Hi!
As in another thread the role of George Lucas in the production of the land before time was mentioned I thought you may find it interesting to read what Don Bluth wrote about him in his Toon Talk magazine Volume 2, Number 1. There are just a few lines, but still you may find them interesting.
In an article about the meeting with Steven Spielberg during which Bluth was introduced to the idea of a dinosaur movie and agreed to make it Bluth writes:
...The whole world is going to know about Fievel the mouse, but now, let's talk about dinosaurs. People have a fascination with dinosaurs," continued Stephen. "You see, George and I have been trying to do this dinosaur movie, but with puppets. It's not really working out. The technology isn't there yet!" "George - who's George?" I asked. "Lucas," Steven said smiling. "Anyway, I think we could do it as an animated piece. George isn't quite on board with the animation idea, but I think he'll come around. This could be really big, no pun intended. You guys want to do it?"
Further down in the article Don reports about Steven's leaving at the end of the meeting:
...Adjusting his glasses, he moved towards the door. "You won't regret this," he said. "Oh," Steven suddenly turned back, "and one more thing, I want to get more involved this time; and George too. Thos will be so great! See you soon, guys."
The clod in me lost it. In the privacy of my own head, I threw a royal snit. How lucky, how abso-bloomin-lutely lucky could I get? MORE INVOLVED! The two words killed me dead and the next two "George too," were kicking the corpse...
Further down in the article Bluth tells about another meeting (again this is Spielberg speaking at the beginining:
...You can send your boards. I'll critique then and then you can make the revisions. Oh yes, make sure your people also send copies to George for his input. He and I will keep in touch by phone."
At this point I was wondering how his "more involved" comment was going to happen. I felt just a tinge of disappointment at the sad news. The meeting trudged on. There was talk of Fantasia's imagery and the challenge of topping its breachless beauty. There was talk of working with George and his keen, unique sense of story. There was also talk of how this movie event would impact audiences, both young and old. Talk, talk, and more talk. Steven promised to get George to Los Angeles for a meeting before his own assignment to Japan. He did! George hardly talked at all. Somehow, I got the feeling he was still clinging to the puppet idea and now, we were taking it away from him. I felt sad, but I liked him right away.
In another article in the same magazine Bluth mentions that both, Spielberg and Lucas were mainly responsible for the cutting of scenes from the land before time, especially scenes they considered too scary for kids.
