| This article is written from the Real World perspective |  |
| Dinosaurs for Hire | |
|---|---|
 Cover to the comic Dinosaurs for Hire #1 | |
| Beginning date | 1990s (Planned) |
| Writers | Len Wein |
| Producers | Tom Mason |
| Original Channel | Fox Broadcasting Company (Planned) |
| Previous Series | Captain America |
| Next Series | Mort the Dead Teenager |
Dinosaurs for Hire was a planned but ultimately unproduced animated series based on the comic book of the same name from Eternity Comics which was an imprint of Malibu Comics.
Background[]
An animated television series had been planned for the Fox Network in the early 1990s, with Tom Mason, creator of the Dinosaurs for Hire comic, as a consultant. The project was stagnant for two years, until Fox took notice of the upcoming dinosaur film Jurassic Park (1993). According to Mason, there was suddenly "a tremendous rush to get a dinosaur show on the air". Comic book writer Len Wein was hired to work on the series bible and pilot episode script.
Mason was not fond of Fox's planned direction for the series. He said the network wanted a series similar to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with "lots of slapstick hijinks". According to Mason, Fox sought to "dumb down" the Dinosaurs for Hire concept and make it "kid-friendly for TV". The network also wanted the series to reveal the dinosaurs' origins, an idea that Mason disliked, believing it would take away "a certain amount of mystery and charm". He had devised his own origin story years earlier but did not wish to reveal it, stating only that it was much different to what Fox had planned. He said Fox's origin story would not be acknowledged in his comics. The show never made it out of development.