Who wrote the land before time?

KonCepT · **on:** December 06, 2005, 02:40:05 PM

I personally believe that Don Bluth is an excellent writer, and proof of this is the way he doesn't condescend to his audience.
An American Tail and The Land Before Time are both EXCELLENT movies, and in both of them, 'people' die. There's some terrifying scenes in them both, and I've told some of ya all already that LBT made me bawl my eyes out as a kid, but I still loved it.

Malte279 · **Reply #1 on:** December 06, 2005, 03:59:27 PM

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I personally believe that Don Bluth is an excellent writer

A writer? Actually I'm wondering. Don Bluth is of course the director who directed the original movie, but does not that mean he was more in charge of the how (to realize the story) than about the what (is happening in the story)?
I wonder who deserves credit for writing the story of the land before time, for whoever he, she, or they was / were there seems to be a lack of credit if we can't even tell for sure who wrote the story we are so attached to.
Would it be Stu Krieger (for all I know he was in charge of the script) or Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss (who invented the characters) or someone else (as well)? And who is writing the stories for the sequels?

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #2 on:** December 08, 2005, 06:44:40 PM

Well, Don Bluth, Stu Krieger, Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss are primarily the ones in charge in what happend in the film, itself, so perhaps the credit should be shared between them.

Don Bluth was the director, which gave him overall conplete control as, aside from making him shorten the film, Spielberg and Lucas seemed to have been relatively hands-off for most of the production.

Stu Krieger, Judy Freudberg, and Tony Geiss thought up the ideas, and Don Bluth, Gary Goldman, the actors, and the animators were the ones who had the make those ideas work. They also had to tell the writers where they needed rewrites when ideas weren't working, despite their efforts, and which ones flat out weren't going to work.

Overall, the creative process of the story was a shared responsibility for many people.

Malte279 · **Reply #3 on:** December 08, 2005, 06:50:05 PM

Do you know any more details Weird Raptor? What exactly the Jobs of Krieger, Freudberg and Geiss were? Do you know who was mainly writing the story? I can only refer to the (rather limited) information closing credits offer.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #4 on:** December 08, 2005, 06:59:21 PM

Well, I'm not entirely sure, but this is how I think they did it:

Spielberg just wanted to make an animated dinosaur movie, and he got Lucas and Bluth involved in it, too. So, two writers were hired to dream up the characters and the original story, and one writer was hired to write the screenplay and script, then it was time to bring this project to life through Bluth and his co-workers. That was the process.

Writers of the orignal concept: Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss. (Phase one)

Writer of the script adaptation of that concept: Stu Kreiger. (Phase two)

People who had to bring this to life: Bluth and countless others (I'm too lazy to type it all up). (Phase three)

That's a more complex way of doing than in most movies, so it is easy for it to be confusing as to who to give the credit to. Usually, films to just do Phases two and three.

Malte279 · **Reply #5 on:** December 08, 2005, 07:08:23 PM

That makes sense and is most likely roughly how it worked. I just wish I could talk to people involved in the production remembering the details (they don't seem to remember too accurate details at www.donbluth.com)

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #6 on:** December 08, 2005, 07:16:32 PM

I think I know why they don't remember. Quite a few people walked away from that project very disgruntled and probably spent some time trying to forget the whole thing altogether.

On a side note: One thing I've been curious about is why Freudberg and Geiss couldn't have just written the screenplay and script as well. It's cheaper than hiring a third man. Of course, they may not have been professional screenwriters (at the time) and were used just to dream up the story, and it was Kreiger who was the professional movie writer. Oh well, they did their jobs well enough.

Malte279 · **Reply #7 on:** December 08, 2005, 07:38:51 PM

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Quite a few people walked away from that project very disgruntled and probably spent some time trying to forget the whole thing altogether.

I guess they didn't like the power failures they had to deal with in Ireland

Still it sure is a pity they don't hold dearer memories to the land before time.
There is not too much to be found about Freudberg, Geiss and Krieger apart from projects in which they participated.
If we knew more about them, we might be able to figure out more details.

This discussion has changed it's topic. And a pleasure it is to see how it developes

I guess I'm going to split the topic.

Petrie. · **Reply #8 on:** December 08, 2005, 08:43:11 PM

I believe WR stated it well....all those people had some piece of the pie in the story that became known as LBT.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #9 on:** December 09, 2005, 03:34:47 AM

Actually, I was talking about the severe cuts and redos that Speilberg and Lucas made them do because the film was "too long and scary". And of course, that is total hypocrisy on Spielberg and Lucas' part, considering the scary crap that was "We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story"...but I'm getting off topic.

Anyway, one thing is for sure: The creative process for "The Land Before Time" was unlike that of any other film I can think of.

Petrie. · **Reply #10 on:** December 09, 2005, 10:53:24 AM

^ Now that's a good point. Spielberg went on to make "We're Back" and that was really...psychotic. :blink: :blink: At least the supposed cuts in LBT would've been more realisitc, and probably less of a scare for younger audience.

Malte279 · **Reply #11 on:** December 09, 2005, 12:52:37 PM

I've never seen "We're back" so I cannot put anything in about this. However, in general kids nowadays are exposed to much tougher stuff, then they were back in 1988. Just think of the most recent Harry Potter movie or computer games some of which contain a really huge degree of brutality and the like. I think that this development had only begun in 1988. So much as I mourn for the outcut scenes :cry2 I don't think we shouldn't judge Spielberg too hard.
Even Don Bluth himself wrote in his Toon Talk magazine about Spielberg and Lucas cutting out those scenes:

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Were Steven and George right to do it? In hindsight, I think, yes.

Maybe we will yet get to see those outcut scenes. Who knows what developement the TV series might trigger.
As for the younger audience... I have the impression that many of them are craving for more blood and gore (oh gee, here I go again), at least from what I read in their fanfictions :mad

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #12 on:** December 12, 2005, 01:09:24 AM

Actually, I don't think the younger audience are the ones who are writing those fanfics you're talking about. I think they're probably written by people our age.

Malte279 · **Reply #13 on:** December 12, 2005, 03:01:23 AM

Many of them probably are. However, some are written by young teens as well and as for the others, I dare say they too are not unlikely to have been exposed to medias showing violence in an uncritical, entertaining manner.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #14 on:** December 12, 2005, 05:11:49 AM

Possible. I suppose trying to determine how old the fic writers are would depend on how complex the story was, because the younger writers, for the most part, are just not capable of writing the better LBT fanfics that I've seen.