It took several drafts and a lot of creative back and forth before the Dino-Riders storyline that we've all come to know was finalized. The materials below provide an inside look at some of the early themes and concepts that were considered.

Thanks to the generosity of Warren Bosch, the former director of research & development at Tyco, DinoRidersWorld is able to give fans a chance to see one-of-a-kind company production materials regarding the Dino-Riders toyline. Warren has a ton of original material, including story development writings and unique concept sketches. These materials were all internal development documents used by Tyco prior to the launch of the Dino-Riders line and provide an interesting look into what Tyco was considering doing with certain aspects of the line.

This PDF below contains several early draft of the Dino-Riders story written by Warren Bosch. There are many interesting differences between these versions of the storyline and the final one that everyone knows. First, you will note that the subject line reads, “Dino-Stars” as opposed to “Dino-Riders.” Second, the Valorians are called “Galans” (and then “Sauresians”) and the planet Valoria is called “Protorus.” The plot of the first draft revolves around a war between the Rulons and Galans and the attempt by “Kolus,” the chief Rulon scientist, to use an atomic bomb that has the inadvertent effect of transporting both the Rulons and the Galans back in time to the dinosaur age. The plot of the second draft centers around a Rulon invasion of the planet Protorus whereby the Sauresians are forced to seek refuge on planet earth. The plot of the third draft centers around the Rulons’ taking control over the Sauresians’ “Orbiting Environmental Control Ship” and the Sauresians’ attempt to regain control.

Early Storyline Draft

January 8, 1986

This is another one of the early drafts of the Dino-Riders storyline. This draft has a more science-fiction theme to it, with dinosaurs living with the Sauresians and acting as the gatekeepers of Sauresian wisdom and knowledge. The Sauresians are led by King Purell. The Rulons are a small faction of outcasts that decide to overthrow the Sauresian empire. The Rulons decide to poison the dinosaurs’ water supply, eventually killing them all off with the exception of three unhatched eggs. King Purell and the rest of the Sauresians are forced into exile in the same way that the story ultimately played out (i.e., they fly to prehistoric earth along with a pursuing Rulon warship).

Early Storyline Draft

January 14, 1986

This is a PDF of the second draft of the Dino-Riders “Show Bible and Writers Handbook.” This book describes in detail the background story and has in-depth character biographies. This book was to be a guide for the writers of the cartoons. It basically describes how the characters should interact with the dinosaurs and provides some typical scenarios that the characters would likely find themselves in. This draft was written by Paul Kirchner. You will notice that throughout the book, there are handwritten comments made by Warren Bosch, in which he explains his ideas and makes constructive suggestions on certain aspects of the storyline and character development. Here are just a few of the many interesting things to note:

Show Bible and Writers' Handbook

January 5, 1987

This is a revised draft of the January 5, 1987 draft of the Show Bible and Writer’s Handbook.

Show Bible and Writers' Handbook

November 27, 1987

This is the final version of the Show Bible and Writer’s Handbook and is simply called the “Bible”.

The Bible

May 19, 1988

Warren Bosch was adamant about doing away with the mental telepathy concept because he felt it was non-sensical and not a healthy concept to expose children to. In particular, he wanted Serena to be a doctor instead of someone with intrinsic healing powers.

The Questar character is named Magnus is this draft. The Yungstar character is named Ace. The Llahd character is named Yungstar.

The Krulos character is named Karnaj in this draft but Warren Bosch urged that it be changed to Krulos so that children would be able to understand it better.

The Rulon spaceship is called Slavelok instead of Dredlock.

Warren Bosch suggested the name, Space Time Energy Projector (S.T.E.P.) instead of the Spatio-Temporal Universal Disruptor (S.T.U.D.), as listed in this draft.

This draft contemplated that dinosaurs would communicate in English through the Valorian's AMPs. Warren Bosch insisted that the dinosaurs communicate through actions and expressions.

The Valorian dinosaurs were supposed to have unique personality traits and the Rulon dinosaurs were supposed to be portrayed as mindless beasts with no personality.

There is a great deal of discussion on the interplay between the dinosaurs and the Valorians on the one hand, and the dinosaurs and the Rulons on the other. The idea here was that Valorian-controlled dinosaurs would help the Valorians by using their natural instincts, whereas Rulon-controlled dinosaurs would simply do as commanded and not necessarily act in their best interest.