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Episode Studies by Clayton Barr

enik1138
-at-popapostle-dot-com
Valley of the Dinosaurs: Pteranodon Valley of the Dinosaurs
"Pteranodon"

TV episode
Written by: Unknown
Directed by: Charles A. Nichols

 

When Kim comes down with an ailment, the combined Butler and Gorok families race to find the ingredients for the cure.

 

Didja Know?

 

The writers of each TV episode are not specifically revealed, but the end credits of every episode listed the series writers as: Peter Dixon, Peter Germano, James Henderson, Ernie Kahn, Ben Masselink, Dick Robbins, Henry Sharp, and Jerry Thomas.

 

Didja Notice?

 

Gorok and Lok knock down what appear to be coconuts from a tree, though the leaves on the tree do not appear to be those of the typical coconut palm.

 

After feeling woozy and collapsing briefly during work that day, Kim claims she feels fine and that she's fainted before. Really? She has a history of fainting?

 

Gara refers to a special herb medicine in the form of a thick soup that cures Kim as "glubose". The soup is made up of leaves, bitter root, fox flower, and the eggs of Pteranodons and giant turtles. There is an actual drug in the modern world called glubose used in the treatment of diabetes, though obviously not made of those ingredients!

 

The cave dwellers refer to a Pteranodon as ardok.

 

Greg states that his father teaches a course in health education back in the modern world.

 

The birds that flee the cave Katie and Lok run into to escape the Pteranodon appear to basically be normal, modern birds.

 

The two sauropods that appear at 8:17 on the DVD appear to be brontosaurs. Possibly the same pair are seen at 15:07.

 

The insects seen at 10:18 on the DVD look like large damselflies.

 

A place called Animal Island lies in the middle of the swamp. Only animals dwell there, no humans.

 

The aquatic reptile seen at 11:48 on the DVD may be a Plesiosaurus. Gorok later refers to the beast as Leego.

 

I am unsure of the type of creature seen rising its head from the water at 12:48 on the DVD. It is chewing some aquatic plant, so it does not appear to be a carnivore and Lok states that it "just looks mean", implying it is largely harmless. It may be a sauropod dinosaur whose body is completely submerged, raising its head for air intermittently as it feeds from the plant life on the swamp bottom.

 

Some kind of prehistoric crocodilian with protruding ridges on its back appears at 14:41 on the DVD.

 

This episode reveals there is an "animal dying place" not far from the where the cave-dwellers live. Many dinosaur skeletons are seen here; they are difficult to identify by species from just the scattered pieces of skeleton, though what appears to be a Pteranodon skull is seen.

 

Gara uses what appears to be a very long animal horn to fend off the giant turtle that intrudes on her cave. A couple of even bigger horns (or tusks?) are seen leaning against the cave wall at 16:56 on the DVD along with a couple of horned skulls.

horns and skulls

 

Gara gets the giant turtle to clamp its jaws down on the horn she carries, stating, "As long as I hold on, she will not unlock her jaws," which prompts Greg to respond, "Just like a Louisiana snapping turtle!" This is true of the common snapping turtle found throughout the mid and eastern U.S. states, including Louisiana. The common snapping turtle is too large to hide within its own shell the way most turtles do, so has evolved a long neck enabling it to reach around as far as its hind feet to snap at an aggressor.

 

What appear to by hyenas show up at the cave at 18:35 on the DVD, drawn by the smell of the cooking soup. However, hyenas are historically known in Africa and Eurasia, not South America where the Valley of the Dinosaurs exists.

 

Memorable Dialog 

 

holy trout.wav

 

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