Dinosaurs aren’t only found in dried-up riverbeds and ancient quarries–their fictional counterparts can also be seen in TV shows, movies, kids’ books, comic strips and video games. Here’s a selection of pop culture’s most notable dinosaurs, most of which would stand a fighting chance against their paleontologically correct forebears. We can see from todays movies, tv shows and video games that dinosaurs are still very much alive! This is why we present to you our very own top 10 fictional dinosaur list!
Keith – Dopey, “Land of the Lost” (TV)
Before it was a big-bucks movie starring Will Ferrell, “Land of the Lost” was a campy, low-budget, 1970’s TV series produced by Sid and Marty Kroft, reprised with a new cast in the early 1990’s. Among the numerous dinosaurs in the original was the aptly named Dopey, a baby Brontosaurus too dumb to know it was really an Apatosaurus. (Any relationship between Dopey and another Apatosaurus, Littlefoot from The Land Before Time, is purely conjectural).
David – “Nessie”, the Loch Ness Monster
The Loch Ness Monster is a cryptid that reputedly inhabits Loch Ness, a lake in the Scottish Highlands.
It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, though its description varies from one account to the next, with most describing it as large. Popular interest and belief in the creature’s existence has varied since it was first brought to the world’s attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with minimal and much-disputed photographic material and sonar readings.
The most common speculation among believers is that the creature represents a line of long-surviving plesiosaurs. Much of the scientific community regards the Loch Ness Monster as a modern-day myth, and explains sightings as including misidentifications of more mundane objects, outright hoaxes, and wishful thinking. Despite this, it remains one of the most famous examples of cryptozoology.
Keith – Rexy, Night at the Museum (2006 film)
Rexy is a giant Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton and major exhibit in the Museum of Natural History, New York. It is featured in the film Night at the Museum. It stars Ben Stiller. Rexy comes alive at night and plays fetch with Ben Stillers character. This is a more playful version of the dinosaur!
David – Earl Sinclair, “Dinosaurs”
Earl Sinclair is one of the lead characters in the television series Dinosaurs. Identified as a megalosaurus, Earl is the 43-year-old head of his family, consisting of wife Fran, teenage children Robbie and Charlene, mother-in-law Ethyl Phillips, and infant son Baby Sinclair. Married for over 15 years, Earl tends to take his more sensible wife for granted, who often brings him down to earth with a sharp “Earl Sneed Sinclair!” Earl’s own family background is seldom delved into, but he was the class runt in high school and has an estranged sister, country singer Pearl Sinclair (“Earl and Pearl”). He is given three common nicknames: Pally Boy by Roy Hess, Fat Boy by Ethyl, and Not the mama by Baby.
Keith – Tiny, Meet The Robinsons (2007 film)
Tiny is a Tyrannosaurus that was brought under the control of the Mini-Doris that was remotely controlled by Bowler Hat Guy, who got the idea when seeing the Mini-Doris hovering over a dinosaur topiary on the grounds of Anderson Observatory. Wanting to keep it a surprise, he didn’t inform Doris, who was planning on cutting the chandelier to get rid of Wilbur, and was enraged by the blatantly obvious attack as opposed to her subtle actions. After a fight with the family and Bowler Hat Guy again being told by a controlled minion that his plans weren’t thought through, the Tyrannosaurus is freed from Mini-Doris control when Wilbur shoots it off his head with Gaston’s Meatball Canon and turns out to be a rather docile specimen and is shown to be acting like a puppy. Even after Doris’ actions are undone by the climax of the film and he should have been sent back as a result, Tiny still appears to see Lewis back off to the past, now a pet of the Robinson household.
David – Bob, “Dilbert” (comic strip)
A vegetarian dinosaur who is the wedgie enforcer at the office. He was found after Dilbert calculated that dinosaurs could not be extinct, and they therefore must be in hiding. Bob was found hidden behind the couch. Bob has a wife (Dawn) and son (Rex), who also live in Dilbert’s house, but they are seen far less frequently than he is, since most of his time is spent at Dilbert’s office, where his wedgie duty is constantly needed while working with incompetent co-workers, salesmen, or clients. He has also revealed that being a dinosaur he is, of course, mistaken for a COBOL programmer. Bob likes having naps and eating lots of carrots.
Keith – Rex, We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story (1993 film)
Movie called We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story. Four fun-loving dinosaurs take a trip to New York City, courtesy of Capt. Neweyes (Walter Cronkite). The time-traveling alien is intent on bringing some joy to the lives of the children of the Big Apple. After eating a potion to boost their smarts and cuddliness, Tyrannosaurus Rex (John Goodman), Triceratops Woog (Rene Le Vant), Pterodactyl Elsa (Felicity Kendal) and Hadrosaur Dweeb (Charles Fleischer) hit the town! But trouble soon arrives when Neweyes’ evil brother hatches a devious plot.
David – Blue, Jurassic World (2015 film)
Blue was recreated by InGen to live as an attraction of Masrani Global Corporation’s dinosaur park Jurassic World sometime before 2015. Her distinctive blue pattern is known to be made from using Black-Throated African Monitor Lizard DNA. When she was born Owen Grady imprinted on her, allowed him to train her. When she was young she and Echo fought for dominance over the park’s Velociraptor pack with Blue being the victor.
Keith – Yoshi
A bit like the anti-Godzilla, the versatile, lovable Yoshi was introduced to the world in the ancient video game Super Mario World (for the long-defunct, but fondly remembered, Super Nintendo Entertainment System). In games and TV shows since, Mario’s bright green sidekick has sometimes sported some distinctly dinosaur-like characteristics (such as hatching from eggs), but mostly he’s just a resourceful, loyal, and scaly pet.
David – Rex, Toy Story (1995 film)
Part of what makes Toy Story such an appealing movie is the way the characters play against type. For example, Rex is a shy, meek, none-too-scary tyrannosaur who’s constantly trying to polish his mojo (practicing his roar: “I was going for fearsome, but I don’t think I’m coming across. I’m afraid I’m just coming off as annoying.”) He’s afraid his owner Andy will replace him with a more intimidating dinosaur, and “I don’t think I can take that kind of rejection.”
Keith – Rex, Toy Story (1995 film)
Part of what makes Toy Story such an appealing movie is the way the characters play against type. For example, Rex is a shy, meek, none-too-scary tyrannosaur who’s constantly trying to polish his mojo (practicing his roar: “I was going for fearsome, but I don’t think I’m coming across. I’m afraid I’m just coming off as annoying.”) He’s afraid his owner Andy will replace him with a more intimidating dinosaur, and “I don’t think I can take that kind of rejection.”
David – Dopey, “Land of the Lost” (TV)
Before it was a big-bucks movie starring Will Ferrell, Land of the Lost was a campy, low-budget, 1970’s TV series produced by Sid and Marty Kroft, reprised with a new cast in the early 1990’s. Among the numerous dinosaurs in the original was the aptly named Dopey, a baby Brontosaurus too dumb to know it was really an Apatosaurus. (Any relationship between Dopey and another Apatosaurus, Littlefoot from The Land Before Time, is purely conjectural).
Keith – Dino, “The Flintstones”
In cartoonland, dinosaurs live happily alongside cavemen–and no dinosaur lives more happily than the Flintstones’ pet Dino (DEE-no), who barks, slobbers, romps and cavorts uncannily like a huge, reptile-skinned labrador retriever, especially when Fred arrives home from a long day at the slate quarry. Here’s an odd fact to impress your friends at parties: technically, Dino belongs to the little-known genus “Snorkosaurus.”
David – Yoshi
A bit like the anti-Godzilla, the versatile, lovable Yoshi was introduced to the world in the ancient video game Super Mario World (for the long-defunct, but fondly remembered, Super Nintendo Entertainment System). In games and TV shows since, Mario’s bright green sidekick has sometimes sported some distinctly dinosaur-like characteristics (such as hatching from eggs), but mostly he’s just a resourceful, loyal, and scaly pet.
Keith – Pete, Pete’s Dragon (1977 film)
Pete’s Dragon is a 1977 live-action/animated musical film from Walt Disney Productions. It is a live-action film but one of its title characters, a dragon named Elliott, is animated. The story is about a young orphan named Pete who enters the town of Passamaquoddy, a small fishing community on Passamaquoddy Bay in Northeastern Maine. His only friend is a dragon named Elliott, who also acts as his protector and can make himself invisible and is generally visible only to Pete, which occasionally lands Pete in trouble with the locals. Disney has announced that there will be a live-action remake in 2016, starring Bryce Dallas Howard and Karl Urban.
David – Zombie Sue, “Dead Beat” (2005 novel)
Harry needs Sue to reach the vortex of the Darkhallow that the Necromancers Cowl, Grevane and Corpsetaker are about going to call up that Halloween eve. The Necromancers plan to call up the spirits of ancient warriors to consume their power. Harry needs to get close to stop them. To get close, he needs necromatic energy of his own as a shield against theirs that will suck out the life energy of every living being in the area.
Harry and Waldo Butters, who drums the necessary beat with his polka-suit that keeps the dino-zombie under command, ride Sue through Chicago north to Evanston crashing into buildings and crushing vehicles along the way. Sue crushes a Hummer at a National Guard checkpoint. When they get near the campus, they see the Wardens, led by Luccio, clustered around children and fighting zombies. Sue leaped over the them, stomped on the Caddy’s hood that was aimed right at them, ripped off the roof—then ate Li Xian who was driving it. Sue went to town chomping, stomping and hurling through Corpsetaker’s zombies.
Shortly, Harry and Ramirez, the only ones not wounded, head into the center of the Necromancers’ storm to stop the spell, Butters drumming from a distance. Sue chomps through legions of Ancient Native zombies. Overcome by bloodlust, Sue stops responding to Harry, so they jump off. Sue continues on her zombie killing spree. While Kumori, holds Harry captive at knife-point to throat, and Cowl performs the spell, Bob the Skull possesses Sue and takes out Kumori allowing Harry to stop Cowl and the Darkhallow. Then he shields the unconscious Ramirez from the blast of the collapsing spell with Sue’s giant form, saving his life.
Keith – GODZILLA
The name “Godzilla” is a transliteration of Gojira . At one planning stage, the concept of “Gojira” was described as “a cross between a gorilla and a whale”. The two words “whale” and “gorilla” describe Godzilla’s traditional characteristics. The word whale represents his aquatic lifestyle and his bulky size. The word gorilla represents his sheer strength and the strategic thinking he uses when fighting against other monsters. A popular story is that “Gojira” was actually the nickname of a hulking stagehand at Toho Studio. The story has not been verified, however, because in the more than 60 years since the film’s original release, no one claiming to be the employee has ever stepped forward, and no photographs of him have ever surfaced.
David – Grimlock
Robots can be dinosaurs too, everyone (don’t be racist). Anyway, Grimlock and his close-knit band of dinobots don’t take orders from anyone because they’re that awesome. To them, Optimus Prime is just some chump that begs for their help when he can’t get the job done. And who cares if most of the other Transformers think they’re a bunch of brutes who DGAF about basically everything? They’re motha’ fuckin’ dinobots, son. They can do whatever they want because they kick ass.
Keith – Grimlock
Robots can be dinosaurs too, everyone (don’t be racist). Anyway, Grimlock and his close-knit band of dinobots don’t take orders from anyone because they’re that awesome. To them, Optimus Prime is just some chump that begs for their help when he can’t get the job done. And who cares if most of the other Transformers think they’re a bunch of brutes who DGAF about basically everything? They’re motha’ fuckin’ dinobots, son. They can do whatever they want because they kick ass.
David – GODZILLA
The name “Godzilla” is a transliteration of Gojira . At one planning stage, the concept of “Gojira” was described as “a cross between a gorilla and a whale”. The two words “whale” and “gorilla” describe Godzilla’s traditional characteristics. The word whale represents his aquatic lifestyle and his bulky size. The word gorilla represents his sheer strength and the strategic thinking he uses when fighting against other monsters. A popular story is that “Gojira” was actually the nickname of a hulking stagehand at Toho Studio. The story has not been verified, however, because in the more than 60 years since the film’s original release, no one claiming to be the employee has ever stepped forward, and no photographs of him have ever surfaced.
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