Dino Squad

Re the "waste of time" poster, hello!!! When are cartoons *ever* accurate? If accuracy were a big deal, most cartoons on the air today would be gone. I don't think it's supposed to be accurate, it's just a kids' cartoon. I agree with the things that were pointed out but I think they want us to susepend disbelief. I don't think it's a waste of time although I personally wonder why all the other animals mutate into wierd things while the kids are 'perfect' dinos, aside from the whole "they're the heroes" thing.



I checked it out because it reminded me a bit of the Animorphs books. I wish Animorphs had been done like this, as in animated, it would have gone way better too.

Whenever I think about Dino Squad I imagine the brainstorming that led up to it was like this: "What do kids like? Dinosaurs, right? Let's make a cartoon about dinosaurs."



The actual show is about as lazy. Basically, two raptors somehow become immortal and gain the power to transform themselves into humans. One becomes a teacher but the other decides he wants to bring dinosaurs back and invents a formula that turns any living thing it touches into a pseudo-prehistoric monstrosity. The evil raptor, who's a billionaire and smart enough to invent a mutating formula, for some reason wants to turn the world into a place where every day would be a fight for survival and where most of the creatures he himself created would be more powerful than him. Not off to a great start.



The other raptor mentors a team of stereotyped teenagers (the charismatic football player who instantly becomes the leader, the super smart guy, the egotistical guy, the girl, etc.) who can turn into dinosaurs thanks to the evil raptor's formula. Very predictable dinosaurs: t-rex, triceratops, stegosaurus, pterodactyl...I'd never heard of the one the girl becomes, I admit.



And what do they do with a premise like this? Give us a show with cheap animation, lousy acting, dopey scripts, preachy morals, and one of the only theme songs in the world able to compete with Winx Club and Juniper Lee's for sheer lameness. The characters' levels of maturity seem to change on the whims of the script. The villains want to rule the world but are ridiculously outclassed by both the heroes and the random monstrosities they create.



The morals themselves are so blunt you feel like someone's pounding a nail into your nasal cavity. There was one episode were one of the kids wanted to enter a surfing contest or something and found out they charged admission by making entrants pick up litter. So we should pick up litter? I'm not sure what you're trying to get across here.



And at the risk of thinking too hard about this, why do the kids act like it's such a big deal that the evil raptor not find out who they are when they wear the same clothes everywhere and do nothing to hide their faces when they go out to thwart evil? Especially since the smart kid was shown in one episode able and willing to whip up a bunch of machines right out of The Jetsons specifically to play jokes on his teammates.



I won't attack Dino Squad for getting its paleontology all wrong, but I don't feel bad for attacking it for being a lame show. But really, what would anyone expect from a show called "Dino Squad"?

Constantly miss identified dinosaurs and poor scripts.

There were two obvious miss identifications in the first episode alone. The first using the incorrect "Jurassic Park" Velociraptor. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocoraptor



The second being the Megalodon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalodon. Which looked more like a Kronosaurus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronosaurus



I assume there a many more but I cannot bring myself to watch anymore. Better research on the part of the writers would help this series immensely.



The fact that their science teacher is a seemingly immortal "velociraptor" who has lived millions of years, can apparently shape shift, and has telepathic powers does not help ether. That and the constant puns from the villain's name and company are both stupid and extremely unnecessary. There were cartoons made in the 80's with drastically better plots than this. Transformers, Thundercats, and bloody He-man to name a few.