Retro Saturday Morning: Valley of the Dinosaurs (1974)(CBS)

Deep in the heart of the Amazon, the Butler family was exploring an uncharted river canyon. Suddenly, caught up in a violent whirlpool, they were propelled through a cavern and flung into a hostile world of giant prehistoric creatures...a world that time forgot. Now, befriended by a family of cave dwellers, each day is an adventure in survival for the Butlers in...the Valley of the Dinosaurs!

Valley of the Dinosaurs is one of the better cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera during the 1970s. That being said it is also one of most underrated cartoon series of that generation. 

Valley of the Dinosaurs: The Complete Series - $17.99 @ Amazon Prime

During a rafting excursion of an uncharted river canyon, Professor John Butler, wife Kim, kids Katie and Greg and family dog Digger get caught up in a mysterious whirlpool and resurface in a world of prehistoric creatures. Now everyday is an exercise in survival for the adventurous Butler family.  Any time the family can spare is spent building a boat or radio in hopes of finding their way back to the modern era in this 16-Episode Collection of the exciting animated series Valley of the Dinosaurs. - READ MORE

 

The skinny: 

 Valley of the Dinosaurs is a 30-minute Saturday morning animated series produced by the Australian studios of Hanna-Barbera Productions and broadcast on CBS from September 7 to December 21, 1974, and in syndication from 1977 to 1983. 

 Science professor John Butler and his family - wife Kim, teenage daughter Katie, young son Greg (the siblings always go barefoot), and dog Digger - are on a rafting trip along the Amazon River when their raft hits a rock and capsizes. They are swept through a cavern and caught in a whirlpool; upon resurfacing, they find themselves in a mysterious realm where humans coexist with various prehistoric creatures. dinosaurs. The Butlers meet and befriend a clan of Neanderthals led by: Gorok; his wife Gara; their teenage son Lok; and their young daughter Tana. Gorok and his family have a pet of their own, a baby Stegosaurus named Glump. Gorok and Company aid the Butlers' efforts to find a means of returning home; for their own part, John and his family do what they can to make the Neanderthals' daily lives easier. (Examples of such included introducing Gorok's family to basic technology, such as simple machines - particularly the lever and the wheel - sailboats and windmills.)

Check Out: Land of the Lost (NBC)(1974 -77)

Land of the Lost was an intelligent show that didn't take children for granted. The shows episodes were written by some of the top names in science fiction of the time. Walter Koenig, of Star Trek fame, wrote what may be the shows best episode, The Stranger .... READ MORE

"Hanna-Barbera and CBS likely felt that they had a hit on their hands with Valley Of The Dinosaurs. After all, what kid doesn’t love dinosaurs, right? Unfortunately, a live action show with an amazingly similar premise debuted in the very same time slot that year on NBC. Land Of The Lost ended up being the hit of the season, while Valley Of The Dinosaurs was relegated to history. (More trivia: H-B also found themselves competing with one of their own shows, with Devlin being run at the same time on ABC. Meanwhile, H-B’s prehistoric live action show Korg, 70,000 BC failed to click with audiences a half-hour later.) Of course, ratings failure does not always reflect quality. Valley Of The Dinosaurs was as good or better than any other Hanna-Barbera show of the era. 

 On that level alone, this show is full of fun and adventure. Even better, it makes a point of using science to not only help the Butlers, but also educate the audience. Scripts make good use out of Mr. Butler’s science teacher background, while the rest of the family also proves to be pretty bright when it comes to applying science to help them out of danger. On the surface, this looks and feels much like any other H-B program, but as a viewer I appreciated the attempt to be just a little more academic than other shows. Of course, the emphasis on science and dialog may have doomed the show, with kids preferring more excitement and dino action. As an adult viewer, though, it hits the spot." - Animated Views

Check Out: Return to the Planet of the Apes (1975)(NBC)

Return to the Planet of the Apes is an animated series, by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises in association with 20th Century Fox Television (both 20th Century Fox Television and most of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises library are now under same ownership of The Walt Disney Company), based upon Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle. - READ MORE

Check Out: Star Trek The Animated Series (1973-74)(NBC)

Former Original Series writer D.C. Fontana reported in the fanzine Star-Borne of 22 June 1972 that, "Paramount... [is] enormously impressed by the quantity (and quality) of fan mail they continue to receive. The possibility seems to be slowly developing of a Star Trek feature movie for theatrical release, aimed at becoming the new Star Trek television pilot… READ MORE