The environmental task force’s solution to deal with the vines is to spray the planet with defoliant. The mass poisoning, however, not only kills the vines but all plant life on Pangaea.
In an effort to revive the dying plant life, Mr. Richfield, Earl’s boss, orders the environmental task force to make rain. They execute a plan to drop bombs into the planet’s volcanoes, which, in turn, they hope will create rain clouds.
The plan backfires — and instead of rain, the clouds bring snow, causing global cooling and the beginning of the Ice Age.
In the final scene, the family is gathered together inside their home trying to keep warm.
Realizing that the world is coming to an end, Earl apologizes to his family and admits that he shouldn’t have “taken nature for granted.”
In a touching moment, the Sinclair family accept their fate and promise to stick together (until the end).
The final line of the episode is delivered by Howard Handupme (the Walter Cronkite of Dinosaurs), eerily saying, “Good night. Good-bye.”
To really drive home that this is the end of the Sinclair family, the episode closes with an image of snow piling onto their home while a depressing score plays.
Kids across the country after watching this episode:
