Random Palaeo-Media Work idea of the Day #2

A few days ago, we passed 1000 view on this blog here. While I didn't really plan anything, how about this to celebrate? This idea for a kid's cartoon I've had for a while this year or so.

Day with a Dinosaur

At the Diggersby Museum of Natural History, so many fossils from around the world are on display, from the biggest T. rex and the largest titanosaur, to the smallest insect and littlest mammal. However, unbeknownst to all but palaeontologist and curator Joaquin Campo, the fossils can come alive. Their goal? To help people evolve past and adapt to their problems, and clear up what they have wrong about dinos.

Characters

  • Joaquin Del Campo - A palaeontologist and vertebrate palaeontology curator at the Diggersby Museum of Prehistory. When he sees visitors having trouble, he brings out an ancient spellbook and bring the dinosaurs to life to help them. He’s even-tempered and kind, though not above snarking at the museumgoers’ stupidity and flaws.

Dinosaurs

There are many dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and marine reptiles on display at DMNH, representing around 50 species (mostly from the Americas and Asia). Some are recurring, while others appear in a single ep, but the main and most recurring ones are:

  • Edward (Kevin Michael Richardson) - The wise and intelligent Camarasaurus at the gallery entrance.
  • Victoria (Kimberly Brooks) - the museum’s resident T. rex. She’s quite stern and intolerable towards peoples’ nonsense, but is willing to teach people. When she was alive, she had given birth to chicks, but unfortunately, they perished. She effectively sees the humans she has to teach as cheap substitutes for them.
  • Randy and Mark (Yuri Lowenthal and Eric Bauza) - A gay mated pair of Citipati and their chicks.
  • Yang (Kevin Michael Richardson) - A wisecracking old Microraptor. He may be old (in lifespan’s age) but he is full of energy and life. He’s also a bit of a trickster, using pranks and scare tactics alike. Most of the other dinosaurs think he’s a little bit insane as he does tell tall tales like the time he escaped from a Kronosaurus’ jaws by tickling its jaws with his wings, causing it to spit him out.
  • Henry (Dee Bradley Baker)  - A cranky and aggressive Triceratops. Has an aggressive view of teaching way worse then even Victoria, and is one moment of idiocy away from crushing people.
  • Marianne (Tara Strong) - A Saurolophus.
  • Johnny and the Gang (John DiMaggio) - A group of Deinonychus. He’s a bit of a mafia don-like scam artist always trying to get random stuff.
  • Zulma (Grey Griffin) - A little Panphagia that sits under Edward.
  • Arthur (Jeff Benett) - A Stegosaurus with an intellectual streak.
  • The Bergs (Dee Bradley Baker) - Three Stenychosaurus who are also quite intelligent. Often talk in unison

Recurring characters

  • Alexandria Bolger (Grey Griffin) - The museum’s invertebrate palaeontologist, specialising in paleozoic marine life. She shows up on occasion and fills in for Joaquin.
  • Hal (Frank Welker) - The museum’s janitor. He’s often a comic relief for the show, getting subjected to comedic slapstick involving the dinosaurs, especially when they come to life.
  • Mr. Lizaros (David Kaye) - The museum’s former curator. He was secretly a a mage who specialised in communicating with the dead and necromancy.

Guest Hosts

I intend a few episodes to have guest palaeontologists relating to the subject of each episode as colleagues of Joaquin, and even be guest summoners.

  • Thomas Holtz
  • Lindsey Zanno
  • Luis Chiappe
  • Stephen Brusatte
  • Robert DePalma

Episodes

I intend for their to be ten per season, each 25 minutes long. Example episodes I've fleshed out the most

Roar No More - 7-year old dinosaur fan Eric can’t stop acting like his favourite dinosaur T. rex by stomping about and roaring, and it's driving everyone crazy! Its up to Victoria the T. rex to help calm him down and show how being quiet isn’t always a bad thing, and is in fact necessary in life.

  • Science concepts: Dinosaur communication and how it differed from mammals, and hunting/defense behaviour.
  • Creatures: Tyrannosaurus rex, Edmontosaurus, Thescelosaurus

Hatching a Family - Randy and Mark teach some pre-teen jerk named Henry who thinks all dinosaurs were unfeeling monsters how wrong he is by taking them through a day in the life of them.

  • Science concepts: Parental care in dinosaurs versus other groups (K and R parental care)
  • Creatures: Citipati, Gobivenator, Estesia, Zambelestes

Walnut-for-Brains - Smug young Larry who acts smart but doesn’t know anything keeps insisting stegosaurus was dumb and had two brains. Arthur the Stegosaurus shows otherwise, teaching how not only how complex brains really are, but that humans shouldn’t think from their perspective.

  • Science Concept: Neurology and brain function
  • Creatures: Stegosaurus, Allosaurus

Assorted Notes

  • While the targets and dinosaurs are usually alone when they meet, the dinosaurs can't really be seen by anyone other then the summoner (Joaquin and Alex) and the person in need. Though the dinos don't stay in the present long enough for that to happen... usually.
  • I intend for the dinosaurs to be ghosts, tethered to their bones. There's an overt supernatural bend to the show.
  • I imagine the show's animation style would be the pseudo-2D CG made by David James Armsby of Sharp Teeth and Dinosauria fame.
  • Finally, I admit the show came to me from an episode of toddler show Paw Patrol (a show that despite hating with a passion and am too old for, will watch if there's nothing else on) where one series of eps about a Lost World of dinosaurs features one pup which can talk to dinosaurs by saying "Roar roar roar" over and over. It gets really grating, and as a palaeo-nerd who has high standards, it's pretty annoying seeing a show as widespread as it spread inaccurate depictions of dinosaurs, especially for an audience as impressionable as young kids, so my mind made up this idea to .

I would love your feedback and comments on this.

Special credit to one Nathanael Leong (a Discord friend of mine on a server dedicated to Paleo-media) for help making this.
Location: Mississauga, ON, Canada

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