Dino-Riders was a cartoon television series in the late 1980s. Airing as part of the Marvel Action Universe, Dino-Riders lasted only fourteen episodes but had a very successful action figure line distributed by Tyco Toys.

Episodes were also released as a collection of Dino-Riders VHS tapes, which are sometimes sought after as collectors' items.

The series told the story of the Valorians, a peaceful race of telepathic humans whose home planet was conquered by the Rulon Empire. A small band of survivors, led by the heroic Questar, managed to escape destruction by time travelling to prehistoric Earth using the experimental Space-Time Energy Projector (a.k.a. the S.T.E.P. ). But the grotesque Emperor Krulos and his most evil Rulon commanders followed these survivors on their ship the Dreadlock. Stranded in the past, the two groups had to rely on the planet's dinosaurs to survive and battle each other.

The Valorians used their telepathy for taming dinosaurs to ride and for domestic use. The Rulons captured dinosaurs with 'brain boxes'. These were large metal helmets which fit onto dinosaur's heads and control their brains. Both Valorians and Rulons would often fit dinosaurs with huge arrays of laser and weapon platforms, upon which people could ride, and attack one another.

Battles were mostly motivated by the Rulon's desire to steal the S.T.E.P. from the Valorians, and almost always inconclusive, seldom accomplishing more for either side than restoring the status quo from the beginning of the episode.

Show information

• First aired on October 1988
• Last aired on December 1988
• Episode running time: about 30 minutes
• Show type: Animated
• Country: United States

External links

• A complete list of aired episodes
• Character photos and analysis