Hi jedi472!
That statement I made is somewhat ambiguous. What I meant to say is that I do agree with the supporters of LBT stories that are mixed with non-LBT elements that it would be pointless to just repeat exactly the same LBT stories over and over again with just minor changes of character names and nothing really new happening at all. I do agree that if basically the same story is told over and over again it is bound to become dull. However, many of the supporters of non-pure LBT fanfictions also claim that it is practically impossible to write LBT stories within the limits set by the movies and still avoid exactly that kind of repetition.
This is where I strongly disagree. Of course it is a lot more difficult to write a land before time story within the limits set by the movies, but it is quite possible to do so without merely repeating stuff. I admit that with the many elements told by now through the TV series it has become much more difficult than it was by the time when I made the statement, but it is still not impossible. Looking at the ratio of LBT stories with non-LBT elements and strictly LBT stories it seems like hardly anyone wants to bother writing a land before time story that could theoretically be turned into an LBT movie. There are really very, very few stories where this would be possible.
The
N54 LBT Forum is the oldest successful land before time forum existing (for all I know). It was very active for several years and the roots of the GOF partly go back to the N54 forum. Many of our members used to post there. Meanwhile it has fallen mostly silent as the GOF is just more suitable for the larger number of members and is a lot more clearly arranged. Nevertheless the N54 forum still includes many interesting old messages and discussion threads. The earliest posts there date from 1999.
One thing that should be noted with regard to violence in LBT is, that in spite of LBT movies being made for children in particular, the stories are not without violence and a purist LBT fanfiction certainly doesn't have to go without it either. Just imagine what the Pterano incident of LBT 7 or the Mysterious Beyond landscapes from the original movie and LBT 2 and 3 (very dark places full of decay and dinosaur skeletons) would read like in a story? In many cases however violence is put into LBT stories in a manner that just doesn't fit. The LBT characters are no humans. I really don't believe they would think in a manner so similar to us when it comes to "war" (a concept which they probably wouldn't understand at all).
For example sharpteeth would have absolutely no benefit from attacking the Great Valley in large numbers trying to kill everyone. That would be a very human thing to do. The sharpteeth however don't want to eradicate leafeaters. If they hunt down a good "piece of prey" they have no reason to attack anyone else anymore until the prey is consumed. The larger sharpteeth are very unlikely to form large herds (or an "army" as described in many fanfictions) as it would require just much more prey than they are likely to catch. This is just one example.
The only thing I can think of that might get LBT dinosaurs into a kind of fight that may bear some resemblance to a human kind of war is the racism which we have seen in various degrees since the original movie. I have been writing on a land before time story about this topic which I think goes as far in this direction as possible (and I am not always certain if I didn't exaggerate it myself).
As for crossing overs, I do not deny that they may be well written. Jason wrote a land before time crossing over with such narrative quality as I can barely hope to ever obtain. It is a story though that mixes LBT with elements from Resident Evil, Zelda and I think several more stories. I really must say that, in spite of the excellent style of the writing, I could not see such a mix as a real LBT story.
The same goes for LBT and Star Wars. I love LBT and I really, really like Star Wars a lot, but I don't think they make a match.
Maybe I'm ranting louder about non-pure LBT stories than most people would like me to, but there are just so few people who write pure LBT stories and so many who would want anything to be mixed with LBT. If two tasty but totally different and unrelated kinds of food are mixed the result would all to often not be tasty.
