Extreme Dinosaurs


Extreme Dinosaurs is an American animated series produced by DIC Productions, L.P. and Bohbot Entertainment in 1997 based on a 1996 toy line from Mattel. This show is a spin-off of Street Sharks.
The show is in the same vein as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Jurassic Park. Extreme Dinosaurs was broadcast in syndication as part of Bohbot Entertainment's Bohbot Kids Network block where it aired for one season in 1997. The show was cancelled after 52 episodes.

Plot

The series starred a Tyrannosaurus, a Triceratops, a Stegosaurus, and a Pteranodon that were transformed into super warriors by an inter-dimensional criminal named Argor Zardok. They rebelled against the alien criminal and battle with Argor's second group of warriors known as the evil Raptors. Eventually, the Raptors' objective is to cause global warming by increasing the Earth's temperature to suit themselves, not caring the humans shall suffer from global warming.

Characters

Extreme Dinosaurs

  • T-Bone – A Tyrannosaurus and the team's leader who is usually attentive to the primary objective even where the others are distracted. T-Bone is light yellow and wears black boots, dark green pants, and shoulder pads. His signature move, which he can perform alone or with any in the group, is the "Saurian Stomp" which shakes the local ground.
  • Spike – A Triceratops with one broken horn who is the Extreme Dinosaurs' martial arts expert and the residential chef. Spike is iceberg blue with a dark purple under his tail and wears brown shorts, brown leg bands, a yellow belt, and is always barefoot. Despite his eagerness to fight, he tends a garden in his free time.
  • Stegz – A Stegosaurus who is the team's technological specialist and the most contemplative of the four. Stegz is apple green and wears purple shorts and black boots. He can curl his body into a destructive saw blade, using the plates on his back as its cutting edge.
  • Bullzeye – A wise-cracking Pteranodon whose chief weapon is a shriek of ear-splitting frequency. Bullzeye is maroon red and wears yellow pants, black boots, and a gold necklace. Bullzeye is lazy and given to impulse buying.
  • Hard Rock – An Ankylosaurus from an alternate reality inhabited by mutated dinosaurs. Hard Rock is tan and wears red pants with grey boots. After helping them against the Raptors, Hard Rock joined the Extreme Dinosaurs. He is the principal pacifist.

    Allies

  • Porcupine Duvall – A paleontologist and owner of a private Dinosaur Museum which the Extreme Dinosaurs inhabit as their lair.
  • Prince H – The Prince of England who sometimes helps the Extreme Dinosaurs with some missions.
  • Ridge – A dinosaur of unknown species who fights as champion in an intergalactic fighting arena.
  • The Skelesaurs - A group of four dinosaur skeletons of the team's species. They appear in the episode "Bones of Contention". At first, they are against the Extreme Dinosaurs. Then after merging into Megasaur, they become allies of the team.

    Raptors

The Velociraptors are the archenemies of the Extreme Dinosaurs determined to conquer Earth or to change its climate by global warming to fit their comfort:
  • Bad Rap – The leader of the Raptors. He is orange with yellow stripe tail and a metal brace-like device attached to his mouth. He briefly had a weapon on one hand that dissolved solid matter effortlessly. This is later replaced by a rocket-launcher. Bad Rap wears a yellow strap over his torso and waist and black shorts. His goal is to permanently alter the Earth's biosphere to closely resemble the Mesozoic. In "The Dinosaur Prophecy", Bad Rap briefly developed a super-powered alter ego named Abysmal Rap. As Abysmal Rap, he is the most powerful villain in the show.
  • Haxx – A mahogany Raptor with implants on the backs of each wrist that produce green blades. His tail has been replaced with a blade that is capable of spinning like a drill. Haxx is set back by his low intelligence. He wears pink shorts.
  • Spittor – The brains of the Raptors. He is mulberry-purple with white on his neck, chest and feet. Spittor wears no clothing and carries a tank of various liquids released from nozzles on his hands, tail, and mouth.
  • Cyber-Raptors – Tobot versions of Raptors built by Spittor to use as foot soldiers against the Extreme Dinosaurs. They first appeared in the episode "Cyber Raptors".

    Quadrainians

The Quadrainians are a race of blue-skinned humanoids from the largely unseen Quadrainia:
  • Argor Zardok – A wanted criminal from Quadrainia who arrives on Earth in the Mesozoic and transforms most of the principal characters into his personal soldiers. He ended up causing the K-T Event by equipping Bad Rap with a supremely-powerful weapon.
  • Chedra Bodzak – A female law officer stranded on Earth alongside the Extreme Dinosaurs and distinguished by constant reference to a "Codebook" containing the laws of her society. She serves as a mentor to the Dinosaurs and as a comic foil when they transgress her book's edicts.

    Other villains

The following are the villains that the Extreme Dinosaurs fight outside of Argor Zardok and the Raptors:
  • Queen Zarconda – The queen of an alien world in "Colloso-Dome" who kidnaps T-Bone, Spike, and Stegz to satisfy her amusement.
  • * Gort – Queen Zarconda's right-hand man.
  • Dr. Rebecca Scarwell – A secretive scientist researching mutations and extraterrestrials who captures the Extreme Dinosaurs more than once.
  • Peter Benning – A paleontologist determined to capture the Extreme Dinosaurs and Raptors for fame and glory.
  • Count Alexander von Skullheim – A nefarious criminal who appears in "Agent Double-'O' Dinosaur".
  • General Amadi – An unbalanced general who appears in "Raptorian Crude".
  • John Rathbone – A hunter who appears in "Safari-Saurus".
  • Dr. Monstromo – A mad scientist residing on his private island who appears in "The Mysterious Island of Dr. Monstromo". He plotted to use the DNA of the Extreme Dinosaurs and the Raptors to make an army of vicious predators.
  • * Griffin - A part-eagle part-lion creation of Dr. Monstromo.

    Other characters

  • Nigel Moorehead
  • Dylan
  • Ditto - Stegz's pet ostrich who was hatched from an egg which Badrap mistook for a Velociraptor egg. He appears in three episodes.
  • Dr. Morales – A scientist who appears in the episode "Raptoroid".
  • Mully – FBI Agent

    Episodes

Development

The show was originally named Dangerous Dinosaurs when the series was first announced by Bohbot in December 1996. Karen Lee Brown of Bohbot deemed the series as being a cartoon that doesn't rely on weapons but having "enough action to intrigue kids". The show was originally planned as a weekly series.

Merchandise

In August 1997, Bohbot signed deals with over 22 companies for merchandising, including Mattel, Hallmark, Fruit of the Loom and Anchor Bay Entertainment, although the toys launched prior to the show's launch in April. The launch was also promoted with a 'View & Win' promotion, where action figures and other licensed products were offered as prizes.
In October 1997, Bohbot signed a deal with Creative Mills and H.H. Cutler Company for clothing, including sets, coordinates and T-shirts.
In January 1998, Bohbot's international division BKN International signed UK and Australian home video deals with Carlton Video and Village Roadshow respectively.

Home video

In October 1997, Anchor Bay Entertainment released two VHS releases of the series - "Out of Time" and "Ick-Thysaurus Vacation", each containing two episodes. The tapes were supplied with a $5 rebate offer for the other release. Two promotional tapes containing the episodes "Raptoroid" and "Bullzeye Surfs the Web" were also released, exclusively at Blockbuster stores.
In the UK, Carlton Home Entertainment released the series on many VHS volumes. "Out of Time" and "Ick-Thysaurus Vacation" were double-cassette releases each including the bonus episode on the standalone tape, while other releases included "Lunartoons", "Raptoroid", "Jurassic Art", "Cyber-Raptors", which had three episodes on one VHS.
Roadshow Entertainment released the series on VHS in Australia on the VHS volumes: "Ick-Thysaurus Vacation" and "Dinosaur Warriors". In 2006, Force Entertainment released the complete series over four single-disc DVD volumes. Each DVD volume included a single opening and closing sequence, with 13 episodes in production order.

Pidax Film released the first 13 episodes on DVD in Germany, with English and German audio, on April 6, 2018, under license from Your Family Entertainment AG. This was followed up with three more volumes, released on June 22, August 31, and October 26, respectively, all together making up the complete series.
Under license from 41 Entertainment and Invincible Entertainment Partners, Discotek Media released the complete series on Blu-ray on February 2024. Similar to their Street Sharks and Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog releases, it was released as a standard-definition Blu-Ray.

Future

Since the show ended in late 1997, the show has been made available on many streaming platforms such as Amazon Prime and Apple TV among other platforms.
In 2021, "Bad Rap Rising", a live action fan film based on the series and using animatronics was released on small streaming platforms. It has no official connection to the series as the series is now owned by 41 Entertainment.

Toy line

Extreme Dinosaurs was a series of toys created by Mattel in 1996. It later spawned a TV series in 1997 with the same name. Originally called Dino Vengers, these toys are about a group of college teens who turn into dinosaurs. The main toys are "T-Bone", "Bullzeye", "Spike", "Stegz" and "Hard Rock". The enemies of the toy line are "Bad Rap", "Haxx" and "Spittor". Later on, the toys expanded into "Dino Vision" toys. There were also War Paint and re-colors of the toys. The toys were also a spin-off of Street Sharks, another toy line also by Mattel that was also made into a TV series.