The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => Land Before Time TV Series (2007) => Episode Discussion => Topic started by: Ratiasu on January 13, 2007, 12:11:09 AM
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I don't know if it's in my place or not, but I thought I'd start a topic to discuss the second episode of the TV series - I thought posting in action's topic was a bit rude since it's there to inform people and link people to the episodes. Um, I just finished watching it (much gratitude towards action9000 for hosting it), and I got to say I was pretty impressed. Even though Chomper being there didn't make much sense (in the movies he was trapped on an island, in the episode he said that he had to leave the Mysterious Beyond, so perhaps the series is a 'what if' kind of scenario?), I did get attached to the Oviraptor, Ruby. Err, I think she was an Oviraptor.
I won't type out an episode summary, as action9000 is pretty much in charge of that, but everything flows nicely and there aren't a lot of random moments. This is a Ruby-centered episode, which is good for a new character, and her color scheme, while a bit stereotypical (pink for a female dinosaur, who woulda guessed? <_<), had an interesting flare with those red spots along her back and the feathers. I still don't like Chomper being there - I mean, I doubt the grown-ups would allow it, because the guy is still a T. Rex, you know. And I don't think I'll get used to saying 'gang of seven.' Two too many if you ask me - I think I would have liked it better of Ruby and Chomper were temporary characters...maybe Ruby found her family again, assuming they weren't all killed by Redclaw, Screech, and the other guy?
I noticed that the dinosaurs are making more sounds than usual - they aren't just talking anymore, so I approve of that. Speaking of sound, did anyone else notice the Jurassic Park rumble at the 4:31 mark in the movie? That was unexpected! Um, I thought the music was great, and the light choir during some scenes was...cool. Pretty great music for a television series, if I say so myself. The voice acting was also pretty good.
The Ankylosaur was a surprising character, too, burping berry juice all over Chomper and Ducky! :lol I'll definitely want to see him again!...But there was something strange about him, something I can't quite pin down. Oh, and it was good that land marks were brought back (Saurus rock). So, um, to avoid blabbering on...what did everyone else think of it?
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Aside from the baffling, nonsensical existance of Chomper in the Great Valley, as well as Ruby's, it was pretty good.
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Well I'm sure that since we all missed the first episode, we missed alot of explaining. After all, there's alot you can explain to someone within the space of 23 minutes.
Hmm... 23 minutes... you know, that's something I actually admire. There are alot of cartoon shows that I watch, and my studies have concluded that the majority of them only last up to 20 minutes and somewhat seconds. So unless they plan to cut something out, Cartoon Network will have to cut out quite the amount of commercial time when they finally get this. :^.^:
Now, as for the original thing itself...
One thing I noted was this, no narrorator. Seriously, there was none! :blink: I mean, that guy's been around since the start, so I don't know why they didn't include him.
It is indeed more mature than most of the sequals, which is something I liked about it. I really liked the part where the Ankylosaur burped berry juice all over Cera, Chomper and Ducky. :lol: It seems like that they might be filling in the gaps as the series goes on. I'm sure that by the time the series ends, we'll have alot of explaining from Ruby and Chomper appearence in the valley filled out. Of course, since we all missed the first ep, all of the explaining could be in there too.
Celebrating someone's B-day. You know, that plot I haven't seen in a while with a new cartoon show. Anyways, looks like the writers finally explained how they figure out the day they hatched, the position of an easy to keep track of star. Only thing is, the rest of the gang don't seem to do that. Hmm, most interesting. <_<
It was indeed good seeing some old known places brought back. We haven't seen the old landmarks since they appeared in their respective sequals. I think we'll be getting more of them as the episodes continue. Some people are trying to make a respective map of the Great Valley around here, so I find this a rather good thing.
Well, I really can't figure out much else to discuss, so I'll wrap this up.
I'm really looking forward to this series and it's expectations. Here's hoping it won't disappoint too much. :^.^:
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I found it weird that Chomper knew Saurus Rock. It as never mentioned in the films before lbt 6, and Chomper wasn't around after 5 (and he wasn't anywhere near the great valley in that one). As for the episode itself it's very mature, more than some of the sequels, I kind of liked that =p Ruby looks like a nice character, and I agree with Ratiasu, she does look like an Oviraptor. Let's hope the rest of the series lives up to its expectations.
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I was happy about the length, too - usually show is 20 minutes or even 19 and it's packed with commercial breaks. As for Chomper knowing what Saurus Rock was, I was a bit confused about that, too. But who know? Maybe his parents described it to him. They might have used that to find their way to the Great Valley, even though, sequel-wise, it didn't exist yet. I noticed that there was no narrator too, but I don't really think that the movies needed him. I mean, things could be explained later on, you know. But ever since I watched Bambi I've been picking out useless dialogue, and scenes were no talking would have spice up the tension and such. :blink: Has anyone else been doing that?
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I do like it they have Chomper in the show, and I don't want him to be a temp character. However they could have explained how and why he got there in the first place, and how come he's allowed in the valley. I don't like how they just have Chomper appear like that without explaining the why or the how, or even the when.
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I'm sure they did explain... in the first episode... which we missed. Oh, and Chomper probably knew about Saurus rock in the same way people know about the Statue of Liberty being in New York City; its a well-known landmark.
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Well, I finally got it to work. I saw it and I must say I am impressed so far. :yes But yeah, it was kinda odd seeing Chomper there. I wish we could ahve seen the first episode too.
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At long last I finally watched the first part of the series. Funnily the earliest episode we could watch so far is the only one which didn't get an own thread so far. I'm happy to say my first impression of the episode is quite positive. They did kept a number of elements which I think most of us like about the movies we have seen so far. Moreover I like the way how at long last they finally refer to earlier movies (Saurus Rock, Sheltering Grass) the way they never did in the earlier movies. Such little references really ontribute to create the image of a coherent story. They also came up with some interesting ideas. The shadow game for example, the dinosaur "calender" by watching the stars (remember discussions on the hatchday Cera mentioned in LBT 5 caused us to think of such a way of measuring the time too), Cera's horn finally being more than mere "decoration" etc.
I found it easier than I expected to accept the presence of two more characters, Ruby and Chomper that is.
There are several open questions which I hope the first and second episode (or subsequent episodes I didn't watch yet) to answer. For example why Ruby had to leave her family in the first place, how she got to know Chomper, why Chomper is no longer around with his folks, and how the Great Valley dinosaurs don't seem to have the slightest problem with a sharptooth (however young he may be).
On the critical side Charles Grosvenor obviously didn't abandon a certain favor for strange colors (extremely green skies for example). Moreover there are a few scenes in which they didn't draw very carefully. Littlefoot's and Cera's faces for example look kind of "distorted" in a few short scenes, in a way they never did in the movies we have seen so far.
Nevertheless my personal first impression of the episode is positive and it makes me confident about the episodes I will watch soon (I still have university work at hand and I didn't quite the habbit of drawing out the "Vorfreude", but I'm afraid if I draw it out too much I will miss most of the fun from discussing the sequels).:)
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Um, actually, there was one. I made it, only it was back when we thought episode three was episode two.
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Ooops, indeed. I shall merge this thread with the original one and change the title to prevent confusions.
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Ankylosaurus / Cluptails seem to have kind of a bad reputation among the LBT dinosaurs. At least Petrie compares the smell of stinky place in LBT 5 to that of a herd of clubtails on a hot day. Maybe the cluptail from this series episode provides us with some clues on how the cluptails got their bad reputation.
One thing I realized was that a sharptooth and two raptors seemed to cooperate in the flashback of Chomper and Ruby entering the Great Valley. The distinct features of that T-Rex (large scar) and his uncommon behaviour make me assume that he is a character we are to see again. I haven't watched any but the 3rd episode and avoided reading any spoilers, but I presume that group of a sharptooth and two raptors to be more than a mere "occurence".
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That Tyrannosaurus is the main antagonist of the series; the first regular antagonist the series has ever had. I won't say any more than that in order not to give any more spoilers away.
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EDIT: It was just after reading this thread that I realized I had posted my analysis on the wrong thread. For what used to be here, see "Discuss:The Bright Circle Celebration."
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Mr Clubtail does seem a bit not very nice at times. Though maybe other clubtails can be nicer then him. It could be he had few friends growing up, has no mate or been around kids to help soften his personality. He may be very much a loner, who just lives in 1 place where others live too.
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Yesterday the Starday Celebration was aired over here (it is one of the six episodes I did see last year already). The translation of the title to German was not quite literal. They made it “Die Schl¸pftags-Feier” which would be “The hatchday celebration”. Once again there are a couple of things I will note just for the reckord, not for any thought that they are really a serious issue. First of all I have a question to those of you who know more about astronomy than I do. Is it possible for any star to be visible for just three days in a year and still appear as high above the horizon as Ruby’s starday star does?
Really, I don’t mean to turn this into some ridiculous point of critizism, but I’m just interested. Does anyone know whether or not it is possible?
As for other minor mistakes, we saw Ruby eat the three grapes that remained after the rockslide, but the next moment the three grapes are back on their vine.
During the flood caused by the earthquake it was a little strange that Spike was not carried away, not even slightly unbalanced, by what must have been a very strong current of water. The idea of a branch rather than a vine as a “sheet anchor” was used in a land before time audio play I heard before (but there Cera was the one to be rescued, Spike was the one who had the idea to use the branch instead of a vine, and the whole thing failed in the audio play as the branch broke).
Petrie was scared of the idea of sheltering grass. Of course it is kind of “in character” for Petrie to be scarred about anything. The sheltering grass doesn’t seem to be identical with “the” sheltering grass from LBT 2 as there was no reference whatsoever to the sinking sands which might have provided a more undertandable reason for Petrie’s fear...
Anyway, no real conclusion here.
Just like other episodes I have seen so far there are green skys quite frequently in this episode. I think green skys of that kind first appeared in LBT 8. Somebody seems to like green skies. Not much more to deduct from this either, I just mean to point out everything I took notice of before reading your reviews.
I wondered a bit about the clubtail in the episode. It wasn’t meant to be Mr. Clubtail from LBT 5, was it? They looked alike and lived up to the LBT 5 perception of clubtails as somewhat disgusting (“Smells like herd of clubtails on a hot day!” “Clubtail-breath”), but the behaviour of the episode’s clubtail was certainly more egoistic than we would have expected from the LBT 5 Mr. Clubtail. Maybe the reservations expressed against clubtails in LBT 5 are an interesting topic for discussion in another thread.
I suppose one of the most interesting aspects about “The Star Day Celebration” are the numeral flashbacks.
One thing that may be worth some attention is a significant difference between Ruby and Chomper. We see Ruby is really having a hard time about being separated from her family (her parents and two younger siblings from what we see in the flashbacks). But is not Chomper separated from his family too? Is he less sensitive than Ruby about his family? It almost seems like it for another reason. In the flashback we saw Chomper was with Ruby’s family at the time they entered the Great Valley (just Chomper and Ruby, not the rest of Ruby’s family). Was Chomper adopted by Ruby’s family in a Spike / Ducky’s family kind of fashion? But that wouldn’t really make any sense for unlike Spike Chomper knew his parents and was not separated from them last time we saw him before the series startet (LBT 5). I suppose we can only speculate about why Chomper would be with Ruby’s family. Maybe Redclaw played a role in this. But no matter the reason why Chomper was with Ruby’s family before they entered the Great Valley, it still doesn’t give any reason why Chomper would miss his parents any less than Ruby does. Is there any episode refering to Chomper missing his folks?
Perhaps there are lesser ties between sharpteeth and their families than between families of other kinds (Chomper was the only one not to know about the birthday customs of the others), but I really don’t think so. It would be an extreme contradiction to what we saw of Chomper and his folks in LBT 2 and 5. Any chance that it has to do with Chomper seeing Littlefoot and the others before he got to know his parents? I really don’t think the effect of that first day of Chomper’s live could have such a negative effect on the relationship with his parents.
The flashback of Chomper and Ruby getting into the Great Valley also explained to some degree why they did. Chomper must have told Ruby about his friends in the Great Valley and Ruby’s parents apparently decided that Ruby should learn about the ways of the leafeaters in the Great Valley. They knew all this “only” from Chomper’s tales. Maybe a somewhat weak basis to send your kid to a place about which you don’t know anything at all from personal experience.
It all seems a bit like a “student exchange” just without somebody being sent into the Mysterious Beyond in Return (wouldn’t it be a mean idea to send Petrie out into the Mysterious Beyond on his own to make him learn more about how tough and scary life is outside the Great Valley :lol). The holding together in the Great Valley really seems to be to some degree unique (I think the thesis was suggested before in a thread about why sharpteeth might not WANT to enter the Great Valley at all); otherwise the “exchange” wouldn’t make much sense. Comparing Ruby’s and Chomper’s prensence in the Great Valley to an “exchange” also suggests something about the future. To share that valuable knowledge with her family Ruby will ultimately have to return to them. And what about Chomper? Can his presence in the Great Valley be compared to a “student exchange” too? In Ruby’s case it was half suggested that the knowledge she would aquire would be useful against Redclaw. But what exactly is the purpose Chomper’s parents would put any knowledge about the ways of the Great Valley too?
Kacie suggested in her webcomic that Chomper’s parents may be enemies (though relatives) of Redclaw. Would these two grown up sharpteeth need any of the Great Valley knowledge against Redclaw? Very unlikely if you ask me.
Would they want that knowledge for a different purpose?
Is it be possible, as some may suggest, that Chomper is unwillingly being used as a spy? I really don’t think that Sharpteeth would have any advantage of any kind of large scale attack on the Great Valley, as I have laid out elsewhere.
Without knowing about why Chomper is not with his parents I don’t think we will know why he is in the Great Valley. But the door is open for a lot of interesting discussion and debate.
Again there were some interesting melodies apart from the songs, most notably in the flashback of Chomper and Ruby entering the Great Valley and after the after freeing of Ruby out of the cave.
Interestingly Chomper’s good scent which was refered to in other episodes already does not only work on other dinosaurs, but also on “sweet bubbles”. Apparently Chomper’s scent works not just on things of immediate interest for sharpteeth in general (prey or other dinosaurs, including allies), but on plants as well. Maybe this is one thing Chomper learned in the Great Valley, developing a sense of smell, though not the taste, for the different kinds of green food. Even in case he really did learn this in the Great Valley I doubt it would be one of the things his parent would have sent him to the Great Valley for, with regard to the “exchange” perspective laid out above:lol.
Littlefoot, Chomper, and Ducky are certainly very bad liers in this episode. Littlefoot was more convincing (though not thoroughly) in LBT 11. They could have been a bit more considerate towards Ruby by playing with her (making her bad day better) but giving some explanation for the absence of Cera, Petrie and Spike.
That way Petrie would not have been off to her “Thinking place” (something very much in character for Ruby).
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OMG! Not only did I see this episode before, I posted about it before! How silly can I get :bang
Well, at least I did not wrote as much the first time :lol
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I recall mentioning the magic sweet bubbles in another thread, and mentioned something like, no wonder mr club tail wanted to keep them to himself. If they reappear after a second or 2 he could be eating them all day and rolling in them would not be a waist since they would keep areappearing. One could say there are some other magic food, magic tree sweets that appear in the log rolling episode. Cera gets mad and sings while walking alone. She scares off 2 domeheads that have some tree sweets in their hands and some half eaten ones on the ground near them, and she scares them off, but when they switch to a more closeup view of her the tree sweets have vanished. I guess they are magic too and vanish if a domehead is not near them.
Im no astronomy expert but I'd guess no star, or planet, could appear only 3 days, though there may be special circumstances that may allow it. Though some folks may think that is possible. Though with magic grape vines, some dead able to talk and appear to the living, it may be possible that this may be possible in the LBT universes.
I don't recall Chomper ever mentioning missing his parents. Though maybe since he initially imprented on Littlefoot he may, at least subconsciously reguard Littlefoot as another family member, another father type, so may miss them less since he's with his other family while in the great valley, though they should have had him mention them now and then.
Perhaps the reason for having Ruby in the great valley was something they did not talk about much. Someone may have suggested the char and that reason why and the folks in charge agreed without thinking things over since it meant another toy character they could sell to kids.
It would have been more considerate of them that some of them would ready the place to calibrate Ruby's star day with the gifts they were going to give her and some of them go to be with Ruby, telling them to bring her to that spot when the bright circle touches x, or whatever other way they have to sorta tell time, rather then them all being together and leaving Ruby to go off wherever so they can find her when they are ready. But I doubt the scriptwriters though that out much. Ducky should have wanted to spend some time with Ruby seeing how she felt about being left out, and no one wanting to spend time with her.
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It would've been a bit better if they did it that way, Kor, but overall i think it was a good episode.
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If their reason to send Ruby to the great valley was to learn what they said, it would make more sense for her entire family to go there. They could raise their younger kids in a very safe environment and they all could learn, instead of just Ruby.
As with certain movies, and episodes, certain things, scenes, ect, to bug me, but I can enjoy the episode overall.
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If their reason to send Ruby to the great valley was to learn what they said, it would make more sense for her entire family to go there. They could raise their younger kids in a very safe environment and they all could learn, instead of just Ruby.
I was thinking about this too, but maybe the reason is the somewhat "unclear" status of Ruby's parents in the food-chain. Unlike not-grown up Ruby they might be perceived as a threat to the eggs in the nest of the Great Valley, or even young hatchlings. Without teeth they could hardly be a threat to anyone who is a little larger than Tricia for example. They are also potential scavengers and this may be a little to much to swallow for the Great Valley dinosaurs (though a healthy ecosystem needs scavengers of course) and there may be more food for scavengers to be found in the Mysterious Beyond. Of course Ruby's parents did not come across as a threat of any sort whatsoever in the flashbacks of this episode. I don't really know where the line of tolerance is running which the Great Valley dinosaurs use to decide whom they allow in the Great Valley and whom they don't.
There may be yet another reason for Ruby's parents not to be in the Great Valley. Perhaps they feel more at home out in the Mysterious Beyond. Even if Littlefoot and the other would hear about a place "better" than the Great Valley they might not want to leave it anyway unless for some disaster transforming the Great Valley into a place where they can't stay.
As for Ruby's younger siblings, maybe their parents feel that they have not yet learned "the basics" to let them feel safe sending them away and maybe Ruby's parents don't want to remain all alone either.
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One thing about this episode I noticed was how more arobically capable Ruby was compared to the rest of the gang. If you watch her happy song at the end (unbearable as it is) you can see her jumping around on rocks and generally moving around a lot faster then any member of the gang can accomplish.
In most of the episodes they don't emphasize this quality in Ruby so much (ie she runs just as fast as they do and doesn't perform anything out of place).
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Maybe she doesn't want to leave her friends behind as she runs. Though that is just 1 reason. Likely they didn't think over certain things like that. Most folks don't.
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I hope this hasn't already been mentioned. I did skim through this thread and did not see a mention of this, so I'll say it myself. Doesn't it seem odd that the characters mention in this episode that sweet bubbles don't grow on trees, but are found on vines in the Sheltering Grass? That alone is not odd, but if you watch Through the Eyes of a Spiketail, then it does become odd. Why? Because how does the episode start? The gang is trying to get sweet bubbles- that are growing off of a tree. Wow, it's amazing how reality shifts through the episodes. Maybe next time, Swimmers will be able to fly and Sharpteeth start eating tree stars.
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The main reason for that is most folks don't pay much attention to pre established continuity and some think if it gets in the way of a story it should be ignored. I guess since paying attention to continuity takes effort. Certainly more then ignoring it and doing what you want.
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Aye, sometimes there are continuity errors. One could try to argue if there may be different kind of "sweet bubbles" with the term referring to any kind of fruit that may have a bubble like appearance. Seeing how they look pretty much identical this would be an excuse though. On the other hand it is not a mistake of community so serious as to bring down the whole episode though one exemplary for a number of continuity errors where sometimes the world of LBT seems to be adapted to the needs of a story.
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Round (okay, I lost count) of The Friendly Sharptooth’s goofy episode reviews. Today, as you can see by the title of this thread, I’m going to tackle The Star Day Celebration. I commented here a while back, but I wanted to include this thread in my outrageous review series. For those who haven’t read my others, I am taking episodes and humorously tearing them apart. Let’s begin, shall we? Question: If you get a splinter, do you run around screaming and jumping? No, you say? Wise answer. You see, running around screaming and jumping will do as much good for removing your splinter as dressing up in a clown suit and break dancing on a concrete floor full of banana peels. That being said- WHY THE HECK WAS CERA TRYING TO REMOVE THAT STICK FROM HER HORN BY JUMPING AROUND AND SCREAMING!? Sorry for yelling. /Takes a deep breath and calms down So yeah, Cera gets a stick on her horn and decides to go ballistic. In fact, did she actually believe that would work? Maybe she was just trying to get attention so someone else would remove it. If that was the case, maybe she could have, I dunno- SIMPLY ASKED, “HEY, WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE GET THIS STICK OFF OF ME!?” Sorry again. /Takes long slow breaths So, Cera, if you have a problem, it might help your situation to do things that would, well, actually help your situation. And don’t wait an hour to ask. ëNough said.
Whoa! Amazing fact! There are astronomers in The Land Before Time! Not joking- really. Ruby says a star can only be seen three nights between cold times. Did some dinosaur(s) see a star one day and decide to see how many times it would show up each year? Kind of a lot of work, isn’t it? “Dear, let’s go to bed. It’s late.” “Sorry, sweetheart. I have to stay up until it gets dark so I can see if this one star will be visible.” “Why are you doing this, again?” “Because I want to know how many times a year it shows up.” Sighing, “Yes, but why?” “Why? Why!? Because, that’s why! You never know. Knowing how often this star shows up may one day help some random child know when her star day is.” “Okay, get to bed, now!” “No! I have to keep watch. If I don’t, who will? Then some random child may have no way to know when her star day is!” “That’s it! I want a divorce.” “Can dinosaurs even get a divorce?” “If dinosaurs can be astronomers, they can get a divorce too! Now good night!” So yeah, one can only wonder what fueled a dinosaur’s passion to see just how many nights a particular star shows up in a year. That’s almost as weird as some of the things I do… Almost!
Let’s look at this line: “Saying I love you doesn’t say how much I love you.” … Ruby, ever hear of the phrases “a lot” or “very much”? Try using one then reevaluate your statement. Your dilemma here is almost as lame as Littlefoot and company wondering where the Smoking Mountains was when it was in PLAIN SIGHT! If you have a problem, it helps if you at least try to figure out a solution.
“You must learn how Chomper’s friends in the Great Valley learn to live together.” “Yes, Ruby, that knowledge may one day save us all from Redclaw.” Um… Okaaay… Let me get this straight. You parents are sending your daughter far away so that she can observe some children in hopes that what she sees may help those who live in the Mysterious Beyond survive against Redclaw? You, my good fellows, are insane! What kind of idiocy is that? You think some random kids you’ve never met may hold the key to survival against a vicious meat-eater? Good night, I actually have to THINK to find an example that STUPID! Okay, I think I got one: “Son, I want you to go dive into the ocean and observe some jelly fish in hopes that what you learn may save mankind from obesity from fast food. Best of luck!” I mean, seriously, what kind of blind request is that? You know what, the reason behind Ruby being sent away is so ridiculous that no insult could do it justice. I’m just going to shut up and move along, as the moronity of this whole thing speaks for itself.
Plot hole alert! Plot hole alert! While Chomper is leading Ruby to the Great Valley, he sees Saurus Rock, calls it by name, and realizes they’re nearly there. Hold the bloody phone! Before the television series, the last time Chomper saw Littlefoot was in movie five, The Mysterious Island. Littlefoot and his friends learn about Saurus Rock in movie six, The Secret of Saurus Rock. Yes, in movie six, grandpa Longneck said, “So they called it Saurus Rock, and it’s there to this day.” If the kids knew about this before the story, he would have had no need to tell them it was still there, because the kids would have already known. So then, ladies and gentlemen, HOW IN HEAVEN’S NAME DOES CHOMPER KNOW ABOUT IT!? “Hey, Chomper?” “Yes, Ruby?” “How did you know that was called Saurus Rock?” “Easy, silly. The writers had a little too much beer during the scripts.” “Oh, that explains it, explains it it does.”
“Where exactly are we going to find sweet bubbles around here? They don’t exactly grow on trees,” says Cera. Come again, Cera? “I said, ëWhere exactly are we going to find-’” Shut up! I know what you said! I’m just trying to comprehend the sheer foolishness of that statement. “What was that!? How was that comment foolish?” You really wanna know? “Yeah! Tell me!” I’ll do better, Cera. I will SHOW you.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh452/The_Friendly_Sharptooth/vlcsnap-2011-04-17-20h06m36s99.png)
Now, do you feel stupid, Cera? “I- I- yes…” You are the weakest link. Good-bye!
What’s that, Chomper? You say you’ll go anywhere to get something that’ll make Ruby happy? “You bet!” Even the blazing Mount Doom in the fiery land of Mordor? “You bet! Sweet bubbles are precious to Ruby.” Chomper, shush! Don’t say- “Did someone say precious? My precious… Give it to me! My precious!” Gollum, no! Get off of him! /Yanks Gollum off of Chomper and slams him to the ground Not THAT precious. He was talking about sweet bubbles. “What sweet bubbles?” You know. Sweet bubb-les. Boil ëem, mash ëem, put ëem in a stew. Ugh, gosh! I got Samwise stuck in my head now. I meant, sweet bubbles are a fruit. They aren’t worn on your finger with magical powers like your precious. “Oh. Gollum is so sorry.” Apologize to Chomper, not me. He’s the one you nearly bit his head off of. “Gollum sorry, Chomper.” “It’s okay. This is a children’s cartoon, so I can’t hold a grudge.” “Children’s cartoon?” Okay, we are getting off topic here. Next!
Okay, so the kids go and find some sweet bubbles. What else do they find? Why, Kosh/Mr. Clubtail buried beneath a pile of grass! Either he was in a coma for a month, or he somehow managed to place grass over his entire body. /Key eerie music What strange phenomenon has gripped this world? What unseen force is at work in the life of Kosh? Is he really a dinosaur, or perhaps something more, something much more… Such is the kind of thing one could only expect to see in- the twilight zone. But seriously, how did he manage to get covered like that? “Mr. Owl, how licks does it take to get to the tootsie roll center of a tootsie roll pop?” “Let’s find out! A one! A two! A three! Three. Any more questions?” Yes. How many fans does it take to figure out why Mr. Clubtail was covered in plants?” “Let’s find out! A one! A two! A three! … A one million!” “Wait, Mr. Owl.” “What’s wrong?” “Just forget it. As the announcer used to say on commercials, the world may never know.”
They return with sweet bubbles and Chomper places them on a rock. Ruby starts coming, and they are dismayed. Why? Because they “Haven’t finished setting up.” Uh, what? What more is there to set up? The only thing you have is sweet bubbles and they were nicely set on a rock. What else is there to adjust? What, did you order some spotlights? A choir to sing Ruby a song? An orphan to show Ruby so she doesn’t feel as badly about being away from her family since the orphan has none? Come on, what else is there to set up? Gosh, I think Littlefoot just says things sometimes because he likes to hear himself talk.
Okay, when Ruby gets her request to play turned down, she decides to go to her thinking place to watch her star day star. Um, in the day time? Well, let’s give her the benefit of the doubt, folks. Maybe stars can be seen during the day at this time. Let’s take a look at a picture of the sky directly after she says this.
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh452/The_Friendly_Sharptooth/vlcsnap-2011-04-17-20h32m46s82.png)
Hm. Anyone see any stars out? No? I didn’t think so. Hey, Ruby? “Yes? What is it, Michael?” Why did you say you’d watch your star when it can’t even be seen right now? “Sorry, I just say whatever the script writers tell me to.” Oh. Well, next time, I’d recommend thinking for yourself so you don’t look silly. “If you say so.” No! Think for yourself! Enough saying things because others want you to. If the writers give you a script, improvise sometimes. You’ll be a lot better off. “Thank you, Michael” The Fast Runner and human embrace in a warm hug as beautiful music fills the air as the sun sets.
Okay, so they save Ruby from being trapped in a cave, and Littlefoot is all like, “Chomper knew just where you’d be.” Uh, duh! Of course he knew! Last time he was with Ruby, she said she was going to her thinking place. He would have to be deaf to NOT know where she was. “I’m going to the store, mom.” “Okay, drive safe, dear.” “Hey, honey, where’s Michael?” “He went to the store.” “Amazing! You knew exactly where he was. I am so impressed.” Yeah, you can see how silly this is.
Wow! The Land Before Time is magic! It has instant regeneration. Here, have a look, and look closely at the thing in her hand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZOxbdUGfCk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZOxbdUGfCk). Simply breathtaking, is it not? If we build a time machine and go back to this era, we could end world hunger! Whew hoo!
Well, that’s enough bashing for one night, folks. Not a bad episode, just too much absurdity for my taste. I’m The Friendly Sharptooth. I tear apart The Land Before Time so you don’t have to! /Gets out of chair
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This episode was overally nice to watch. Solid plot, some good explaining about Ruby's character but also some... bugs (as pointed out above by TFS).
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I thought this episode was pretty good. At least we know Ruby's minimum age, I think 6 or something. Could be older. I hate the "Feel So Happy" song though. I never liked it much except occasionally.
What I find curious is that Red Claw's blue fast biter, Screech, is credited as "Howler" for some reason.
Could this have been his old name during production, but was changed for legal reasons?
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This is close to my favorite episode in the series. Not only did we learn the things we did of Ruby's past but the overall plotting was pretty solid also. I liked the way the Gang tried to do a surprise for Ruby even if the notion of Starday was new for them. I thought that the songs were pretty nice here, too. One of the things I noticed in this episode that there was very little completely bad animation and the starting scene actually looked really good. This episode had a decent atmosphere and it had more substance than many other episodes.
That Howler spotting was pretty interesting though. I didn't even know he had an old name. :unsure:
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Apparently it was for legal reasons, according to a 2008 revision of the old Red Claw article on the wiki which had Screech and Thud there back then, but it wasn't sourced, so don't count on it.
Uh...that flying rocks song had terrible animation - er, CGI animation, at one point...
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Flying rock song? Are you sure you're not confusing this with Return to Hanging Rock? I don't remember flying rocks in this episode. :unsure:
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I remember not liking Ruby until this episode. It did a good job with developing her and it's good that they did it fairly early in the season. "Remembering" is my personal favorite out of all the TV series songs by a long shot and I actually think that "Feel so Happy" works well in this scenario (though this being the first time I heard the song helped for sure).
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Flying rock song? Are you sure you're not confusing this with Return to Hanging Rock? I don't remember flying rocks in this episode. :unsure:
I didn't, of course not! :oops
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I liked this episode; Ruby misses her family and for some reason, Littlefoot and his friends didn't know what a Star Day was. And yet, they knew what a Giving Ceremony was; I found that kind of weird. Remembering is an okay song; Ruby has a good singing voice.
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shortly: one of three my favorites episodes, of episodes I consider as good!
I could feel Ruby's character here, and I got feels. VERY not bad episode for this TV series,.
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This episode was a mixed bag for me. I didn't really care for the main adventure. I also think it's kinda funny that "I Feel So Happy" debuted in "The Mysterious Tooth Crisis", the show's second episode. Now it's only the third episode and they're already playing that song again. :-P
But the segments showing Ruby's backstory were captivating, and the "Remembering" song is lovely. That said, even the flashbacks left me wanting more. I still want to know why Ruby separated from her family like that. In fact, it kinda makes me wish they'd just gotten rid of the main storyline altogether and devoted the entire episode to her backstory. It definitely seems like there's some missing chunks to the backstory as it currently stands, although granted, it is only the third episode of the series. I really hope this is something that will be further explored in some of the later episodes. I want to see more of Ruby's family as well.
I do like it they have Chomper in the show, and I don't want him to be a temp character. However they could have explained how and why he got there in the first place, and how come he's allowed in the valley. I don't like how they just have Chomper appear like that without explaining the why or the how, or even the when.
Agreed.
I don't recall Chomper ever mentioning missing his parents. Though maybe since he initially imprented on Littlefoot he may, at least subconsciously reguard Littlefoot as another family member, another father type, so may miss them less since he's with his other family while in the great valley, though they should have had him mention them now and then.
Agreed here too.
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Not too much to add on this one that hasn't already been said. The writing is about on par with the show so far, kinda juvenile, but that's to be expected for a show pretty squarely aimed at a preschool audience. What I do have are some funny screenshots where the animation crew seem to have cut a corner or two.
(https://puu.sh/GyyPC/07ecbec86e.jpg)
(https://puu.sh/Gyz1m/e0b7251446.jpg)
A lot of kind of weird, undetailed, seemingly unfinished faces in this one.
(https://puu.sh/GyyXS/1b26803651.jpg)
Ruby loses some detail on her beak between angles.
(https://puu.sh/GyyZC/025791ca3f.jpg)
Also, Littlefoot may be a vampire now. Perhaps some teeth stolen from Chomper's head? :rainbowThinking
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Vampire Littlefoot. That one got a good chuckle out of me. :p