Well, it's about time I got up off my ass and started into this project. I've had the technology to digitize my Dinosaucers tapes for a long time now, and two things are spurring me on. First, Kreldon is almost done digitizing all of his episodes, and I wanna catch up. :) Second, I've been hearing rumors that the DIC archives went up in flames or something and that the Dinosaucers tapes might be history, and whether it's true or not, I wanna make sure they're preserved. Also, there have been some Dinosaucers animation cels up on eGay recently, and now I have Stego staring me in the face, wondering when I'm going to digitize his episode. :)

So...first thing's first. Here's how my archives are now.

I've got two sets of archives. The first set are really, REALLY old tapes from the 1980's that were taped on a new but cheap mono VCR from UHF broadcasts from Channel 57, a station in Philadelphia. (I wonder if it still exists...) This was when the series was new, and it was the original airing of the series in my area. As a result, the episodes are pristine...unedited, and include the original commercial break lead-ins and lead-outs (where my VCR didn't cut them off from me hitting pause).

I'm aware of two other airings. The next was on what was then simply called "The Family Channel." This was the most chopped up the series ever got...they must've inserted like five commercial breaks in the poor episodes. It was when I saw in the paper that it was being aired again on The Family Channel that I ordered up cable TV at my house at the time...and, of course, by the time I got it, they were just about done showing it. I don't think I have any tapes of that airing.

The last airing was on the USA Network, after I believe the first Jurassic Park movie had hit the theatres. To cash in on the dino-craze, they aired the "Dino-Power Hour" in the afternoons...combining a half-hour of Dinosaucers with the less-than-thrilling Denver, The Last Dinosaur. Despite the fact that I believe USA broadcast them in stereo...although I don't think the original was, but still the audio quality is better...they still did edit the episodes for time, to put at least one more commercial break in. And I recall that they edited them in bizarre ways...sometimes, they would simply time-compress the episode, and sometimes they would actually edit out scenes that they deemed non-vital to the storyline. I also think that the show went away for a time, then came back onto USA, as I do have some labeled "Dinosaucers Rebirth II", which leads me to believe I was trying to tell my present day self that...there was two airings. Spooky!

So, I have a mixed bag...pristine but grainy episodes from the original airing, and slightly modified episodes of a better quality that have clips missing in some cases. And what's more, some of my tapes have spread to the four winds...at one time, I had all of the episodes at least once my collection of the original airing...now I'm positive some are missing. And I didn't get a complete set from the USA airing, either.

So what to do? Well, do the best I can, of course. I'm wagering that, if I'm lucky, I do have all of the episodes still, in one form or another. And with Kreldon doing what sounds like an excellent job with his episodes (and he believes he has about half of them, presumably from the USA airing), and the few store-bought videos they released years back, I'm hoping we have them all. Only one way to find out!

I've also been offered help in digitizing my archives by someone who sounds like they have a buttload of restoration equipment. When I'm done processing these as best I can, I think I'll provide them to this person to see if they can do any better.

So what tapes do you have?

Below is a list of the tapes that I have, and what's labeled on them. I'm going to begin to go through them, digitizing what's there for later post-processing. I'll update this page as I do them...cataloguing what episodes I've come across, what state the episode is in, and how far along into processing it I'm at.

TAPE SERIES: STOREBOUGHT COLUMBIA TRI-STAR

That's some pretty crappy art on those boxes...I'm sure someone tried, but...

These were released...I dunno, at least five years ago. I digitized all of these a few years back and put them out as the first Dinosaucers DVD. I think I probably will digitize them again when I get through the rest.

ID 77953 - "Dinosaur Valley" and "Carnivore In Rio"

ID 77963 - "Hooray For Hollywood" and "Divide And Conquer"

ID 77993 - "The First Snow" and "Frozen Fur Balls"

ID 78003 - "Take Us Out To The Ball Game" and "Monday Night Clawball"

TAPE SERIES: THE ORIGINAL AIRING

I guess I never heard of picking a brand and sticking with it

Now these are the first tapes I ever done recorded of the series, off of what was then called Philly 57. Nowadays, people don't even remember what UHF was. These tapes just have numbers and silly names, so as I go through them in the coming months, I'll be adding what episodes I've come across here (and any other interesting oddities for fun). I'd like to think that I can combine footage from this airing to the better quality USA Network ones...y'know, have the outtakes that exist in this series inserted properly into the USA ones, like a special edition DVD. I know, that's gay. Oh, also worth mentioning...most of these are recorded in SLP/EP/6-hour mode. Oh, and judging from the commercials aired, I think the dates of these tapes are either 1988 or early 1989.

DINOSAUCERS, VOLUME ONE (tape 9 in some weird library numbering long gone)

Currently uncatalogued and undigitized

DINOSAUCERS II (tape 10, with a tape spine made in Commodore 64's GEOS)

Currently uncatalogued and undigitized

DINOSAUCERS VOLUME 3 / III

Currently uncatalogued and undigitized

DINOSAUCERS VOLUME I V (tape 12...Recoton, nothing but the best!)

Currently uncatalogued and undigitized

DINOSAUCERS, VOLUME FIVE -- TAPE MISSING
I have a vague memory of lending it to someone at a BBS get-together in the early 1990's...

DINOSAUCERS(c) VOLUME SIX: THE MISSING EPISODES(tm) (tape 20?)

Currently uncatalogued and undigitized

DINOSAUCERS VOLUME SEVEN: WHEN WILL IT EVER END?(tm)

Currently uncatalogued and undigitized

DINOSAUCERS VOLUME EIGHT: WHO'S EXTINCT?(tm)

Currently uncatalogued and undigitized

DINOSAUCERS VOLUME NINE: PUT THAT CHECKBOOK AWAY...THERE'S MORE!

DIGITIZATION IN PROGRESS!
This tape is currently being transferred from VHS to raw digital video.

0:00:00 -- "A Real Super Hero"

0:28:00 -- "Karatesaurus Wrecks" -- now this is one sweet macro episode.  :)  I'll be doin' an intermediate render of this one shortly...

0:55:20 -- "The Bone Ranger And Bronto"  --  "That's right, Dinosuckers and Secret Louts..."

1:22:40 -- "The Truth About Dragons" (counter reset to zero at beginning of episode)

0:28:06 -- "Dino-Chips!"  Ahh, another exceptionally bad pun episode by "Somtow Sucharitkul," also known as the author S. P. Somtow.  "Look, free airline tickets!  Where in tarnation is Reptilon?  I think it's in Jersey..."

0:56:07 -- "Dinosaur Dundy", written by the series creator.  And gasp!  A shotgun pointed at innocent children!  Ah, the good ol' days.  And poor Steve Irrwen.

1:23:57 -- "We're Off To See The Lizard", a fine and punny Wizard of Oz parody.  Transgender Genghis Rex is worth the price of admission.  Plus we learn that Volcano Heights is the capital of Reptilon, sure to be in the next LD5 Jeopardy.

1:51:40 -- "Scents of Wonder", another Somtow episode, yay!  All together now -- world conquest!

2:19:13 -- "Applesaucers", one from the creator again.  I like how the villains can put aside the bigger picture of world conquest and just make trouble for them personally...and there's lots of nice claw-shots.  :)

2:46:51 -- "Seeing Purple".  Aaah, scary clown face!  And figures Astor has giant paws from outer space.  And it has vore, so there.  Note to self:  nice GR clips yakking about Lava Dome, and attacking feet.

3:14:45 -- "The Trojan Horseasaurus" is up next!

DINOSAUCERS VOLUME TEN: HOW CAN I EVEN BE WATCHING THIS?(tm)

DIGITIZATION COMPLETE
This tape has currently being fully digitized and exists as raw digital video.

0:00:00 -- "Saber-Tooth Or Consequences" -- looks like I dubbed this off of another tape to edit out commercials, so no intros/outros

0:22:20 -- "Beauty And The Bonehead" -- Philly 57 logo briefly in the middle of the first half

0:49:35 -- "Toy-Ranno Store Wars"

1:17:00 -- "The Dinolympics"

1:45:00 -- "The Scales Of Justice"

2:12:00 -- "Camp Tyranno"

2:40:00 -- "I Was A Teenage Human"

3:07:40 -- "The T-Bones Stakes" -- Some reception fade

3:29:45 -- "Those Reptilon Nights"

3:57:30 -- "Reduced For Clarence" -- Brief audio dropout in broadcast

4:24:55 -- "Sarah Had A Little Lambeosaurus"

4:52:50 --  "I Got Those 'Ol Reptilon Blues Again, Mommasaur" -- Some reception/oversaturation problems
 

DINOSAUCERS VOLUME ELEVEN: THERE'S JUST SO MANY OF THEM!(tm)

DIGITIZATION COMPLETE
This tape has currently being fully digitized and exists as raw digital video, approximately six gigabytes per episode.

0:00:00 -- "The Friend" -- pretty good quality, retro commercials, nice copies of commercial break intro/outros

0:27:45 -- "There's No Such Thing As Stego-Claws" -- some reception fade, commercials, intros/outros

0:55:22 -- "Teacher's Pest" -- not the best reception in the first half, nice intros/outros

1:22:42 -- "The Museum Of Natural Humans " -- man, no wonder Mike O'Brien likes it...Atilla practically does have humans doing soft-core porn. :)

1:50:10 -- "The Babysitter" -- last episode on the tape, and therefore last episode recorded of the original airing. Philly 57 started showing stupid Popeye cartoons instead.

Well, I thought that there may have been a tape 12, but there's not...thankfully. I thought I may have lost another tape. :)

TAPE SERIES: DINOSAUCERS -- THE REBIRTH, DOWNLOADED FROM USA NETWORK

I see I also never bothered to be kind and rewind, either

Ah...now we get on to the ones of a much better quality. As I explained above, these are from the USA Network airing...I guess the first USA Network airing to be more precise. All of these tapes have the episodes and air dates on the labels, so that saves me some guesswork...unlike the original airing. These were all recorded on a high quality stereo Sony VCR in SP (2-hour) mode.

TAPE ONE
NOT DIGITIZED

"Sleeping Booty" -- April 3, 1993

"The First Snow" -- April 7, 1993

"Trick Or Cheat!" -- April 8, 1993

"Defective Defector" -- April 9, 1993

"A Man's Best Friend Is His Dogasaurus" -- April 10, 1993

TAPE TWO
PARTIALLY DIGITIZED

"That Shrinking Feeling" -- April 13, 1993 -- yes, the infamous Fourth Dimensional Quantum Lens episode!
Digitized and exists as raw digital video. Did this one to see if the cel I bought on eGay was from this episode...looks like it wasn't. Damn.

"Frozen Fur Balls" -- April 14, 1993

"Hook, Line & Stinker" -- April 15, 1993

"The Truth About Dragons" -- April 16, 1993

"Eggs Marks The Spot" -- April 19, 1993

TAPE THREE
NOT DIGITIZED

"Mommy Dino-Dearest" -- April 20, 1993

"The Whale's Song" -- April 21, 1993

"Inquiring Minds" -- April 22, 1993

"War Of The Worlds...II" -- April 23, 1993

"The Bone Ranger And Bronto" -- April 26, 1993

TAPE FOUR
NOT DIGITIZED

"Cindersaurus" -- April 27, 1993

"Trouble In Paradise" -- April 28, 1993

"Monday Night Clawball" -- April 29, 1993

"Age Of Aquariums" -- April 30, 1993

Missed airing of "Fine Feathered Friend" according to note

"Allo And Cos-Stego Meet The Abominable Snowman" -- May 4, 1993

TAPE FIVE
NOT DIGITIZED

"It's An Archaeopteryx -- It's A Plane -- It's Thunder-Lizard!" -- May 5, 1993

"Teacher's Pest" -- May 6, 1993

"Dino-Chips!" -- May 10, 1993

"The Heart And Sole Of Bigfoot" -- May 11, 1993

"Hooray For Hollywood" -- May 12, 1993

TAPE FIVE AGAIN!
NOT DIGITIZED

"Divide And Conquer" -- May 13, 1993

"A Real Super Hero" -- May 14, 1993

"Karatesaurus Wrecks" -- airdate unknown -- ahh, the Godzilla episode...

"Lochs And Bay Gulls" -- airdate unknown

TAPE SERIES: DINOSAUCERS REBIRTH II

That really is some mit-E-fine Dymo labelmaker work

Much like the last series, only aired later in 1993.

[UNNAMED TAPE]
NOT DIGITIZED

"I Was A Teenage Human" -- August 1, 1993

"Dinosaur Dundy" -- August 2, 1993

"Those Reptilon Nights" -- August 3, 1993

"The Dinolympics" -- August 4, 1993

[UNNAMED TAPE]
NOT DIGITIZED

"Sarah Had A Little Lambeosaurus" -- August 5, 1993

"Beauty And The Bonehead" -- August 6, 1993

"The Museum Of Natural Humans" -- August 8, 1993 -- starring Attila Rex, Mike O'Brien's inspiration...

"Saber-Tooth Or Consequences" -- August 9, 1993

[UNNAMED TAPE]
NOT DIGITIZED

"Camp Tyranno" -- August 10, 1993

"The Babysitter" -- August 11, 1993

"Toy-Ranno Store Wars" -- August 12, 1993

"The T-Bone's Stakes" -- August 13, 1993 (Friday) -- why on Earth did I list that as Friday?

[UNNAMED TAPE]
NOT DIGITIZED

"Rockin' Reptiles"

"Beach Blanket Bonehead"

"Scents Of Wonder"

"Fine-Feathered Friend"

TAPE SERIES: DINOSAUCERS REVIVAL (AND OTHERS)

Maybe I was just starting to get tired...and lazy. That top one has a 3.5" floppy disc label on it

Again, same quality and equipment...just apparently stopped caring about air dates. I am pretty sure these were the last I ever recorded.

DINOSAUCERS REVIVAL
NOT DIGITIZED

"For The Love Of Teryx"

"Carnivore In Rio"

"Chariots Of The Dinosaucers"

"The Trojan Horseasaurus"

[UNNAMED TAPE]
NOT DIGITIZED

"The Scales Of Justice"

"I Got Those 'Ol Reptilon Blues Again, Mommasaur"

"The Friend"

"Dinosaur Valley"

OhMai
NOT DIGITIZED

"Take Us Out To The Ball Game"

"Happy Egg Day To You!"

"Be Prepared"

"Burgers Up!"

So what the hell are you gonna do?

Oh...you mean taking pictures of the tapes didn't digitize the episodes on them? What a gyp! Ah, well. I guess I'll have to do it the hard way, then.

What I'm doing is firing up these tapes in a JVC SuperVHS Professional tape deck. This deck is connected via an SVideo video cable and two RCA type audio cables to a Pinnacle 700 PCI capture card, which seems to be the nicest out of the dozen or more I've used before.  Some of the first tapes I did were done using a Sony FireWire camcorder as the digitizer, and resulted in episodes being about 4 gigs of raw data each.  Now, I'm encoding right to a high quality MPEG of between one and two gigs per episode using the Pinnacle stuff.

From there, I intend to put out the episodes on DVD (maybe even dual-layer DVD's), and I also intend to make Windows Media 9 format files of them as well for downloading and torrenting, or maybe DivX.

NOTE!  There is a discussion forum for the Dinosaucers DVD project.  Check out the Lava Dome Five Forums for the latest details.