Uncut version

[Evan Smith]

So Ive heard a rumour that in 1995 and 1998 Finnish Television broadcast an uncut version of The Land Before Time. This is backed up by an article on Wikipedia and various people telling me they remember watching it.
I also heard that a German television station broadcasts the uncut version every year
I would love to see the uncut version, but from what I gather Don Bluth was made to scrap nearly 10 minutes of footage because it was too violent by Spielberg. Since Spielberg also replaced guns with radios in E.T, hes unlikely to ever release the footage, and Universal are unlikely to replace any 'scary' footage since theyre trying to make LBT as kid friendly as possible.
According to Bluth, the footage has all been destroyed. But how can this be, when certain deleted scenes can be seen in the trailer and we have the apparent uncut bradcasts in '98 and '95. I wonder if anyone recorded these airings. I doubt we can ever find all 10 minutes of uncut footage, as much of the cut footage will have been cut before it was animated. But we know not all of it was, due to prints and footage from the trailer

In short, the uncut version must still exist to this day, in the form of the versions Finnish and German TV own, and in the form of recordings from the '95 and '98 airings
Now how do we go about tracking them down?
Where do we go to find people who recorded the uncut version?
Can we petition the German and Finnish TV stations?
Can we petition Spielberg or Universial?

[Kor]

I'm not sure if any members here live or know anyone who lives in Finland, but Malte lives, or use to live, in Germany.  Not sure if he still does or not.   You can pm him about that.  

As for the trailers, it may be due to that was either made as the movie was made.  Though I've heard that at least some movie trailers are made by a different company or team that makes the movie.  No idea if it is true or not.

[WeirdRaptor]

I hate to play cynic again, but if we were ever going to see it, we would have by now.

[Dilopho]

I am from Germany and this version is the full cut movie. That it is uncut is only a rumour, because someone has read that the playtime is 75 minutes.

And if you look into some other forums, even the Don Bluth animation forum, some people state that they own records of the 1995 airing from Finnland and it is also full cut. So this could also be a rumour.

[Malte279]

I also heard that a German television station broadcasts the uncut version every year

Indeed this is only a rumor (I'm from Germany too), while for all we know from our Finnish members an uncut version, or at least one containing a number of scenes not found in the English or German version of the movie has been aired there in the past. So far our Finnish members haven't had a chance to record one of these extended airings of LBT though.

[Petrie85]

Yeah so the whole uncut movie could be a rumor. And maybe Don is right maybe he did actually delete the footage the he cut from they movie.

[Allicloud]

Yeah so the whole uncut movie could be a rumor. And maybe Don is right maybe he did actually delete the footage the he cut from they movie.

Well, delete wouldn't really be the correct term, since the film was made back during the days of physical rolls of film. But yeah, your point still stands.

In those days, the term for removing footage from a film for good would be that the footage "Ends up on the cutting room floor", since the lengths of film are physically snipped off the final reel, most likely swept away with the garbage.

But still, they said the same things about Fritz Lang's Metropolis, and they're finding new cut footage from that all the time. So, I'm not quite giving up hope altogether. I'm just keeping the possibility of an ucut version existing somewhere, as a pleasant forethought.

[Pikkutassu]

Yeah so the whole uncut movie could be a rumor. And maybe Don is right maybe he did actually delete the footage the he cut from they movie.

No I don't think so. I simply remember them too well, and I found out many scenes that were in my mind, but was not sure, on the cels I discovered later. And those dialogues in books, exactly as I remembered, even how the characters said them.

[pokeplayer984]

I am not going to say that I don't believe you, (I've pretty much given up hope for an uncut version to happen myself.) but I will say that your "evidence" isn't really all that sound.

First off, the fact that it comes from Wikipedia, a site ANYONE can edit.  I do understand that the mods there have started taking their job more seriously then back when it was first made, but things can still slip through.  A lie still pops up there every now and then, and sadly, I do recall "The Land Before Time" being abused of lies for some time. (The infamous "Growing Sky Stone" rumor, anyone?) So yeah, with Wikipedia, I really don't trust it all that much.

Second, why would they choose to do an uncut version in Finnish or German, but not other languages?  If it did exist, did it not do well or something?  They could've at least done a special in every language.  It would be the reasonable thing to do in the end.  Really, I don't believe the one-time airing deal.  It just doesn't add up.

Finally, there is a piece of evidence that makes it sway towards it never happening.  Something only a number of us members know.  Basically, Don Bluth did a podcast once where he answered some questions about his career.  One of the mods here went to the length of asking what happened to the scenes that were cut out.  Don Bluth commented that the last one to have the footage for it was Steven Spielberg.  No one's sure what Spielberg did with them.  On the off-chance they are in a vault, we await the day they are released to the world.  Still, there's no telling what happened to those scenes at all.

Add on the fact others have stated that they haven't found anything, it just really doesn't add up.

A part of me does want to believe you, but there's just too much evidence here.  I'm sorry.

[Petrie85]

That's fine. And part of me also wants to believe that there really is a uncut version of the movie is still out there. I bet somewhere deep into the vault it exist's someplace. I want to believe that. I really do. But where do we look to find the uncut. If Finland and other countries like Germany and else where don't have it where else could it be? We have to fine the answers out. And go look for it some place. I'm sure it's out there still. It's got to be.

[Dilopho]

Yeah so the whole uncut movie could be a rumor. And maybe Don is right maybe he did actually delete the footage the he cut from they movie.

No I don't think so. I simply remember them too well, and I found out many scenes that were in my mind, but was not sure, on the cels I discovered later. And those dialogues in books, exactly as I remembered, even how the characters said them.

Hm, you remember the words of dialogues from 15+ years ago?


At the moment, with all that disappointments, I tend to believe the best we can hope for is that there either is some kind of uncut press release or Bluth/one of his team members has a hidden personal copy that someday will be discovered in the estate.

[Pikkutassu]

Yeah so the whole uncut movie could be a rumor. And maybe Don is right maybe he did actually delete the footage the he cut from they movie.

No I don't think so. I simply remember them too well, and I found out many scenes that were in my mind, but was not sure, on the cels I discovered later. And those dialogues in books, exactly as I remembered, even how the characters said them.

Hm, you remember the words of dialogues from 15+ years ago?


At the moment, with all that disappointments, I tend to believe the best we can hope for is that there either is some kind of uncut press release or Bluth/one of his team members has a hidden personal copy that someday will be discovered in the estate.

I have watched the tape in the 00's too... yeah I remember especially how Cera says sharptooth will eat them if they take spike with them and the yelling argument after that. Heck I even remember the background how cera comes from the long grass.

[Sovereign]

How much do you remember of other deleted scenes? Do you possibly remember dialogue or something from them? You haven't really told about deleted footage other than dialogue from extended Spike hatching scene.

[WeirdRaptor]

Are we really still on this? Guys, even if it does exist....we're never going to see it.

[jansenov]

There was an journal entry in January this year on Deviantart by Shuvuuia, a person from Finland who read Pikkutassu's comments on some other forum and decided to investigate the rumor of the 1995 airing. According to him/her, an old issue of Helsingin Sanomat (a Finnish daily), released on the day of the airing, stated that the movie was 60 minutes long. However, he/she also asked some of his/her friends about the airing, and they also remembered in vivid detail parts of dialogue and scenes that weren't supposed to be there. So, either the journalists quoted the wrong data (for example, a 1988 Washington Post article stated the duration of the movie to be 80 minutes), or we are witnessing a mass psychological phenomenon. Also, it would be useful if somebody with a deviantart account would contact this person.

Also, regarding the German airing, according to Prisma TV, a German online TV program, the first movie was aired on Super RTL in 2002, 2004, 2009, 2010 and 2011. On Super RTL a feature movie is usually reprised at next day's afternoon without the commercials. End credits are usually not shown due to a tight schedule. On Prisma TV one can see that the Saturday afternoon airings in 2010 and 2011 were 60 minutes long, but those in 2002 and 2004 were 65 minutes long. In 2009 LBT was shown only on Friday evening.

I remember seeing the alternate ending and the berry scene. I'm not saying this isn't group psychology at work (though it is unlikely becuase of geographical and temporal distances involved), but something stinks here.

http://www.prisma.de/fernsehen/tv.html?cid...&day=2002-09-28
http://www.prisma.de/fernsehen/tv.html?cid...&day=2004-01-03
http://www.prisma.de/fernsehen/tv.html?cid...&day=2004-05-08
http://www.prisma.de/fernsehen/tv.html?cid...&day=2010-07-04
http://www.prisma.de/fernsehen/tv.html?cid...&day=2011-05-22

And I reluctantly agree with WeirdRaptor. I'm afraid that we as a communtiy are too small to make a difference and that too much time has passed.

[Waluigifan]

Well, I watched Super RTL in my childhood, and I'm sure I watched the 2002 and 2004 airings with my friends, but I can't remember any of the lost scenes, if there were lost scenes.

The movie was aired at the "Cartoon Special" on Friday evening. Super RTL used to have a "Cartoon Special" or even a "Cartoon Night" every Friday. Ah, the good old days...

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

So there's an extended Spike hatching scene...does it show him growing bigger or something?

[Justin1993]

So there's an extended Spike hatching scene...does it show him growing bigger or something?

No. The extended Spike's birth scene is after Spike falls asleep after eating his nest, Littlefoot, Cera, and Petrie find Ducky and she asks them if Spike can go with them. Littlefoot doesn't mind but Cera does not want him to come because she thinks he will slow them down.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

So at the point where the scene occurs Spike is already---it's already happened,, he's already his "normal" size?

[jansenov]

So at the point where the scene occurs Spike is already---it's already happened,, he's already his "normal" size?

Exactly.