Prehysteria trilogy

The "Prehysteria" trilogy is a trilogy of family-oriented films made in the early to mid-1990s about the adventures of five miniature baby dinosaurs named after musicians. The dinosaurs were Elvis, a "Tyrannosaurus rex", Paula, a "Brachiosaurus", Jagger, a "Stegosaurus", Hammer, a "Chasmosaurus", and Madonna, a "Pteranodon". The films were made by Moonbeam Entertainment, the family-oriented sub-brand of B-movie producer Charles Band's Full Moon Entertainment. Richard Band, Michael Bishop, and Fuzzbee Morse composed the music for the movies.

Prehysteria!

The first film in the series that was released in 1993, "Prehysteria!" tells the story of Rico Sarno, a museum curator, who enters a forbidden temple in South America, and discovers a nest of five eggs. He steals them and brings them back to his museum. Frank Taylor (Brett Cullen), an archaeologist, sells fossils to Rico and in a mix up, the Taylor's dog takes a cooler, which has the eggs. The kids, Monica (Samantha Mills) and Jerry (Austin O'Brien) discover the dinosaurs when they hatch and try to keep it a secret, until their father finds out. Vicki (Colleen Morris), a woman who works for Rico, sees the dinosaurs, she tells the Taylor's not to give them back to Rico because he will expose them. Rico finds out the Taylors have them and hires two robbers to help him get the dinosaurs back.

Prehysteria! 2

"Prehysteria! 2" was the sequel to the first film and was released in 1994. Mr. Cranston is a friend of the Taylor's and he watches the mini dinosaurs while they are on vacation. The five miniature dinosaurs break out of the Taylor's farm and accidentally get shipped into a crate of raisins. The crate is delivered to a rich family's home, and a young boy named Brendan Wellington (Kevin Connors) thinks they are toys and keeps them. He is unhappy because he has no friends and is desperate for attention because his farther doesn't spend much time with him. Another girl named Naomi (Jennifer Harte) claims she found the "toys" and Brendan solves the problem by buying the box of raisins the dinosaurs were in. The two become friends and the miniature dinosaurs help the boy get the attention he needs, and try to save him from his evil mistress.

Prehysteria! 3

"Prehysteria! 3" was the last film of the series created by Moonbeam Entertainment, and was released in 1995. This time, the five dinosaurs fall out of the back of Mr. Cranston's truck, and they make their way to another family's home. The dinosaurs help the MacGregor family, who is struggling with their mini-putt golf course. Ella MacGregor, (Whitney Anderson) is in love with her Scottish culture, but is sad that the mini-putt golf course is going under. She finds the dinosaurs, and with her family's help, they re-build the golf course with a dinosaur theme, which helps them a lot. But Ella's evil uncle Hal MacGregor (Bruce Weitz) is determined to take over the course by all means, and Ella and her parents must hide the mini dinosaurs to protect them from danger.

Trivia

* Besides the dinosaurs, Mr. Cranston (Owen Bush) is the only returning character in the series.

* The "Stegosaurus", Jagger, never appeared on the first three film posters.

* "Prehysteria!" was Austin O'Brien's first film.

* The "Tyrannosaurus", Elvis, and "Brachiosaurus", Paula, have appeared on all of the film posters.

* The dinosaurs in the first three films were realized by traditional stop motion animation, and rod puppets.

* "Prehysteria! 2" and "Prehysteria! 3" were both aimed at younger audiences.

* Madonna the "Pteranodon" hurt her wing in "Prehysteria! 2", so that the producers can save money on the costing of stop motion animation. In "Prehysteria! 3", Madonna does not fly.

Release of the Series

By 1995, all of the three "PREHYSTERIA!" series were out on VHS. As of August 2008, no news has been released by Paramount Pictures about a future DVD release of the series.

External links

*imdb title | id=0107870 | title=Prehysteria!
*imdb title | id=0110885 | title=Prehysteria! 2
*imdb title | id=0114173 | title=Prehysteria! 3