Was it altogether for Littlefoot's mother to die?

WeirdRaptor · **on:** November 24, 2004, 11:15:03 PM

Well, sure, it gave him a reason to keep going, so his circle of life could someday be complete, but do you think he could have made it without her death. You know, if she'd just simply got stuck on the other side of the divide?

Just a simply question.

Edit: The title actually was supposed to say "Was it altogether necessary for Littlefoot's mother to die".

Malte279 · **Reply #1 on:** November 25, 2004, 02:51:02 AM

I'm quite sure that if Littlefoot's mother had survived and just ended up on the other side of the the divide, Littlefoot would've taken every effort to get to the Great Valley, not only because of the Valley, but also in order to see her again. One remarkable thing by the way is, that Cera did "talk" to her parents on the other side of the divid (calling them at least), while Littlefoot apparently didn't.

Petrie · **Reply #2 on:** November 25, 2004, 08:40:47 AM

Well, had she not passed on into dino heaven, there would've been no film and we wouldn't be having this discussion because Littlefoot would have never learned what he did by meeting and becoming friends with other species.

So if his mother was still alive he'd be open to all those prejudices about other species that she had grown up with.

Threehorn · **Reply #3 on:** November 25, 2004, 11:01:02 AM

Littlefoot was with his mother just before the break you see with Cera. Cera runs towards her parents before the break and Littlefoot at this time is with his mother and the final push pulled them apart till the sence in the rain seeing his mother die.

-Threehorn

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #4 on:** November 25, 2004, 03:34:45 PM

True. Very true, guys.

It was just an interesting idea I had

Oh and Arvens: Spielberg, Lucas, and Bluth would still have figured out a way to have a film. They don't call them "filmmaking geniuses" for nothing, you know? Plus, don't you ever notice how Littlefoot's Grandparents changed their views of the prejudice somewhere between the original and the sequels. Littlefoot's mom was intelligent, I think. I think that her getting used to being with other types of dinosaurs could have been an interesting sub-plot somewhere down the road.

Petrie · **Reply #5 on:** November 27, 2004, 10:26:42 AM

I actually don't think Littlefoot's grandparents had much of a choice...many were travelling to the Great Valley so they all were probably together for some time and they learned to like each other along the way. *shrugs* It would've been much harder to make the story work the way it did with Littlefoot's mother there. Littlefoot needed the reliance of other species to make it to the Great Valley...had that need not been there, it's possible he might not have made it.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #6 on:** November 27, 2004, 05:17:03 PM

Right, and with his mother and grandparents on theother side of the divide. He would have done the same thing. After all, Ducky and Petrie were willing to set aside differences almost right away. Plus, Littlefoot is the inarguably the most intelligent of that group, and he really didn't like the idea of species segregation, anyway.

Malte279 · **Reply #7 on:** November 27, 2004, 05:32:12 PM

My version of how the herds came together would be, that it was the great earthquake (which made no differences among kinds when it tore herds and families apart), which mainly made the different kinds move togerther on their migration to the Great Valley (as shown in LBT 7).
As for the flyers, I think that they may have been sort of a special case, not as much into this segregation thing. Here are two short excerpts from the prologue of my current LBT story Old Threehorns which deal with this. As for the flyers:

Quote

One exception by this segregation; an exception Tritus took by himself always as a proof that his thoughts were right; were the flyers. Most dinosaurs didn’t really count the flyers as dinosaurs at all as they had so few in common with them. The flyers didn’t avoid any other kind of dinosaurs. That was not because they hadn’t had this feeling of superiority of the own kind when they flew high up looking down at that giant lizards, that seemed to be so clumsily compared with themselves, but because the flyers had learned that they could profit from the walking dinosaurs and these could profit from the flyers. A flyer who could tell the walkers about the terrain around, about other herds nearby or who could even warn of dangers ahead like sharpteeth was welcome by the herds of the walking dinosaurs. On the other hand the flyers gladly shared their knowledge about the environs with those walking dinosaurs for they knew that this would gain them a save sleeping place among the bigger dinosaurs, something that couldn’t be underrated in the waste lands where sharpteeth were hunting even at nights and easily could catch a sleepy flyer who hadn’t chosen a resting place within a herd of walking dinosaurs or on a tree high enough to be out of a sharpteeth range in its top, but those trees had become rare in the waste lands. Sometimes the flyers even got a share of food if the herd had found some. But there was another thing the dinosaurs exchanged with the flyers; news. Herds told the flyers of what they had seen, heard or experienced and the flyers would tell it the next herd they would reach and that herd could be of a different kind than the one where the flyer had spend the night before. Thus news, tales and rumors were kind of common possession among the herds although they varied and changed very much when they were spread by the flyers among the herds. However, one tale was told more and more frequently in the waste lands and the tale hardly altered although it soon became the most often told story of all. It was the tale of the Great Valley.

And as for the aftermath of the big earthquake:

Quote

And there in this terrible desolation and hopelessness Tritus old ideas were realized. The earthquake hadn’t made any difference between the kinds of dinosaurs. Herds and families of longnecks, spikedtails, clubtails, thornthumbs and even flyers were torn apart as well as those of threehorns. The common misery brought them all together and in this worst of all times they finally found they had the same purpose; to reach the Great Valley and to life on; and that their chances to reach this purpose would be better if they stuck together now.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #8 on:** November 29, 2004, 02:02:12 AM

I don't quite see how that effects littefoot and the others while separated from them, but okay.

If there is anything that looks unkind in the above comments, I meant no offense.

Malte279 · **Reply #9 on:** November 29, 2004, 04:43:11 AM

You are perfectly right about this having no direct effect on Littlefoot and the others. However, the prologue of the the story is more focused on the characters I invented myself, one of whom is a grownup from whose point of view the prologue is told. The only of the maincharacter mentioned in the prologue is Cera.
But in a sense one could say that this unification of the herds (including the grownups) is similar to what Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike experienced.

Petrie · **Reply #10 on:** November 29, 2004, 09:39:44 AM

Quote

Right, and with his mother and grandparents on theother side of the divide. He would have done the same thing. After all, Ducky and Petrie were willing to set aside differences almost right away. Plus, Littlefoot is the inarguably the most intelligent of that group, and he really didn't like the idea of species segregation, anyway.

Hmm...no guarantees she would've been on the other side since she was with Littlefoot through much of the earthquake scene whereas the grandparents were clearly not. True, Ducky and Petrie were indifferent to spicies--they were just looking for friends...any friends.

Malte, that is an excellent response. In times of peril they all come together regardless of status, class, race etc. It has happened before (i.e. 9/11) so you do prove a point there.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #11 on:** November 30, 2004, 01:35:11 AM

Arvens, it was a movie. It IS guaranteed that she would have been on the other side of the divide.

Plus, just like Littlefoot's Grandparents, she would have had to accept the other creatures as they were. Why should it have to be Littlefoot who never saw his mother again, whereas Cera, Ducky, and Petrie all had families to go back to. As for Spike, well, until LBT, he showed no discontentment.

F-14 Ace · **Reply #12 on:** December 03, 2005, 01:14:03 AM

I think if Littlefoot's mother had not died, she would have Littlefoot and Ducky and the others to be friends. I mean, if she had survived or something, surly she and Littlefoot would not have left the kids to fend for them selves. I know she wasn't heartless.

action9000 · **Reply #13 on:** December 04, 2005, 09:26:45 PM

An example of this too, was when, in LBT 1, Cera and Littlefoot were falling down the cliffside just above Sharptooth. Littlefoot's Mother grabbed both Cera and Littlefoot from danger, and brought them to safety. In serious matters, I'm sure that Littlefoot's mother would be more than reasonable when it came to different species working together, especially towards common protection or survival.

Malte279 · **Reply #14 on:** December 05, 2005, 03:34:26 AM

I still think there is a difference between saving someone's life when you have a (rather riskfree) chance to do so, and becoming really good friends in the process as Littlefoot and the others did. Not saving Cera in that situation would have required really a great deal of indifference.
I am not saying that Littlefoot's mother was a hardcore racist (as I said before she might have learned just like his grandparents), but I do think there would have been a different friendship between Littlefoot and the others (if any) had his mother survived.

F-14 Ace · **Reply #15 on:** December 11, 2005, 01:57:39 PM

Hey, do they ever talk about his mother in any sequal other than LBT 10?

Malte279 · **Reply #16 on:** December 11, 2005, 03:41:58 PM

There is a mention in LBT 9 when Littlefoot says he wished his mother had given him a brother. Also there is sort of a cloud image of her in the sky that moment, but nothing like the one we saw in the original movie.
Also there is a line in the LBT 5 song "Always There" which certainly refers to Littlefoot's mother:

Quote

I remember now
like it was yesterday
she would hold me close
and then I heard her say
'You know I'll never leave you
you can find me everywhere
in the morning light
and evening star
I'm always there

The twinkling "evening star" in that particular scene might also be a reference to her.

F-14 Ace · **Reply #17 on:** December 13, 2005, 11:26:39 PM

Sothey mentioned her in LBT 9? I haven't seen LBT 9 or 11. Were they any good?

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #18 on:** December 14, 2005, 02:50:03 AM

9 is pretty good, 11 is decent.

Malte279 · **Reply #19 on:** December 14, 2005, 06:19:31 AM

^ I agree. For my part LBT 9 was the best LBT movie that has been produced in recent years. LBT 11 was not bad either. Not as good as LBT 9 with more points to criticize, but still not bad. If you want to know more F-14 Ace Im quite sure there are threads about both movies.