Dinosaurs Attack!

October 30, 2007 12:30 PM

Gore Lovers Click Here. When I was 12 years old, there was nothing cooler than this card series, aside from maybe Transformers The Movie. Where's the movie for this IMHO superior companion piece to the Mars Attacks! series? I think this is the ideal property to be the first all-CGI feature with an emphasis on gore.

I know this card series was linked from within the old Mars Attacks! thread, but I feel it deserves its own post.

posted by autodidact (25 comments total)

Aw, where's Al?
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:32 PM on October 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

Where's the movie? Here's the movie.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:35 PM on October 30, 2007

Where's Al? Here.
[NOT INCONVENIENTTRUTHIST]
posted by RogerB at 12:38 PM on October 30, 2007

I have a card where a dinosaur is eating a baby. I love it!
posted by malaprohibita at 12:39 PM on October 30, 2007

This is awesome.
posted by brundlefly at 12:45 PM on October 30, 2007

I misread the OP. I thought you were asking where's the Mars Attacks movie. You weren't.

-2 for me.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:45 PM on October 30, 2007

Yes. I remember buying the Dinosaur Attacks! cards and coveting the Mars cards. I seem to remember the Dinosaur cards had some kind of cool, underground type artist associated with them, Robert Williams maybe? I can't recall.

The ones I really like, and for some good gore, try the Topps Civil War Cards. How can you lose with card titles like PAINFUL DEATH.
posted by marxchivist at 12:46 PM on October 30, 2007

Also, they're awesomely inaccurate. I particularly like the giant, mutant, carnivorous Parasauralophus.

(I don't know how to feel about this, but I just Googled "parasauralophus" to check the spelling, and one of the first results was posted by me.)
posted by brundlefly at 12:51 PM on October 30, 2007

I was just going to mention, brundlefly, that they all seem to have some kind of lizard skin instead of the more typical feathers.
posted by yhbc at 1:03 PM on October 30, 2007

Admirers of certain political candidates are left in the cold, eh? An inconvenient misunderstanding.
posted by koeselitz at 1:05 PM on October 30, 2007

Can't choose just one to link to, too much awesomeness.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 1:10 PM on October 30, 2007

RogerB, your card has the twin towers in the background. NEVAR 4GET!! CRYING EAGLES FOR ALL!!!!!11!!!11!
posted by Mister_A at 1:13 PM on October 30, 2007

Lights! Camera! CARNAGE!!!
posted by tkchrist at 1:20 PM on October 30, 2007

MetaFilter: Blue Water, Savage Death!
posted by NationalKato at 1:21 PM on October 30, 2007 [1 favorite]

There are a lot of deeply confused herbivores in this.
posted by brundlefly at 1:34 PM on October 30, 2007 [2 favorites]

I'm pretty sure this dinosaur is eating Art Spiegelman. And if that seems unlikely, remember that Spiegelman worked for Topps for 20 years.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:41 PM on October 30, 2007

I'm not sure which was more taboo as a kid, these or Garbage Pail Kids...
posted by starman at 2:50 PM on October 30, 2007

Wow, Dinosaurs Attack.

The photo on the back of this one surprised the hell out of me. I also was always surprised at the varrying quality of the art. Some (Like this Dimetrodon) look really great, yet others (like this) look stunningly bad as if there was no sketching. I guess that's what happens when you need to have a narrative image in a 3×5 card.

Great post btw.
posted by Brainy at 4:11 PM on October 30, 2007

Been away from The Blue for several months, in an effort to improve my overall productivity (an effort, by the way, that failed spectacularly).

And now I have returned to find the MOST. AWESOME. THING. EVER. How did I miss these when I was a kid?
posted by hifiparasol at 4:33 PM on October 30, 2007

When I was 12 years old, my friend had this SNES game called Splatterhouse 2...
posted by yoHighness at 5:48 PM on October 30, 2007

When I was 8, I bought the complete set of these cards from a guy at a craft fair my parents made me go to for $5. It was the first (and only, at least I can recall) time I ever had a complete set of any sort of trading cards or anything like that.

I remember being disturbed by the gore, but I eventually got over it.

Also, I'd have to say this one is one of my favorites.
posted by champthom at 5:53 PM on October 30, 2007

I find myself wanting a door-sized poster of this. Because I'm twelve.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 6:08 PM on October 30, 2007

These are awesome. Gnarly, if I may so say. They make getting chewed up alive seem almost appealing.

Reminds me of this thing. And, of course, Wacky Packages.
posted by stinkycheese at 6:49 PM on October 30, 2007

kittens for breakfast: I'm sure I've seen enormous posters of this, which is the likely inspiration for the one you linked. I think it'd look handsome in any room.
posted by churl at 9:56 PM on October 30, 2007

Apparently the rumor (true story? couldn't find any interview) was that Tim Burton was interested in making Dinosaurs Attack! and then opted for Mars Attacks! instead so as not to get caught up in Jurassic Park's wake. Then Independence Day came out before Mars Attacks!, despite going into production after they did. I always wished Burton would get around to doing Dinosaurs Attack!, but I suppose the generally chilly reception Mars Attacks! got here made that much less likely.

On a side note, after watching Godzilla 1985 and King Kong as a little kid, I got into the habit of waiting until Mom or Dad had tucked me in and left my bedroom and then curling up at the foot of my bed, farthest away from the window, to sleep. I believe I thought this might keep me relatively safer from being snatched or eaten by a giant monster. I spent many of those nights terrified. Now I live in New York, which I believe is statistically much more prone to dinosaur/monster attacks than Apache Junction, Arizona. So now, thanks to some of those totally awesome and horrifying images in autodidact's link I'm wondering how well I'll sleep tonight. What I'm trying to say is...I'm typing this from the foot of my bed, farthest away from my window. Thanks, Metafilter!
posted by Nathaniel W at 11:00 PM on October 30, 2007