The Final Episode #7: Dinosaurs (1991 - 1994)

 Most sitcom endings were positive and enjoyable. I mean I say most because some end on cliffhangers that will never be resolved (I still pine for the second part of the season four finale of Duckman) and others go out of their way to be dark as hell just to make a point. Dinosaurs went dark as hell for it's final episode. Dinosaurs for those who do not know was the final thing Jim Henson really worked on before he died, having coming up with the original idea in 1988 (and people say this was a The Simpsons ripoff, and yeah they had the shorts on the Tracy Ulman Show but we all know no one cared about the Simpsons until they had their own tv show and the only thing these shows had in common were they were about a family. So If thats all that makes something a ripoff the Simpsons ripped off the Jeffersons. Yeah I'm saying it! Plus Dinosaurs didn't have 84 seasons of absolute shit that ruins the legacy of the 9 or so seasons of actually great stuff.) 

Dinosaurs may have been an idea from Jim Henson but when it finally came to TV it was created by Michael Jacobs and Bob Young. If the name Michael Jacobs sounds familiar, it's because he created Boy Meets World also for the TGIF lineup. Bob Young worked on shows of all kinds of varying quality. Working on both Family Ties and Who's the Boss?. Michael Gross is great and Tony Danza is not. I will probably end up talking about both of those shows final episodes though because why not. Anyway Dinosaurs ran from April 16, 1991 to October 19th, 1994. Despite being pretty popular the puppetry was too expensive and that's pretty much why it was cancelled. This show was very entertaining and funny. It did all kinds of comedy. Silly, slapsticky, even satire on all kinds of issues of that day. The final episode was also an issue episode. This one is about progress vs nature and how progress is not a bad thing but it shouldn't fuck nature over. They make this point by killing every member of the cast. Yes. This show ends with every character waiting to die. 

The plot of the episode is as follows, The Bunch Beetle are coming to mate so they can have children who will eat these poppy flowers that grow incredibly fast. The problem is that WeSaySo the main corporation in the Dinosaurs world that Earl works for has paved over the swamp where they mate and has been killing every Bunch Beetle they can find. So without the Bunch Beetles, The Poppy Flowers won't stop growing. Thanks to a TV interview by Charlene (who I found out today was voiced by Sally Struthers from All in the Family, wild huh. Fran's voice actor also went on to work on Arrested Development) Earl talks about how great progress is (and the joke about Microwave Toast is probably my favorite one in the episode) and is put on the head of a task force to find a way out of the poppy seeds, pretty much as a fall guy for the big corporation WeSaySo (voiced by George Jefferson, himself. Also I don't know where else to put this but Commandant Lassard also voiced a Dinosaur! Isn't that cool?)  They end up trying to posion the poppy seeds and just end up poisoning all plant life. Trying to create clouds they literally blow up volcanos and create the dark clouds that well cover up the sun. WeSaySo is happy because everyone is buying stuff to keep themselves warm. Earl ends off the episode with a poignant apology for everything. I dunno if everyone will buy it Earl but it was worth a try.

Final Verdict: I gotta hand it to any show that ends up with all the cast, main and supporting waiting to die but still actually being pretty amusing throughout is pretty great. It's very melancholy but it's definitely my favorite Final Episode that I've talked about thus far. I cannot wait to watch the rest of this show and to do a review of the entire thing.