Unisaurs are the innumerable supporting characters on Dinosaurs. Rather like the Anything Muppets and Whatnots, the Unisaurs are recycled, with variations in costume and occasional cosmetic alteration, for the many guest characters, background extras, and minor recurring characters. These characters can be divided between full body puppets, of which there were only five or six, and hand puppets, of which there were a dozen or more. Unisaurs were created and used to ease the production staff's need to populate a world of dinosaurs week after week. Changing costumes and occasionally features on an existing dinosaur was a lot faster (and cheaper) than creating individual and unique dinosaurs for every individual role. Without the Unisaur, Dinosaurs would not have been able to keep the world populated and the show going.
The tall, needlenosed, deep blue dinosaur used most often as Mr. Pulman (the science teacher), Ralph Needlenose (another of Earl's Wesayso co-workers), and the Unisaur, outside of Mindy, most often used for female characters. This Unisaur was used for the doctor (201), Glenda Molehill, Hank the salesman (212), Heather Worthington, Dr. Herder, and the inspector (412).
This Unisaur, with detailed eyelashes, a smaller snout, a crest akin to hair, and lighter-hued skin, was used most often as Mindy, but also showed up as Caroline Foxworth, Sally, and other specifically female characters. It had a fleshy pink skin with pastel stripes, the body type occasionally surfaced in a light green as well. Another female dinosaur, similar to this one but with speckled snout and other adornments, surfaced as Thighs of Thunder and Wendy Richfield.
Hand-Puppet Dinosaurs[]
The hand puppet dinosuar characters were used most often as television personalities, elders or officials, audience extras, and other characters who could legitimately be shown only from the waist up. There were at least a dozen or so of this type, in addition to unique characters such as Howard Handupme, but some of the more notable variations include the following: