The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => General Land Before Time => Character Discussion => Topic started by: Shinji-Lee on August 30, 2008, 05:36:57 AM
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I recently watched The Secret of Saurus Rock. I recognized something, comparing Cera's head to Dinah's and Dana's, Who have three (3) horns, although being younger than her aunt. and since they're of the same species, something seems to be wrong.
my theory: the reason for the missing horns could be Cera's eyes. She is a mayor character and shows a lot of facial expressions, which would be harder to show, if she had the horns.
Dinah and Dana, who have those horns are minor characters who don't need to be worked out so accurate. Plus, their eye are smaller and more simple drawn than Cera's.
I hope i got the massage across.
I also would like to know of other theories.
Anyway, thanks for reading.
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I guess it is quite possible that this played a role in the LBT makers' decision to leave her a unicorn. Also with horns on her forehead in a ratio befitting Cera's size (her horns would have to be significantly larger than that of Dinah and Dana) Cera would look more ferocious and more difficult for many people to relate to. This is of course a realist, human point of view interpretation. From the perspective of an LBT character (who don't know about their appearance to any audience) I suppose it may well be taken as a hint that Dinah and Dana are not exactly the same species as Cera, especially if one takes the other young one-horned threehorns into account which we have seen in LBT 2 and 3.
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I suppose it may well be taken as a hint that Dinah and Dana are not exactly the same species as Cera
absolutely possible, but well, I of course compared the bodies, too and, disregarding the size, they're similar, what makes me doubt them being of different species. If it really is like this, why making the only difference between two different threehorn tribes being two additional horns, which in fact are small and likely to be overseen?
furthermore in The Wisdom of Friends Cera says that she will grow two more horns.
Now i will be brave and do an interpretation of the creator's acts.
They might know that a triceratops has three horns, therefor Cera's state in movie 13.
But thinking of the first, maybe they just found no way to do both, the main chara expression thing and the three horns. They decided to do the thing they regarded as more important to the movie itself and left out two horns. To say, it was kind of a technical problem. And even if they had found a way to do both AFTER the movie of 1988, just adding the two missing horns to Cera's forehead seems a very hard change of the chara, in my opinion, even if it would just be her outlook. But still being aware of the problem, they finally did that particular state in movie 13, which was definitely not necessary to the story itself.
Of course she doesn't need to care about things like that at all.
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that all sound quite good to me, -_- B)
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absolutely possible, but well, I of course compared the bodies, too and, disregarding the size, they're similar, what makes me doubt them being of different species. If it really is like this, why making the only difference between two different threehorn tribes being two additional horns, which in fact are small and likely to be overseen?
A more significant difference is the coloring of Dinah and Dana which is from from that of the Cera or all of the other young threehorns we have seen so far. I don't know if the makers of LBT think so much about it, but with the absence of parents I really think Dinah and Dana must be temporarily adopted into Cera's family.
I haven't yet seen LBT 13 (I probably will on the weekend of September 13-14) so I cannot refer to that content.
I suppose Cera's having just two horns is based simply on the fact that the producers of LBT found her to be cuter with two rather than three horns.
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the cuteness argument is a very good one, since it originally was supposed to be a children movie, i guess.
as for the colour, well (Cera's hatching scene in the first movie in my head) she and her brothers/sisters are yellow, their parents have a dark shade of gray. genetically that is more than unlikely. but enough of science.
the different in colour between Cera and Dinah and Dana is an obvious argument.
they are not related. but does that really mean it is impossible them being of the same species? (this is not a rhetorical question)
I suppose Cera's having just two horns is based simply on the fact...
two horns? do we still speak about the same threehorn? (this feels kind of ironic)
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Cera and the twins may be 2 different species of threehorns. One telling thing is Cera, her siblings in the first movie, Tricia & some young threehorns in the very early sequels all had 1 horn. It could be 2 different species of threehorns. There are some species of longnecks that look very similar like an apatasaurus (litttlefoot) and a brachiosaurus (shorty) but there are slight differences that you can see. The twins & Cera could be of 2 different species of threehorns like this.
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It could be 2 different species of threehorns. There are some species of longnecks that look very similar like an apatasaurus (litttlefoot) and a brachiosaurus (shorty) but there are slight differences that you can see.
Yeah, I agree. The two are more then likely different species.
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well, the arguments are good.
guess, Cera's of the species, that hatches one-horned and grows the other two when she's older...
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Maybe three horns lose their horns like Sharpteeth lose their teeth and claws
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We never ever saw Cera sport a second and third horn (yes, I made a typo above :bang), so that would not be an explanation (do Sharpteeth loose claws by the way?). Also Ceratopsians didn't loose their horns like some deer loose their antlers. Same as the tusks of an Elephant or the horns of a bull they are firmly attached...
Which reminds me, in early in LBT 6 Cera was telling Dinah and Dana not to pull on her horns. In both the English and the German version she is using the plural to refer to her horn(s).
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Which reminds me, in early in LBT 6 Cera was telling Dinah and Dana not to pull on her horns. In both the English and the German version she is using the plural to refer to her horn(s).
i remember that and it is indeed confusing.
sharpteeth don't lose their claws btw, but with their teeth they're similar to sharks: one breaks off, another one grows.
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I can only imagine, and assume that she is referring to the horns on her frill. The twins may try to hold onto her frill, or horns that are on her frill to try to keep from falling off. I think Ducky and maybe Petrie may have held onto her frill when they've ridden on Cera in the past.
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that possibility would at least exclude that the animators just forgot the horns, what i was starting to think about.
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Good point Kor, that would make sense. Eager for as many horns as possible she might easily refer to those knuckles on the frill as horns. How would we officially label them though... knuckles on the frill? What would you call those things?
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"gnubbel" feels as if it would fit, but i can't think of an appropriate translation...
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I wonder if biologists, zoologists, or paleontologists have a term for those.
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I can only imagine, and assume that she is referring to the horns on her frill. The twins may try to hold onto her frill, or horns that are on her frill to try to keep from falling off. I think Ducky and maybe Petrie may have held onto her frill when they've ridden on Cera in the past.
If that's the case, wouldn't that technically make her a "six-horn"? :P:
It's either that or they're so small, we can't see them.
Is anyone here willing to make a fanart of what she might look like when she sprouts her new horns? I'm sure not. -_-
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It would be interesting. I would guess as a full threehorn she'd look similar to an orange colored Tria. Though likely of a darker shade of orange then her current shade of orange.
& I do agree that Cera may be prone to calling those blunt hornlike things on her frill horns even if they really are not. Her friends didn't comment on that remark since they may know it's easier to just let Cera call them whatever she wants.
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I suppose that when she grows up Cera's skin color might take a more brownish shade that could gradually fade to the gray which her parents sport. For "Old Threehorns" I drew an older sister of Cera who looks similar to how I could imagine her to look in her teenage years. I will post it in the fanart section one of these days.
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I guess the main trend is most of the gang would get darker, though some may grow a bit lighter.
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I think Cera will sprout them as she gets older. Same with Spike and his tail.
Is anyone here willing to make a fanart of what she might look like when she sprouts her new horns? I'm sure not.
Actually, that would be rather interesting to see. That gives me an idea for my next Cera drawing B). I bet she'll still be a good-looking threehorn when she's grown up :^.^:. Just look at her father(and her mother in the original). They both appear to display desirable traits :yes.
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well, you got new ideas i guess? :)
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I’ve always assumed that Dinah and Dana were just early bloomers. :p
I too have always thought it odd that the LBT Triceratops in The Land Before Time hatch with their nose horns (the smallest horn) and grow their brow horns later. (Like Malte, I am also somewhat infatuated with jokes involving the number of Cera’s horns. :smile) But I think that Shinji-Lee is probably right that the lack of brow horns makes facial expressions easier to animate, and agree that Cera is much cuter and less intimidating with her nose horn alone. (Of course, tell her that, and the next thing you know, she’ll be holding up the animators at hornpoint demanding they give her her other horns so she can look scarier. :lol)
By the way, I did some research on those little frill projections; apparently, at least one ceratopsian paleontologist calls them epoccipitals (“ep-ock-sip-ih-tuls” is my best guess in terms of pronunciation). They’re structurally the same as the other horns on a ceratopsian’s head (extensions of the skull bones, probably covered in a keratinous sheath), so, as far as I know, Cera wouldn’t have been treading on any paleontological technicalities by referring to them as horns. :p