Man, the ’90s were a weird time. They were really optimistic in a lot of ways; it felt like we were figuring everything out! It also felt like society had just realized some things, like the seriousness of environmental issues, so there was an odd and pretty ham-fisted effort to try and make environmental awareness cool for the kids with a lot of preachy cartoons like Captain Planet and whatever the hell this was. But there were also variations of these ideas that mutated delightfully into even weirder things, like the one I want to talk about today: Dinosaurs and Cadillacs. No, wait: Cadillacs and Dinosaurs.
I didn’t know about this at all until yesterday when a commenter mentioned them, and I wish I could find the specific comment, but I’m already late getting Cold Start up so you’ll just have to trust me here. Cadillacs and Dinosaurs was a cartoon that ran from 1993 to 1994, based on the premise that the Earth had undergone an ecological disaster so severe (hence the ’90s eco-tie in, sorta) that it forced the surviving remnants of humanity underground for about 600 years, and when they emerged back to the surface, the found that, somehow dinosaurs had cone back and were now running the show.
This, of course, meant fights between plucky, tough humans and dinosaurs. Using what looks to be at least one early ’50s Cadillac that has been converted to run on dinosaur guano. Here, look for yourself:
Bonkers, right? That Caddy is over 600 years old! Someone must have restored it at some point.
The series seems to have come from a 1987 independent comic book, originally titled Xenozoic Tales, written and drawn by Mark Schultz. The comic is a lot grittier than the cartoon, which really isn’t surprising. The main characters are a gruff meathead named Jack Tenrec, who seems to lead a group (the Mechanics) that still knows how to repair machines and vehicles, a scientist/ambassador named Hannah Dundee, and a bunch of other post-apocalyptic types, some tame dinosaurs, reptile people, and all that sort of thing.
The animated cartoon ran on CBS and was pretty much a flop, running only one season, though that was long enough to at least try and sell some toys:
They licensed the Cadillac name from GM, but they didn’t make any toys of the car? What the hell? Who was in charge of this? Oh wait – they did. Whew. Someone at Tycho seems to have some sense:
The Caddy seems to be based on a 1953 Cadillac, and the toy does capture the look of the car pretty well, considering.
And, since it was the ’90s, there also had to be a beat-em-up video game, and I’m pleased to report that there was, both in arcade versions and it seems Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis versions.
I’m surprised I’ve been so ignorant of this media property, as it seems to have had every chance to succeed: cars, dinosaurs, scientists in tight, knotted blouses, comic books, video games, half-assed environmental messaging, television shows – what more could they have done here? And yet it seems to be at best a footnote now.
It also seems to be Cadillac’s biggest and I think only attempt to market themselves to kids, who generally have not been part of Cadillac’s demographic, since kids are famously always broke.
What a strange relic of such a particular moment in time. Also, why Cadillacs? You’d think something like a Jeep or another more off-road capable vehicle would be a much better choice, right? But I guess even after the ecology and civilization have collapsed, style still means something.
Top graphic image: Epic Comics/Marvel
Here’s the original comment:
https://www.theautopian.com/the-pope-is-on-a-motorcycle/comment-page-1/#comment-753455
Somehow I never heard of this one.
I’ve played the Sega CD game a few times.
It starts with a warning about how the characters are depicted not wearing seatbelts.
It’s not very good FMV dodging objects thing.
The first I heard of this was when I stumbled across some fan art in the early days of the web, circa 1994. Then I saw the video game in an arcade and finally found out it was all based on a comic book a number of years later. Love the way the ’53 Caddy is drawn in the comics – reminds me of the one-of-one “factory” supercharged ’53 Eldorado built for John Alexander.
Cartoon etc. never made it to Spain where I grew up. The only exposure I got to this was the arcade beat ’em up.
It was a pretty decent one but back then Capcom was churning beat ’em ups at a rate of one every few weeks so it was quickly forgotten as well.
I know I’ve never seen this show, but it also seems weirdly familiar, probably ran across some of the merchandise somewhere and buried the memory.
I was more about Denver, The Last Dinosaur, now that was a totally outrageous paradigm
Wasn’t this the name of Tom Cruise’s bar in the movie Cocktail?
no that was TGI Fridays
I was going to suggest that something with all wheel drive would’ve made a lot more sense given the lack of paved roads, but of course Jason beat me to it by the final paragraph. Still, the Caddy looks pretty cool, though I can’t imagine any scenario where it could be made to run off of raw, unprocessed dino poop. Maybe there’s a waste digestor/bioreactor/refinery hidden in a canyon somewhere, turning collected scat into particularly smelly biodiesel? No french-fry scented exhaust there I bet. 😉
Also, what is the deal with post-apoclyptic folks always wearing such tight pants? I live in a still-semi-functional society and I require daily comfort and usable pockets even though I don’t routinely carry an assortment of survivial gear, such as might be required in a Cadillacs and Dinosaurs environment.
It makes no sense I tell you.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs looks eerily similar to T-Rex in a Fighter Jet, the classic Calvin and Hobbes strip.
Yes! My all-time second-favorite Calvin and Hobbes strip, the first being “His Eye Twitches Involuntarily”
Why? The obvious answer is that Mark Schultz enjoyed drawing dinosaurs and Cadillacs, and he needed a way to do more of that.
Cadillacs Are Dinosaurs would’ve been a more accurate title.
Awesome premise and world.
So if you need some fuel, you can feed scientists in tight, knotted blouses to a T-Rex, wait a day or two, then fill up!
And then there was the adaptation of a Springsteen song, inspired by the car’s fuel source. Of course I am speaking of “Stink Cadillac.”
Well now I have this song stuck in my head…
“Honey I just wonder what you do there in back
Of your Stink Cadillac
Stink Cadillac…”
You’re welcome.
I loved this show dearly as a kid. I was reminded of it recently (hence my comment yesterday about it) by one of my friends who runs a “Saturday Morning Cartoons” stream on our Discord.
He’s collected cartoons from as early as the 1940s and all the way up into the aughts, and runs them weekly in order of airing. So just like when you were a kid, you have to watch every week to catch all the episodes.
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs went through the rotation this past winter.
Huh. I know of a handful of vintage toy stores in my area, and Tony is probably putting a kid thru college with my Star Wars purchases. Time to see if any of them have heard of this stuff.
In the opening picture, with the young lady inexplicably standing up in the car running on its side, why are there exhausts under the front bumper?
My mind went to Steve Jackson Games Car Wars and I assumed they were weapons of some sort.
It’s probably not exhaust and are guns or something. It’s always guns.
Why would a man whose shirt says Genius at Work spend all of his time watching a children’s cartoon show?
The arcade game is actually a fun, well made game. Highly recommend.