Law & Order Star Christopher Meloni Played A Teenage Rebel On Jim Henson's Dinosaurs
"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" fans best know him as Detective Elliot Stabler, and "Oz" fans will always remember him as the serial killer Chris Keller — but years before Christopher Meloni turned heads in gritty crime dramas, he was lending his voice to a family-friendly '90s hit.
In April 1991, ABC premiered "Dinosaurs," a live-action sitcom produced by Jim Henson Productions and Walt Disney Television. Possibly one of the weirdest sitcoms of all time, the series centered on the Sinclairs, a family of anthropomorphic reptiles living the suburban life in 60 million B.C. The show is best remembered for its groundbreaking animatronic puppetry and sharp satirical humor — two key ingredients that helped it stand out among the other domestic comedies at the time.
In "Dinosaurs," Meloni voices Spike, a Fonzie-like, leather-jacket-clad Polacanthus who becomes the best friend and sidekick to Robbie Sinclair (voiced by Jason Willinger). Introduced in the Season 2 episode "How to Pick Up Girls," Spike offers Robbie some ill-advised tips on how to pick up women, most of which backfires in embarrassing ways.
Spike was absent from the final season of Dinosaurs
Giving Robbie less-than-stellar advice quickly became one of Spike's trademarks on the show — that and his talent for coming up with colorful nicknames. Whether strutting through Bob LaBrea High School, calling Earl "Mr. S," or goading Robbie into questionable teen antics, Spike brought some classic "cool guy" rebel energy to the prehistoric neighborhood.
Christopher Meloni voiced the character for a total of 11 episodes in Seasons 2 and 3, between 1991 and 1993. Spike is last seen in the Season 3 episode "Charlene and Her Amazing Humans," in which he barely has one line of dialogue. The character never appeared in the show's fourth and final season, and his absence is never explained. "Dinosaurs" enjoyed a memorable 65-episode run on ABC before airing its iconic — and cataclysmic — series finale in July 1994.
After the show wrapped, Meloni's career took off in a big way. In 1996, he landed a five-episode stint on "NYPD Blue" and, in 1998, broke out as the complex inmate Chris Keller on HBO's acclaimed drama "Oz." Just a year later, he landed his career-defining role in the "Law & Order" franchise as Detective Elliot Stabler. After twelve seasons on "SVU," Meloni returned to the Dick Wolf universe to headline his own spin-off, "Law & Order: Organized Crime."