TV ACRES: Reptiles > Dinosaurs > Earl Sinclair (Dinosaurs)

Earl Sinclair - 43-year-old Megalosaurus who lives in the City of Pangaea (60,000,003 B.C.) on the live-action puppet series DINOSAURS/ABC/1991-94. To support his family, Earl works as a tree pusher for the penny-pinching Mr. B.P. Richfield [a three-horned Triceratops] at the ecologically irresponsible, Wesayso Development Corporation. Earl's family members included his wife, Francis "Fran" [née Hinkleman], a 38-year-old Allosaurus, Pisces and homemaker who shops at Kave Mart; their son, Robbie, a rebellious fourteen year old; their daughter, Charlene, a shop-crazy 12-year-old; Baby Sinclair, a bratty infant [he called Earl "Not the Mama"]; the nagging, 72-year-old Grandma Ethyl Phillips in a wheelchair who calls Earl "Fat Boy"; and a pet cavegirl named Sparky. Their phone number is 555-3000; Earl's social security number is 000-00-0018.

B.P. Richfield:	SINCLAIR!. I oughta kill you and your whole family, but I'd probably get in trouble with the union. As it is, there's only one thing I can do to you: you're fired, Sinclair, fired, fired, FIRED!!!.
Earl:	Fired? That means I don't have to come to work anymore. Oh, this is the happiest day of my life.

For entertainment, the Sinclairs watch TV shows like "Mr Ugh", (about a talking cavemen); "Ask Mr. Lizard" (an educational science show); Raptile." (talk show) and the Dinosaur Shopping Network (Fran's favorite). For a drink (beer) and a night out with the boys, Earl hangs out at the Meteor Tiki Lounge with his best friend Roy Hess [a T- Rex] who lives a carefree bachelor‘s life at a marina condo. Earl is also a member of the YMCA (Young Men's Carnivore Association. For news, Earl reads the Pangaea Tribune.

When the Sinclair family sought spiritual guidance they referred to sacred text called "The Book of Dinosaurs." For instance, when a male dinosaur turned the age of 15, he was required to climb to the top of a mountain and howl at the moon. For as their sacred book said "Only by howling do we defeat the dark spirit which turns dinosaur against dinosaur and brings an end to our days on Earth."

When a dinosaur reached the age of 72, the book advised that family members hurl their useless senior citizens into the tar pits. When mother-in-law Ethyl Phillips reached hurling age, her son-in-law Earl Sinclair gleefully donned a special blue silk tie made for the special event.

And when an infant baby is born it must be taken before the chief elder to be named. When Earl Sinclair took his child to the ceremony, the elder died but not before saying "Aaah, aaah, I'm dying, you idiot." Thus according to tradition, Earl's baby was named. The elder's successor, however, later changed the child's name to "Baby."

Once during a time of indecision, the dinosaurs followed a religion based on the Great Potato. It's teaching gave answers to such questions as "What is the nature of dinosaurs? ("Each dinosaur is like a single potato, springing forth from the earth with eyes to see the world around it, and lots of potassium") and "What is our purpose on this earth? ("Our purpose is to serve the Great Potato by giving our troubled questioning minds a rest, confident that the Great Book of the Potato will provide all the answers.")

Voice Credits
Stuart Pankin	as	Earl Snead Sinclair
Jessica Walter	as	Fran Sinclair
Jason Willinger	as	Robbie Sinclair
Sally Struthers	as	Charlene Sinclair
Kevin Clash	as	Baby Sinclair
Florence Stanley	as	Grandma Ethyl
Sam McMurray	as	Roy Hess, Earl's friend and co-worker
Sherman Hemsley	as	B.P. Richfield, Earl's boss
Suzie Plakson	as	Monica Devertabrae, Fran's friend
Christopher Meloni	as	Spike, Robbie's friend
Buddy Hackett	as	Louie Phillips, Ethyl's late husband (voice)
Gary Owens	as	Narrator

TRIVIA NOTE: All of the oversized animatronic dinosaur puppets (that combined computerized animation and live actors) were created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Many of the dinosaur's surnames on the show were based on the names of oil companies (Sinclair, Phillips, Hess, Richfield) or the categories of fuels they produced, like Ethyl. In the fall of 1991, the A&E cable channel produced a four-part series entitled DINOSAURS hosted by Walter Cronkite. It was advertised as "the biggest story ever told."