Dino (The Flintstones)

Background

In the series, Dino serves the role of a pet dog, and exhibits the characteristics of a typical domesticated canine.

Dino is a prosauropod-like dinosaur. He is a Snorkasaurus. Dino is a relatively small dinosaur, only slightly larger than the humans of his time, smaller than mammoths that appear in the series, and much smaller than the numerous sauropods that appear as work animals in the series (a full-sized sauropod appears as a crane in the opening sequence, and oversized "bronto ribs" the size of an automobile are seen in the closing credits). Dino is comparable in size to the dwarf Europasaurus.

A recurring gag in the series is for Dino to leap onto his master just as work-weary Fred arrives home — invariably knocking him down, yapping happily, energetically licking his face while Fred would prefer to eat dinner with his family and proceed with the evening's activities, if any. But no matter how hard he tries to the contrary, Fred usually gives in to Dino's ticklish and wet doglike kisses. Dino frequently exhibits human emotions, nearly "talking," and can also be moved to anger, at which point he snarls and snaps. He also loves to play with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm, the Flintstones' and Rubbles' respective offspring; these characters are introduced in the middle part of the series. On more than one occasion over the course of the series, Dino saves the children from peril.

Although he is usually immune, Dino does take a couple of brief stabs at romance. The first comes in the episode, "Dino Goes Hollyrock", which originally aired on September 14, 1962. In it, Dino falls in love with female TV star sauropod "Sassie" (an obvious takeoff on "Lassie ") and then becomes her co-star on her TV show. However, once Dino gets a look at her without makeup, the infatuation wears off. The second comes in the episode, "Dino and Juliet", which originally aired on November 26, 1964. In it, Dino falls in love with the new neighbor's female sauropod (name unknown). Their romance, which results in the birth of 15 puppies, helps end the feud between Fred and the new neighbor, Mr. Loudrock.

Although Dino had already appeared earlier in the series' first season (such as the episode "No Help Wanted"), Dino is portrayed quite differently in the first season's 18th episode "The Snorkasaurus Hunter." In this episode, Fred and his friend Barney Rubble are on a camping trip, trying to hunt a snorkasaurus. Unlike Dino's other appearances, the snorkasaurus in this episode speaks and behaves toward Fred and Barney in a manner similar to comedian Phil Silvers. At the end of the episode, the Flintstones take in the dinosaur; the snorkasaurus (called "Dino" at one point by Wilma) is seen acting like a butler for the Flintstones: answering the telephone, dusting, and ironing. Dino in this episode also has blue skin instead of his varying pink-to-red color, which seems to vary from episode-to-episode during this early period, but is permanently purple after this episode. After this episode, Dino is permanently portrayed as behaving in a doglike fashion.

Dino's origins are explained in the episode "Dino Disappears", which originally aired on October 10, 1963. In it, Wilma states that Dino followed Fred home because Fred was playing with him. Fred counters by saying he was merely trying to chase him away.

Post-original series, Dino appears in most of the series' spinoffs, except during the first season of The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show. There, Dino is replaced by Wooly, a dwarf mammoth, as the Flintstone family's pet. However, starting with the following series' The Flintstone Comedy Hour, Dino once again becomes a regular character.

In the 1980-1982 series The Flintstone Comedy Show, Dino is featured in his own segment, "Dino and Cavemouse," where Dino tries futilely to capture a pesky mouse in the Flintstone household. The segments bear some similarities to classic cat-and-mouse cartoons such as Tom and Jerry. Dino later appears as a puppy in 1986-1988 series The Flintstone Kids (including his own segment, "Dino's Dilemmas"), as Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm's babysitter in the short-lived 1996 series Cave Kids, and also starred in his own two 7-minute short cartoons, Dino: Stay Out! (1995) and Dino: The Great Egg-Scape" (1997).

Other media

Dino appears in both live-action movies. He isn't seen very often in the first film, 1994's The Flintstones. Dino was created with both computer-generated imagery and as a puppet from Jim Henson's Creature Shop, while archival audio from the original series was used to serve as Dino's voice.

However, in the second film, 2000's The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, Dino has more screen time; he appears here as a puppy. Fred won Dino's egg as a prize after winning a carnival game. Initially, Fred didn't think much of the egg as he felt that the creatures inside never live long. On a Ferris wheel, just as Fred and Wilma are about to kiss, Dino's egg hatches and he takes an immediate attachment to Fred, believing him to be his mother. (This, of course, contradicts Dino's origin in the original series.)

Television shows

Films and Specials

Portrayal

Dino's barks and sound effects were provided by Mel Blanc for 27 years, from 1960–1987; archive audio of Blanc was used for Dino in the 1994 live-action film and its prequel in 2000. Jerry Mann provided the speaking voice of Dino in the 1961 episode "The Snorkasaurus Hunter". Frank Welker provided Dino's vocal effects for 20 years, from The Flintstones: Jogging Fever in 1981, until The Flintstones: On the Rocks in 2001 (a role he shared with Mark Mangini). Bill Farmer provided the vocal effects in the 2000 video game The Flintstones: Bedrock Bowling. Mark Mangini shared vocal duties with Frank Welker for The Flintstones: On the Rocks. In 2015, Eric Bauza provided the vocal effects for the direct-to-video The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackDown!.