Dino-Riders is an animated television series that first aired in 1988. The cartoon was primarily a promotional show to launch a new Tyco toy line. Only fourteen episodes were produced, three of which were produced on VHS for the United States. The show aired in the U.S. as part of the Marvel Action Universe programming block.
The series focuses on the battle between the heroic Valorians and the evil Rulon Alliance on prehistoric Earth. The Valorians were a superhuman race, while the Rulons comprised several breeds of humanoids (ants, crocodiles, snakes, and sharks were the most common). Both races came from the future but were transported back in time to the age of dinosaurs. Once on Earth, the Valorians befriended dinosaurs, while the Rulons brainwashed them.
Ownership of the series passed to Disney in 2001 when Disney acquired Fox Kids Worldwide, which also includes Marvel Productions.
Overview
The Valorians were a species of peaceful humanoids who lived on the planet Valoria until they were invaded by the predatory Rulons. A group of Valorians lead by Questar attempted to escape the Rulon invasion using a spaceship equipped with their "Space Time Energy Projector" (S.T.E.P.); however, something went wrong. They were sent back in time and space, to the planet Earth 65 million years back in the age of the dinosaurs. Unknown to them, the Rulon flagship, the Dreadlock, locked in with a tractor beam, was also sent back through time when the S.T.E.P. was activated.
After successfully landing on prehistoric Earth, the Valorians used their AMP ("Amplified Mental Projector") necklaces to telepathically communicate with the dinosaurs they encountered and eventually befriended them. On the other hand, the Rulons - led by the warlord Krulos - used brainwashing devices known as brain-boxes to control dinosaurs for their own needs. The Rulons then launched an attack on the Valorians, who called upon their dinosaur friends to assist them in fighting back. After ultimately defeating the Rulons, the Valorians renamed themselves Dino-Riders.
In regard to the dinosaur (and other animal) species present, the series is extremely anachronistic, showing late Cretaceous species like Tyrannosaurus rex alongside species from earlier eras such as dinosaurs from the Triassic, and Jurassic, including the Permian genus Dimetrodon, which lived 200 million years earlier, before dinosaurs existed.
It also show several Ice Age animals such as the Woolly Mammoth and the Smilodon, living alongside Archaeotherium, which lived during the Eocene 16 million years before the Ice Age. Plus, it shows Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons coexisting with Smilodon, and the Megatherium which lived in North and South America, while Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons lived in Eurasia.