Sightings
As a long-running, widely-available, and popular line of educationally-oriented dinosaur toys, it's no surprise that the Carnegie Collection has popped up in various media throughout the years. Though nowhere as ubiquitous as Papo's famous T. rex model, Carnegie's "museum quality" dinosaurs have been stand-ins for their larger counterparts in everything from documentaries to sitcoms and even actual museum displays. On this page, I will do my best to catalog the various appearances of Carnegie Collection dinosaur replicas in non-collectible related places. This is by no means an exhaustive list, so if you spot a Carnegie dinosaur somewhere new, please send a screenshot and brief description to dactyl.terrible@gmail.com.
Bird Box - premiered November 12, 2018
Where's Rodney? - aired June 1990
This failed sitcom pilot featured a Carnegie Brachiosaurus replicas in the classroom set. Interestingly, it is the older variant with predominantly dark gray coloration.
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Season 4, Episode 3) - aired October 1990
Both Carnegie Collection and Invicta models were featured in the season 4 episode "Brothers". There is a Carnegie Tyrannosaurus on display in Dr. Soong's lab (the 1990 green color variant of mold 1). At the end of the episode, a boy is shown playing with possibly a different T. rex (it looks like it might be the older gold wash version, though that could just be the brighter lighting), as well as what appears to be a first generation gray and gold Allosaurus. The episode was filmed around July 1990, which helps give a time constraint for the release of the "classic color" T. rex.
(Photos from Love in the Time of Chasmosaurs)
Jurassic Park - premiered June 9, 1993
Perhaps the most famous of the Carnegie dinosaurs' on-screen appearances, pretty much everybody has noticed the Diplodocus on the shelf in Sattler and Grant's trailer towards the beginning of the film. Not as many noticed the classic color version of T. rex, which is much harder to see over on a little prep station in the background.
(Images from Jurassic-pedia)
Bill Nye the Science Guy (Season 1, Episode 3) - aired September 24, 1993
This classic children's science show featured Carnegie dinosaurs as props pretty frequently. The classic 1990s era versions of Triceratops and Diplodocus even appeared in the main title sequence for each episode. The season 1 episode "Dinosaurs" featured a lot of Carnegie replicas throughout the episode, including the classic color Apatosaurus Baby (2nd mold), and even a digitally recolored T. rex (3rd mold).
Field Museum Life Over Time Dioramas - 1994
Starting in the mid 1990s, the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago had a series of small dioramas illustrating life through the ages of the earth using "quirky" materials, like stylized trees and apparently custom painted Carnegie Collection dinosaurs. No less than Ray Harryhausen reportedly commented on how much he liked these when he visited the museum around 1999. The dioramas were taken down in 2004.
Friends (Season 2, Episode 3) - aired October 5, 1995
A Carnegie Diplodocus can be seen among the stuff left to the friends by their deceased downstairs neighbor, Mr. Heckles. It's hard to tell what version this is, but it looks like the original 1989 mold. Thanks to thedinogeek on Instagram for posting this sighting!
Paleoworld (Season 4, Episode 3) - 1997
In the episode "Secrets of the Brontosaurus", many dinosaur figures are used to illustrate changing ideas about sauropods. Many Invicta figures are featured (Bob Bakker mercilessly chops the head off of an Invicta Brontosaurus in one sequence), and a Safari Mamenchisaurus makes an appearance, but the only Carnegie is a 3rd mold 1997 Brachiosaurus visible on Kent Stevens' desk.
Jurassic Park III - premiered July 16, 2001
In this Jurassic sequel, Grant is shown using some of Safari's "Toys That Teach" to clarify a few dino facts for Sattler's young son Charlie, who is holding a Carnegie Brachiosaurus (3rd mold).
(Image from Jurassic-pedia)
Primeval (Season 1, Episode 1) - aired February 10, 2007
Among several dinosaur figures visible in the background of this episode are a Carnegie Saltasaurus and Apatosaurus Baby.
Inception - premiered July 8, 2010
Near the end of the film, a 10th Anniversary Carnegie T. rex can be seen on a desk. It's hard to see but it seems to be a later variant, contemporary to the 2010 film release, not an older version.
A 2009 Carnegie Spinosaurus can be seen in the film, which is interesting considering this figure's rarity and the fact it was filmed over 3 years after the line's discontinuation. I suppose some Carnegie figures will probably be knocking around prop department storage rooms for years to come.
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