The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => General Land Before Time => Topic started by: The Chronicler on January 20, 2012, 06:30:16 PM
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I think it's pretty clear by now that the Land Before Time is almost certainly going to have no more new sequels or TV episodes. The series we know may be over, but that doesn't rule out the possibility that that it could be rebooted sometime in the future; a series of remakes, so to speak. Now let's suppose that this does happen, and you're placed in charge of the whole project. What would you do? Would you keep everything the way it was in the original series? Or would you make some changes? If so, what would you do to make the new series different? Would you expect your plans to be a success?
Here's what I would do. First, the script of the first movie will be mostly unchanged, but the animation will be more like it was in the latter part of the series (partly due to the old style not being done anymore these days).
Animation aside, another big change I'd make will be in the sequels, specifically the songs. First priority would be to scrap the "3 songs per movie" quota. This doesn't mean I'm getting rid of them entirely, just removing the potential for bad ones. By focusing more on quality than quantity, the songs that do get made will make them become an aspect that gets praise rather than ridicule.
We know a lot more about dinosaurs these days than we did back in the '80s and '90s, when the early part of the series was made. I'd like the rebooted series to reflect our expanded knowledge, so that means slightly altering some species, like many of them being mostly covered in feathers, including Fast Biters and juvenile Sharpteeth, which (admittingly awkward :oops ) will include Chomper.
Now we move on to the plots of the sequels. LBT2, I'll keep mostly the same, since Chomper is a fan favorite. I may or may not include 3 and/or 4, can't say for sure right now. LBT5 is where I'll really start to diverge from the original series. The gang not only reunites with Chomper, but also meet Ruby as well. I'm not sure if I would either slightly alter the existing script or make a new one entirely, but the key change is that by the end of the movie, Chomper and Ruby decide to live in the Great Valley with their friends, so the gang of five becomes the gang of seven. The next sequel starts with Chomper in hiding, since introducing a Sharptooth to the Great Valley is quite a tricky thing to do. Eventually, Ruby and Chomper are allowed to live safely in the Great Valley, though I don't yet have a plot in mind.
It is here where I'll insert the start of a new TV series. With only a few movies out so far, the TV series is given a lot more potential than the original one had. Like the sequels, I'm definitely scrapping the "2 songs per episode" quota and focus more on the quality of whatever few there may be. Some concepts from the later sequels can instead be used as TV episodes. Others, like LBT7, may be better off staying as full length movies, which will take place during the events of the TV series instead of before.
What do you think? Do you think my ideas sound like a plausible way to reboot the Land Before Time?
How about telling us what you have in mind? What would you do if you could reboot the series? Do you think you can make improvements where the original series failed?
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I already made a huge list of what would have to be done in another forum. Here it is.
Never say never, but if LBT ever was to be ressurected, HUGE changes would have to be made, and I'm serious about this.
The sequels started off great. Yes, they were a departure from the original film but everything up to Journey through the mists was amazing. Then movie 5 came along, and things suddenly shifted into much weirder territory. Sure, they still had their good moments, but they were definitely starting to lack the magic of the earlier films. The colors were off---movie 5 used too many yellows, movie 6 used too many reds, the animation in 7 was awful and soupy, the animation in the movies after that was horrendous. They even started to add horrendous things like cgi, that god-awful nightmare "Imaginary" song in 9 which gave Barney and King gator a cameo, the idea of "Tinysaurs", giving Littlefoot a father, having tickilsh sharpteeth, that awful where Ducky, Spike and Petrie cried like babies, and they even tried to soften Topps up. Not that I like him being racist, but were Tria and Tricia really needed? I think he was doing just fine in 6-9!
But it was the TV series and Wisdom of friends that completely killed the series. Wisdom of friends is possibly the worst film in all existence---nuff said. The yellowbellies must die. And the tv series? Awful animation, terrible songs, bad music...folks, if we were to ressurect LBT there would have to be serious changes.
1. Make ALL the songs likeable. NO damp squids. Make them ballads, broadway style numbers, rock songs, anything cool. Make sure none are overly kiddy and several are orchestral.
2. Go back to the animation of the earlier films. No bright animation, no cGI, no soupy animation.
3. Make the color tones mainly blue, green, and dark blue. No birght colors allowed.
4. NEVER, I mean NEVER, bring back the tinysaureses, Tippy and his herd, Rinkus, Dinah and Dana, the idiot flyer judges from 12, Petrie's imaginary friend (or any imaginarty friend for that matter), or those (bleep)ing yellow bellies! Or any character of the tv series. Also, I don't want Mr. Thicknose, Ruby, Doc and Pterano brought back. And certainly not Bron. Forget Bron ever existed. (Sorry, Shorty, that means you go too.) And any character of the tv series. The only characters of the sequels I really want back are Ali(the REAL Ali of movie 4, not the fake one!), the bullies from 3 (make Hyp look like he did in 3), Archie, Elsie, Sue, and Mo (as long as he's colored rightly.) Oh, and Ozzy, Strut, Ichy, Dil, Sierra (have him be a solo flyer now) and the Lioplerudon, providing they survived.
As for "I'll think about it":
Maybe Tria. (Tricia as well, can't have Tria without her.) And maybe Pat and Guido too, maybe. I like Guido but he didn't feel like something out of "classic LBT." Maybe the rainbow faces, although I'm against aliens in LBT.
5. Give the end credits beautiful score, not songs from the movies. that's what they did starting with 3 and until 8 (a bit was used at the end of 11) and it would give the ending of the films a really good feel. I liked that and I prefer listening to beautiful score instead of some lame cover of a song in the film ("Bestest Friends" is the cover I'm talkin bout, not that of "No one has to be alone", that one actually was good and fit well) or a lame reprise of a song in the film.
6. Don't make the characters bland or overly stupid.
7. No filler scenes. Remember that scene where Ducky got kidnapped by the Pteradactyl in 5, for instance?
8 . Make the plots intriguing and mysterious, like in 4!
9. Give the films an overall more mysterious feel. The last few films really lost that.
10. No baby names! "Sky water"? "Sky colors"? No! (Except for the ones that were i the original, of course.)
11. No goofy, kiddish stuff! WE CAN NEVER, I MEAN NEVER, SEE ANYTHING EVEN IN THE SAME COUNTRY AS "IMAGAINRY FRIENDS", TIPPY, OR THE YELLOWBELLIES, OR YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!
12. Draw the characters normally. Someone pointed out Tippy looked like a teletubbie and Mr. Thicknose didn't even look like an adult dinosaur. Go back to drawing adult dinosaurs like they should be.
13. Make all the characters great.
14. Reference Littlefoot's mother occasionally.
15. Since the awesome as hell Sharptooth of movie 1, we've had precious few awesome sharpteeth. The ones in 2 were cool but still they were mommy and daddy, and the producers went further in dumbing them by giving them subtitles and making them turn nice to the gang and basically softening them. The raptors in 3 were okay but they weren't huge sharpteeth. Movie 5's sharptooth looked awfully drawn and he had those stupid plates. And he actually cried tears of pain?! DON'T YOU KNOW SHARPTEETH DON'T CRY?! The allosaurs of 6 wasn't even a t-rex and was dumb as a doornail. The t-rex in the story was okay, but he was from a long time ago. The one at the end was okay but he was hardly in it. Movie 7 only had raptors...in a flashback at that. Movie 8's sharptooth? Whatever!! Movie 9's lioplerudon was awesome! Bring him back! Movie 10's sharpteeth? Don't think so! Movie 11's? Raptors that are TICKLISH?! Movie 12's raptor was so dumb. Make all sharpteeth as big and bad as movie 1's.
16. Injure the characters! Have them spill blood, break bones, pass out, something!
17: Have a character die. In 12 sequels not 1 good character died. Which is good but a little overly softening. Movie 1 always stuck out to me in my childhood as the only movie where a good character died.
18. Include more dark, action packed sequences, with rain and lightning, such as the one in movie 9 (seriously that was such a good scene, it felt like something out of a different film entirely and is proof that these movies could be a lot darker while still being kid friendly!)
19. Bring back the land of mists and the big water (call it the ocean, please.), and invent more cool locations. EDIT: But have some films where they stay in the valley, like 2 and 3.
20. Stick to the style of the first three sequels, maybe make it a little edgier. Don't go as far back as the style of movie 1, since it was only so dark cause they weren't sure if the great valley existed and now they do.)
Anyways, if the films even stood any chance of being revided, ALL of these things would have to happen. This would be a dream come true, but unfortunately chances are incredibly thin.
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I've pretty much been posting what I'd do with the franchise. :)
PAST-O-RAMA would be the TV series. I wouldn't change anything about previous movies or episodes, but instead use a lot of flashbacks in this series to fill in some plot holes and other interesting things. Also, the movie script I"m working on right now would be the 14th movie.
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Considering how well MLP:FiM does, I'd consider doing the whole thing in flash. Of course I'd have to see the end result of what the animators do to be able to tell if that would work out well or not. But I think it could.
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I think I should have put more emphasis on the part where I said "Would you expect your plans to be a success?" For my ideas, I think they could actually work. The target audience would be slightly older than the original series. Not much, just a little, like 8 to 10 year-olds, instead of 3 to 5 year-olds. That'll make it easier for people of all ages to appreciate the series, which would translate into better movie sales (and what company wouldn't want that? ;) ). Not to mention having little to no plot holes by the start of the TV series would also make it easier to follow.
Anyone else have ideas on how you would reboot the Land Before Time, if you could?
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Directed by Christopher Nolan, with the voice of Christian Bale as Littlefoot.
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If I could reboot The Land Before Time; there'd have to be major changes. For instance; I wouldn't have the characters use some of the terms that are included in the later sequels and tv series.
Here is a list of the terms I don't like:
1. Sleepstory (call it a dream for crying out loud)
2. Big Water (it's called the ocean)
3. Sniffer (it's a nose)
4. Skycolors (it's rainbow in the real world)
5. Skywater (call it rain please)
6. Skyfire (it's called lightning)
There is a list of the changes I'd make if I were to reboot The Land Before Time series:
1. Littlefoot would have blood-related siblings
2. Cera would have her mother and siblings
3. Bron would be introduced in the first movie
That's all I can think of for now.
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My changelog wouldn't be as extensive, but I will make sure that it covers some of the most important aspects that can't be absent.
First of all: I would try to get all the original voice actors back.
Also, it would be a huge priority for me to get a better animation studio for the series (the original was fine, but I'm aiming higher for this reboot... TMS would do).
The third item on the list would be to give direct orders for the animators to stay away from the new standards and keep using the same coloring/shadowing bases. This is a series that just wouldn't work in the new "bright/reflective" style that is so common nowadays.
Fourth: If you have to cram songs into it, that's fine, but try to make something memorable with it, it would help immensely to raise the global appealing of the movie/show. In other words, get the people who made the songs from Animaniacs! (no, I'm being serious... don't you remember ALL that soundtrack? :lol:).
And finally... don’t make stupid changes to the series; don’t re-design the characters to adjust them to the new standards of appealing (they're dinosaurs xDD!) nor don't you dare changing the names.
With all that, I would be happy.
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I don't think getting the original voice cast back is an option if you want the kids to be kids again. Gabriel Damon alone is almost 40.
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Not all of them are alive anymore either :(
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Hmm yeah, and I wouldn't know how to bring back Judith Barsi :cry
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I knew, I wasn't counting on something.
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I was trying to avoid bringing up that particular elephant in the room.
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Have Sharptooth die in lava instead of drowning. He'd deserve it! :wow
Also, have Bron get a better reason for being gone. (Perhaps amnesia.)