Prehistoric meets cosmic
So 3 young dinosaurs went after her in a stolen spaceship none of them could fly.
"Nobody could touch me. Not one of them. Best night of my life."The Devourer of Worlds
Strikes landed so far: 0.
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An animated comedy-adventure for families. 10 episodes of 30 minutes. In development.
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Pterodactyls looped around glittering nebulae. Brachiosaurus drifted past pulsing supernovas. On a vast crystal platform, a young T-Rex was teaching a group of Velociraptors the Macarena, and a Stegosaurus was spinning across the dance floor with his plates whirling like disco balls.
At the edge of it all, a princess named Val was in trouble. She had just launched her best friend into the Andromeda galaxy with the sacred Slingshot of Sagittarius.
"Nine realms. One party. And not one invitation sent to me."
"That's me. Making an entrance."
A vortex of darkness opened at the edge of the party. Two enormous glowing eyes looked out of it.
Aki the Carnotaurus king charged first, because Aki always charges first, and his blazing fist went through empty air. Lani's ice shards sailed through like arrows through smoke. Kira drove her emerald staff into the dark, pulled it back and stared at the untouched crystal.
One by one, the gods attacked. One by one, their strikes found nothing.
If darkness could smile, this darkness was grinning.
They stole a spaceship and called it field research.
T-Rex. Princess. Treats the end of the universe as a scavenger hunt.
She's the one who stood at the edge of the dark and looked straight into it while everyone else ran. Cornered by a general and an army, she burped in his face and made a break for the ship.
Can't we? After all, we are researching. We're just doing some... field research.
Stegosaurus. Frightened of most things. Goes anyway.
He's been launched into Andromeda, spaghettified by a black hole and tangled in every string of lights in the Nexus. He has the steadiest heart in nine realms, and he got it standing out in a storm as a kid.
Of course I'm scared. But if I run, I'll miss the show.
A Compsognathus the size of a teacup and the volume of a marching band.
Calls himself the Magnificent Pip, usually from the top of the snack table. Stole a spaceship, then discovered he couldn't fly it. Currently campaigning for a world with self-warming rocks.
Fear not, citizens of the Nine Realms! The Magnificent Pip has secured the muffins!
Form 27B: everything on file
The rest of this file is being processed. Erasure from existence requires form 27B, in triplicate.
"You can see it. You can't touch it."Val
Twin suns rise over a city of glass ferns. A Brachiosaurus barista hands lattes out of a drive-through window the size of a garage door. An Ankylosaur walks into the same lamp post every morning, bounces off and keeps scrolling. Judge Ptero presides over Courtroom 3 in reading glasses the size of satellite dishes.
Humans are pets. They live in little houses bolted to apartment buildings, they're walked on leads, and they do tricks for treats. One wears a horn-shaped hat so his owner can coo, "Who's a good little attorney?"
Every school bag on Dinolocia carries an I SURVIVED THE DEVOURER patch. The murals show the 3 heroes, with the royal crest painted over them.
Three young dinosaurs saved the universe. Somebody has been selling the merchandise ever since.
T-Rex. Lawyer. Very small arms, very large briefcase.
She fights like a lawyer: precise, measured, finding the gaps. She takes the case nobody wants, a Stegosaurus accused of stealing 17 smoothies he's too lactose intolerant to drink.
My client's character isn't on trial. His digestive system, apparently, is.
Human. Assistant. Technically a pet.
He lives in a kennel bolted to Lexi's building and hacks 3 royal firewalls in under 10 seconds with a device built from 3 phones, a calculator and possibly a toaster.
House Rexington. A smile so wide and so practised it has its own postcode.
She cuts the ribbon on every new café in the city, and she believes, sincerely, that her family keeps the peace. In the palace hangs a portrait of an ancestor standing on a pile of tax receipts: Lord Chomps the Third, "Beloved by his accountants".
She holds out a treat to Max. She keeps her claw out, as if she's forgotten. She hasn't forgotten.
Dino Loco is what happens when you point the whole cosmos at modern life. There's a god who needs a permit and a blender with opinions. Even the end of time runs on paperwork. Underneath the jokes sit the big questions: what's real, who gets to say so, and what you'd do if time stopped behaving.
Royals, gods and corporations all want to answer that one. A young lawyer, her human assistant and 3 small dinosaurs have other ideas.
At 8: Talking dinosaurs, a stolen spaceship and a tiny hero who stands on muffins to give speeches.
At 48: A royal family cutting the ribbon on yet another café, and a church that issues 700 words of nothing and then offers different smoothies.
Crystal, nebula and lava. Gods, keys and the night the gods missed.
Glass, fern and screen-light. Twin suns, a courtroom and a legend that has been very well marketed.
Season 1 visits one more point in time. The paperwork is still being processed.
Titles 4 to 10 are awaiting clearance. Form 27B has been filed, in triplicate.
Nine realms. One party. Then, millions of years later, a Stegosaurus pleads not guilty to stealing 17 smoothies and the gallery stays empty. Nobody will be seen in court against the biggest brand in town. Then a princess turns up to watch a petty theft trial, which makes no sense, and a young lawyer asks the one question that matters.
"Told by whom?"
Rewind the Apocalypse is a five-track funk record from the world of Dino Loco, opening with the series' main title theme. Picture a club with no ceiling, a floor made of gold and dinosaur gods in the VIP.
Black hole bartender, pour me some funk,
This bassline so deep, it collapsed a monkFrom "Rewind the Apocalypse"
Words and music by Charbel A. Zeaiter. Released as Charbel X. Listen on Spotify
Dino Loco is also becoming a mobile game. Your real steps uncover dinosaurs hiding in mystery boxes around your neighbourhood, and the more you move, the bigger your herd grows. Val hands out the missions. Pip leads the indoor moves when it rains, and seated moves count too.
The game is being built and tested now, first for iPhone with Android to follow. The look and features will keep changing along the way.
Created by
"I never fitted either world, so I built three."
Charbel A. Zeaiter is a Sydney-based writer, designer and founder with 30 years across design, technology, entrepreneurship and education. He founded Faster Zebra, a school, studio and intergenerational community for people building ventures that build them back, and Velvet Onion & Friends, an innovation consultancy and venture studio that has built original intellectual property alongside client work since 2001. His line across all of it: good things come to those who make.
He's developing three animated series: Momo & Yeti, Dino Loco and Kith9.
Dino Loco is where he plays with time, reality and the absurdity of modern life, using dinosaurs to do it. He's written the Season 1 mini-bible, the pilot draft and the theme song.
Zootopia for an animal city and a buddy investigation. The Lego Movie for comedy about who controls the world. Shrek for a family laughing on two levels at once. Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams for absurd cosmic bureaucracy with a moral spine.
10 episodes of 30 minutes for families. Anticipated PG. Season 1 adapts Books 1 to 3, the story is mapped across 10 books and Season 2 is seeded.
Season 1 mini-bible with all 10 episodes broken, pilot draft Order in the Jurassic Court, Rewind the Apocalypse out now on Spotify, 4 illustrated books, a full cast of character art and a mobile game in testing.
The cast runs from a Compsognathus to Brachiosaurus buses and gods that span galaxies. Animation holds every one of those scales in the same frame.
Most of the comedy plays without a word of dialogue. A dinosaur walking into a lamp post lands in every market, and so do a stolen spaceship and a mushroom with opinions.
It's already drawn: expressive faces, readable silhouettes and a palette for each era.
Producers, broadcasters and partners can connect with Charbel on LinkedIn for the series materials and development conversations. Everyone else can follow along on Instagram.
Rights and development enquiries go to the creator directly.