Featured TV on DVD Review: Dinosaur Train: T.rex Tales

November 26, 2011

Dinosaur Train: T.Rex Tales - Buy from Amazon

This is not the first time I've reviewed a Dinosaur Train DVD, nor is Dinosaur Train the first educational TV show I've reviewed. How does this show compare to the others? And is T.Rex Tales worth picking up?

The Show

  1. I'm a T.rex
    Buddy and Tiny are trying to figure out what species of dinosaur Buddy is. (He was found in the Pteranodon nest as an egg.) When they travel to Rexville, they meet Dolores Tyrannosaurs and her daughter, Annie. Annie and Buddy have a lot in common. Could this be Buddy's home?
  2. Armored Like Ankylosaurus
    The family are playing Dinoball when the father announces he's got tickets to a professional Dinoball game. The father's favorite player, Hank Ankylosaurus, is playing. We learn about their armored bodies, their powerful tail, and how nervous Mr. Pteranodon gets around his hero.
  3. T.rex Teeth
    One of Buddy's teeth falls out and, since Pteranodon's don't have teeth, none of them know why. They have to travel to Rexville to meet with Dolores and ask her.
  4. Buddy Explores the Tyrannosaurs
    After Mr. Pteranodon explains what an ancestor is to Buddy. Buddy, Tiny, and he go on the Dinosaur Train to meet an early Tyrannosaur, Rodney Raptorex. They look really different to how Buddy does.
  5. T.rex Migration
    Buddy and some of his family travel to Rexville, but none of the Tyrannosaurs are there. What happened? They learn they might be in Quadruped Corners, but along the way they look for clues and try to figure out why the Tyrannosaurs would have left.
  6. Playdate with Annie
    The Tyrannosaur family, Dolores and Annie, are coming for a visit. And while they are there, the Pteranodon family learns all about Tyrannosaurs.
  7. Spiky Tail Tale
    Buddy and Tiny get into an argument over Morris Stegosaurus and what his spiked tail is used for. There's only on way to solve this: go to the Dinosaur Train and visit him.
  8. Big Stomping Feet
    The episode starts with Tiny in a panic. She lost Shiny's favorite shell and when she can't find a replacement, she gets stomping mad. The stomping attracts a Daspletosaurus, Daphne Daspletosaurus. Like many of the dinosaurs we meet on this DVD, Daspletosaurus are Tyrannosaurs and she loves to stomp.
  9. Don's Winter Wish
    It's Winter Solstice and and Don wishes to see it snow again, so they are off to the North Pole. There they catch up with Travis Troodon, who is clearly Canadian. Don also meets Soren Sauronitholestes, a warm-blooded dinosaur keeping an eye on her nest. When the snow turns to a blizzard, the Pteranodon family are stuck there overnight.

The Extras

The extras on the DVD start with a 10-minute featurette with Dr. Scott the paleontologist. Then there are the usual DVD-Rom features like coloring pages, game, and information.

The Verdict

I really like Dinosaur Train and I actually learnt something while watching it. Most "educational" shows aimed at a similar market teach one or two foreign words at the most. (I've watched many episodes of Kai-lan and the only thing I've learned is that the Manderin word for slippers sounds like "Tool Shed".) T.Rex Tales focuses on Tyrannosaurs, for the most part, and fans of the show will certainly want to pick it up.


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