Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs
Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs is a series of children's books written and illustrated by Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds. The series is about a 5-year-old boy named Harry, who has a bucket full of six dinosaurs named Taury, Trike, Patsy, Pterence, Sid, and Steggy. In the books, the dinosaurs talk to Harry but seem to be toys to the other characters. The other main characters are Mum, Nana, Harry's best friend Charlie, and Harry's sister Sam. A major difference is that the book series includes an Anchisaurus while the TV series does not.
It was later adapted into a British-Canadian 104-episode animated television series of the same name, which premiered on Teletoon in Canada on 28 March 2005 and ended in 2008. It is a co-production between CCI Entertainment in Canada and Collingwood O'Hare Entertainment Ltd. in the United Kingdom, presented by CCI Releasing, in association with Discovery Kids Latin America, Teletoon, Treehouse TV, Cartoon Network, Super RTL, Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, and Playhouse Disney UK. In the TV series, Harry plays with the dinosaurs by jumping into the bucket, which transports him to another world, called DinoWorld. Although the dinosaurs are toy-sized in the normal world, within DinoWorld they become dinosaur-sized, while Harry retains his actual size. The TV episodes are available on DVD in two volumes.
In 2011, it was announced that the show would have a series of apps for the iOS and Android platform and will include some interactive elements.
In the US, Cartoon Network aired the series as part of its short-lived Tickle-U block. Reruns of the series later aired on Qubo from 30 June 2012, to 25 December 2020.
Book list
A difference is that the book series includes an Anchisaurus as one of Harry's dinosaurs while the TV series, for unknown reasons, does not.- Harry and the Dinosaurs go on holiday
- Harry and the Bucket Full of Dinosaurs
- Harry and the Dinosaurs at the Museum
- Harry and the Dinosaurs Make a Splash
- Harry and the Dinosaurs Go Wild
- Harry and the Dinosaurs say "Raahh"
- Harry and the Robots
- Romp in the Swamp
- Harry and the Dinosaurs Make a Christmas Wish
- Harry and the Dinosaurs go to School
- Harry and the Dinosaurs have a Very Busy Day
- Harry and the Dinosaurs Play Hide and Seek
- Harry and the Dinosaurs Tell the Time
- Harry and the Snow King
- ''Harry and the Dinosaurs and the Bucketful of Stories''
Voice cast
Original Canadian cast
- Andrew Chalmers as Harry
- Jamie Watson as Taury the T-Rex
- Ron Rubin as Trike the Triceratops
- Andrew Sabiston as Pterence the Pterodactylus
- Stacey DePass as Patsy the Apatosaurus
- Juan Chioran as Sid the Scelidosaurus
- Jonathan Wilson as Steggy the Stegosaurus
- Amanda Soha as Charley/Charlie
- Susan Roman as Harry's mother
- Bryn McAuley as Sam, Harry's big sister
- Ellen-Ray Hennessy as Nana
British cast
- Emma Tate as Harry and Harry's mother
- Jimmy Hibbert as Taury
- Tom Eastwood as Trike
- Ben Small as Pterence and Sid
- Lynn Cleckner as Patsy and Sam
- David Holt as Steggy
Development
The series was initially announced in March 2001, under the book's North American title Sammy and the Dinosaurs, as a co-production with Catalyst Entertainment and Gullane Entertainment, where the latter would have full distribution rights. The show continued production after Catalyst's merger with Cambrium Entertainment into CCI Entertainment, and in 2003, after CCI re-acquired its library and stake from HIT Entertainment, the series then was renamed to its original name and was announced that CCI Entertainment would co-produce the series with Collingwood O'Hare Entertainment. By June 2003, production for the series was announced to start in the Autumn, and that CCI Releasing would hold worldwide distribution rights.Broadcast and home media
Initial broadcasters for the series were Teletoon, Playhouse Disney, Discovery Kids, and Super RTL, all of which co-commissioned the series.The initial run of broadcasters who acquired the series were France 5, Nickelodeon, YLE, NRK, SVT, and TV2. This was followed up in May 2005 with Channel 5's Milkshake! block acquiring British free TV rights, and showing it in tandem with Playhouse Disney from October. In November, this was followed up with ABC, RaiSat, Cartoon Network, RTP, RTÉ, RTV, and E-Junior acquiring broadcast rights in the respective regions. On the same day, it was also announced that 2 Entertain had acquired home media rights to the series in the United Kingdom.
Episodes
Episode titles for season one are taken directly from the episodes. Episode titles for season two are taken from the official Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs website. There are a number of differences between the actual titles and the titles as listed on the website. In all episodes, the first words spoken by the dinosaurs or Harry are the title of the episode.All episodes were directed by Graham Ralph.
Season 1 (2005–06)
Season 2 (2007–08)
Reception
Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs received positive reviews from book critics and audiences. However, the animated adaptation got mixed reception from television critics and audiences.In the animated adaptation, KJ Dell'Antonia of Common Sense Media give a rate three stars out of five, describing "Sweet, if vapid, animated preschool fare."