Dino Park

Cars on the Road
"Dino Park"

Number 1

Episode information

Written by

Steve Purcell

Directed by

Steve Purcell

Original airdate

September 8, 2022

*Cars on the Road* Episodes
Next
"Lights Out"

"Dino Park" is the first episode of Pixar's Cars on the Road. It premiered on September 8, 2022 on Disney+.

Synopsis[]

A dino park visit turns into a pulse-pounding nightmare, starring Mater and Lightning McQueen.

Plot[]

While racing around Willy’s Butte, Lightning McQueen is interrupted by Mater who comes to tell him that he is heading out east to his sister's wedding, surprising him. The rest of the Radiator Springs inhabitants are also shocked by the news. Mater is somewhat reluctant to talk about his sister as he has not seen her in a while and McQueen suggests they make it a road trip via traveling with Mack. However, Mater insists that it be a "real" road trip with them doing it themselves. With Sally's support, McQueen agrees to the stipulation.

McQueen and Mater are someway through their trip when they come across Cartaceous Park, a dino exhibit. McQueen is excited to go to it, especially since Mater picked the last couple of stops, while Mater is not too fond of a learning exhibit. McQueen enjoys the stop so as to learn more about dinos while Mater begins to get tired and falls asleep. Mater finds himself back in time as a cavecar, along with McQueen, as the two of them try to outrace a Tyranamissionsaurus Rex and a Spinocrankshaftosuar Rex.

Mater awakens from his dream rejuvenated and admitted that it was fun learning something new. As they leave, he tells McQueen that he is not afraid of anything until a model of a dino scares him, causing him to frantically drive away.

Cast[]

Trivia[]

For the flashback sequence to the prehistoric era, animators were inspired by the work of stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen. For both the dinosaurs' movement and when McQueen and Mater's prehistoric counterparts are picked by the dinosaurs, animators deactivated the motion blur, which they did use for the rest of the sequence, to reflect the feeling of Harryhausen's films. The production designer also altered the lighting to further evoke his films. Other elements such as frames were also altered.
This episode reveals that McQueen is a dino enthusiast.
Mack, Sarge, Sheriff, Lizzie, and Red appear, but have no dialogue.
McQueen stating "That's a lot of Mater" is likely a reference to how critics questioned Mater's overuse in Cars 2.
When the dino falls on Mater at the end of the episode, it mirrors a familiar scene from the Sam & Max episode "Little Bigfoot", which was also written by Steve Purcell.
This episode, along with the other 8 episodes, were aired the day that Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Commonwealth Realms, passed away at age 96 and her son Prince Charles became king.
The “Tyranamissionsaurus Rex” is actually more of a Ceratosaurus.
This is the only episode where McQueen and Mater's Radiator Springs friends make an appearance. It's also the only episode where McQueen wears his original paint job from Cars 3.