Denver, the Last Dinosaur

Denver, the Last Dinosaur
Genre	animation, children's
Created by	Peter Keefe, Calico Productions, World Events Productions
Country of origin	USA France
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	50
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	Syndication
Original run	April 11, 1988 – December 8, 1989

Denver, the Last Dinosaur is a U.S.-French cartoon for children originally released in 1988 by World Events Productions (the same company responsible for the English dubs of Voltron and for Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs). It was nationally syndicated throughout the United States in 1988 with reruns airing until 1990. Episodes often focused on issues of conservation, ecology, and friendship.

The show ran for two seasons, as the dinosaur boom that had followed The Land Before Time waned, causing viewership to drop. The series received a recommendation from the National Educational Association.

Plot

The show revolves around the adventures of Denver, the last dinosaur - a Corythosaurus - who was released from his egg by a group of multicultural modern California teens: Jeremy, Mario, Shades, Wally, and Casey, along with tag-along older sister, Heather. The kids taught Denver the finer points of skateboarding and other pastimes while protecting him from concert promoter Morton Fizzback who wanted to use the dinosaur to make money.

The series begins when Jeremy, while preparing for his Natural History test, and his friends visit the La Brea Tar Pits - A place in Los Angeles (which is spread over a large area and contains a large collection of extinct animal and plant fossils) and go to the Museum. At the museum, the friends encounter a gang of bullies. The friends escape the bullies by hiding behind a fence near the tar pits. Behind the fence they find a pit that contains a large prehistoric egg. As the friends are playing with the egg it suddenly cracks and a green friendly dinosaur emerges who, surprisingly, understands English. The kids name him Denver after they spot an advertisement for the city of Denver on a passing bus.

The children decide to keep Denver and to keep his existence a secret. Denver is first hidden in a pool house at Wally's home. After Wally's sister discovers Denver they move Denver to the old school gym. After a while Denver gets kidnapped by the manager Morton Fizback. Morton puts Denver on a stage in front of an audience in order to become rich.

When the children confront Morton about his abduction, he becomes paranoid that someone might find out that Denver is a real dinosaur. At the end Denver is sold to a scientist named Professor Funt who wants to examine and experiment on him, and use him to become famous. Eventually everything turns out fine and Denver gets to return to the gang and rescue them from Nick and his thugs.

In addition to his natural skills and abilities Denver can also, with the help of a piece from the shell of his egg, take the gang with him back to the time whence he came.

Characters

Main characters

• Denver the Last Dinosaur - The title character. Voiced by Pat Fraley.
• Wally - Boy who takes Denver in, Denver's closest friend. Cares for various animals - including Rocky (his pup), 3 cats, Ears (a rabbit), and a parrot. Voiced by Adam Carl.
• Jeremy - the intelligent guy amongst the gang who is able to provide information about dinosaurs. Voiced by Adam Carl.
• Mario - A kid with an enormous ego. Voiced by Cam Clarke.
• Shades - A cool kid who always wears sunglasses (where his name is derived from). Voiced by Cam Clarke.
• Casey - Girl with a crush on Mario. She is also the machinist of the gang. Voiced by Kath Soucie. Youngest of the gang.
• Heather - Wally's older sister, voiced by Kath Soucie.

Minor characters

• Rocky - Wally's pup.
• Chet - Heather's boyfriend, voiced by Rob Paulsen.
• Daniel - A teenage genius who is also a fan of comic books, and has a strong, though somewhat comical sense of justice. He was originally hired by Morton Fizzback to conduct an experiment on Denver's tar egg shell, but later helps out Denver and the gang, and provides technical support.

Villains

• Morton Fizzback - Evil concert promoter, voiced by Brian Cummings.
• Professor Funt - Evil scientist, sometimes works with Morton, voiced by Brian Cummings.
• Nick - Leader of two other bullies, Scott and Rod, who cause trouble for the boys, voiced by Rob Paulsen.

Merchandise and DVD

Knott's Berry Farm offered a Denver promotional tie-in with its new Kingdom of the Dinosaurs attraction (which would later take its last rider in 2004), as did Ralston-Purina with its new cereal brand Dinersaurs.

World Events Productions has released two DVD volumes through their Voltron.com website. The first volume includes the hour-long pilot, and the following eight. The second volume includes 10 episodes. World Events Productions had the complete series on YouTube, it was removed on December 31, 2010 because of synchronizing problems. But as of February 2012 all but 3 episodes are back on YouTube. Also on February 11, 2011, World Events Productions had released the complete series on Hulu.

Episode list

Season One

1. Denver, the Last Dinosaur (hour-long pilot) - April 11, 1988
2. In the Chips - September 26, 1988
3. Videohhhh! - September 28, 1988
4. The Roast Chicken Distraction - September 29, 1988
5. The Monster of Lost Lake - September 30, 1988
6. Denver Makes the Grade - October 3, 1988
7. Big Top Denver - October 5, 1988
8. The Misunderstanding - October 7, 1988
9. Lions, Tigers, and Dinos! - October 10, 1988
10. Change of Heart - October 12, 1988
11. Broncosaurus - October 14, 1988
12. Who is Matt Thompson? - October 16, 1988
13. Denver, Dino-Star! - October 17, 1988
14. Dinoland - October 19, 1988
15. Winning - October 21, 1988
16. Enter the Dino - October 24, 1988
17. Radio Denver - October 26, 1988
18. The Phantom of the Movie Theater - October 28, 1988
19. Missing Links - October 31, 1988
20. Dog Gone Denver! - November 2, 1988
21. Party Time - November 4, 1988
22. Aunt Shadie's Ghost Town - November 7, 1988
23. Moviestarus - November 9, 1988
24. Denver at Sea - November 11, 1988
25. Ski Denver - November 14, 1988
26. Beach Blanket Dino - November 16, 1988
27. History Repeats Itself - November 18, 1988
28. Battle of the Bands - November 21, 1988
29. The Comic Book Caper - November 23, 1988
30. Carnival - November 28, 1988
31. Pen Pal - November 30, 1988
32. China Town Caper - December 2, 1988

Season Two

1. Denver, the Lost Dinosaur - October 23, 1989
2. Denver and the Cornstalk - October 25, 1989
3. Tea Time for Dinosaur - October 27, 1989
4. Birthday Party From Outer Space - October 30, 1989
5. Food Wars - November 1, 1989
6. Jogging Denver (aka Dino-cise) - November 3, 1989
7. Denver, the Last Dragon - November 6, 1989
8. High Flying Denver - November 8, 1989
9. Denver at the Digs - November 10, 1989
10. Chef Denver - November 13, 1989
11. Fizzback's Follies - November 15, 1989
12. Dinos are My Life - November 17, 1989
13. Bayou Blues - November 20, 1989
14. Canatta - November 22, 1989
15. Pluto Needs People - November 27, 1989
16. Arabian Adventure - November 29, 1989
17. Venice Beach Blast - December 1, 1989
18. Big News Denver - December 4, 1989
19. Viva Denver! - December 6, 1989
20. There's No Business Like Snow Business - December 8, 1989

Aired

• India:Doordarshan,DD Malayalam(on Sundays after the 4pm movie),Surya TV.
• China: CCTV-1
• Pakistan: Pakistan Television (PTV 1)
• Poland: Tele 5
• Philippines: Island's TV 13 (now IBC 13)
• UK: Galaxy (1990), TV-am (1992), Nickelodeon, Sky Channel as part of Fun Factory Saturday and Sunday morning programming (1990–1993) and Carlton Kids (1998-2000).
• France : France 3 (1991–1993)
• Galicia: TVG (as part of Xabarín Club)
• Gibraltar: GBC TV.
• Israel: Channel 1
• Italy: Italia 1, Boing.
• Croatia: HRT 1
• Kazakhstan: Khabar TV.
• Romania: TVR1.
• Sweden: TV3, Kanal 5 and FilmNet.
• Denmark: Kanal 2.
• Ethiopia: ETV
• Serbia: TVNS Plus
• Germany: RTL Plus
• Netherlands: FilmNet
• NewZealand : Chanel 3 GZR
• Kenya: KTN
• Macedonia: MTV1
• South Africa: TV1, TV2
• South Korea: EBS
• Brazil: Globo
• Chile: Etc...TV
• Greece: New Channel, Seven-X
• Portugal: RTP 1, Canal Panda
• Hungary: Magyar Televízió 1 (the national TV)
• United Arab Emirates : (Channel 33)
• Finland: MTV3
• Mexico: XHGC-TV Canal 5
• Zimbabwe: ZTV

External links

• Official website from World Events Productions
• Denver, the Last Dinosaur at the Internet Movie Database
• Denver, the Last Dinosaur at TV.com
• Denver, the Last Dinosaur at YouTube