diff --git a/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py b/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py
--- a/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py
+++ b/django/core/management/commands/dumpdata.py
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured
 from django.core.management.base import BaseCommand, CommandError
 from django.core import serializers
-from django.db import connections, router, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
+from django.db import router, DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS
 from django.utils.datastructures import SortedDict
 
 from optparse import make_option
@@ -28,12 +28,11 @@
     args = '[appname appname.ModelName ...]'
 
     def handle(self, *app_labels, **options):
-        from django.db.models import get_app, get_apps, get_models, get_model
+        from django.db.models import get_app, get_apps, get_model
 
         format = options.get('format','json')
         indent = options.get('indent',None)
         using = options.get('database', DEFAULT_DB_ALIAS)
-        connection = connections[using]
         excludes = options.get('exclude',[])
         show_traceback = options.get('traceback', False)
         use_natural_keys = options.get('use_natural_keys', False)
@@ -98,19 +97,21 @@
         except KeyError:
             raise CommandError("Unknown serialization format: %s" % format)
 
-        # Now collate the objects to be serialized.
-        objects = []
-        for model in sort_dependencies(app_list.items()):
-            if model in excluded_models:
-                continue
-            if not model._meta.proxy and router.allow_syncdb(using, model):
-                if use_base_manager:
-                    objects.extend(model._base_manager.using(using).all())
-                else:
-                    objects.extend(model._default_manager.using(using).all())
+        def get_objects ():
+            # Collate the objects to be serialized.
+            for model in sort_dependencies(app_list.items()):
+                if model in excluded_models:
+                    continue
+                if not model._meta.proxy and router.allow_syncdb(using, model):
+                    if use_base_manager:
+                        for obj in model._base_manager.using(using).order_by(model._meta.pk.name).iterator():
+                            yield obj
+                    else:
+                        for obj in model._default_manager.using(using).order_by(model._meta.pk.name).iterator():
+                            yield obj
 
         try:
-            return serializers.serialize(format, objects, indent=indent,
+            return serializers.serialize(format, get_objects(), indent=indent,
                         use_natural_keys=use_natural_keys)
         except Exception, e:
             if show_traceback:
diff --git a/django/core/serializers/base.py b/django/core/serializers/base.py
--- a/django/core/serializers/base.py
+++ b/django/core/serializers/base.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@
         self.use_natural_keys = options.pop("use_natural_keys", False)
 
         self.start_serialization()
+        self.first = True 
         for obj in queryset:
             self.start_object(obj)
             for field in obj._meta.local_fields:
@@ -51,6 +52,8 @@
                     if self.selected_fields is None or field.attname in self.selected_fields:
                         self.handle_m2m_field(obj, field)
             self.end_object(obj)
+            if self.first: 
+                self.first = False 
         self.end_serialization()
         return self.getvalue()
 
diff --git a/django/core/serializers/json.py b/django/core/serializers/json.py
--- a/django/core/serializers/json.py
+++ b/django/core/serializers/json.py
@@ -17,10 +17,35 @@
     """
     internal_use_only = False
 
+    def start_serialization(self):
+        self._current = None
+        self.json_kwargs = self.options.copy()
+        self.json_kwargs.pop('stream', None)
+        self.json_kwargs.pop('fields', None)
+        self.stream.write("[")
+
     def end_serialization(self):
-        simplejson.dump(self.objects, self.stream, cls=DjangoJSONEncoder, **self.options)
+        #simplejson.dump(self.objects, self.stream, cls=DjangoJSONEncoder, **self.options)
+        if self.options.get("indent"):
+            self.stream.write("\n")
+            self.stream.write("]")
+            if self.options.get("indent"):
+                 self.stream.write("\n")
+
+    def end_object(self, obj):
+        # self._current has the field data
+        if not self.first:
+            self.stream.write(",")
+        if not self.options.get("indent"):
+            self.stream.write(" ")
+        if self.options.get("indent"):
+            self.stream.write("\n")
+        simplejson.dump(self.get_dump_object(obj), self.stream,
+                        cls=DjangoJSONEncoder, **self.json_kwargs)
+        self._current = None
 
     def getvalue(self):
+        # overwrite PythonSerializer.getvalue() with base Serializer.getvalue()
         if callable(getattr(self.stream, 'getvalue', None)):
             return self.stream.getvalue()
 
diff --git a/django/core/serializers/python.py b/django/core/serializers/python.py
--- a/django/core/serializers/python.py
+++ b/django/core/serializers/python.py
@@ -27,12 +27,15 @@
         self._current = {}
 
     def end_object(self, obj):
-        self.objects.append({
+        self.objects.append(self.get_dump_object(obj))
+        self._current = None
+
+    def get_dump_object (self, obj):
+        return {
             "model"  : smart_unicode(obj._meta),
             "pk"     : smart_unicode(obj._get_pk_val(), strings_only=True),
             "fields" : self._current
-        })
-        self._current = None
+        }
 
     def handle_field(self, obj, field):
         value = field._get_val_from_obj(obj)