Leofwine_draca PLANET OF THE DINO-KNIGHTS is the first in a series of children's adventure films from Full Moon Pictures. These were made on minuscule budgets in Romania, and mix sci-fi and fantasy principles with glee. Josh Kirby is the youthful hero, who gets drawn into a time-travelling plot and sent to a medieval world where dinosaurs are harnessed as steeds for knights (hence the title). You get giant robot action, hammy acting, cheeseball stop motion effects, and mildly amusing scripting. Barrie Ingham is the old timer explaining things to the kids, while Charisma Carpenter has a small role long before Buffy.

zyrcona I watched this series as an undergraduate student on the long summer holiday, with my father. It is an American children's programme that seems to have been made on a limited budget in the 90s (although it is rather lurid and 80s-looking). We started watching it for laughs assuming it would be a cheesy, naff, American show, but as it went on we actually began to enjoy it.The special effects are not very good. There's a character called 'Prism' that's supposed to be an alien creature or something of the sort. It looks like a Troll Doll. Other special effects are people or objects flailing on what I guess is a blue floor with the blue replaced with acid-trip colours. One of the other characters pronounces 'warrior' as 'woyer' and acts sword-fighting most unrealistically. The overall premise and setup is a pretty unremarkable blend of SF and fantasy -- the protagonist teams up with a time-traveller to save the world and discovers he is a 'time warrior' and has nondescript magical powers.Despite all of these hindrances, the series is inventive and fun, and has an ambition reminiscent of Doctor Who in its golden age, another low-budget series that often showcased poor acting. In order to explain its strongest point, however, I'm going to have to use a total spoiler: towards the end, the protagonist discovers that the time-traveller he met at the start and teamed up with, is in fact the main antagonist, and the assumed villain they have been trying to defeat is really the hero, and the protagonist has been aiding and abetting the villain and obstructing the hero in his efforts to save the world. When the real villain is finally defeated, it's revealed that he did wrong because he believed it would lead to a better world overall. This sort of nuance in children's programmes that are dominated by black-and-white, good-and-evil narratives, is really unusual, and what makes it more enjoyable is that hints are scattered throughout the preceding episodes (the most immediately obvious one being why in the 90s a good- looking black man would cast as a sinister baddie!).I think it is important for children to understand that there are two (or more) sides to every story, and this series explores this concept particularly well, and I recommend it for that, as well as being a silly and light-hearted bit of entertainment that doesn't take itself seriously, and which adults looking for something non- challenging might enjoy too.

Travis_Moran Although not total garbage, it's pretty crappy.The dino stop-motion is worse than the old 1933 version of King Kong, and the dinos look like rubber. The effects are like something from a Nintendo game. The Prism creature looks like a troll doll. Everything in this looks as phony as a nine-pound note.Acting is awful...like something you'd expect from a primary school play. And that horrible piece of crap bike that kid rides is a disgrace. No one could race that junk heap (I'm glad it got vapourised). Azebeth Siege and her codes of kong (is this movie riddled with references to King Kong?) is lame, lame, lame. And there's one scene where this little kid just runs underneath the dino for no apparent reason. And what's with all the moths flying around in the beginning sequence...Did they film this in an old barn?.The sword fighting with the dino was also way lame. And sacrificing people to the "dragon" (dino)...hmmm...again, somebody's been watching too many King Kong movies.I wonder what the budget for this was...$2.It's sort of cool though how this is set up like old serials. Chapter one at least leaves you hanging & shows a preview of the next chapter.My friend gave us a laserdisc player & a box of movies. In the box were chapters 1 & 2 of this series. We watched the first one. And maybe one of these days when I'm extra bored I'll watch chapter 2...that is if I haven't used the laserdiscs for frizbees by then.I wonder if laserdiscs will shatter nicely upon impact with a tree...In this case that's about all they're good for. Well maybe some really bored little kids might like Josh Kirby.

bigdinosaur My youngest kid got all of these Josh Kirby titles and this review is based on all 6.Storyline is definitely for juveniles: Josh encounters time traveling pod and its occupants (Irwin, Azebeth & Prism) and is pursued by Dr. Zoetrope who is trying to obtain the crystal pieces of a time nullifier device. At least the ending (in episode 6) has a twist. Azabeth is a headstrong girl who eventually likes Josh. Prism is a cute little alien who reminds me of a cross between gremlins & yoda. Irwin is the professor running the time pod trying to get the nullifier pieces before Zoetrope can. Each episode leads into the next just like old time serials did.Zoetrope!...At least let's be original here. Effects are what you'd expect if you did this on your PC (except the costumes---they weren't all that bad). Acting...well they train dogs too.Make no mistake; these are good movies for kids (younger kids of maybe 6 to 12). But if you're going to watch them with your kid you may want to catch a nap instead.I gave these movies as a whole an 8 out of 10 because they are totally suitable for the audience they were intended to entertain. Kids will like them. My kid has watched them several times. If your kids like "The Clockmaker", "The Shrunken City", "The Borrowers" and similar titles, they will like the Josh Kirby series.