The show was conceived by the Muppet masters at Jim Henson Productions, who wanted to do a sitcom-style show with puppets using the animatronics processes the company had developed. The brain trust settled on the idea of doing a straightforward show about a family that happened to be composed of dinosaurs. Henson Productions offshoot The Creature Shop developed huge, lifelike puppets that could be operated from inside by puppeteers, and Brian Henson, Jim's son, devised a process called รข??audio animatronics' to bring the facial expressions of these puppets to life.