''Denver, the Last Dinosaur'' is an

animated series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

produced by World Events Productions and . It was nationally syndicated throughout the United States in 1988 with reruns airing until 1990. In the show, a dinosaur hatches from a petrified egg in the

modern era The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500 ...

, and is befriended by a group of teenagers. Episodes often focused on issues of conservation, ecology, and greed. The show ran for two seasons, as the dinosaur boom that had followed the film ''

The Land Before Time ''The Land Before Time'' is a franchise consisting of American animated film, animated Adventure film, adventure Children's film, family films centered around dinosaurs, including a Movie theater, theatrical movie, various Direct-to-video, st ...

'' (1988) waned until ''

Jurassic Park ''Jurassic Park'', later referred to as ''Jurassic World'', is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton, centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of De-extinction#Cloning, cloned dinosaurs. It bega ...

'' (1993), causing viewership to drop. The series received a recommendation from the

National Education Association The National Education Association (NEA) is the largest labor union in the United States. It represents public school teachers and other support personnel, faculty and staffers at colleges and universities, retired educators, and college st ...

. A CG-animated reboot, which originally went under the name ''Denver and Cliff'', premiered on M6 on August 27, 2018. The new series was produced by Zagtoon.

Plot

The show revolves around Denver, the eponymous last

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

, who was released from his egg by a group of California teens: Jeremy, Mario, Shades, and Wally. The kids taught Denver the finer points of

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...

and other pastimes while protecting him from rock 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 La Brea Tar Pits comprise an active Paleontological site, paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural Bitumen, asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' ...

– a place in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

which contains a large collection of extinct animal and plant fossils – and go to the Museum there. At the museum, the friends encounter a gang of bullies led by Nick. 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 understands English. The kids name him Denver after they spot an advertisement for the city of

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

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 Heather discovers Denver, they move Denver to the old school gym with help from Casey. After a while, Denver gets kidnapped by the manager Morton Fizzback, who puts Denver on a stage in front of an audience 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, 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 is the main

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

of the show and a close friend of the gang. He is a green ''

Corythosaurus ''Corythosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of hadrosaurid "duck-billed" dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period (geology), period, about 77–75.7 million years ago, in what is now Laramidia, western North America. Its name is derived from the Anci ...

''-like dinosaur of an unknown species, the last of his kind, who has proven to be a good and loyal friend. Denver first met Wally, Shades, Jeremy, and Mario when he hatched from his egg when the boys hid behind a fence in the tar pit from Nick and his friends. He surprisingly understands English. Denver got his name when the boys spotted an advertisement for the city of Denver on the side of a bus. He is a rock 'n roll music fan and likes to play electric guitar, ride skateboard and eat potato chips. Voiced by

Pat Fraley Pat Fraley is an American voice actor and voice-over teacher, known as the voice of Krang, Casey Jones, Baxter Stockman and numerous other characters in the 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated television series and voiced Falcon in ...

. *Wally Adams – Boy who takes Denver in, Denver's closest friend. He cares for various animals – including Rocky (his pup), three cats, Ears (a rabbit), and a parrot. Voiced by Adam Carl. *Heather Adams – Wally's older, and sometimes annoying, sister. She has blonde hair in a ponytail. Voiced by

Kath Soucie Kath Soucie (, ). is an American voice actress, known for voicing Phil, Lil and their mother Betty DeVille in '' Rugrats'', Lola Bunny in the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise, Fifi La Fume and Li'l Sneezer in ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Maddie Fent ...

. *Jeremy Anderson – the most intelligent and mature guy among the gang. He acts cerebral and possesses extensive knowledge about a wide variety of subjects, including the origin and habits of dinosaurs. Voiced by Adam Carl. *Mario – A brown skin and hair teen with an enormous ego. Voiced by

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 ...

. *Shades – A cool teen who always wears sunglasses (where his name is derived from). He is of Hispanic descent. Voiced by Cam Clarke. *Casey – Youngest of the gang, she is a machinist and often help the other members with the technical problems. She had a crush on Mario, most obvious in the first season, but he does not seem to share her feelings.

Minor characters

*Rocky – Wally's pup. *Chet – Heather's boyfriend, voiced by

Rob Paulsen Robert Frederick Paulsen III (born March 11, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director, known for his roles in numerous animated television series and films. He received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Pro ...

. *Freddy Facknitts – 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 – Drawn and voiced as an obvious characterization of actor

Rodney Dangerfield Jack Roy (born Jacob Cohen; November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004), better known by the stage name Rodney Dangerfield, was an American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was known for his self-deprecating one-liner humor, ...

, Fizzback is an arrogant, treacherous and greedy rock concert promoter voiced by

Brian Cummings Brian Douglas Cummings is an American voice actor. He is known for his work in commercials, television and motion picture promos, cartoons and as the announcer on '' The All-New Let's Make a Deal'' from 1984 to 1985. Life and career Having begu ...

. *Professor Funt – Evil scientist, sometimes works with Morton, voiced by Brian Cummings. *Nick – Leader of three other bullies, Curt, Scott, and Rod, who cause trouble for the boys, voiced by Rob Paulsen.

Episodes

Season 1 (1988–1989)

Season 2 (1989–1990)

Merchandise and home media releases

Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a amusement park in Buena Park, California, United States, owned and operated by Six Flags. In March 2015, it was ranked as the List of amusement park rankings#North America, twelfth-most-visited theme park in North Ameri ...

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 Cereals with its new brand Dinersaurs (which sold poorly and was discontinued by the end of 1988). Various episodes of the series were released on VHS by Fries Home Video. World Events Productions released two

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

volumes through their Voltron.com website. The first volume included the hour-long pilot and the following eight episodes. The second volume includes 10 episodes. World Events Productions had the complete series on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

; it was removed on December 31, 2010, because of synchronizing problems, but as of February 2012, all but three episodes had been restored. On February 11, 2011, World Events Productions released the complete series on

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

. On September 16, 2014, VCI Entertainment released ''Denver, The Last Dinosaur – The Complete Series'' on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time. The series is now owned by MarVista Entertainment.

2018 reboot

In October 2015, Zagtoon confirmed it was in the

pre-production Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, video game, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the co ...

phase on a CG-animated reboot of the series. Produced with

Method Animation Method Animation (formerly known as Method Films) is a French animation studio owned by Mediawan through its Kids & Family division founded in 1998 by Aton Soumache. The studio produces CGI and 2D animated shows. It came together in 2014 as the c ...

, the new show premiered on M6 in France on August 27, 2018. Distributor

PGS Entertainment PGS Entertainment is a French-Swiss privately owned investment family group dedicated to the financing and brand management of independent producers' children's television programming. PGS' broadcast and media partners include Nickelodeon, Disney ...

sold the series to over 30 markets worldwide. In North America,

Yoopa Yoopa (stylized YOOPA) was a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by Groupe TVA, a division of Quebecor Media. Initially aimed at preschoolers, Yoopa has broadcast programming targeted toward children, aged 2–11. A magazine for par ...

began airing it in Canada starting June 2, 2019, with TiVi5 Monde in the United States following in April 2020. In Belgium, the series debuted on

La Trois La Trois (''lit: The Three'') is a Belgian national television channel operated by the French-language public-service broadcasting organisation RTBF. It was launched on 30 November 2007 and is distributed via digital terrestrial television, sate ...

on September 4, 2019. An English dubbed version began airing in New Zealand on

TVNZ Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"), more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, streaming service, and news se ...

in March 2019. In South Africa, it debuted on

eToonz eToonz is a South African Satellite television, digital satellite television free-to-air children's channel created and owned by eMedia Investments's e.tv. The channel broadcasts for a duration of 16 hours from Sunday to Friday, 17 hours on Satur ...

on January 15, 2020. In the United States, it premiered on Primo TV on December 7, 2020. Characters *Denver a dinosaur and the main protagonist. *Cliff Scott a human boy and Denver's best friend. *Charlotte Cliff's friend and vlogger. *Super Dan Cliff's friend whom is very imaginative.

References

External links

Official website from World Events Productions
* {{IMDb title, id=0190178
Denver, the Last Dinosaur
at

1988 American animated television series debuts 1990 American television series endings 1980s American animated comedy television series 1990s American animated comedy television series 1980s American children's comedy television series 1990s American children's comedy television series 1988 French television series debuts 1990 French television series endings 1980s French animated television series 1990s French animated television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comedy television series American children's animated fantasy television series American English-language television shows French children's animated adventure television series French children's animated comedy television series French children's animated fantasy television series French-language television shows Animated television series about dinosaurs First-run syndicated animated television series American teen animated television series Animated television series set in Los Angeles Children's television series about talking animals