Dinosaur King

Dinosaur king ï ¿½ Sunrise, 4Kids Entertainment

Original title: Kodai oja kyoryu kingu Characters: Max Taylor, Rex Owen, Zoe Drake, Dr. Spike Taylor, Dr. Reece Drake, Dr. Z, Ursula, Zander, Ed Production: Sunrise Regia: Katsuyoshi Yatabe

Country: Japan Year: 2007 Broadcast in Italy: 24 March 2009 Gender: Action / Science Fiction / Fantasy Episodes: 79 Duration: 20 minutes Recommended age: Children from 6 to 12 years old

Sunday 12 February 2012 on Italia 1 the Dinosaur King series is launched, a Japanese animated series, which is inspired by an Arcade game much appreciated in Japanese arcades and which later became a Sega card game. Produced by Sunrise, the direction of the cartoon was entrusted to Katuyoshi Yatabe and the original music is by Yuko Fukushima. The cartoon aired for the first time in 2007 on the Japanese network Happinet.
The graphics of the cartoon are particularly captivating and realistic thanks to the mix of two-dimensional graphics of human characters and three-dimensional graphics of dinosaurs. Particularly original are the bright colors given to the dinosaurs that do not appear monotonous and monochrome, even if their appearance is a little too reminiscent of those of Godzilla.
In America and Italy an episode of the cartoon, the number 28 of the first season, has undergone the disputed censorship of a scene in which a dinosaur to be exact, the ankiceratops concludes its move with a fart (a fart).
The series consists of two seasons, the first consisting of 49 episodes, the second of 30. Each episode lasts about 20 minutes.
In Italy the first season was broadcast by Hiro and Boing.

Max Taylor ï ¿½ Sunrise, 4Kids Entertainment

The plot of the cartoon and the main characters

One morning a twelve-year-old boy, Max Taylor, getting out of bed, sees something banging in the woods from the window. He then decides to go and see what it is, along with friends Zoe Drake and Rex Owen. Having gone into the woods, the three boys find a strange stone and an egg, containing a card with a triceratops on it. Max rubs the stone on which the symbol of a lightning bolt is drawn and the triceratops represented on the card becomes real. If he rubs it again, the triceratops becomes a drawing on the paper again. When Max tries to scrub the stone for the third time, the triceratops that comes out of the paper is a puppy and Max decides to call him Chomp. Zoe and Rex will also receive their dinosaurs, respectively a parasaurolophus named Paris for Zoe and a carnotaurus named Ace for Rex. Each of the three dinosaurs has their own power: Chomp possesses the power of lightning, Ace harnesses the power of the wind, and Paris has the power of grass in his bundle. The three boys form a team, team D, which will soon have to contend with the fearsome Alfa gang, a group of time travelers led by Doctor Z, who wants to get hold of all the stones in order to dominate the world thanks to power. of dinosaurs.
Other characters in the series are Max's father, Dr Spike Taylor, a dinosaur enthusiast and expert, and Zoe's older sister, Dr. Reece Drake, Dr Taylor's assistant and first-rate pilot.

Rex owen ï ¿½ Sunrise, 4Kids Entertainment

Rex, on the other hand, has no family, or rather he was found a newborn by Dr. Owen, a paleontologist friend of Dr. Taylor who adopted him. His natural parents, the Ancient spouses, were forced to abandon him because of Seth, the aide to Dr. Z. At the end of the first season of the cartoon Seth will try to dominate the world, betraying the Alpha gang.

The Alpha gang also includes Ursula with her dinosaur Terry, a tyrannosaurus, Zander with her spinosaurus Spiny and Ed, with her saichania Tank.
Other characters also appear in the cartoon quite frequently. Among these, Max's mother, who is convinced that the three dinosaurs are dogs, Rod and Laura, grandsons of Dr. Z, also dinosaur lovers, the robot Helga, cook and helper at Dr. Z's home, and the team of Alpha Droids robots, in possession of the Alpha band.
The episodes of the cartoon all unfold following a fairly regular cliché: our heroes Max, Zoe and Rex face the Alpha gang around the world, trying to get hold of the cards to dominate all the dinosaurs. And so the D-team from time to time is in Egypt for a battle at the Pyramids, then in London, but also in the park, on the top of a volcano, in the caves during a trip, to the waterfalls and in many places more.

Zoë Drake ï ¿½ Sunrise, 4Kids Entertainment

Let's see how some episodes unfold. Neither "In search of the Cosmos stone"Team D has to contend with the leader of the ghostly pirates who unleashes his terrible dinosaur Apatosaurus, which attacks the three dinosaurs of the Team with unprecedented violence and strength. The team is forced to retreat due to the eruption of the volcano and the Appearance of the Mammoth In the episode Bad Deal the D-team and the Alpha gang itself manage to escape, after numerous adventures to the ghostly pirates using the Cosmos stone.

The D-team members are reflecting on the opportunity to negotiate the stone to get their parents back, but when they attempt the negotiation it is unsuccessful and they find themselves in the Jurassic period, greeted by the evil Seth. During the battle a fire hits the forest where they are located. Meanwhile, in the present the plants are growing beyond measure and Reece communicates to the D-team what is happening.
In the next episode the D-team returns to the present to witness the mutation of plants and insects. And he is convinced that the mutation is due to the fire they left in the Jurassic era. The three boys, Max, Zoe and Rex must rush to the D-lab to save Dr. Reece and the others. Then they must rush back to the Jurassic to resolve the chaos they left there.

Dr. Spyke Taylor ï ¿½ Sunrise, 4Kids Entertainment

The Italian version
In the Italian series that we will see on Italia 1, the videos are the same ones that have been seen in America, edited by 4 Kids Entertainment. Compared to the Japanese edition, apart from some cuts, the American edition has completely distorted the names of the characters. Koday Ryuta became Max Taylor, Rekkusu Oen took the name of Rex Owen, Tatsuno Marumu was renamed with Zoe Drake, Kenryu Koday is Dr. Spike Taylor, Riasu Tatsuno is Dr. Reece Drake, Dr. Sonoida becomes Doctor Z, Usarapa becomes Ursula, Noratti in America and in Italy is Zander, Eddo becomes Ed.
The Italian dubbing is entrusted to Merak film of Milan. The dialogues have been rewritten by Marco Casciola and Silvia Bacinelli, while the direction of the dubbing is entrusted to Graziano Galofaro and Graziano Nicosia.
The voice of Max Taylor is provided by Massimo Di Benedetto, while that of Rex Owen belongs to Federico Zanandrea, Francesca Bielli plays zoe Drake and Diego Saber plays Dr. Spike Taylor.
The original Japanese opening theme of the cartoon is titled Sika na bokura no oki na heart and is sung by Ichico, while the final one is entrusted to Hiromichi Satou and is titled Kyoryu Muscle. In the Italian version it was decided to adopt a single theme song, sung by Antonio Divicenzo and is called Dinosaur King, lyrics and music are by Goffredo Orlandi. The lovers of the genre affirm that the original acronyms are much more pleasant than the Italian one.

Dr. Reece Drake ï ¿½ Sunrise, 4Kids Entertainment

The cardboard is pleasant and suitable for children of all ages and, all in all, for the whole family. The biggest criticism is that of looking dangerously like other cartoons such as Pokemon and Digimon. As in these series, the characterization of the characters is a little weak, Max Taylor, Zoe Drake and Rex Owen do not have a strong personality, as was the case for Ash of the Pokemon. Another analogy with the timeless cartoon is given by the way in which the three of the D-team evoke their dinosaurs. Max yells "Trinceratops thunders", to awaken Chomp, Rex Owen summons Ace shouting "Carnotaur, wipe them out" and Zoe Drake calls Paris screaming "parasaurolophus grow", which is very reminiscent of the way Pokemon trainers give orders to their pokemon . Even the powers possessed by dinosaurs are reminiscent of those of other cartoons that preceded them.
Another complaint from fans is the censorship applied to cartoon in America and also adopted in the Italian version. In fact, it seems excessive to have cut an episode for the use of a fart as a weapon, when, as we all certainly remember, a fart was served to us numerous times a day, even in the time slots dedicated to children from a well-known spot. television, without anyone raising the doubt that this was obscene or misleading Italian children. From this type of complaint another one arises, that of transforming an anime that should be aimed at adults as well as children into a cartoon for the little ones, de facto debasing all the artistic aspects of the genre so appreciated in Japan and which has many followers also in Italy and in European countries.

Despite the criticism, the cartoon was very successful in both Japan and the United States. In Italy its initial broadcast on Hiro created bitterness, as the channel was paid and therefore destined for a few and created, consequently a lot of expectation in lovers of the genre. The subsequent passage on Boing did not meet the hoped-for success, probably due to the times in which it was aired. Great expectation for the departure on Italia 1, on Sunday a day when it is presumably easier to follow.
Like all anime series in this genre, their success also includes collectible card games (see those of the Upper Deck Company) and video games for Nintendo DS. Source: www.cartonionline.com

Dinosaur King video

Dinosaur King is copyright © Sunrise, 4Kids Entertainment and of the right holders, the names and images are used here for information and disclosure purposes.