There’s no glimmer of hope and happiness to end on a high note because it would be a lie. The dinosaurs are, in fact, dead. And it really did fit now that I think about it. The show did usually have an environmental message theme that was meant to parallel to today’s human world. I think they wanted one last attempt to grab people’s enviro-concious attention.
Well, that was seriously depressing
I still remember watching that episode that very night, it’s just one of those things that stick in my mind because I was 6 too and that was my first experience with death, so to speak, even if it was just a TV show.
Probably the most depressing episode of any tv show i’ve ever watched.
Come on. It was about dinosaurs. We all knew it wasn’t going to end well. Because we all knew it didn’t end well for the dinosaurs.
I got through 5min and had to stop. I loved that show. For some reason I don’t remember watching the ending; I think I must have blocked it out.
I was age 7ish.
So that’s how the dinosaurs really end. Asteroids my ass.
i was 7. the worst part of all was when my parents had to explain it to me and my 5 year old brother how that the dinosaurs were going to die. thats too much for a kid
I used to love watching Dinosaurs, but never saw the finale until now. All I want to do is cry.
The dinosaurs in this show are what my 4 year old mind associated with monsters, even now, when I think of monsters, these guys pop into my mind. Lol… I don’t even remember this show. All I remember was this one episode, and it scared the crap outta me.
Seconded.
You’re right, this was a very devastating ending. I remember it well. But I do love Mr. T and the one Dino voice lol. #thingsyourealizeyearslater
Well shit. I’m going to bed now. *depressed*
NOT TO SAD DID ANYONE EVER WONDER WHY THE BABY WAS WHITE AND EVERYONE ELSE GREEN I SMELL AFFAIR
Very sad
So sad! But it was the 90′s. The fact that it was a family show made it such a great platform for a ‘green’ message. Hopefully some of the parents of the kids who cried when they realized that the Dinosaurs were going to die realized themselves that they have to take care of the planet to leave behind a suitable home for their children.
This is the ending alright, I was 14 at the time but I *loved* this show. I read somewhere that there were a few more episode that never aired, and whether or not they had any direct place in time to this one I don’t know.