Denver, the Last Dinosaur

The song to this Saturday morning cartoon has been reverberating around my skull for the past couple of weeks. I resent that, but that's not the reason why I feel compelled to slam dunk this program in the nearest wastebasket. This is the story of a group of kids, who happen to stumble upon a dinosaur egg near the La Brea Tar Pits. The kids, who don't know diddly about dinos, christen the gurgling cutie Denver, and then wonder what to do with him. Peering into a piece of dinosaur egg, the kids get a picture postcard view of Denver's world--literally. They see maybe five dinos, and hear their names which gives the gang "a much better understanding of their new dino friend." This is a cheap plug for supposed education, especially when the kids could have got more info off the back of a cereal box. The plot, which, of course, throws all logic to the wind, has Denver kidnapped by Morton Fizzback, a sleazy rock promoter, performing merrily and quite competently (apparently dinosaurs had regular breakdance instruction), and then being sold to an evil scientist for research purposes (are they still doing evil scientist plots?) Story aside, there are some real shortcuts with animated backgrounds, and at least one truly absurd lyric in the title song: in describing Denver's journey to the modern age, the songwriters encapsulate the itinerary as: "from Greek history to the rock n' roll spotlight." Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that Plato made idle chit chat with pterodactyls. Not recommended. (Available from most distributors.)