What happened after LBT X?

[NewOrder]

This might be an unpopular opinion, but after rewatching all the sequels (I'm still going to watch XIII tonight, but we all know what that's like), I came to realize that V through X aren’t actually that bad. VI and VIII are probably the runts of the litter, but all the others are pretty good and even have an escalating rise in quality throughout the years, that’s until we reach XI.

What happened after LBT X that made the overall quality of the sequels drop significantly? LBT XII is probably an exception, but it still has a few flaws, and I’m not seeing it holding up after a considerable amount of time has passed.

Is the production of the TV series to blame for this? Did they just run out of ideas? Was the franchise deliberately cut so they could have a reason to stop making more sequels?

If the answer to the last question is yes, then why are we getting LBT XIV after all these years? Has there been a change in Universal or are they just trying to capitalize on Jurassic World’s success? Is this just so that the rights for the franchise don’t fall out of Universal’s hands?  

[Ruby2]

I think most of them were good.   The TV Series wasn't that bad.  I think truly people were getting tired of the Sharptooth villain thingy though (why can't they have a true Leaf Eater villain, not just the reformed ones?)   Also, why not bring in more Egg Stealers?  Honestly, they are gonna need more ideas.

As for LBT XIV, I think it might be to capitalize on Dino-mania (Jurassic Park and Good Dinosaur.)

This new one is likely a test run to see if they can revive the series.    Also, it might just be luck as Lion King suddenly came back with Lion Guard after a long pause in their stuff.  

[NewOrder]

This new one is likely a test run to see if they can revive the series.    Also, it might just be luck as Lion King suddenly came back with Lion Guard after a long pause in their stuff.

I agree with your point, and I think most of us here do too. If LBT XIV is a hit, or if at least does well in DVD and/or streaming sales, they'll probably revive the franchise and we'll get to see a few more sequels, hopefully as good as the ones before LBT XI.

The TV series had some great episodes, and some good stories. It was good to see old characters come back (even if they completely changed Ali's personality), and it was interesting to see the gang in week-to-week situations. However, I can't say the same about the last three sequels prior to LBT XIV.

XII was good, XI and XIII had good moments in them, but overall they seemed like overextended TV episodes. And don't even get me started on the Yellowbellies.

Maybe the development of the TV series took a lot of attention from the sequels, and since they came out in a time when DVD sales were starting to seriously drop, LBT found itself in the middle of the perfect storm, and the only option the studio had left was to call it quits and wait for the next opportunity to resurface the franchise.

[Kor]

I just hope that the writer and director of 14 are good.  As for some bad sequels or ones that were not so good, it could be just the folks in charge of the franchise didn't really care and or had the attitude some in DC comics did in the late 40's to the 60's, or so I read, where some had the attitude of, they'll buy anything, we don't need to tell a good story or have good writers.

[Dr. Rex]

I thought XII was really good. Not sure why opinions went down the drain after X.

[NewOrder]

I'm not saying XII wasn't good. It's one of my favourite later sequels, but XI and XIII feel more like extended TV episodes.

I rewatched The Brave Longneck Scheme last night, and it didn't feel as bad as I remembered it. Ali was somewhat gullible to believe Rhett, however she hardly gets any screen time, and when she meets Chomper she accepts him right away, I feel her initial shyness was more because she liked Rhett and was "under his spell", which is still bad for us Littlefoot & Ali shippers, but still, in the end Littlefoot even asked Rhett to join them and play with them, so I think our little longneck somewhat won his place in Ali's heart.

[Dr. Rex]

I'm not saying XII wasn't good. It's one of my favourite later sequels, but XI and XIII feel more like extended TV episodes.

Oh, okay.

I thought XI was good as well, but yeah, XIII definitely wasn't the best.

[bestariana1girl]

You have very good points! I suppose the downfall of the movies was either a lack of coming up with good ideas, or a writers slump situation.

[NewOrder]

You have very good points! I suppose the downfall of the movies was either a lack of coming up with good ideas, or a writers slump situation.

Yep, that was probably it. I feel that Universal might've had a hand in it too. LBT is a somewhat expensive franchise, and since the TV series didn't pick up, investing solely on home video just wasn't a choice at the time.

Remember we lost TLBT at the same time that DVD sales in general dropped significantly. Today, with streaming services people are more invested in paying for content, so even if LBT XIV doesn’t sell that many DVDs it could still do well on streaming, and that would be good enough to relaunch the franchise. Let’s see how it goes.

After rewatching the TV Series (I must confess that there were a few episodes that I hadn’t seen, yet, even after all this time), I believe that a season two, with a connected plot throughout the episodes could be viable. Especially if they launch it in a Netflix kind of way to encourage people to binge watch the episodes. Sadly, I doubt it will happen, but a TV series would be a good way for us to get in touch with old characters, to see the character development of other characters that are sometimes sidelined in the movies, and to explore the Great Valley universe.

[bestariana1girl]

Very true!

Although, I still use DVDs   they are still really handy for me. Even still, I really hope LBT XIV comes out on streaming services and dvds, because most kids these days don't know what a dvd is let alone a vhs tape.

[NewOrder]

True. I own all the movies on DVD and I have 4 DVDs of the TV series, still missing Friends Forever and Magical Discoveries. It's practical to have a digital copy or to watch via streaming if you have no other choice or if you don't have your DVD collection with you (I keep mine at my parents place, so I can only take them when I go visit them).

But yeah, for kids these days, if you can't watch it on your tablet/phone it might as well not exist. Which is very sad really, I'm very proud of my DVDs, CDs, Vinyls and VHS Tapes, I would never throw them away, and I still buy DVDs, Blu-Rays, Vinyls and the occasional CD.

[bestariana1girl]

True. I own all the movies on DVD and I have 4 DVDs of the TV series, still missing Friends Forever and Magical Discoveries. It's practical to have a digital copy or to watch via streaming if you have no other choice or if you don't have your DVD collection with you (I keep mine at my parents place, so I can only take them when I go visit them).

But yeah, for kids these days, if you can't watch it on your tablet/phone it might as well not exist. Which is very sad really, I'm very proud of my DVDs, CDs, Vinyls and VHS Tapes, I would never throw them away, and I still buy DVDs, Blu-Rays, Vinyls and the occasional CD.

Of course!

I agree. I was born in 2001, I loved my vhs tapes, and DVDs had just started getting popular. I love vhs tapes now too, I have all of the movies, most on DVDs others on VHS.

[Hypno]

Big bump

Whatever the reason (be it laziness, lower budget or the writers running out of ideas), I do agree that XI through XIII were worse than past sequels (XIII being the one to almost kill the franchise). I think a lot of people with would agree with me. I thought XIV was better than XI-XIII but it could have been so much higher quality than that, at this point I just hope we get more LBT content. If we get another movie it needs to be announced around the time of the 30th anniversary of the franchise. If not, this might be it for The Land Before Time (for new original movies, at least; some day there will probably be a remake, maybe even in our lifetimes).

[StardustSoldier]

Another big bump.

Just watched The Great Longneck Migration for the first time recently. After being somewhat let down by Journey to Big Water (#9), this one was thankfully pretty good. In fact, it's probably tied with Journey Through the Mists (#4) as my favourite sequel.

I haven't seen #11-13 yet and will report in once I have seen them. However...

I suppose the downfall of the movies was either a lack of coming up with good ideas, or a writers slump situation.

That's my feeling as well. At this point in the series, there's already been some interesting ideas explored. You have the gang leaving the Great Valley because of a food shortage and discovering a strange island, a western-themed film, aliens and a mysterious asteroid, a winter-themed film, etc. Eventually, I think many writers/creators would simply start to run out of good ideas and/or would get burnt out, especially if they were making new films almost every year. While I can't speak for #11 myself just yet, I have to say that the title alone makes me wary. Invasion of the... Tinysauruses? That sort of smells like a franchise running out of ideas. :/

It might also have been that #10 was a tough act to follow, as it featured an emotional and touching story where Littlefoot reunites with his long-lost father, his concerned friends journey after him, but ultimately Littlefoot doesn't go to live with his father because he already has a family now. It kind of feels like it could've been the finale of the whole series. After that point, it's like, where do you go from there?

As an unrelated side note, I noticed that this is the first film that didn't use any of James Horner's music. Which I was mildly disappointed by, as I always love hearing his musical cues, although I guess it makes sense that eventually they'd stop reusing the music from the original film.

[Flathead770]

It is a little unfortunate that James Horner's score is no longer used  (though sometimes it felt misplaced in earlier sequels, like when 3 played the part of the track during the great earthshake to the falling rocks. The music didn't line up with what was happening). You get just a tease of If We Hold On Together at the end of Bestest Friends though which is nice.

I agree with it feeling like they could have ended with this movie. Bestest Friends was a good potential send off.

[Dr. Rex]

Bumping.

I think I now get what this thread was trying to get at here. In hindsight, yes, there DOES seem to be a jarring shift in tone and structure after LBT X. The movies at that point feel more sitcom-like and, in some cases, are a whole lot more Valley-centric, like they're extended episodes of a TV show.

I will have to disagree with the notion that the TV series might be behind this stark change in quality. As someone who really likes LBT XII, I actually noticed a bit of a budget in that movie. I also see it somewhat with LBT XI as well. There are some complex sequences involved in both movies, such as the Tinysauruses getting chased by the Sharpteeth in XI and the actual flying ceremony and "Flip, Flap, Fly" in XII. I think it's more or less, as others have mentioned, the writers running out of ideas that would be considered LBT's core.

[Gentle Sharptooth]

What happened was what happened to Nickelodon and Cartoon Network. Shows like Spongebob Squarepants in seasons 1-3 were hilarious and quite clever in subject matter. But as time went on, writers started dumbing down shows because they can’t write as well as those who came before. TLBT suffered the same fate, after X, the stories became more simplistic. Lets take a look at a big gap, in X Littlefoot’s long lost dad, Bron, shows up, and Littlefoot must decide if he will stay in Great Valley or go with his father’s herd (on top of Migration story, Sharpteeth battle, and Beight Circle Longneck vigil). This is heavy emotional subject matter, skip to XII and its about Petrie trying to impress his family on The Great Day of the Flyers, um.. didn’t Petrie already prove his merit by helping slay Sharptooth in the original LBT, survive not only being in Sharptooth’s jaws, but escaping a watery grave?! What does Petrie need to prove? He can fly in sqaudron formation? 

[RainbowFaceProtege]

I enjoyed XII, but I have to agree that XIII and XI weren't as good. And it pains me to say this, because I really like this movie, but I don't think XIV held up to previous sequels either, quality-wise. Don't get me wrong--XIV is still one of my favorite LBT movies! I just can't help noticing that the animation wasn't half as beautiful as what we were getting in VIII through XII. Aside from "Look for the Light," the songs were also bland and forgettable. (Yeah, call me crazy, but I thought XIII at least had some catchy tunes going for it.)

LBT VII might be my personal favorite, but LBT X, in my head, has always been the ultimate LBT movie. It has the most interesting Mysterious Beyond environments the series had offered yet. It has the most groundbreaking and complex story of the whole bunch of sequels. (Littlefoot meets his dad?? That's some serious stuff!) It has the most dangers, the most sharpteeth, the "Adventuring" song that can basically be used as a theme for the whole series, the most beautiful animation...it's all-around epic! It was bound to be a difficult act to follow, and maybe that, in itself, contributed to the later drop we perceived in LBT's quality. (Not saying that means we imagined the drop, just saying that, by being an exceptional LBT sequel, X might have exaggerated it.)

Plus, as time went on, I think Universal just started focusing their efforts on movies and franchises other than LBT. Who knows...maybe with all the sequel naysayers out there, they felt like their efforts to continue the series were futile now that it was heading into double-digit numbers.