Inside PBS Blog

PBS KIDS welcomed the new series Dinosaur Train to its weekly line up last week to teach pre-school kids about the natural world.  Executive Producer Lisa Henson joined us on the Inside PBS blog to take your questions about Buddy and his adopted Pteranodon family. Read her answers below.

I loved dinosaurs as a child, and I very much like the insert of Dr. Scott the Paleontologist; approachable yet not 'goofy.'  Any thoughts about a female paleo or guests from Smithsonian assisting Dr. Scott with explanations? Maybe girls will imagine growing up to be scientists and doctors because of it.
I know computer animation has benefits, but puppets are tactile and breach the this world/their world dynamic. If Dr. Scott has a partner, why not a puppet?” Dawn Van Ness

Hi Dawn –

Reaching the girls in our audience has been a priority for us throughout the creation of Dinosaur Train and we take seriously the idea that we could be inspiring the next generation of female scientists.  While we know that boys connect quickly with trains and dinosaurs, we’ve made a specific effort to consider what girls will enjoy in the show.  This led to the creation of Tiny Pteranodon, Buddy's sister and best friend.  Tiny is a confident, strong character and she accompanies Buddy on his adventures, not as an observer but as an outgoing inquisitive explorer, often more so than Buddy himself.  We hope Tiny will be attractive and inspiring to the girls watching at home.

In the show’s live action segments, we have a lot of information to share and want to be careful to not make these pieces too complicated, so we chose to have only one host to help the kids at home stay focused on the content we are presenting.  And as another opportunity to connect with girls at home, we always incorporate girls into these segments, often featuring more girls than boys. 

I also have to add that we were so happy to have Dr. Scott Sampson be our advisor for the show; he is a real dinosaur paleontologist who has travelled the world finding, naming, and studying all sorts of dinosaurs.  His paleontology knowledge is only matched by his sheer enthusiasm to engage kids in understanding the natural world around them.  Kids really treat him like a rock star everywhere he goes.  His excitement about dinosaurs has been contagious, turning all of us here at The Jim Henson Company into amateur paleontologists.

“How is the animation done for this series? It looks really different from many other shows.” Amy

Hi Amy –

Here at The Jim Henson Company we enjoy embracing the most cutting-edge technologies to tell our stories.  For Dinosaur Train, we are using state-of-the-art CGI which creates those rich details and lush backgrounds that make our show’s environments so beautiful.  Our scripts and the storyboards are created at our company’s lot right here in Hollywood and the computer animation is provided by our fantastic partners at Sparky Animation in Singapore. 

“I like the aspect of the show that Buddy is a different species and is trying to understand more about his own species. I also really like that he seems so secure with being different, and the family is so loving in spite of his difference. Did you consult with experts on adoptive families, or do research on how to model successful blended/adoptive families?” Sarah Monson

Hi Sarah –

We are very conscious of the choices we make regarding how we present our adoptive family and try to present that issue in an appropriate way for our audience.  We were sure to consult a child psychiatrist on sensitive ways of discussing adoption and blended families and that helped us understand what would be important about the issue to our viewers at home and also what they would understand in the stories we presented.

In regards to Buddy being different, this is part of the show’s overall curriculum about exploring diversity.  Having our characters interact with myriad species with various similarities and differences, we are hoping to model some of the experiences kids at home may have when they encounter different people and cultures outside of their own home.

“When will the Dinosaur Train soundtrack come out?!  We LOVE the songs!!
On a related note, is music from the song Shut Up and Let Me Go, by the Ting Tings used?  Sounds like it.” Pam

Hi Pam –

We all have Craig Bartlett to thank for the great music on Dinosaur Train.  Isn’t it great?  Craig is the creator of Dinosaur Train (you might have seen “Hey Arnold!” which he also created or maybe his work on the Penny cartoons that used to be a part of Pee Wee’s Playhouse) and we are thrilled to be working with him on this show.  Craig is probably one of the most talented people I’ve met and it seems like he can do it all!  He’s a writer, artist, musician and yes, even a singer!  In fact, he sings that catchy opening song and several others you will hear on the show.  It’s been so incredible to work with Craig on this project and watch him sprinkle his different talents throughout each episode.

“Hi Lisa, this question regards more to The Jim Henson Company. I've noticed ever sense The Muppets were sold to Disney the company has been branching out to more newer projects for all different audiences. I remember the show Dinosaurs. I really miss that show. I though the company was really great working with the art form of satire. Will there ever be any more satirical projects like Dinosaurs? I've seen Tinseltown but that's more of an awareness about LGBT in a comical setting than satirical.” Eric Crooks

Hi Eric –

Thanks for your interest in our adult programming.  We really enjoy hearing that the viewers of our preschool projects also like the grown-up content we are working on. 

As a company, we don’t like to limit ourselves to one genre or audience demographic and we constantly challenge ourselves to find creatively exciting projects that will entertain.  Of course we are greatly enjoying the preschool projects we have on PBS, but part of our artistic mission as a company is to stay innovative and forward-thinking, so we continue to work on a fun slate of projects that are intended only for older audiences.  We produce a hysterical live show each month here in Hollywood called Puppet Up! – Uncensored (www.puppetup.com) that features eight puppeteers working with about 75 puppets to improvise comedy sketches based on audience suggestions.  We’ve been doing the show for a few years now and it has a great energy.  There is going to be an upcoming feature film based on the characters from the show and again, I really can’t stress this enough, the movie will definitely NOT be for children in any way.  Our fans seem to enjoy when we take risks with performance styles, characters, and even technology and we’re so grateful for that.  It frees us to try new things and stay excited about our work.  I hope fans will continue to support us as we launch more original projects.