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General Land Before Time / Re: Screen Time Experiment - Land Before Time characters
« on: February 11, 2023, 07:51:20 PM »Ranks 30-21
We begin the top 30 with another villain, as Strut slots into 30th place with 8 minutes and 44 seconds of screen time in Great Valley Adventure. Strut was the lesser of the two Egg Stealers in the 2nd movie, though. He didn't seem all too excited about the Egg Stealer lifestyle as Ozzy was, preferring to instead eat grass. That didn't make Strut any better, though. He was still evil, and he developed a hatred for the Gang at about the same level as Ozzy, and was willing to go to great lengths to eliminate them. In fact, it was Strut who came up with the idea of throwing Littlefoot off the edge of the Great Wall and send him falling to his death, and Ozzy readily agreed to the idea. However, Ozzy made the mistake of squeezing Chomper into a chokehold, and this drew the ire of the Sharptooth's angry parents, who promptly went after them and left their fates uncertain. Strut was much like Rinkus in that he was not the most evil one in the group but still did not harbor good feelings.
At #29, we have the last of the many characters who were exclusive to Great Longneck Migration, as Pat had 8 minutes and 47 seconds of screen time. An elderly Longneck who accompanied the Gang on their journey to track down the whereabouts of Littlefoot and his grandparents, he was a very humble and modest Longneck, as shown when he wasn't fazed in the least by Cera's grouchy attitude, knowing full well that she would inevitably change her mind, and when she indeed did, he was more than happy to be their traveling companion, telling them the stories and legends of the Longneck creation myth. However, his leg is then burned by lava, and despite his pleas for the Gang to continue on without him so that he doesn't slow them down, they instead chose to stay and keep him in their group, much to his surprise and happiness. Unfortunately, his burned foot does prove to be a disadvantage when it comes to battling Sharpteeth, as shown when he takes several massive blows, but in the end, thanks to Bron and all the others, he was able to survive the encounter and took part in "supposedly saving the world" with the other Longnecks. The Gang even invited him to come live with them in the Great Valley, but despite this, he was never seen again, and I sometimes wonder what happened to him after he moved into the Great Valley.
From one Longneck to another, we have Doc in 28th place with 8 minutes and 51 seconds of screen time in Secret of Saurus Rock, including Grandpa's stories and the Lone Dinosaur musical number. Doc, as I mentioned much earlier, is implied to be the legendary Lone Dinosaur who famously defeated the "Meanest Sharptooth of all," many years before the events of the series take place, during which his right eye was permanently scarred, and when Littlefoot discovers the scar running down his right eye, he is convinced that Doc is the famous Lone Dinosaur and grows to idolize him. However, after Saurus Rock is broken, the other dinosaurs in the Great Valley mistakenly believe that Doc's presence is causing bad luck everywhere, and he chooses to leave despite Littlefoot's protests. He does perform one final heroic act before departing, though, as he steps in at the nick of time to help Grandpa Longneck deal with two Sharpteeth who seemed to have gained the upper hand on him while he was trying to defend Littlefoot. His timely arrival ended up ensuring the defeat of the two Sharpteeth, and he parted ways with Littlefoot by telling him that he didn't need him as a hero because he already had one: his grandfather. This inspired the young Longneck to portray his grandfather as the Great Dinosaur who protected the Great Valley with his many years of experience and effectiveness in combat. I never really thought highly of Doc, though. I think the last thing the series needed was a western-like vibe.
At #27, we have the other villain from Journey Through the Mists. Dil, the blind Belly Dragger, had 8 minutes and 53 seconds on screen. I mentioned earlier that hers and Ichy's partnership did not work out well, as their bickering prevented them from becoming an effective duo. Sure, Dil was blind and needed Ichy to guide her, but honestly, did they really need each other? They did come very close to eating the Gang a few times, though. They ended up having near-misses with Cera, then Petrie, and finally Ducky. In the end, though, they accomplished nothing and ultimately went their separate ways, only for Dil to be chased and possibly killed by a Swimming Sharptooth. Not the best way for a blind Belly Dragger to go out.
At #26, we take a considerable jump from almost nine minutes to more than ten minutes, as Hyp becomes our first ten-minute character with 10 minutes and 16 seconds on screen during Time of the Great Giving, where he was the secondary antagonist (behind Topps). He was a character you may have loved to hate when you first saw the third film. He was the leader of a small group of bullies who picked on the Gang on a regular basis, and he even succeeded in getting the Gang disbanded by Topps by using Nod to frame Littlefoot for a wrongdoing he didn't commit. He was definitely a hateful character for most of his time on screen. He even showed minimal gratefulness towards the Gang when they rescued him from the Sinking Sand after his own two friends stood there and did nothing, instead choosing to argue with each other over who should save him. However, after Topps saw the cruel way in which Hyp's father treated him, he saw the error of his own ways and convinced everyone, including Hyp, that they should treat each other with kindness. Ultimately, Hyp redeemed himself when he assisted the Gang in defeating the Fast Biters who subsequently attacked the group, and restored the water flow into the Great Valley, and it seemed his bullying ways were finally gone as he began to treat Littlefoot and the Gang with respect and kindness. I am aware he sorta went back to his bullying ways in the TV series, but that, too, was short-lived. Despite his redemption, I still have little sympathy for Hyp.
We begin the top 25 with another one of the nastier characters. Ozzy, the worse of the two Egg Stealers from Great Valley Adventure, had 10 minutes and 38 seconds of screen time. This villain, like Sierra, had no remorse, and he took pleasure in eating eggs containing unborn fetuses of baby dinosaurs, much like an unhealthy drug addiction. We can all be very happy that we never saw any of that on screen, otherwise Great Valley Adventure would surely have ended up with a PG rating, even if kids were interested in dinosaurs, including ones who may have eaten other dinosaurs' eggs. Also, like Sierra, he, too, wanted to kill Littlefoot in cold blood. However, when Chomper tried to stop Strut from throwing Littlefoot off the Great Wall to his death, Ozzy made his fatal mistake by grabbing the baby Sharptooth and attempting to choke him. This was witnessed by his parents, who proceeded to snap at him and Strut, and pursue them out of the Great Valley, unwittingly saving Littlefoot in the process. Ozzy was definitely a psychopath, but not on the same level as Sierra was. I still think the Flyer was a lot worse than this Egg Stealer.
We have a complete change of mood for the next character, going from one of the most evil villains in the series to one of the most favorite characters outside the Gang. Mo comes in at #24 with 12 minutes and 16 seconds of screen time. This only counts Journey to Big Water, as I did not count his cameos in Great Longneck Migration or Great Day of the Flyers, as those cameos each lasted less than two seconds (hence why Ducky's siblings DID count in Invasion of the Tinysauruses). Mo was such a lovable character in Journey to Big Water. In fact, director Charles Grosvenor's son loved him so much that Grosvenor insisted he have cameos in later films, hence his brief appearances in "Adventuring" in the 10th film and "Flip, Flap and Fly" in the 12th film. This fun-loving Swimmer ended up being swept from the Big Water and into the Great Valley by a massive rainstorm that caused flooding in the valley, and after befriending a curious Littlefoot, he enlisted the Gang in helping him return home ... against their families' wishes with their "Don't Talk to Strangers" attitude. A subsequent earth shake effectively left them with no choice but to go on with their mission in bringing Mo home, and throughout the adventure, he won the hearts of many viewers, and even the Gang (minus Cera because of her initial jealousy, though she did come to like him much later, only after Mo seemingly gave himself up to save the Gang from a Sharptooth Swimmer whom had been stalking them). Mo even gave us a glimpse into the beautiful underwater world of prehistoric times, and young audiences, I'm sure, were just as mesmerized as Littlefoot was. He is a character who was easy for young ones to fall in love with, and I think it's nice that he made the top 25 on this list.
And now we have the characters who inspired several of my LBT fanfiction stories, and those would be Petrie's siblings. They end up in 23rd place with a combined total of 12 minutes and 16 seconds of screen time, equal with Mo, but they appeared in five films to Mo's one, so they placed higher. Right up until Great Day of the Flyers, they had placed last in screen time in EVERY movie they had appeared in. Then, in the 12th movie, they finally came out of their shadow. Their 10 minutes and 55 seconds of screen time in this film moved them all the way up from #64 to #18, but the Yellow Bellies from the following film knocked them right back out of the top 20 for good. Nevertheless, these young Flyers had a shining moment that placed them in the top 25. Sure, I didn't like how they treated their brother at times. It made me cringe watching poor Petrie get belittled by his siblings whilst his loving mother tried to put a stop to it. As I stated in my review for this film, though, they showed that they have big hearts when it counts, as shown when they watch Petrie abandon their flying test to rescue the newborn Tricia after Guido's feeble attempt at saving her from a waterfall. It soon becomes clear that Tricia's weight would be too much for Petrie to take, so they have their big moment when they swoop down to help their brother save the day, and in the end they not only earn big praise from their mother, but also become some of the few to earn the admiration of Topps, who was so grateful to them all for saving the life of his newborn daughter. Petrie was a hero that day for sure, but his siblings definitely played a part in his heroic act, and had it not been for Great Day of the Flyers, they would be nowhere near this high on the list for screen time.
We're gonna have back-to-back slots with Flyers in them, as Etta places 22nd with 12 minutes and 28 seconds of screen time in Journey of the Brave. I said before that she was one of the best of the series' one-off guest characters, as she played a pivotal role in the latter half of the 14th film, showing Littlefoot how to see the light at the end of the tunnel when all seems grave, and even being the one to bring the Gang back together after their earlier falling out. She ultimately accompanied the children on the last leg of their journey to find Bron and assisted in his rescue. Her voice actress Reba McEntire was also a big part of her character, bringing a great presence to lighten the chilly mood of that particular segment of the movie. I loathe country music, but McEntire was outstanding in the role of Etta, and she was, indeed, the light in the darkness.
We unfortunately have to wrap up the 30-21 section with one of the horrendous Yellow Bellies from the equally-horrendous Wisdom of Friends. Foobie comes in 21st place with 13 minutes and 27 seconds of screen time. He was the most tolerable of the three Yellow Belly characters, but only because unlike Loofah and Doofah, he showed rare signs of small intelligence despite not having any dialogue, whilst Loofah and Doofah had no intelligence whatsoever. I'm sure that being mute was what allowed him to become fast friends with Spike (another mute character), but he still has many of the insufferable tendencies the other Yellow Bellies have. Because of that, his relative intelligence does nothing to change my views on this character. He is still just as bad as the others of his herd.
Coming up on my next post, we go into the top 20 with ranks 20th through 11th!