The Gang of Five

The Land Before Time => Land Before Time TV Series (2007) => Topic started by: Hypno on June 20, 2017, 04:51:30 PM

Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Hypno on June 20, 2017, 04:51:30 PM
NOTE: I did not write this, I post this post on The Land Before Time Wiki with permission from fellow admin Logo8th.

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Here is the blog that I have been meaning to write for months now. This blog post seeks to exonerate Red Claw from all of the hate he has been getting in TLBT fandom and is an attempt to instate his title of "the meanest Sharptooth of them all."

My main argument is that Red Claw only appears in a few episodes of a children's television show. In a children's show, violence is significantly toned down. Red Claw is thus unable to perform the same level of violence as Sharptooth or Plates, for example. We have no idea what he does off camera. When not in the spotlight, he could truly be a terrifying villain.

Now, let's go through all of his appearances and explain his actions and defeats. In his first appearance, "The Cave of Many Voices," Red Claw is defeated by the gang producing echos that scare him and Screech and Thud away. This actualy mirrors the behavior of real life predators very well. No predator is willing to risk its life or put in too much energy into a hunt where it thinks it can't get prey out of it. If it does so, it could lose energy and not be able to hunt as quickly later on or could be killed by the prey. The rule is only put in as much energy into a hunt as you can get back once completing it. Red Claw has no idea that the producers of the noise are small children. He believes that they are a large herd of fully grown herbivores who are willing to fight against him. Unwilling to take the risk, he and his subordinates quickly free, just like any other rational predator.

His next apperance is in "The Star Day Celebration," in which he only appears in a flashback where we barely see him at all. All he does is chase after Chomper and Ruby before the two lose him and his subordinates by hiding in a cave. The two are able to fake out the predator, a tactic that sensible prey would use in the wild. Red Claw is just unable to detect their presence and leads them away, still thinking they have continued to run through the canyon.

Red Claw's next appearance is in "The Meadow of Jumping Water," where he appears first in a flashback and appears again later on in the episode. In his flashback appearance, it is clear that he was able to find Chomper and Ruby after his earlier attack in the flashback mentioned earlier. He again attempts to chase Chomper and Ruby, before they again manage to escape from him. This time, however, he finds them again and continues the chase, only to be stopped by a surprise burst of water from a geyser. Geyser water is extremely hot, so it is not a strech to assume that being squirted with it would cause any animal to flee in pain. His sheer pain would explain why he doesn't notice Chomper and Ruby hiding in a bush in front of him. In his second appearance, he appears just after Spike has gotten covered in extremely smelly mud from the geysers. Just as he and his subordinates are about to kill the rest of the gang, Spike arrives and scares off the Sharpteeth with his smell. Both Tyrannosaurus rex and Utahraptor had exceedingly good senses of smell. Their olfactory nerves were larger than those of a bloodhound. If something smells bad enough to be a deterent to a bloodhound, it would likely smell around ten times worse to a Tyrannosaurus or Utahraptor, perventing them from being able to attack. Most predators don't like to eat something that's already dead. While T.rex is known to have been at least a part-time scavenger, the franchise seems to go with the notion that it was a complete predator. As we don't know what Spike smelt like, we could very eaisly assume that the geysers, who might have burnt small animals alive in the past, might have made the mud on Spike smell like dead animals and chasing off the otherwise hungry carnivores.

His next appearance is in the episode "Escape From the Mysterious Beyond." In the episode, Red Claw and his subordinates are chasing after the gang when he loses them again. Thud, however, finds them and attempts to signal to the others before an earthshake separates him from the rest of his pack. Strangely, Red Claw and Screech don't come to see what Thud was calling about. This is possibly due to them attempting to find safety during an earthshake or possibly just not hearing the call. Later on, after reuniting with Thud, Red Claw and his subordinates continue to chase after the gang before the gang hides in a cave. Thud is the only one of the three who knows where the gang are hiding. However, remembering how Chomper had saved his life by freeing him from a pile of rocks trapping his tail, Thud deliberetly leads Red Claw and Screech away and spares the gang's lives. This is not Red Claw's fault, as Thud deliberetly leads him and Screech away from food to thank them for saving his life.

Red Claw's final major appearance, and his most criticized one, is in "The Hidden Canyon." In this episode, Red Claw and his subordinates manage to enter the Hidden Canyon after the tree sweet deterents have mostly been eaten by the gang. The gang, along with Grandpa Longneck and Topps, soon arive to fight them, with the adults directly fighting off the Sharpteeth. Realizing that the Sharpteeth are starting to gain an advantage, the gang pelt the extremely smelly tree sweets at the carnivores, chasing off Screech and Thud. Red Claw stands his ground, only to swallow one of the fruits after it is shot into his mouth during a roar. He then proceeds to follow his subordinates in retreat. Now, as earlier stated, Sharpteeth have extremely powerful senses of smell. If the tree sweets are slightly off-putting to a young T.rex like Chomper, think of how much more pungent they would be to a fully grown T.rex with larger olfactory nerves. Also, swallowing a fruit like that might be the Sharptooth equivelent of swallowing poision. Red Claw is a carnivore, thus fruit has no place in his body. His body can't process the fruit, or at least not as well as it can meat. We also have no idea how the fruit tastes to Sharpteeth. To them, it could be like drinking acid, which any creature would run away from after consuming.

Red Claw's final two appearances are minor roles in the episodes "The Lonely Journey" and "Return to Hanging Rock." In the first episode, he is briefly seen chasing after a stampeding pack of Herrarasaurus. We don't get to see if he captures any of them, so it is possible that he succeeded in that hunt. In the second episode, he is only briefly seen stalking around Hanging Rock. However, he is the only non-Chomper Sharptooth to have ever interrupted a musical number, as he interrupted Ruby's version of "Feel So Happy" in this episode. He does not try to kill the kids, likely due to him not even knowing they were there.

In conclusion, Red Claw clearly doesn't deserve the hate that he gets from the fandom. As this extremely long blog post has shown, Red Claw acts rather sensibly for a predator in his situation. Due to the nature of his status of being a children's show villain, he is unable to use the violence that must have given him the moniker of "the most dangerous Sharptooth of them all." I believe that, instead of ridiculing Red Claw, we should understand that he acts in a way that is very consistent with a real T.rex. While that may not be as exiting, at least he didn't go full Sharptooth in front of an audience of children. Thank you for reading this blog. I hope it at least makes you think about the true meaning of Red Claw's moniker.

As he explains in this blog, Red Claw should not be as hated as he is.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: ADFan185 on June 20, 2017, 04:56:48 PM
True but you can't force the fandom to like this character even tho he likes him. Everyone has a right to dislike a character.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Hypno on June 20, 2017, 05:03:15 PM
The point wasn't to force people to like Red Claw. It was to state the facts as to why he shouldn't be as hated.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Sneak on June 20, 2017, 05:13:29 PM
RedClaw? Did you write this article?
C'mon buddy! Take off the mask! We recognized you! XD


---

now srsl: almost single reason why he's what he is now - what is written in this article. Because of atmosphere of this TV series.
He just couldn't be different.
And sad truth that he's extremely bad.
:/

I'm absolutely sure he could be normal antagonist dude in different picture. That's why I am using him as primary GOOD antagonist in my stories.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Hypno on June 20, 2017, 05:27:33 PM
I don't think Red Claw is extremely bad, it's just that he's more logical, instead of having ABNORMAL and UNREALISTIC features like Sharptooth.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Sovereign on June 21, 2017, 11:19:00 AM
Well, Logo8th has some good points concerning the rationality of Red Claw's actions, particularly during the Cave of Many Voices. Sure, he wasn't allowed to be too scary for the target audience but branding him the most powerful sharptooth with this performance doesn't really convince anyone. For example, even if the smell from the fruits might be mind blowing, Red Claw should be determined enough to pull his hunt even through the smell. He seems easy to escape from and his lack of success gives me a bad feeling about the capabilities of sharpteeth. There might be reasons for his failures in some episodes but he has no business being in the same franchise than the original sharptooth and claiming to be the most dangerous carnivore in the world.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Hypno on June 21, 2017, 01:13:16 PM
Quote from: Sovereign,Jun 21 2017 on  10:19 AM
Well, Logo8th has some good points concerning the rationality of Red Claw's actions, particularly during the Cave of Many Voices. Sure, he wasn't allowed to be too scary for the target audience but branding him the most powerful sharptooth with this performance doesn't really convince anyone. For example, even if the smell from the fruits might be mind blowing, Red Claw should be determined enough to pull his hunt even through the smell. He seems easy to escape from and his lack of success gives me a bad feeling about the capabilities of sharpteeth. There might be reasons for his failures in some episodes but he has no business being in the same franchise than the original sharptooth and claiming to be the most dangerous carnivore in the world.
At least they got back on track in XIV with the sharpteeth in that film. They had insanely good senses, and the Horned Sharptooth was perhaps the best sharptooth we've seen since V.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Dracorider19 on June 21, 2017, 03:16:40 PM
Quote from: Sovereign,Jun 21 2017 on  10:19 AM
Well, Logo8th has some good points concerning the rationality of Red Claw's actions, particularly during the Cave of Many Voices. Sure, he wasn't allowed to be too scary for the target audience but branding him the most powerful sharptooth with this performance doesn't really convince anyone. For example, even if the smell from the fruits might be mind blowing, Red Claw should be determined enough to pull his hunt even through the smell. He seems easy to escape from and his lack of success gives me a bad feeling about the capabilities of sharpteeth. There might be reasons for his failures in some episodes but he has no business being in the same franchise than the original sharptooth and claiming to be the most dangerous carnivore in the world.
Good point, Sovereign. I don't hate Red Claw, but I think they should have made
him a little more badass and serious, enough to establish him as a genuine threat, while still keeping him toned down to the target audience.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Coyote_A on June 21, 2017, 04:58:40 PM
Yeah, they really dropped the ball with Red Claw. You can't just shove a character into the story, declare him the ultimate evil and then make him look like a joke most of the time, unless he's comic relief... Which he wasn't. :(
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Logo8th on June 21, 2017, 05:42:22 PM
One point I forgot to make. Chomper is the one who calls Red Claw "the meanest Sharptooth of them all." Chomper wasn't born while Sharptooth was alive and hasn't heard the stories of the Meanest Sharptooth. While he did encounter both Plates and the Horned Sharptooth, Plates is very likely dead and Chomper hadn't encountered the Horned Sharptooth yet during the time of the TV series. Thus, it is very likely that Chomper would call a Sharptooth that continually attacks him and the rest of the gang vicious ("the meanest Sharptooth of them all"), as it is the only surviving Sharptooth that repeatedly attacks the gang that he knew at this point. By the way, this is the same Logo8th who initially wrote the blog post. I made an account on here so that I could join in the discussion on the forum about this topic.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Hypno on June 21, 2017, 06:02:02 PM
True. It does start to make sense after a while.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: ADFan185 on June 22, 2017, 06:01:54 PM
Thank you for this awesome information
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Gentle Sharptooth on June 23, 2017, 05:28:34 AM
I have never seen Redclaw in an episode, but "Meanest Sharptooth" is title that belongs to the Original Sharptooth in LBT. I think that is only chance we got to see what Sharptooth can do, how violent they can be.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: ADFan185 on June 23, 2017, 07:15:54 AM
He's there you gotta look I forget what episodes he's in
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Hypno on June 23, 2017, 02:38:40 PM
His major appearances are in the 1st, 7th, 9th and 10th episodes along with Screech and Thud. He also appears by himself in the 13th and 22nd episodes.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: ADFan185 on June 23, 2017, 04:50:55 PM
He was only in six episodes of the show they could have used him for the full series but atleast he got some screen time
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Ducky123 on June 24, 2017, 10:37:36 AM
Redclaw is a joke compared to the original Sharptooth. Even Ichy and Dil were more threatening than this dude imo.

Luckily, there are some good fanfics that have done a better job at making Redclaw worthy of his reputation (*points at rhombus* :p)
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: ADFan185 on June 24, 2017, 10:53:40 AM
Yeah true red claw wasn't scary at all a big disappointment if you ask me.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Flathead770 on June 27, 2017, 08:49:48 PM
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One point I forgot to make. Chomper is the one who calls Red Claw "the meanest Sharptooth of them all." Chomper wasn't born while Sharptooth was alive and hasn't heard the stories of the Meanest Sharptooth. While he did encounter both Plates and the Horned Sharptooth, Plates is very likely dead and Chomper hadn't encountered the Horned Sharptooth yet during the time of the TV series. Thus, it is very likely that Chomper would call a Sharptooth that continually attacks him and the rest of the gang vicious ("the meanest Sharptooth of them all"), as it is the only surviving Sharptooth that repeatedly attacks the gang that he knew at this point.
The title seems based off of Redclaw's reputation in the Mysterious Beyond. Plates was, as far as we know, isolated on an island where as Redclaw has had free range on a seemingly large area around the Great Valley for his reputation to spread.

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I have never seen Redclaw in an episode, but "Meanest Sharptooth" is title that belongs to the Original Sharptooth in LBT. I think that is only chance we got to see what Sharptooth can do, how violent they can be.
I like to think Redclaw rose up to claim the title after Sharptooth's death. Plus I don't think dinosaurs in the Mysterious Beyond have time to worry about if a dead sharptooth was meaner than a currently alive one. To me "the meanest sharptooth of them all" probably refers to all that are living.

I like the idea of Redclaw more than his implementation. It's mentioned in "Star Day Celebration" that seeing how the gang works together might be used to save the Mysterious Beyond from Redclaw and a similar message is repeated in "Return to Hanging Rock". And that's it to my knowledge. It's like they had the idea with what they wanted to do with Redclaw but never bothered to pursue it though I'm guessing they might have planned it for another season.

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Luckily, there are some good fanfics that have done a better job at making Redclaw worthy of his reputation (*points at rhombus*)
Sounds interesting. I might have to give that a look at some point.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Hypno on June 27, 2017, 09:46:09 PM
Actually, there may be a possibility that Plates was only on that island a little longer the gang was. They found Sharptooth footprints in the desert near the Big Water that may have belonged to the Plated Sharptooth. He may have crossed the land bridge the day before, possibly.
Chomper also says that it's a good thing that his parents are the only big sharpteeth around. This makes me think those were Plates' footprints, since wouldn't Chomper know that there was literally a Giganotosaurus living on the island? The sharptooth mustn't be living there, then. He probably entered the island to find food.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: ADFan185 on June 28, 2017, 12:33:57 AM
I agree I will also check out those fanfictions and see what they're like
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Flathead770 on June 29, 2017, 05:05:36 PM
Hmm yea that's also possible. This still leaves the question why Redclaw would be more reputable to an arguably better sharptooth. We also don't have any time frame of when Redclaw gained his notoriety, whether it could have been before or after Plate's death. Another possible reason is the fact that he teams up with fast-biters to hunt his prey. The first movie showed that more peaceful leaf-eating dinosaurs even had trouble working with other species. Such an unorthodox method in the Mysterious Beyond probably catches other dinosaurs off guard and certainly would stick out in someone's mind.

Come to think about it. A conversation between Chomper and Redclaw would be kinda cool. I liked the conversation Chomper had with Thud in the TV series. It could show some parallels between Chomper and Redclaw. Both are doing similar things, with Chomper befriending leaf-eaters and Redclaw teaming up with other sharpteeth species.
Title: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Hypno on August 09, 2017, 08:52:25 PM
Quote from: Flathead770,Jun 29 2017 on  06:05 PM
Come to think about it. A conversation between Chomper and Redclaw would be kinda cool. I liked the conversation Chomper had with Thud in the TV series. It could show some parallels between Chomper and Redclaw. Both are doing similar things, with Chomper befriending leaf-eaters and Redclaw teaming up with other sharpteeth species.
If a second season is planned (which I feel like it may be a possibility) then an episode featuring Red Claw with Chomper in a conversation would be a really good idea for an episode.
Title: Re: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Gentle Sharptooth on September 01, 2018, 09:01:54 PM
From what I have seen of Red Claw, he is by far more handicapped than other Sharpteeth. Hence why He has Screech and Thus compensate for his maladies (eye and claw). Red Claw actually shows great hunting acumen in that He has enlisted the help of two Sharpteeth who are of completely different species.
Title: Re: In Defense of Red Claw
Post by: Gentle Sharptooth on December 22, 2019, 07:07:01 PM
One point I forgot to make. Chomper is the one who calls Red Claw "the meanest Sharptooth of them all." Chomper wasn't born while Sharptooth was alive and hasn't heard the stories of the Meanest Sharptooth. While he did encounter both Plates and the Horned Sharptooth, Plates is very likely dead and Chomper hadn't encountered the Horned Sharptooth yet during the time of the TV series. Thus, it is very likely that Chomper would call a Sharptooth that continually attacks him and the rest of the gang vicious ("the meanest Sharptooth of them all"), as it is the only surviving Sharptooth that repeatedly attacks the gang that he knew at this point. By the way, this is the same Logo8th who initially wrote the blog post. I made an account on here so that I could join in the discussion on the forum about this topic.

That is well said. Chomper is perhaps the worst member of the Gang to go to for advice on who is the most evil or meanest sharptooth, because he is a sharptooth. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike are herbivores who are food for Sharpteeth, they experience a terror when a Sharptooth emerges that Chomper cannot understand. Besides Chomper never met the Most Evil Sharptooth in TLBT I.