|
Valley of the Dinosaurs
"The Big Toothache"
TV episode
Written by: Unknown
Directed by: Charles A. Nichols
|
A saber-toothed cat emerges from the
mountains, frightening off the usual animals of the valley
depended upon by the cave dwellers.
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.
The small dinosaur at 1:30 on the DVD may be a Compsognathus
or Procompsognathus.
The hoofed ungulates that run across screen at 2:14 on the DVD appear
as if they may have a single pronged horn on their heads. I've not
been able to identify what species that would likely make them.
In the animal stampede at 2:26 on the DVD can be seen a possible
Gallimimus or Coelophysis, a possible wooly rhino
(though the horns here are blunt as opposed to the usual sharp ones
depicted historically), a white bear (what is that doing here?), a
warthog (normally found only in Africa), a Triceratops, a
mammoth, and several other unidentified dinosaurs and mammals.
Notice in this scene that the animation of the stampede repeats
itself a couple times to give the impression of large numbers of
animals.
At 2:40 on the DVD, Katie shouts to Lok, "Wait for me, Tarzan." The
nickname "Tarzan" has been used a number of times in the series by
the Butlers, given their jungle environment and adventures. This
refers,
of course, to the world-famous character of Tarzan created by Edgar
Rice Burroughs in 1912, a British boy who was lost in the African
jungle and raised by apes.
Running from the stampeding animals,
Katie trips and Lok picks her up in
a shoulder carry. At 3:32 on the
DVD, it looks like he's goosing her! |
|
|
Goose |
Reaction |
A species of saber-toothed cat are the protagonists of this episode.
The cave dwellers refer to them as nebra.
Gorok states that nebra do not like to get wet. The writers probably
borrowed this trait from the common house cat, but most large, wild
felines do not overly mind the water.
Gorok and Lok realize the female nebra is sick when they see her
eating what they refer to as "medicine grass".
Gara asks the Butlers what a Burma pit is and they explain it is a
hole in the ground covered with branches and leaves to harmlessly
capture an animal. Apparently, the Butlers told her it was called a
Burma pit, but I have found no corroboration of this term; mostly
this kind of pit is called simply a trapping pit.
As Gara makes a powerful sedative out of native berries and Kim cuts
large thorns from a plant, Kim explains to her that they will coat
the thorns with the sedative and throw them as darts at the female nebra
to put her to sleep long enough to ascertain what is wrong with her.
Kim states, "Our veterinarians and zookeepers tranquilize dangerous
animals in the very same way." I don't think most
veterinarians and zookeepers use hand-thrown darts to effect this!
They would use a dart fired by a gun instead.
When the animals have returned to the valley after the nebra leaves,
at 20:22 on the DVD, we see a few giant sloths and a dwarf
elephant.
Memorable Dialog
some
kind of work.wav
meowl.wav
walla.wav
Back to Valley of the Dinosaurs
Episode Studies