''Dink, the Little Dinosaur'' is an American animated series created by Karen Willson and Chris Weber, produced by Ruby-Spears Enterprises. The series originally aired as part of

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

's Saturday morning line-up from 1989 to 1990.

Plot

The series followed Dink, a dinosaur, and his four friends as they explore and dwell in the volcanic landscape of prehistory in a place called Green Meadow. Designed to help children navigate the world of friendship and making friends, the stories fostered positive behaviors such as caring about oneself and others, tolerance, ecology, problem-solving and teamwork. The second season introduced a weekly segment called "Factasaurus" that taught lessons and fun facts educating children about different dinosaur species.

Characters

Episodes

Season 1 (1989)

Season 2 (1990)

Cast

R.J. Williams Robert Jackson Williams (born July 19, 1978) is an American media and Internet entrepreneur, and former child actor. He is the founder of the media company Young Hollywood. Early life and education RJ Williams was born in Los Angeles, Californi ...

- Dink *

Anndi McAfee Anndi Lynn McAfee (; born September 28, 1979) is an American actress. She is best known for voicing Phoebe Heyerdahl in Nickelodeon's animated television series ''Hey Arnold!'' and associated media, as well as the second voice of Cera in ''The ...

- Amber *

Ben Ryan Ganger Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett or Benson, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben (in he, בֶּן, ''son of'') forms part of Hebrew surnames, e.g. Abraham ben Abraham ( he, ...

- Shyler *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

- Scat, Crusty *

S. Scott Bullock Stuart Scott Bullock is an American voice actor. Best known for voicing various characters on ‘’Danny Phantom’’ (2004-2007). Career Bullock is known for providing voices for characters, such as Eddy in the ''Barnyard'' franchise, Glow ...

- Flapper

Additional cast

Jack Angel Jack Angel (October 24, 1930 – October 18, 2021) was an American voice actor, comedian, and radio personality. He provided voice-overs for animation and video games. Angel had voiced characters in shows by Hasbro and Hanna-Barbera such as ''Su ...

- Hubble * Richard Beals - Scratcher * Michael Bell - Beast *

Joey Camen Joey Camen (born January 16, 1957) is an American voice actor, comedian and writer who has performed voice over work in various movies, TV shows and video games. Early life Camen is of Russian and Romanian Jewish ancestry. His father, Hyman C ...

- Tiny *

Hamilton Camp Hamilton Camp (Born Robin S. Camp, 30 October 1934 – 2 October 2005) was a London-born actor and singer, who relocated to the United States with his family when he was a young child. He became an American folk singer during he 1960s, and ev ...

- Uncle Longbeak *

Jodi Carlisle Jodi Carlisle (born August 28, 1960 in Joliet, Illinois) is an American actress who has appeared in 46 television shows, 5 feature films, 6 videogames and 4 television movies as well as a number of stage plays. Carlisle is perhaps best known as on ...

- Brighteyes *

Nancy Cartwright Nancy Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress. She is the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', for which she has received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Perform ...

- Jane *

Cam Clarke Cam Clarke is an American voice actor, known for his work in animation, video games and commercials. Among his notable roles are Leonardo and Rocksteady in the 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated series, Shotaro Kaneda in the 1989 ...

- Forest *

Townsend Coleman Townsend Coleman is an American voice actor who has performed in many animated series and TV commercials beginning in the early 1980s. Among his most notable roles are Michaelangelo from ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', Wayne Gretzky on '' ProSta ...

- Shortspike's father *

Brian Cummings Brian Douglas Cummings (born March 4, 1948) is an American voice actor, known for his work in radio and television commercials, television and motion picture promos, cartoons and as the announcer on '' The All-New Let's Make a Deal'' from 1984 to ...

- narrator *

Jim Cummings James Jonah Cummings (born November 3, 1952) is an American voice actor. Since beginning his career in the 1980s, he has appeared in almost 400 roles. Cummings has frequently worked with The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros., including as th ...

- Trubble, Fleetfoot, Shortspike *

Jennifer Darling Jennifer Darling (born Joan Darling; June 19, 1946, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American voice, film and television actress. Her best-known role on screen was as Peggy Callahan in ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' and its spin-off ''The Bion ...

- Ariel *

Debi Derryberry Debi Derryberry is an American voice actress who has provided voices for a number of animations and video games. Biography Derryberry was born in Indio, California to a family of Hungarian Jewish descent. Her grandparents were Holocaust surviv ...

- Ariel's mother *

Billie Hayes Billie Armstrong Brosch (August 5, 1924 – April 29, 2021), known professionally as Billie Hayes, was an American television, film, and stage actress, best known for her comic portrayals of Witchiepoo and Li'l Abner's Mammy Yokum. Early ye ...

- Buttercup *

Dana Hill Dana Hill (born Dana Lynne Goetz; May 6, 1964 – July 15, 1996) was an American actress. She was known for playing Audrey Griswold in ''National Lampoon's European Vacation'', and also known for her roles in ''Shoot the Moon'' and '' Cross Cree ...

- Dippo, Stormfoot *

Hal Rayle Hal Rayle (born January 4, 1955) is an American voice actor. He has done many roles for both animated series and live action movies. Career Rayle has had a number of voice acting jobs over his career. Rayle's animated series roles include Miss Pi ...

- Trail blazer *

Steve Schatzberg Steve Schatzberg (February 18, 1943 – August 30, 2008) was an American voice actor, best known as the singing voice of Piglet in the ''Winnie the Pooh'' franchise from the 1990s until his death, Tyg Tiger in '' Shirt Tales'', Matt in '' The G ...

- Mike *

Kath Soucie Kath or KATH may refer to: * Kath (city), the historical capital of Khwarezm * Kath (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * KATH-TV, the NBC TV station in Juneau, Alaska * KATH (AM) KATH (910 kHz) is an ...

- Melodi *

Russi Taylor Russi Taylor (May 4, 1944 – July 26, 2019) was an American voice actress. She is best remembered as the official voice of Minnie Mouse from 1986 to 2019, and was notably married to voice actor Wayne Allwine, the voice of Mickey Mouse, until his ...

- Squirt *

Janet Waldo Janet Waldo (born Jeanette Marie Waldo; February 4, 1919 – June 12, 2016) was an American radio and voice actress. In animation, she voiced Judy Jetson in various Hanna-Barbera media, Nancy in ''Shazzan'', Penelope Pitstop, Princess from ''Batt ...

- Miss mike *

- Earthshaker, Scavenger, Bolderbuns, Tyrannor, Slidetooth, Bilal, Johnny

Home media

VHS release

Five years after its television broadcast, ''Dink, the Little Dinosaur'' was released on VHS by

Turner Home Entertainment Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing th ...

under the

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

label on September 14, 1994. Its six volumes are ''Land Of No Return'', ''Shyler's Friend'', ''The Sky Is Falling'', ''Lights Out'', ''Rivals'' and ''Phantom Of The Cave''. Each ''Dink'' videocassette contains over five episodes from the series. Turner also distributed these videos internationally in different countries such as the United Kingdom through

First Independent Films First Independent Films was a British film distributor and home video company that replaced Vestron Video International's UK operations. HTV, the ITV franchise holder for Wales and the West of England, acquired Vestron UK in May 1990 and renamed ...

, in Australia through Rainbow Products, and in Germany through Fox Video.

DVD release

Warner Archive The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

released the complete series on October 10, 2017 in Region 1.

References

External links

* {{Children's programming on CBS in the 1990s 1989 American television series debuts 1991 American television series endings Television series by Ruby-Spears Animated television series about children Animated television series about dinosaurs American children's animated adventure television series CBS original programming 1980s American animated television series 1990s American animated television series English-language television shows Apatosaurinae