The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => General Land Before Time => Topic started by: NewOrder on October 05, 2004, 05:27:51 PM
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I've just seen it today, I liked the idea of Mr Thicknose as some sort of teacher for the gang. I think everything happens too fast, they just don't develop much on the main subjects such as the snowing, perhaps that would make it boring, I donno, I think the maine subject is Spike getting to hang with some of his own kind, but I didn't like when they said that spike tails didn't live in the great valley since you see them in pratically every sequel, also when Cera causes that avalanche just by screaming it sounds a bit unreal, but then again it is a kids movie.. on and all I liked it =P
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Screaming as the reason for an avalanche is actually not that unrealistic. In fact sound waves are one of the main causes for avalanches in mountainous regions. In general I liked many of the basic ideas of LBT 8, (Spike being interested in the own kind, snowfall etc), but I found these ideas were extremely poor realized. One can say hardly anything about the character Tippy whose whole way of talking and acting reminded me a bit of a Teletubby. They did some really weird things about the colors. For example we had green skies, and changing color paterns of the main characters, which, though they may have served the purpose of showing that they were cold, seemed exaggerated. Other than that they seemed to have too few problems with the coldness; they seem to have more problems with it during a thunderstorm in LBT 7 (Petrie says he is cold there, and Ducky is sneezing).
Another point I have to criticize about LBT 8 was the very poor sharptooth. Roll a snowball at it, and it won't dodge like Mr. Thicknose did, who was actually closer to that snowball. In fact they even have to thank the sharptooth for giving Mr. Thicknose the fright that chases him up that mountain. Gee, nothing like the really scary sharptooth we knew from the original movie.
I'd also love to know how a hot volcanic source can freeze. And how the whole Great Valley and the spikedtail herd is supposed to live on the sparce green food they found at that source. They should have really shown a bit more green food there to make the story look plausible.
They could have made so much more of the good basic ideas they had.
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I agree, everything happens so fast.. \: As for the sharptooth it's been a common thing in lbt series since lbt 6 that they say sharpteeth aren't that smart when actually the leafeaters were the dumn dinos, I guess it's just that tail of the piggs and the wolves the meat eaters have to be dumn and bad or the gang wouldn't have survived this long
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Overall, LBT 8 was just way too unrealistic for me. Surviving snowstorms (without getting ill and cold apparently) is highly unlikely for them considering their lack of fur. Malte brings up the Sharptooth--that one was a real dumb@$$ because (much older) Thicknose was able to get out of the way but not him.... *shakes head* Lame.
I know us three are much older than the target audience of these films but really that sequel just sucked! <_<
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I don't think it was that bad... at least it isn't as boring as lbt 3, although I prefered the graphics and they had a nice story line, but in lbt 3 they just take so long to do anything and they just walk around the vally.. it's for me he most boring lbt yet.. lbt 8 is the exact oposite everything happens to fast like they had a schedule and dozed off for the first months and only did it in the end..
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Actually I didn't find LBT 3 that bad at all. The plotline is alright with me, there are some spectacular scenes (I love the one where they step out on that ledge overlooking the Mysterious Beyond and discovering the water trapped there), some real dilemas for the characters (especially for Cera), and the kind of bullies most of us probably made their own experiences with.
The end was a bit like a "moral clup" (the bullies changed very extreme and very suddenly and the last part about sharing would have appeared less like a preach if if hadn't been squeezed into the last few minutes), but still I liked LBT 3.
It is funny how different people like the movies. There are hardly any LBT fans to be found who favor or disfavor exactly the same LBT movies. And that's good the way it is!
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Yep... If lbt can make people of many interests like it, it's another way for it to be popular. I think that there are lots of people that like lbt as much as we do, but or they don't have net or they don't like to post in forums =p
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There are many who don't seem too be too eager to post indeed. As a moderator of network54 forums one can see how many people from how many countries visit a network54 forum each day. There are between 100 and 300 every day in the network54 forum at www.network54.com/forum/26773. One thing that is sort of distressing for me is that there are surprisingly many people from Germany visiting that board (more than 100 some days), but they don't post. It's somewhat sad for me as it would be really great if I knew about a land before time fan living nearby.
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I don't know how well international students must learn english but perhaps they are somewhat fearful they will make a mistake in writing English. :unsure: That's the only reason I can forsee why they would be scared to post messages even though they visit it.
This board would intimidate them for the same reason--it's owned and operated by someone who is fluent in English. If they don't think they can speak the language perfectly, they don't want to join in. The same would apply if I tried to post in the German board you speak of, Malte...I would stick out like a sore thumb if I tried to pass for one who could speak German. ;)
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Maybe. This is how my first message in a land before time forum (posted on August 1st 2000) read:
Hello everyone!
I'm very pleased to find the land before
time Forum and I hope to find other people fond of the land before time. I admire the land before time though I'm nearly 16 years old.
My enthusiasm is so great, that I try to write new storys to read it to my younger cousin.
I have written already 109 pages on our PC.
It would be a great pleasure to me to come to know other The land before time fans.
I hope my English is not to bad, because I live in Germany.
Malte
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You looked very fluent with 16.. so you wouldn't have trouble with english I guess.. I know a few people that like lbt but they don't like them enough to go search things around the web about it. I don't think it's they being afraid or something like that, I think it's they either just want to know things about lbt XI or check out some doubts they have about lbt... In my case, I'm not the "forum poster" besides this one I only rarely post in a foruma bout New Order..At first I was only checking for stuff about the next sequel but then I saw this is one of those slow and few people forums so I still post here... I prefer this kind of forums to those who have people posting every ten minutes and in an hour you can't see your topic and the chances are no one is going to reply to it...
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Yeah but soon with only three people we tend to become very repetitive in our posts. :huh:
That's pretty good for just a few years of English, Malte. :)
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Yeah but soon with only three people we tend to become very repetitive in our posts.
The number of people does not exactly make our posts more repetitive here. I know of other boards with that few people, and repetitions are no problem at all there. If at all it might become a problem to some of the Party Room games.
That's pretty good for just a few years of English, Malte.
I delivered much worse performances of English during that time in other messages. But so long a language is not used frequently (and though I read some English books and webpages before, as there are so much more interesting English books on some history topics that interest me, I do not exaggerate when I say that my really regular use of English was triggered by the forum and the people I got to know there) it is not supposed to be good at all. I'd be sort of disappointed if I read my old messages today and had to realized that there was no imporvement at all ever since.
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Here's something I've been meaning to ask, both of you guys since English obviously isn't your primary language.
When did you start learning English? Was it in school? ...in home? At what age?
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Hmm.. I started when I was 9.. and I watched cartoon network all the time.. at first I didn't get what they were saying but since it was cartoons I'd stay there and watch it and I learned from what they were doing.. than my parents put me in an english course that I'm still doing.. this way I'll be able to teach english if I don't get any other job =p
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Well, my first experiences with English language came from my interest in native Americans. During my primary school time I learned a couple of words which you can find in the names of famous indian chiefs, for example: sitting, bull, crazy, horse, red, cloud, low, dog, man, eagle, yellow etc.
I wasn't able to speak many sentences apart from "Happy Birthday" (which is meanwhile almost "international" rather than English).
English at school began in fifth grade (which means since 1995) for me. In the first half of 6th grade I got an English grade so bad that it would have endangered my promotion to the next grade if that mark had been in the second half of the year and if another subject had been as bad.
During the next years I got to read English more and more frequently because there are so many English sources about historical events, and these sources are so much more detailed than any Germany sources about specific events. In 2000 I came across the land before time forum and got to know friends (especially one from Australia to whom I still keep contact and whom I met in persona in 2002) from English countries. That same year I read several English fictional books for the first time (I had read only nonfictions before that) and I also began to translate land before time stories I had written till then to English (to a terribly poor English by that time. I'm affraid I have to edit the whole translations again and the editing of one of those stories is in (slow) process by this time). From January to June 2002 I took part in a students exchange which not only did a great deal to improve my English but also changed the entire course of my life for sure.
Still my English is not perfect, so I'm always grateful for corrections in case I'm talking of "laBtops" and the like ;)
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So it was a major school requirement for both of you? Was it optional?
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In Germany English is not optional but a must at schools. Some people decide for French as the first foreign language to learn, but I think they too have to take English from 7th grade or so.
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In here to we have english from our 5th grade to our 11th in my case cause I chose science.. if I had chosen harts I'd have to chose between english, french or german.. When we go to our 7th year we already have 2 years of english but then we can chose from french or german.. although most schools only have french.. I took french for those 3 years I can understand what they say and some times I watch french channels but my french is really bad =p
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Schools over hear kinda work the opposite way around. Obviously every country has to perfect its own mother tongue but kids start learning a different language from about year 5. It is normally french but once you hit secondary school (high school) there is the 3-way split for either French, Spanish or German. Up until year 9 it is chosen for you (depending on the school) and in years 10 and 11 we get to select which of the 3 we'd like to learn. I chose Spanish coz I prefered that over the other 2 (no reflection on my views of the countries you understand!). I cant speak fluent spanish but I reckon I know enough basic stuff for me to survive out there. I'd love to learn Japanese though! I reckon that's a marvellous tongue to speak! I know very little of the language but they are the types of phrases that would either get me strange, alienated looks or an angry mob chasing after me :(
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Lol.. Welcome back Littlefoot1616 =p
You should try to learn japonese it's wayyyyy much better than spanish :rolleyes:
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Recently I hear from many people that they want to learn Japanese. I'm a bit surprised at this. Japan is a major industrial giant for many decades already, nevertheless interest in Japanese language never used to be that high. I wonder if it has anything to do with the immense spreat of Japanese Manga animation art in recent years. Still if I had the choice I'd go for Spanish which is a language spoken in South and middle America, the Carribian and also regions of the Pacific. Japanese I think is mainly limited to Japan itself I think or to business talks. However, I doubt that speaking it would cause an angry mob chasing you Jason, or are they that hostile towards Japanese where you live? The language sounds somewhat melodical. I know but very few words and can write my name in Japanese. The fact that learning Japanese means also learning that script would somewhat frighten me away. Though the script is certainly easier than the Chinese, it is still more complicate than our basic 26 letters alphabet.
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LOL! Dont worry Malte! I dont have some major issues with a gang group of Triads or anything! PMSL!!! It's just that the phrases I know are very liable to strike up a brawl... nothing offensive but "Oni-guishimas! Go-shinjitsu! Turi...ooki!" I would be promptly expecting a punch launched at my head!!! (Spelling's not accurate but the phrase is correct)! :lol: :ph43r:
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No comprendo, senor. :P
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Hmm.. don't learn spanish it really stinks =p If there's a nice language to learn is Italian it's very melodical and cheerfull.. even though there aren't that many speakers
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Looking back I wish I took Latin in high school rather than French. :huh: Latin may be for the most part--dead--but it can help you with English or so I hear.
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I dunno about that! I took Latin as a part course in year 9 but dropped it part way through! Just didnt like it! The only word I can remember out of those classes was a word that my friend looked up whilst we were waiting for the teacher. It was along the lines of "titalantus". Apparently, if memory serves me well, it means "for that which desires (or needs) to be tickled"... Dont think I particularly want to develop on that but it was funny at the time and it ticked the teacher off something chronic!!! Just said it randomly in certain conversations and sentences... strangely enough, I dont think the teacher knew what it meant... :lol:
P.S. I love the way we've gone completely off the topic that this page has been initially setup for...PMSL! :D :P
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That's pretty typical for us. :P
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Actually I didn't find LBT 3 that bad at all. The plotline is alright with me, there are some spectacular scenes (I love the one where they step out on that ledge overlooking the Mysterious Beyond and discovering the water trapped there), some real dilemas for the characters (especially for Cera), and the kind of bullies most of us probably made their own experiences with.
The end was a bit like a "moral clup" (the bullies changed very extreme and very suddenly and the last part about sharing would have appeared less like a preach if if hadn't been squeezed into the last few minutes), but still I liked LBT 3.
Glad you like it! I do too. I consider it really underated, and I think it's tied with 4 as my faovrite. ;)
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Ice Age meets The Land Before Time. I don't remember much about this one except for Mr. Thicknose (who becomes important in series), the hot springs and fact the herds (including Mr. Threehorn) leave the Great Valley to find warmth, Spike getting semi-adopted, and the Sharptooth's animation being very similar to the Original. For some reason this felt like a holiday Land Before Time to me, one to watch in December.
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Movie 8 was okay not great I thought the plot was decent at most. The character Mr. Thicknose was alright even tho he lied a ton through out the movie about snow being fake and not real that put the gang in danger since cold kills plants and they had no food left at all. The songs I liked a lot they where all good songs. Very catchy and worth listening to as well.
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Movie 8 was okay not great I thought the plot was decent at most. The character Mr. Thicknose was alright even tho he lied a ton through out the movie about snow being fake and not real that put the gang in danger since cold kills plants and they had no food left at all. The songs I liked a lot they where all good songs. Very catchy and worth listening to as well.
It definitely was a nice change of climate for the genre. It highlighted the fact that kids think snow is cool and fun until they are freezing all time, and food becomes scarce.
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As with #7, this one was completely new to me.
Much like how the previous film focused on Petrie, here I liked that Ducky and Spike's relationship was explored, and Ducky's mother also had a nice supporting role. This is probably the most development any of them have had up to this point. Tippy's mother was a solid supporting character as well. Although I did find it just a bit too predictable that Spike's absence was going to be temporary, and that in the end he'd realize who his true family was and would go back to them. In particular, the scene where Spike falls under the ice and Ducky's mother dives in to save him felt unnecessary to me. It seemed like it was only there to establish a point that had already been established.
They did some really weird things about the colors. For example we had green skies, and changing color paterns of the main characters, which, though they may have served the purpose of showing that they were cold, seemed exaggerated.
I loved the look of the green skies. It may not have been realistic, per say, but it added a beautiful yet surreal aesthetic to the winter atmosphere of the film. I do agree though that the changing colour palette of the characters was exaggerated.
Another point I have to criticize about LBT 8 was the very poor sharptooth. Roll a snowball at it, and it won't dodge like Mr. Thicknose did, who was actually closer to that snowball. In fact they even have to thank the sharptooth for giving Mr. Thicknose the fright that chases him up that mountain. Gee, nothing like the really scary sharptooth we knew from the original movie.
Agreed. They could've done a better job with the sharptooth in this film. Even some of the other sharpteeth in the sequels were more threatening. :/
I likewise agree with some of the above comments about how everything seemed to happen too fast. Although for me it was weird, because this one felt both slow and rushed at the same time. There was a slow build-up to certain parts, like with winter actually arriving, and then the driving conflict of Spike leaving the Great Valley with the spiketail herd. Yet, those same parts also felt like they could've lasted longer and been more fleshed out. The LBT films are all quite short, and for some of them it works fine, but this one I wish had been longer. The central conflict seemed to end too quickly.
Ironically, despite the even slower pace, I thought LBT 3 was pretty good, and in fact one of the better sequels. It had solid character development and touched on some poignant themes. Which leads me to this...
Actually I didn't find LBT 3 that bad at all. The plotline is alright with me, there are some spectacular scenes (I love the one where they step out on that ledge overlooking the Mysterious Beyond and discovering the water trapped there), some real dilemas for the characters (especially for Cera), and the kind of bullies most of us probably made their own experiences with.
The end was a bit like a "moral clup" (the bullies changed very extreme and very suddenly and the last part about sharing would have appeared less like a preach if if hadn't been squeezed into the last few minutes), but still I liked LBT 3.
It is funny how different people like the movies. There are hardly any LBT fans to be found who favor or disfavor exactly the same LBT movies. And that's good the way it is!
Glad you like it! I do too. I consider it really underated, and I think it's tied with 4 as my faovrite. ;)
Once again, I agree. And yeah, regarding Malte's last point (which I highlighted), I've noticed that already with my time on the forum. The closest thing to a unanimous opinion is that most people seem to enjoy the first film the best. Aside from that, everyone has their own ranking of which sequels they do and don't enjoy. It's hard to single out which sequel is the most popular.
Some issues aside, I thought this was an enjoyable film all in all. The winter atmosphere was a great concept, and the overall plot was pretty good. As Gentle Sharptooth pointed out, it felt like a holiday film, one to watch in December. I'm pleased that, even with this many films, they are still finding ways to make them feel fresh and distinct. #6 was a western, #7 had aliens, and now #8 is winter themed.
I give this one a 6.75/10. (Update: Or maybe that rating is a bit too low. Overall I really liked this one.)
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I did my initial LBT movie sessions over the spring and summer of this year. Since then, I have seen a few of the films a second time. I wasn't originally planning to include #8 on my rewatch list, or at least not so soon. I was thinking that maybe I'd wait another year or so and then do all of the movies together on my next marathon.
However, I was in a conversation with Anagnos, OwlsCantRead, and Flathead770 recently, where we were talking about the part where the Gang builds a snowman of Spike. I said that, despite having watched the movie not that long ago, I didn't remember that part at all, and Flathead then suggested a rewatch was in order. I decided he was right, and so here I am. I just saw the movie again yesterday, and have compiled some new thoughts for my re-review. This was always one of my favourites of the series and so I was looking forward to seeing it again. :yes
(https://i.imgur.com/39ClecC.png?1)
The aforementioned scene also contains a lovely piece of music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roVO-4cmDVI), originally a cue from the seventh film. Thanks to Owls for showing this to me.
Anyway, I noticed that the film opens on Ducky & Spike, indicating them to be the main characters of this one. Right in the first few scenes, we see that Ducky is already tense with Spike (even before the other Spiketails show up), foreshadowing the film's conflict.
And this brings us to "The Mad Song".
:rolleye
This is a symptom of the issue I have with Cera in some of the later films, where I feel that she got a bit flanderized into being the "angry" member of the group. Normally she's my second favourite character, but still, that always kinda bugged me. Regardless, it does lead to a great moment later on when Ducky blames Cera for encouraging her to be angry in the first place. :DD More generally, I like the idea of exploring Ducky's darker side, contrasting with her normally sweet nature (which itself contrasts so much from Cera). It's an aspect of Ducky's character I wish had been shown further in the series.
Mr. Thicknose educating the kids at the beginning seems like it's their equivalent to school. They also do a good job at making his lecture come across painfully dull. :p
I've seen complaints about the film's pacing (which I even discussed myself in my original review), but I do like that the snowfall gets a slow build-up. Although I still wish that the second half of the film, after Spike leaves the valley, had lasted longer.
Mr. Threehorn is still quite mean, but we at least see he's no longer racist, as he tries to backtrack/clarify on his words when the Spiketails announce their departure from the valley, making it clear that he doesn't blame the Spiketails for the valley's predicament.
I was critical of the film before for its underwhelming Sharptooth, and I still think that's something that could've been done better. However, watching the film a second time and it made me realize; I don't feel that the Sharptooth was meant to be the true villain here. The central conflict comes from Ducky & Spike, and the harsh winter that descends upon the valley. Still, I think that the Sharptooth menace either should have been played up, or else removed entirely. The latter might've been better, in fact. They already managed to build a compelling story and provide a sense of danger without really needing to have a main 'villain.' The Sharptooth doesn't even show up until the 50-minute mark!
Despite the tense situation with Spike, I like that there's no animosity between Ducky's mother and Tippy's. I also love the scene later on after the Spiketails have journeyed beyond the valley, when they start sliding around and crashing into each other. A classic moment for sure.
Another great moment:
Mr. Thicknose: "Am I correct in understanding that you're going into the Mysterious Beyond? Without your parents' permission?"
Cera: "No."
Petrie: "Yes."
Littlefoot: "Maybe."
*Mr. Thicknose glares silently at them.*
Littlefoot: "Okay, yes."
I kinda wish Spike had departed for good at the end with the Spiketail herd, while still resolving his conflict with Ducky by having them part amiably. It would've meant splitting up the iconic Gang for the rest of the series and the creators/writers almost certainly wouldn't have wanted that. But I do think it would have made for a much more bittersweet and emotional ending, and ultimately a more impactful film.
Still, I like this one a lot. One of the most atmospheric in the series.