Denver
The Last Dinosaur - The Complete Series (1988 - 1990/Cinedigm/VCI
Entertainment)
Picture:
B Sound: B- Extras: C+ Episodes: B
Like
the dinosaurs themselves, the animated series Denver the Last
Dinosaur has been dead, buried, and forgotten about for some time
now. Fortunately for long time fans (like this reviewer) like
paleontologists of the home video world, VCI Entertainment has dug up
the series to FINALLY premiere on DVD.
Denver
the Last Dinosaur lasted a mere two seasons, 1988 to 1990, before
being canceled. The animated series (oddly) followed a group of
California teens who unearthed and hatched the last dinosaur
egg. In this egg was Denver, a friendly Corythosaurus who befriended
the teens (Casey, Mario, Shades, Wally, Heather, and Jeremy) while
they taught him how to be cool; this included rocking out
to music, skateboarding, and much more. Denver was discovered close
to the La Brea Tar Pits by the teens, who decided it was in Denver's
best interest to remain a secret.
At
first, they hide him in a pool house, before moving him to the
school's old gym. Not before long, however, a concert promoter named
Morton Fizback steals Denver and forces him to perform as stage act.
Scared that people may discover Denver is a real dinosaur, Morton
takes no chances and sells Denver to a scientist (named Professor
Funt) who plans on experimenting on the dinosaur. Luckily, Denver is
saved by the children just in the nick of time and a bond is formed.
From
here the series embarks on a host of odd adventures as the dinosaur
inexplicably understands English, seems very human-like, and can even
transport the gang back in time with a piece of the shell from his
egg. And even with these odd occurrences the series is surprisingly
fun and entertaining; often focusing on friendship, ecology,
conservationism while making it relatable to children.
So
needless to say the series was ridiculously out there... but that's
what made it great! Ignore the fact that the dinosaur exists.
Ignore the fact that a concert promoter's first thought is to put a
dinosaur on stage. Ignore essentially EVERYTHING! Just know the
series is so insanely '80s and self-aware that it retains an appeal
to children of all ages.
This
wonderful set from VCI includes all 50 episodes from the series on a
6 disc set.
The
technical features are MORE THAN adequate, as the episodes have been
fully restored from the original masters, looking better than they
have in years. The picture is a 1.33 X 1 full screen presentation
that boasts of bright colors, crisp/clean images, and nice black
levels. The transfers are still of DVD quality and have issues here
and there (some debris), but overall are very nice; especially for
such a unique, cult series. The sound is a simple, lossy Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo that comes heavily from the front, but again is
crisp, clean and clear with distortion.
Extras
are not too plentiful (housed completely on Disc-6) but does contain
a couple nice features, including:
-
Michael P. Dougherty II
