HAPPY BIRTHDAY RAY!

Ray Harryhausen is 92 years old today. That's Ray standing between Eric Boardman and Gary Owens at a signing event in the early 90s. 

Steggie!

My standard question for any guest on our shows---or anybody standing within 10 feet of me is, “What’s your favorite dinosaur?”

I have asked that all over the world: in England’s Crystal Palace, on a dig in Drumheller, Alberta, at a paleontologists’ conference in Berkeley, CA, at a statue unveiling (and ice cream social) in Albuquerque, N.M. or closer to home at Los Angeles’ Museum of Natural History’s Dinosaurs Ball. (You may recall the legendary actor Jimmy Stewart told me he was “a brontosaurus fan.”)

Well, most folks say T. Rex or one of the other raptors, but for me the dinosaur of choice is stegosaurus. First of all, I like the nickname “Steggie”, but mostly I relate to his lifestyle. He was a plant-eater. That’s a healthy way to go. He lived in a herd, possibly in a family unit. (We have found tracks of large and small stegosaurs walking together. That says family to me.) He wasn’t aggressive, but had the tools to defend himself if attacked. Those 17 triangular plates on his back were not for fighting (most likely they helped with temperature control and to impress a mate), but his spiked tail was a mighty weapon. Imagine the punch he could deliver! Plus his skin was a type of armor, like today’s crocodiles and alligators. No matter how sharp his teeth a predator would have trouble penetrating Steggie's tough-as-nails skin and quickly figure out there was an easier meal down the road. Finally, I like the fact that stegosaurus could be found mostly in North America and Europe. Me too.

Wouldn’t be great if we could go back to the Late Jurassic Period (150 million years ago) and get to know Steggie better?  I’d grab a nice bunch of ferns for my favorite dino’s lunch. A really big bunch. Those guys were 30 feet long and weighed close to 7000 pounds, so you know he had quite an appetite.

Oh, and by the way…what’s your favorite dinosaur?

ERIC BOARDMAN

In case you're wondering why this blog is called the Dinosaurs Hunter's Club...

It was the name of the fan club sponsored by the first video (VHS) distribution company of the Gary and Eric dinosaur shows. Below is the mail-in membership card that was sent out with the tapes. Anyone out there happen to be a member back in the olden days, when you had to use a pen and a stamp to join?

Happy Father's Day...

Here is some presentation art Charlie Chiodo did for an interactive game that we were working on in the early 90s that would have been based on the Midwich dinosaur shows with Gary and Eric.

More about that later, but for now leave a comment and tell us what's your favorite guilty pleasure dinosaur movie. We're not talking Jurassic Park here...it's those dumb, cheap, or corny ones that you enjoy watching.    

On June 7th, 2012, The "Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs" DVD was officially released. 

We want to take this opportunity to once again thank everyone who made our Kickstarter effort a success, and made this release possible!    
           (their names are listed  at http://dinosaursx3dvd.devhub.com/thanks/ )

Something to look forward to...

This new blog is for Dinosaur Fans everywhere. While starting it is partially motivated by the DVD releases of "More Dinosaurs", and "Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs", we want this to be a fun, family friendly, and open forum for anything and everything dino. Eric Boardman, who along with Gary Owens hosted Midwich Entertainment's dinosaur shows, will be a regular contributor.  Check back soon!

Above is Eric, with Gary, in a 1987 publicity photo for the first home video release of "More Dinosaurs".  Below, is a photo taken last Saturday (June 9th) at the first-ever Jurassic Con.   Eric was there to meet fans (like Derrick Davis in this pic) and sign copies of the just released "Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs" DVD.