The CW4Kids Talkback: Dinosaur King [October 2008] (Spoilers)

[D Dubbs]

It's prehistory in the making.

Meet the D-Team:

Max is a 12 year-old dinosaur fan and the leader of the D-Team, a group of friends devoted to learning all there is about dinosaurs. He is the son of Dr. Spike Taylor, a Paleontologist. May is a typical 12 year-old boy with lots of energy and curiousity which can sometimes get him into trouble. Max's dinosaur partner is "Chomp" the Triceratops.

Rex is 12 years-old, a member of the D-Team and Max's best friend. His dad is a Paleontologist and a friend of Dr. Taylor's. Rex is living with Max while his dad is out in the field studying fossils. He is a bit more level-headed than Max, but can sometimes be short on patience. Rex is great with computers and extremely knowledgeable about dinosaurs. He is the brainy one of the D-Team. Rex's dinosaur partner is "Ace" the Carnotaurus.

Zoe is a 12 year-old friend of Max's and a member of the D-Team. She is very fashion conscious and can be a little boy-crazy. Zoe is always calm in a crisis and not easily flustered. When there's a problem it's usually Zoe who comes up with the solution. Her older sister, Reese Drake, works at the Dino-Lab with Dr. Taylor. Zoe's dinosaur partner is "Paris" the Parasaurolophus.

Dr. Taylor is a world-renowned Paleontologist who loves his work out in the field and is a fanatic about dinosaurs. Dr. Taylor is the head of the Dino-Lab and is currently helping out the D-Team by investigating the mystery of the stones and dinosaur cards being found around the world. Nothing can make Dr. Taylor go a little nutty like talking about dinosaurs, so when he sees an actual real-life dinosaur... watch out!


Meet the Alpha Gang:

Dr. Z is the leader of the Alpha Gang, an evil gang of villians dedicated to capturing dinosaurs. They hope to make lots of money one day off of organized dinosaur battles. He is a zany, evil egotistical guy whose goal is to become "Dinosaur King" by collecting all of the dinosaur cards hidden around the world. He uses his team of three bumbling villians to go out and find cards for him while he stays in the lab on Zeta Point, researching and experimenting with the cards he has already obtained.

Ursula is one the members of the Alpha Gang. She is very conceited, act likes a queen and bosses around her cohorts, Ed and Zander who she thinks of as her underlings. Even though most of their ventures fail, Ursula is never convinced its her fault; it's only because her looser sidekicks bring her down.

Zander is a member of the Alpha Gang. He tries to act like he's smart and sophisticated when in reality he's akward, nervous and afraid most of the time. Zander is usually the one who comes up with the plan...however, his plan generally fails.

Ed is a member of the Alpha Gang. He is fairly quiet because whenever he does choose to speak, he gets yelled at by Ursula. He is a big coward at heart, and never wants to upset anyone, so he will follow his fellow teammates to the end of the world, no matter how scary the situation.

Rod is Dr. Z's 12 year-old grandson. He is smart beyond his years, especially when it comes to working on inventions with Dr. Z.

Laura is Dr. Z's 6 year-old granddaughter and Rod's little sister. She is a little genuis with numbers and makes money playing the stock market to help fund the Alpha Gang activities.

Seth is the only intelligent member of the Alpha Gang; however, he doesn't like to associate himself with Ursula, Zander and Ed. He gets annoyed with the other three members and is the only real threat to the D-Team.

______________________

Saturday, October 4th: Episode 30
English Title: "Dinosaur Amour!"
Japanese Title: "Dinosaur Propose, A Big Challenge!"

Episode Description: Reese loses her cell phone and glasses minutes before her driver points out a lone traveler lying by the roadside. Meanwhile, the D-Team tries in vain to notify Reese of a new dinosaur appearance, not knowing that her cell phone is lost.​

 

[Light Lucario]

I thought that this was a really funny episode. I was surprised that the Alpha Gang lost Zander. That usually doesn't happen when they're defeated, but that did make an interesting tie with the last episode. It was interesting to see Zander actually finding a dinosaur card before it was activated. We didn't see much of the D-Team this episode since it was focused more on Zander and they didn't get the transporter fixed until near the end of the episode. It was cool to hear that Reese was with Dr. Owens, Rex's Dad. It was pretty random how he took away her glasses and phone, but maybe that had to do with how they soon found Zander in the road like that.

Zander falling in love with Reese was funny, cute and kind of expected considering she helped to save him. It was also pretty funny how Ursala and Ed kept on kind of missing him and thought that they heard him when their plane landed right on him. Now that was good. Zander's singing and praising Reese like that was hilarious. In all honesty, I thought that he had a pretty darn good singing voice too. It was also funny how Max and his Dad didn't notice Reese not wearing her glasses.

Now the dinosaur causing some trouble for the Ursula and Ed was interesting. I was surprised that they didn't call out Terry sooner. Anyway, at least the D-Team was finally able to get there. I was also really surprised that their were two of the same dinosaurs there. I thought Zander found one dinosaur and a move card since those are usually found together if there are two cards. I was glad that Chomp defeated Terry, but I thought that it took Rex and Zoey too long to get their dinosaurs in the battle.

One of the highlights of the episode was Dr. Owen's attempts at gaining Ursual's love again. Man, that was so priceless, as well as Rex's reaction near the end of the episode. I thought that it was really sweet that Zander helped out in the end like that in the shake of love. Even though Zoey and the rest of the D-Team instantely think of every member of the Alpha Gang as bad people, they can be nice when they want to apparently. It also looked like Reese thought that he was pretty sweet too. Ending with Zander singing again was funny and cute all at once.

Overall, a fun and enjoyable episode to start off the month. It had some really cute and funny moments thorughout the whole thing. I'll be happy to watch the new episode next week too.

 

[PC!]

Hmm, I wonder if Xander's crush on Reese will play into any future episodes.

Despite the fact that, y'know, he's probably a good decade older than she is, at least.

 

[DinoQueen13]

I thought that this was a really funny episode. I was surprised that the Alpha Gang lost Zander. That usually doesn't happen when they're defeated, but that did make an interesting tie with the last episode. It was interesting to see Zander actually finding a dinosaur card before it was activated. We didn't see much of the D-Team this episode since it was focused more on Zander and they didn't get the transporter fixed until near the end of the episode. It was cool to hear that Reese was with Dr. Owens, Rex's Dad. It was pretty random how he took away her glasses and phone, but maybe that had to do with how they soon found Zander in the road like that.

Zander falling in love with Reese was funny, cute and kind of expected considering she helped to save him. It was also pretty funny how Ursala and Ed kept on kind of missing him and thought that they heard him when their plane landed right on him. Now that was good. Zander's singing and praising Reese like that was hilarious. In all honesty, I thought that he had a pretty darn good singing voice too. It was also funny how Max and his Dad didn't notice Reese not wearing her glasses.

Now the dinosaur causing some trouble for the Ursula and Ed was interesting. I was surprised that they didn't call out Terry sooner. Anyway, at least the D-Team was finally able to get there. I was also really surprised that their were two of the same dinosaurs there. I thought Zander found one dinosaur and a move card since those are usually found together if there are two cards. I was glad that Chomp defeated Terry, but I thought that it took Rex and Zoey too long to get their dinosaurs in the battle.

One of the highlights of the episode was Dr. Owen's attempts at gaining Ursual's love again. Man, that was so priceless, as well as Rex's reaction near the end of the episode. I thought that it was really sweet that Zander helped out in the end like that in the shake of love. Even though Zoey and the rest of the D-Team instantely think of every member of the Alpha Gang as bad people, they can be nice when they want to apparently. It also looked like Reese thought that he was pretty sweet too. Ending with Zander singing again was funny and cute all at once.

Overall, a fun and enjoyable episode to start off the month. It had some really cute and funny moments thorughout the whole thing. I'll be happy to watch the new episode next week too.

Hmm, I wonder if Xander's crush on Reese will play into any future episodes.

Despite the fact that, y'know, he's probably a good decade older than she is, at least.

@Light Lucario: I was pretty surprised (I only watched the German dub because I missed Saturday's episode) about Zander's disappearance. He sure traveled far, from Kenya to Mexico. I was surprised at how much energy Chomp lost, being defeated after Spiny stepped on him. The D-Team probably guessed that Chomp would win, so there was no need for Paris and Ace.

@PC!: I'm pretty sure Zander's crush on Reese will play a role, but most likely not in the immediate following episodes. Zander is 30 years old, by the way.

Spoiler

episode spoiler for Temple Tempest: Pawpawsaurus in Tag Team is found by Ursula, and helps them in attempting to get the Crystal Skull. However, the D-Team manage to pull through after Pawpawsaurus returns to a card due to losing too much energy. The D-Team capture Pawpawsaurus' card.

 

[D Dubbs]

Err...I'm a bit behind on this, but whatever.

COMPARISON (Daddy Dearest)

Spoiler

1. This little snippet is cut from the Dr. Z's flashback of "Child's Play."

2. In the first part of the episode, Dr. Z hits the Alpha Trio to wake them up after they fell asleep listening to his flashback. This is cut from the dub.

3. Various Japanese text is removed from the city. I'd say about half is kept and half is removed.

4. The little 'News King' intro to the news program is cut out.

5. Dr. Taylor's sleep bubble bursting is cut right before the commercial break.

6. "LIVE" is removed from the TV in the newscast.

7. The part of the flashback where Dr. Z electrocutes the baby Therizinosaurus is cut.

8. The dub omits the explanation that the games of tag between Dr. Z and the Therizinosaurus always ended in Therizinosaurus slashing up the back of Dr. Z's pants, and so these scenes are cut accordingly.

COMPARISON (Rhino or Dino?)

Spoiler

1. A portion of the upwards pan shot of the missile is cut from the dub. In the original, the pan shot is 22 seconds long, in the dub, it's about 10.

2. The commercial break is moved in the dub...in the original it occurs after the crocodile lands on Ursula's head, in the dub, it happens after Chomp disappears with the Torosaurus.

Side Note: Mary and Angaro (sp?) retain their names in the dub.

Only one piece of music is kept, but this is still definitely the least edited episode in some time.

And with that, I'm done with episode comparisons for a bit. I can't do anymore until around episode 45 or so.

 

[D Dubbs]

My Review...Finally

Dr. Taylor: Seeing Reese without her glasses is like seeing a dalmation without any spots.
D-Kids: Huh?
Dr. Taylor: It looks like Resse, but it's not quite Reese.
Reese: What are you talking about, doctor?
Dr. Taylor: I'm saying if you have a dalmation, and you lose the spots, it's still a dog, but it's not a dalmatian anymore. Are you following?
*Zander bursts in*
♪ Ohhh my angel, I love my dinosaurs ♪
♪ But when I look into your eyes, I think I love you more ♪
♪ Be my Jurrassic valentine, falling deep into your eyes ♪
♪ I love the way you archeologize ♪
♪ Angel stay with me, forever moooore! ♪
♪ And love me like you love your dinosaur ♪

Okay, so I finally watched this episode, and it was hilarious. Yeah... Zander's voyage across the sea (and people randomly dropping him from a plane), Dr. Taylor's dalmatian analogy, Zander breaking out into a Mexican love song, Ursula running away from Dr. Owen on a mule (where'd she get that? lol)...just hilarious.

Awesome, awesome episode. I haven't laughed that hard at a TV show in years.

It's prehistory in the making.

Saturday, October 11th: Episode 31
English Title: "Temple Tempest"
Japanese Title: "Pawpawsaurus, The Substitute Dinosaur"

Episode Description: Despite a warning that any entrance will anger the native gods, Team Alpha ventures into an underground temple in search of the Alpha Metal they need to repair their malfunctioning fortress.
​

 

[Light Lucario]

This was a pretty fun episode. I kept on thinking about the new Indiana Jones movie when Dr. Taylor brought up the crystal skulls. That kind of got a laugh out of me. It was interesting to see the Alpha Gang looking for Alpha Metal again. I did like seeing the natives being worried about the spirits being disturbed. At least the D-Team got there soon after.

I did like how both teams were exploring the temple. It was kind of weird and funny to see Max wearing that sacred robe when they first convinced the natives that they were going in there to find a dinosaur. It looked like the Alpha Gang found an actually useful move card. That doesn't happen that often. That new dinosaur really made it hard for the D-Team in their battle against the Alpha Gang.

I got another Indiana Jones vibe when Chomp opened that secret passage way and when the Alpha Gang found the crystal skull. Yeah, taking off of there was a big mistake. Even after their new dinosaur move card save them, the Alpha Gang left it. I had a feeling something like that would happen since it was too powerful for them to keep. At least Rex put the crystal skull back in its resting place and the D-team saved the new dinosaur. I'm not sure if they'll use it either since it is really powerful, but at least they'll take better care of it than the Alpha Gang would. Dr. Z finding out that Ursula was lying was pretty funny. It was also kind of funny to see the natives praising both Chomp and the new dinosaur.

Overall, it was light and fun new episode. It was cool to see a little bit of exploration in the episode, as well as getting a new move card. I'm looking foreword to watching next week's episode.

 

[D Dubbs]

It's prehistory in the making.

Saturday, October 18th: Episode 32
English Title: "Falls Alarm!"
Japanese Title: "Battle at Niagara Falls"

Episode Description: The D-Team gets word of a dinosaur appearance at Niagara Falls. They reach the falls only to find the Alpha Gang already hot on the trail of this latest dinosaur, a Baryonyx.​

 

[Light Lucario]

I really liked this episode. Of course, some of my favorite episodes in this series so far has been focused on Rex and Ace, my two favorite characters. I was kind of surprised that Ace is too afraid to even take a bath because of the water. I honestly forgot how he did get so afraid of the water, but it was still kind of cute to see Ace run off from the bathroom like that.

Dr. Z interrupting Ursula's shower was kind of funny and odd at the same time. I was surprised that the Alpha Gang had a fairly smooth ride over to Niagara Falls. I was happy that the D-Team got there, but sad that Rex stayed behind for Ace. The poor little thing really did need to learn how to not be so afraid.

Now I got a good laugh when Max and Zoey told the captin about finding a dinosaur and he just gave them a free ride. He did sound awfully familiar, but I can't place my finger on where I've heard him before. Anyway, the new dinosaur staying underwater most of the time and the battle starting in the water was cool. Seeing the Alpha Gang fall over the falls again was pretty good. Ace was seriously afraid of the water most of the time though. I did like how Rex tried to build his confidence and encourgage him to not be controlled by his fears. Too bad that it didn't work quite then.

At least Ace was able to face his fear to save Rex from the falls. I really dld like seeing how fast he moved to save him. The battle with all of the D-Team's dinosaurs against the new one was great. Chomp and Ace always have the best attacks, even though Zoey has a couple of good move cards under her belt. I was glad that the D-Team got the new dinosaur instead of the Alpha Gang once again. I missed like the last two minutes of the episode so I don't know exactly how it ended.

Nonetheless, this was a fun episode. It had some nice battles and humor in it. Plus, I just like the focus on Rex and Ace as well. I'll be looking foreword to next week's new episode too.

 

[DinoQueen13]

I liked it. It was funny how many times the Alpha Gang fell down the waterfalls. Guess they're not going back to Niagara Falls anytime soon.

 

[D Dubbs]

I missed like the last two minutes of the episode so I don't know exactly how it ended.

Ace and Rex were sitting together in the bath, and then Max comes jumping into the bath yelling, scaring Ace out of the bath. I was surprised at the lack of digital swimsuits in the bath scenes...

Very nice realistic imagery for Niagara Falls in this episode. This is the first location that the D-Team went to that I myself have actually been to in real life, and they provided a pretty accurate showing, right down to the ferry passengers in the blue ponchos. Although they went a little overboard with the giant tunas on the boat .

Anyway, it was a pretty good episode, although I wish Ace would finally get over his fear of water (and it seemed he didn't going from the last scene in the episode).

Still have to watch "Temple Tempest"...hopefully they'll add it to the online player soon.

It's prehistory in the making.

Saturday, October 25th: Episode 33
English Title: "Battle Royale!"
Japanese Title: "Ganges and the Dinosaur Butterfly"

Episode Description: A young Indian princess accidentally unearths a dazzling dinosaur.​

 

[warnerbroman]

wow that was some interesting fanservice but Jess--erm Ursula

especially if you slow down the part where she get thrown out

 

[Light Lucario]

Ace and Rex were sitting together in the bath, and then Max comes jumping into the bath yelling, scaring Ace out of the bath. I was surprised at the lack of digital swimsuits in the bath scenes...

Very nice realistic imagery for Niagara Falls in this episode. This is the first location that the D-Team went to that I myself have actually been to in real life, and they provided a pretty accurate showing, right down to the ferry passengers in the blue ponchos. Although they went a little overboard with the giant tunas on the boat .

Anyway, it was a pretty good episode, although I wish Ace would finally get over his fear of water (and it seemed he didn't going from the last scene in the episode).

Thanks for telling me about the ending. That does sound like a cute scene to end the episode, but I do agree with you that Ace should get over his fear of water. From what you told me, the ending does imply that he wasn't over it, unless it was more of Max jumping into the bath and yelling that scared him. That whole episode was pretty much a way for Ace to stop being so afraid of the water, but that probably didn't work.

As for this episode, it was pretty good. I thought that it went by pretty quickly though. Opening with the Indian princess was interesting and the whole legend with the Ganges River was good too. I thought that it was pretty random how Zoey wanted to be a princess all of a sudden because of some movie. At least they quickly went to India after that to find the new dinosaur, but they also quickly found the princess. We saw a bit of the Alpha Gang in the palace. Even though this show doesn't look similar to Pokemon to me, the act that Ursula was putting on short of reminded me of the act that Ash had in that episode way back in season one when his Charmander evolved into Charmelon. It didn't really work out for the Alpha Gang though. I still can't believe that the princess thought that Chomp was a dog. I know its like a gag for the show, but I wouldn't think that a dog would be yellow and orange with some horns on its head.

I should have seen the whole trading places with Zoey coming. I'm also amazed, in a way, that it actually worked. I know she had her veil covering her face, but they didn't really look that much alike anyway. At least she soon found out that the princess life did have actual work. The princess was interesting in how determined she was to swim in the Ganges River. My favorite scene in this episode was actually when she was swimming right beside the new dinosaur. Of course, the Alpha Gang showed up then. I was impressed with the cultural information, regarding eating in India, that they were talking about.

The battle was nice, but I was surprised that Rex didn't use Ace. While I understand why Zoey didn't have Paras out with her, Rex definitely could have used Ace. I was shocked when the princess realized that Chomp was a dinosaur. At least they got the new dinosaur fairly quickly. It was nice to hear that the princess would study dinosaurs for her career. Giving a D-Team metal to her was nice as well. She may not show up again, but it was nice all the same.

Overall, a nice little episode. It had some interesting moments and some nice scenes with the Ganges River. Hopefully, next week's episode will be enjoyable as well.

 

[DinoQueen13]

Dogs in costumes could be yellow and orange and have horns

I saw pretty much up until Max, Rex and Meena hear Deltadromeus. When I saw the German version, I liked how Meena was holding her arms out and Deltadromeus was trying to gather the strength to go up to her, but returning to its card just at the last moment

 

[TheFZAtUGSOnline]

Episode 33 review - it's been a long time...

I managed to catch the episode on Sunday (CW4kids airs on sundays here in Atlanta), and it was alright, i mean, did anyone notice a referance to a DoReMi episode when Zoe and that princess switched duties... odd...

So far, the series is doing good... I will give this episode a 4 out of 5...
I will tune in to 34 when it airs here in the 'A on November 2nd... if i can't catch it, i wont be able to make a review for it...
Later.

 

[D Dubbs]

I'm actually studying India in an anthropology class, and I thought this was a pretty interesting episode. I liked how they had all sorts of cultural references, like eating with your right hand because your left is 'polluted,' the Sanskrit text, the lassi made from goat milk, and Meena wearing her sari at the end of the episode.

Though I agree with Light Lucario, my favorite scene by far was Meena swimming towards the sunset in the Ganges river. The animation was stunning, the music was epic, and 4Kids even let Meena say, "Maybe it's true that the Ganges leads all the way up to Heaven" which really took that scene over the edge. I can't wait to watch that scene in HD.

Great episode. Definitely in my top five of this series so far.

 

[DinoQueen13]

Next week's episode might be even better. On the 4kids main page for DK, it has a preview for the next episode, Ninja Nightmare. It's funny when Rex goes "You're beautiful . . . did I just say that out loud?" to Zoe.