LBT Book question/movie storyline

[Highsoar]

Does anyone know why the movie storyline was changed from what's in the books? I requested the movie storybook through interlibrary loan, and I once had copies of the two shorter books (I believe I still have one but the other's gone) I'm curious why the storyline was changed to edit out the part about Littlefoot finding the valley, then turning back to get the others to it. Plus why the part about the oasis in the movie storybook was cut from the actual movie.

ETA: Second question: How many times has the movie been released on video? My version has the Pizza Hut ad in the beginning with the party...don't think I'll ever forget that thing lol. And it had a box rather than a case. Then there was the later one in the case...the DVD...were there more?

[Malte279]

I suppose they changed the part about Littlefoot finding the Great Valley after the quarrel with Cera in order to safe the Discovery of the Great Valley for the end. The Discovery of the Great Valley is probably the most central moment of the movie. They probably felt that after the discovery of the Valley as the great climax the audiences attention would drift away even with all that was yet to come (the fight with the Sharptooth), as the audience would have already had their "look on the blessed land" so to speak.
The change must have been made really late though (perhaps even after Steven Spielberg and George Lucas had upset Don Bluth by taking out all the "scary" Sharptooth scenes) as it can still be found in several books issued in 1988 ("The Land before Time - The Illustrated Story", "The Search for the Great Valley", "Friends in Need") and a file issued to the press back then also included pictures from those deleted scenes.

I have no idea about the number of rereleases though

[Akiko]

That is an interesting thought...no idea why they changed it either, although what Malte279 said makes the most sense to me. I have "Friends in Need" myself...somewhere in my room. :unsure: (it's hard to find anything in there  :)  

Hey, my copy is the exact same way! That pizza hut commercial...we're gonna party, party right now. Hah! Childhood memories from that, I'll always keep my original vhs.

I'm also not sure how many other versions they came out with, though.

[Petrie.]

Ah, yes we never really forget that Pizza Hut commercial.  Unfortunately, I don't like their pizza really that much, sure not "making it great" like they used to.  

Could been for the plot flow---if you see the Great Valley first, then go away, its kind of like...wha???  Just may as well lead up to the climatic finish.

[Malte279]

On the other hand it would have shown Littlefoot's being really a great friend. In spite of Cera committing what he must have felt as the worst offense possible, and in spite of finding "paradise", he still refuses to enter but rather risks his life to bring the others there. While the original version would have had the climax in the middle of the story, it still would have made more sense in some ways.
We don't get any explanation whatsoever for Littlefoot straying from the way which he knows is right in the movie as we know it. The original version of the movie also would have provided the necessity to kill Sharptooth who was lurking around the Great Valley's entrance.
I suppose they should have created at least a new scene to explain Littlefoot's turning back. It would have been an improvement.

[Akiko]

Yeah, I actually like Little Caesars pizza more, Petrie  

I guess there's no chance of these alternitive scenes showing up on a dvd version sometime in the future? I'd worry they couldn't capture the same look and feel of the original, honestly...but it would really be cool to revisit it and get a glimpse of unseen or cut sections of the story.

I'm not sure why, I love the idea of characters revisiting memorable places that they came across in original films...in the case of LBT, I think the tunnel Littlefoot and the others first entered the Great Valley through is one of those places...or how about along one of their trips into the "mysterious beyond" happening across the rock that looks like a long neck, or that place where they found some green leaves...or the pool where they finally won against Sharptooth...I wonder Chomper's reaction to that. :blink:

It may be a little strange, but I think that kind of thing is cool. Of course, only people who pay really close attention to the original movie might notice. :

On the note of cut scenes, I for one would love to see these "scary Sharptooth" moments that weren't allowed into the movie...but I will admit that Sharptooth scared me a lot as a child though.

[Malte279]

I'm not sure why, I love the idea of characters revisiting memorable places that they came across in original films...in the case of LBT, I think the tunnel Littlefoot and the others first entered the Great Valley through is one of those places...or how about along one of their trips into the "mysterious beyond" happening across the rock that looks like a long neck, or that place where they found some green leaves...or the pool where they finally won against Sharptooth...I wonder Chomper's reaction to that.

I like the idea of such a return to the sites of the original movie and I'm working on one story which includes such a return (I must admit though that with all the studies and stuff to be done it is one thing working on a story and another thing to finish it :unsure:). Of course the story must have a more concrete reason for the group to return to what seems to be one of the least inhabitable regions of the Mysterious Beyond than mere nostalgica
I thought of a scene in which Littlefoot and the others have to cross the place where his mother died. I expect it would be very hard for him. I'm not quite happy with the plans I have in mind for such a scene as it would probably be a bit to "flowery".
I never thought of including Chomper in the story and I'm afraid he wouldn't fit in. There is a return of Pterano in it though.

I guess there's no chance of these alternitive scenes showing up on a dvd version sometime in the future? I'd worry they couldn't capture the same look and feel of the original, honestly...but it would really be cool to revisit it and get a glimpse of unseen or cut sections of the story.

I agree completely, but I'm afraid there is very little (if any) chance to ever get such a DvD version with cut material. Apart from the early discovery of the Great Valley and the scary sharptooth scenes there must have been another scene right after Spike's birth. Images of that scene were published and displayed in cinema showcases. We can only guess about the content of the scene, but as it shows Ducky holding a stick with red berries close to Spike's nose (the stick is still shown in the movie in the scene which follows Spike's hatching), it is a good guess to assume that in this scene Ducky gets Spike to stand up and lures him to follow them.
In the illustrated land before time book of 1988 there is a scene suggesting that Cera had some objections against taking Spike along (whether or not they were part of the cut scene we can't know):

"You are a spike-tail, so I will call you Spike," Ducky said.
The rest of the group came running up. "This is my new friend Spike," said Ducky. "Can we take him with us? Huh? Huh?"
"He'll slow us down," Cera said. "All spike-tails can do is eat and burp. Sharptooth will catch up and eat us!"
"No more dumb stories," Littlefoot said sternly.
"I'm telling the truth!" Cera cried.
Over Cera's protests Spike joined the group.

[Akiko]

That sounds like an interesting story idea! I'd sure love to read it, and I really enjoy any reference made to the gang's original journey and to Littlefoot's mother. If you get it done or have anything of it posted yet, I'd love to check it out (I know what you mean there though, I've found myself starting several projects and then just either not having the time or getting too caught up in other things to concentrate on it).

As for probably never getting to see the scenes not included in the original, at least we have fan fiction and fan art...in my personal experiance, sometimes fan stories/roleplays written by people like us are better than the sequels themselves. If one has a good hold and understanding on the story and the characters, imagination can be the best ticket into "seeing" things we may otherwise not get to.

That's really neat too about the scene with Spike, if I have that particular book then I've forgotten that part; I'm pretty sure the only illustrated LBT book I have a copy of for certain is "Friends in Need" (found it at a garage sale years ago, it's so fun (despite the odd looks you might get) to search for treasures from movies like LBT and TLK at thrift shops and yard sales   )

[pokeplayer984]

"He'll slow us down," Cera said. "All spike-tails can do is eat and burp. Sharptooth will catch up and eat us!"

Definately sounds like something Cera would say in the first movie.

[Littlefoot1616]

Hey gang!

Malte, is this the same LBt storybook you showed me when you came over? For some reason, this LBT storybook you guys are talking about seems to be a bit more in depth than I remember seeing in the book you showed me. Maybe I'm mistaken. Also, the inclusion of these "seemingly editted" areas of the book in comparsion to the film, reckon it could be possible that this is the written version that Tony Geiss and Judy Freudberg originally devised before/after the movie was produced? Since they were responsible for the initial character designs and story weren't they? Or perhaps even the book's plot was slightly altered for the film. E.g. the Oasis scene was adapted to the, I call, "the Dinosaur Totem Scene" where the gang forage for what's left after the longneck herd demolish that little grove of trees. Do we know which was created first? The book or the movie? Or could they have both been produced in tandem? The reason I suggest this is coz of the amount that was editted from LBT1 in the first place. Things like, the fact that the "Sharptooth Footprint Sleeping Scene"... why is that musical sequence not present in the soundtrack? The editting procedure seems a bit "lapsy-daisy" with a number of different versions or sections present through different mediums.

[Malte279]

I am not certain, but I propably took the book along on my visit in 2004. It is certainly one of the most interesting sources for "LBT historians"  
The text of the book was not written by Judy Freudberg & Tony Geiss. The cover says "Adapted by Jim Razzi From a Story by Judy Freudberg & Tony Geiss".
While they didn't write it themselves I still take it for more likely than not that this book comes closer to the original story idea of Mrs. Freudberg and Mr. Geiss. Somewhere (I think it was in an article of Don Bluth's Toon Talk magazine, but I would have to check it out to be certain about it) it was mentioned that the original idea was to stress the topic of racism much more than was ultimately done. Cera was not originally meant to be the only one with resentments against other species. While the book does not mention any racism on the part of anyone but Cera, it includes that Oasis chapter, in which the stupidity of the racism is shown very distinctly. There is no hint whatsoever that the Oasis scene was ever produced. If the claims, about Don Bluth's original plan of making the land before time about 35 minutes longer than it is now, are true I consider it very, very likely that the Oasis scene was part of the original concept. A short version of the Oasis scene is also included in the book "Friends in Need". This is the longer version in the illustrated book:

A long time passed and the brave little group was getting more tired and hungry with each plodding step. At least they left the mountains behind. Now they were in a hot, sandy desert.
"I tired," moaned Petrie. "Way to Great Valley too great way."
"We're almost there," cried Littlefoot. "Don't give up now."
Suddenly Spike became alert and sniffed the air.
"He must smell food," said Ducky. "It's the only thing that would wake him up."
Spike snorted and galloped over a small hill. The others followed, staring in wonder at what they saw. There was a small spring of water surrounded by a group of thin gray-noses (Another word for Ducky's sort). Near the spring but standing apart was a cluster of trees full of delicious-looking green-food, surrounded by a group of fat crown-heads. Littlefoot and the others raced down the hill, yelling and cheering. But they got closer, they saw the hard looks on everybody's face, and the cheers died in their throats.
A stern-looking gray-nose came up to them and said, "What do you want, little ones?"
"Food!", Littlefoot cried.
"And water, yep, yep," Ducky added.
A fat crown-head waddled up and said, "No food!"
"You may drink," said the grey-nose to Ducky. "You are a big-mouth like us. But," he continued pointing at the rest of the group, "no water for them."
"But they need drinks, too!" Ducky protested. They're my friends."
"These are your friends?" said the fat crown-head. "A threehorn? A longneck, a spike-tail and" - he pointed to Petrie - "and whatever that is."
"Yes, run away quickly," said the grey-nose to Ducky, "before spikes and horns grow on you."
Cera couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had never realized before how foolish it was to dislike someone just because he looked different. All she knew now was that they all needed food and water. She reared up her head and said firmly, "We're hungry! All of us!"
The thin grey-nose stared at her. "And so are we," he finally said.
"Then why don't you share the water with the crown-heads?" said Littlefoot. "And they could share the food with you. Then you wouldn't be hungry and they wouldn't be thirsty."
"No, no, no," said the crown-head and the grey-nose at the same time.
"Well, if you don't change your minds, all of you will die," said Cera.
"Why don't you like each other anyway?" Ducky asked.
"The crown-heads are from the other side of the swamp," said the gray-nose.
"I don't see anything wrong with that," said Littlefoot.
"This is silly. I'm hungry," cried Cera. "Let's go somewhere else to look for food together." And with that the small group marched away. The grey-nose shook his head. "I'll never understand those young ones," he said. The crown-head nodded and went back to guard the food.

Your theory about the Oasis scene being an alternative to the "dinosaur totem" is quite likely. The shorter version of the Oasis scene in "Friends in Need" is illustrated with pictures from the group spotting the copse of trees to be eaten away by those longnecks. "Friends in Need" generally mixes up the sequence of some events mentioning the footprint scene, followed by the rock that looks like a longneck, followed by the burning mountains, followed by the Oasis scene, followed by the quarrel between Cera and Littlefoot.
This is the Oasis scene from Friends in Need:

They finally came through the ash storm into a bleak desert. They were all terribly tired, hungy, and thirsty.
Spike suddenly sniffed the air.
"What is it, Spike? Food?" Cera cried.
"Maybe it's the Great Valley!" yelled Ducky.
Spike just snorted and ran over a nearby hill. Following him close behind, the others reached the far side of the hill and looked down on a green oasis with trees and water. But something was wrong. A bunch of thin gray-noses were guarding the water, and a bunch of fat crown-heads were guardng the trees.
"Can we eat and drink?" asked Cera.
"Only our own kind can eat," said a crown head.
"Yes," said a gray-nose. "And only our kind can drink."
"Why don't you share the food and water with each other?" asked Littlefoot.
"No, no, we can't do that," said the gray-nose and the crown head together. "Gray-noses and crown-heads are different from each other."
Cera didn't believe her ears. "Well, then, you will all die," she said. "Let's leave and find our own food and water!"
After searching and searching, all they found was a deep rocky crater. Cera's words seemed empty. Cera insisted on following her own path to the Great Valley. "No!" cried Littlefoot. "We have to stick together or we'll all fail - just like those crown-heads and gray-noses back there."

[pokeplayer984]

In this case, I do not understand WHY they cut out some of the scenes then.  It was pretty unnessacary if you ask me. I probably would've enjoyed the extra 35 minutes.  And who knows, maybe LBT would've been more popular with those scenes. :^.^:

[Malte279]

I agree, but apparently some people in charge thought differently. The webpage on which the 35 minute plan was mentioned (and it was only one webpage, so the content has to be taken with a grain of salt) claims that those who decided against the additional 35 minutes thought that the attention of kids couldn't be kept that long. LBT is rather short if compared to other animated movies of the time. The url of the page mentioning the 35 minutes was www.gokufievel.koolhost.com/land.htm, but it doesn't seem to be around anymore.
However, I copied and saved the text of the page back then. This is what it said:

"Bluth wanted this to be a big film, but according to an eyewitness named Troy Howell (He's on the special thanks list) he said that Bluth was ripped off in this film. He wanted it to be a big long film. Yet the studios took away over 35 minutes of the movie! This outraged Bluth, but the studios had to narrow it down because a child's attention span goes no further than an hour and 20 minutes. I agree with Bluth, that his film should have gone the whole nine yards. It's not just about the kids, about us fans too you know!"

[Akiko]

Wow, wow...I agree, why on earth didn't they keep that in there? :blink: It would've added so much to the story, characters and message of the movie in general. I think it's a real shame they did that, and the reason "kids don't have a long enough attention span" is just as crazy as the gray-noses and the crown-heads. : I think people don't give kids enough credit...perhaps this is true of very young children (say infants and toddlers), but I think your average nine year old deserves more credit than that; when I was nine if something caught my attention it could hold me for hours. :

I feel sorry for don bluth here, his works always amaze me and I feel LBT could've had so much more to it. It wasn't intended to be a preschool/toddler movie, but a family movie; thus the "attention spans" (or lack there of) of such young children shouldn't have had such a huge effect on the movie's length or content. It would truly be lovely to someday see the original creators get together and animate out these wonderful scenes for all the fans, maybe even return the movie to the theatres with the added scenes. Well, it's a nice thought anyways.  

[pokeplayer984]

Wow, wow...I agree, why on earth didn't they keep that in there? :blink: It would've added so much to the story, characters and message of the movie in general. I think it's a real shame they did that, and the reason "kids don't have a long enough attention span" is just as crazy as the gray-noses and the crown-heads. : I think people don't give kids enough credit...perhaps this is true of very young children (say infants and toddlers), but I think your average nine year old deserves more credit than that; when I was nine if something caught my attention it could hold me for hours. :

I feel sorry for don bluth here, his works always amaze me and I feel LBT could've had so much more to it. It wasn't intended to be a preschool/toddler movie, but a family movie; thus the "attention spans" (or lack there of) of such young children shouldn't have had such a huge effect on the movie's length or content. It would truly be lovely to someday see the original creators get together and animate out these wonderful scenes for all the fans, maybe even return the movie to the theatres with the added scenes. Well, it's a nice thought anyways.  

Sadly, that cannot be, as some of the original team is dead.  Either dead by being killed, disease or natural death. :cry2

*sighs* If you ask me Malte, the reason is just ridiculous.

[Malte279]

I agree. With 67 minutes the land before time is considerably shorter than other animated movies of that time, which tended to be about 80 to 90 minutes in length, e.g. such as "All Dogs go to heaven" (89 minutes), An American Tail (80 minutes). I still hope that the old footage of the scenes which were produced is still kept in some archive, but I must admit I'm rather pessimistic because of one answer once given on a request for a 20th anniversary edition with deleted scenes on Don Bluth's webpage:

The year 2008 will mark the 20th year anniversary of The Land Before Time, and I was curious if you know of any plans on the part of Universal to make a special edition DVD release. I know that there were some scenes which were trimmed or edited for the final film, and it would be nice, if the artwork still remains, to see what these additional sequences would have been like. Also, if it would be possible, it would be wonderful to have an audio commentary for this film at last. I know I am not alone in saying that it is one of the most heartbreaking and beautiful animated films not only of the 1980s but of all time, and I would love to see it receive a worthy treatment on DVD. Best regards and good thoughts for the future, - Nicholas R. Zabaly

Reply: Nicholas, Thank you for writing. As far as we know, there are no plans for a re-issue of The Land Before Time (1988). But then, they didn't notify us when they did the 15th anninversary DVD release of the film. The original footage that was cut from the film was not kept in the archives of editorial, therefore is lost forever. So, we are pretty sure there will be no effort to remake elements that would have been in the original release. Thank you so much for the kind words. All the best to you and your career. Regards.