Geez, Malte you sure left a lot for me to answer. Alright, about the diabetic thing. I have a mother, an aunt, an uncle, a gandfather, and a brother who all have it. It runs strong in my family, so I may catch it too. That said, I do not regret using in vest, nor will I apologize for it.
I disagree with my previous speakers on the quality of the TV series and the quality of the episode. Yes, it may be banal for some of us, but it makes perfect sense for the dinosaurs to worship the sun as it would make sense for us. Without the bright circle the dinosaurs would die same as mankind would cease to exist within days (and that's an extremely optimist guess) if the sun ceased to exist. The cold time / winter is a constant reminder to the dinosaurs / us of what happens even if the sun is just around for a few hours less each day. Humans who were so much more advanced and sensible than the LBT dinosaurs have worshipped the sun and it seems more fitting for us and for the dinosaurs to worship that which allows for us to live and exist than to worship less "banal" things the way we nearly worship all kinds of weapons of mass destruction. Would you rather have the dinosaurs make a great celebration out of the birth of a being in some 64 million years after their own decease? I reckon that would make much less sense for them and will not go further into this as this is not the place for discussing human religions (we do that in the AM section of the the GOF).
I can respect that. However, Cera, being far from the brightest of the bunch, had already ascertained the nature of the sun on her own. It is not a living thing, however necessary it is, and she was absolutely right about the celebration having no impact on the weather. Now if the celebration were just to respect to such a necessary element, I wouldn't mind it so much.
In a children's show it bugs me greatly that she was treated as the bad guy for this. Yes, it is a good thing to respect others' beliefs. However, if you know for a fact that the character's beliefs are dead wrong, it kills the impact of the moral.
Also, where did the idea of them celebrating Christmas come from? I never said anything of the sort. My problem with the episode is that Cera was right and she gets the short end of the deal while the validity of Petrie's little celebration is never even brought into question whereas the kids have been challenged to consider and reconsider the world around them in previous installments. The whole thing just seemed too one sided for me in this instance. It always really rubs me the wrong way when a character I know to at least by partially right gets shafted unfairly.
I also wouldn't mind the Bright Circle Celebration had the show not just introduced it as a common belief when it has never been mentioned before. While you are right that the importance of the sun is nothing new to LBT, it's also never been worshipped before.
The other problem I had with Petrie's portrayal is that he's been fooled by similar falsehoods before, like with his uncle Pterano. After the whole Stone of Blue Fire thing turned to be just that (a stone that just happened to be burning blue), it really doesn't make a lot more sense for him to buy into something so easily a second time. Then again, Petrie is a very innocent personality.
I also have no problem with a plot concerning just a normal day in the valley, however, the creators of the show could have thought of something better than this. Would I have been able to think of anything better? I don't know, and the burden of doing so is not on my shoulders. Put me to the task I will try my darnedest, though. As for the quality of the episodes, that is a highly subjective thing, but if they're at all like what I beheld here, then I'd say the writers dropped the ball in many ways. I don't know about any positive attributes the show may have had, I haven't seen the whole thing. However, if this episode isn't even the bottom of the barrel...
On the flipside, after reading the post you linked, I will give the series another whirl. Any episodes you think I should check out in particular?