Jurassic Juvenile: The Best Dinosaur Cartoons from the 90s

Sometimes, even big screen whiz-bang can’t satisfy the appetites of ravenous young fans. That was the case when Jurassic Park smashed into popular culture, stoking our appetites for even more dinos. Indeed, those resurrected lizards set the stage for a cavalcade of dinosaur cartoons from the 90s that live on in our memories and through our streaming services even today.

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs

This series is set in a dinosaur-filled version of Las Vegas, where two bumbling detectives investigate cases involving the titular creatures. Airing from 1991 to 1992 and with 26 episodes total, it was an adequate crime show that didn’t quite live up to its potential thanks to a lack of focus on anything other than dinosaurs. But kids in the 90s who were dinosaur-obsessed likely loved this show.

Extreme Dinosaurs

Extreme Dinosaurs aired from 1997 to 1999 and had 52 episodes. Aimed at an older audience than other dinosaur cartoons, Extreme Dinosaurs was a dark show that often featured brutal battles between different dinosaur species in post-apocalyptic settings.

Dinosaurs

OK, this one wasn’t technically a “cartoon” in the purest sense of the word, but it wasn’t live action, either. No, “Dinosaurs,” which ran on ABC from 1991 through 1994, was a stop-motion dinosaur puppet show. The premise of the series was that a family from the future had to travel back in time and live with dinosaurs to study them, but their presence ultimately led to some startling changes in dinosaur evolution.

Toy Story

Another stretch as a 90s dinosaur cartoon, you say?

Maybe, but you can’t argue with the fact that Toy Story was one of the most iconic animated movies and TV shows from that decade, so we’re counting it.

Toy Story was a computer-generated (CG) film released by Pixar Animation Studios in 1995 about toys who come to life when humans are not present. The movie’s story centers around Woody, an old-fashioned pullstring cowboy doll, who is introduced to Buzz Lightyear, a toy space ranger action figure. Buzz’s owner Andy gives the dinosaur toys new life through his imagination and playtime

And, most importantly for us here, right now, the movie also featured Rex, a dinosaur toy. A Tyrannosaurus Rex, to be exact.

He was voiced by Wallace Shawn and only appears in two scenes—in one he’s a birthday present for Andy from his mother at Toys “R” Us, and later on he comes out of hiding when Woody discovers him as one of the presents under Madame Catarina’s chair.

Agumon

Agumon is the main dinosaur character in the anime series Digimon Adventure. Agumon is partnered with Taichi “Tai” Kamiya, a human who becomes his Tamer and partner for this adventure

The premise of Dinosaur King is that each card contains an animal DNA molecule which can be combined on screen to create unique dinosaur creatures.

Dinobots

The Dinobots are a team of dinosaur-like robots in the Transformers series. They are created by the Autobot scientist Ratchet from dinosaur metal found on Earth

Dino

Is there any more famous, popular, or overall splendid cartoon dinosaur in the long history of cartoon dinosaurs than the man himself, Dino Flintstone?

I think not!

So, technically …

Dino Flintstone is a cartoon character featured in The Flintstones series of animated television shows produced by Hanna-Barbera and starring Fred Flinstone , his wife Wilma Slaghoople and their adopted son Pebbles . He is a dinosaur, born during the Stone Age .

And all of that happened, as far as us modern cavemen are concerned, in the 1960s.

But the, in 1994, the dinosaur appeared again, in The Flintstones movie, also from Hanna-Barbera. He was sort of an animatronic nightmare in that one, but a) it was Dino, king of the cartoon dinosaurs and b) the movie was made in the 1990s.

So, yeah, Dino makes our list.

(Like Dinosaur Cartoons from the 90s? Then you might like our article on Dinosaur Cartoons from the 80s, click here.)

(affiliate links)