"The Mysterious Beyond"

[Hardback247]

There is something about the Land Before Time sequels that makes no sense to me. Why do the characters keep on referring to the world outside the Great Valley as "the Mysterious Beyond," when it shouldn't be mysterious to them? They know what it's like out there, because they had to trek through it in order to get to the Great Valley in the first place!

[DarkHououmon]

Well to be fair, they wouldn't know what "everything" in the Mysterious Beyond is like. The Mysterious Beyond stretches in all directions, and while it may not seem to make sense to call the direction they came from the Mysterious Beyond, it's probably easier for them to do that. They haven't seen what is all around there; they only know what was from their place and even then, they traveled in a single path; they didn't walk around the valley to see what else was around there. They only know what a comparitively small portion of the Mysterious Beyond is like. So chances are, it's easier to just include this in the Mysterious Beyond.

But for the most part, I think it refers to the areas that they have not seen. There's so much more they didn't explore and so much more they don't know about. It's still pretty accurate for the valley dinosaurs to call it the Mysterious Beyond because they haven't seen what all of it is like.

[Ludichris1]

Yeah, originally they emigrated from the wastelands they were already in traveling many miles till they found the Great Valley. Pretty sure it's all unknown territory since they hadn't been around the area before

Although isn't it kind of common for herds to migrate a lot anyway? So then isn't everywhere that one hasn't been 'the mysterious beyond'?  

[Ducky123]

Yeah, I really can see where you're coming from. All of a sudden, the land that they used to live in becomes the Mysterious Beyond. Seems a bit odd But hey the outside world would seem so boring to Littlefoot & his friends without that term  

[Malte279]

Also the "Mysterious Beyond" has become ever less hostile throughout the series. When in the original movie and the earliest sequels the picture was basically of the Great Valley as the final refuge in a dying world (surrounded by by dinosaur skeletons) that idea has been softened by LBT 4 (but there it was still a kind of "the land is changing" message) while LBT 6 really deconstructed the Valley "this place is nice but there are others just as nice out there somewhere".

[bestariana1girl]

Well, you said it yourself; it's the outside world from the Great Valley, so picture your country and only knowing a small fraction of it, when the rest of the country is huge and undiscovered. Thus "the Mysterious Beyond".

[Dr. Rex]

Well, you said it yourself; it's the outside world from the Great Valley, so picture your country and only knowing a small fraction of it, when the rest of the country is huge and undiscovered. Thus "the Mysterious Beyond".

Well said. That's what I've always thought about the whole thing. The Great Valley is essentially a country (i.e. the U.S.) while the Mysterious Beyond is the rest of the world. ...Which would make Sharpteeth and migrating Flattooth herds "foreigners" in a sense...

Current political debates are coming to mind here...

[Malte279]

So would that make me a sharptooth from the US perspective?

I reckon our means to get ourselves informed about the rest of the world are fairly good in the age of the internet while we should remain aware that the dinosaurs may usually have little idea what may be behind the next mountain chain. With them even being unaware of species in their close surroundings (like the Tinysaurs and Guido) chances are that indeed the world outside the Great Valley may hold quite a couple of mysteries to dinosaurs in the Valley, especially in case they spent most most of their lives there.

[Dr. Rex]

So would that make me a sharptooth from the US perspective?

I guess so. No offense.

Considering the Great Valley seems to be the only place that allows multiple plant-eating species to coexist and elsewhere herds have only one species each, I always think of it as the dinosaur version of the U.S.

[bestariana1girl]

True. Also, let's also discuss how we are very grateful the herds knew of the Great Valley! I mean, they would have been goners eventually, I'm glad the Gang could find the Great Valley and live happily without worry of Sharpteeth!

[Ptyra]

And what do the inhabitants of the Mysterious Beyond call it? Do they just have their own names for various places outside the Great Valley, and no one bothered to/is able to learn what they are?

[Gentle Sharptooth]

Well, you said it yourself; it's the outside world from the Great Valley, so picture your country and only knowing a small fraction of it, when the rest of the country is huge and undiscovered. Thus "the Mysterious Beyond".

Fascinating analysis. I never considered The Mysterious Beyond becoming less and less terrifying with each subsequent film. Great observations.  

[Hypno]

It's true that the Mysterious Beyond is a lot less mysterious and spooky than it was originally...but now the world in later sequels seems more realistic. I mean, there are some places that look really dark and intimidating.
I suppose the world recovered over the five or so years since the original movie from the desolate landscapes (all those different cold times in the movies and TV series proves that it's been a few years at least), so maybe the end of the dinosaurs is still pretty far away during the franchise's events?

[Sovereign]

It would have been more dramatic and powerful if we were witnessing the end of the dinosaurs in LBT but it certainly looks like it isn't the case. The land seems to be recovering from the drought and even if I liked the look of the Mysterious Beyond in the first films, I don't regret the world's healing though as it gives more space for further plots or stories in the LBT universe. However, there was something epic in the atmosphere of the first film's environment and I'd say both of the versions have their own advantages.

[Gentle Sharptooth]

I think Mysterious Beyond acts as the world outside the Promise Land, The Great Valley. Think of it like this, there is Camelot where Knights of Roundtable are and everything is safe, but outside of Camelot is mystery and full of dangers (like the woodlands during Search for the Holy Grail, Le Sainte del Graal: The Quest for the Holy Grail, part of Lancelot Vulgate Saga, Penguin Publishers).