published on in News

The Darkest Episodes From '90s TV Shows

On the surface, Dinosaurs seems like an average sitcom about a working-class dad named Earl Sinclair, his wife, Frannie, and their three kids. The Sinclairs have a lot in common with the Simpsons, other than the fact that they're prehistoric reptiles created by the Jim Henson Company. Yeah ... Dinosaurs was a weird show, but it had a devoted following that kept it on the air for 65 episodes. Dinosaurs did delve into social messages, but always maintained such a fun, uplifting tone that looking back, you almost forget that the show ended with the entire family dying a grisly, cold, heartbreaking death.

In the series finale, "Changing Nature," an ice age kicks off. To add some salt in the wound, it's shown that the worldwide climate catastrophe is Earl's fault — or, well, the fault of Earl's company. Once snowflakes starts falling, you know it's all over. The episode closes with the Sinclair family huddled together during the blizzard, figuring that hey, "Dinosaurs have been on this Earth for 150 million years and, it's not like we're gonna just disappear, right?" 

Cue tears, wailing, sobbing. It's a depressing ending, but as the AV Club points out, it's an incredibly effective one: "Changing Nature" has a stirring impact, and absolutely sells its message about the dangers of environmental irresponsibility. Still, it's sad to know that Baby Dinosaur will never go to first grade.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB9j2lscm1fma6zt8Ssq2adoJ7AsLDErGRyaKNiwbd50qGmsKtf