Was it true about Original Ending?

[babidikrakenguard]

Too many topics on here and im not sure which one has that about the Original Ending. Please close when question is answered. Im sorry


Just curious, is it true about the ending of the Original movie? About Littlefoot and the others dieing and the Great Valley is actually heaven? Anything about that?

[DarkHououmon]

I believe this was mentioned in another topic. From what I recall, no it's not true. It's just some rumor. The original ending, I believe, was hardly any different than what we get in the final version.

[Animeboye]

I'm glad they didn't have the movie end with the gang dying. The first film's depressing enough already, would we really have needed for them to die? Not to mention that's pretty much spitting in their faces.

"So you struggled and toiled, nearly gave up all hope, learned to work together and all became best friends but in the end...you died. Have a happy afterlife!"

[Cancerian Tiger]

No, don't believe any of that.  It is just a bad rumor.

I believe in the original ending, when the Gang shared the group hug, Littlefoot said, "Now we will be together forever." Or something along those lines.  I'm sure, if seen from a mortality viewpoint, this could be seen as implying death.  

Man, that'd be disturbing if that was the way the film ended.  I don't think I'd be a fan if that's how it ended .

[babidikrakenguard]

Okay. Yeah, i dont believe that to be the real ending either about Littlefoot and the others dying. Sure my favorite character from the movie was the T-Rex, but it's just heartbreaking thinking about Littlefoot and the others dying like that!

[Kor]

I don't think that was the intended ending.  I think the intended ending was what we saw.  After all if that was the intended ending why was Littlefoot's mother seen as a cloud leading Littlefoot to that entrance then going off instead of meeting him physically.  

[Serris]

This is a common rumor and I believe that there is no truth to it.

[WeirdRaptor]

Alright, we need to shut this rumor down, now. No. Just no. Why would anyone ever end their children's film in such a way?

[Almaron]

I think there was a discussion on Imdb where an animator who worked on Land Before Time, and several other Don Bluth films, said he didn't recall anything like this, so I think it's safe to say it's just an urban legend.

[Pikkutassu]

The original ending is pretty much what you have seen, but without the ghost scene.

[LBTFan13]

Like everybody said, this is nothing more than a rumor. However, many people believed that this was a possibility for an alternate ending, because the line where Littlefoot says, "Now we'll always be together" was cut out. To some people, this line indicated that they the Great Valley was like a safe heaven, implying that they had died and reached the Great Valley in heaven. This of course was absurd, because in that logic every single one of the gang's parents would have died as well, but there is no such hint of that happening.

So don't believe anything you hear about the gang dying. The ending in the movie is the truly intended ending.

[Malte279]

It is perfectly clear that the way the movie is made the gang is NOT dying at the end. Nevertheless I think the rumor that plans to make such an ending were considered (and discarded) at the time seems quite credible to me.
Don Bluth is not too flimsy about the topic, with "All Dogs go to heaven" there was another movie for kids at the time which included the topic, everyone knows dinosaurs are extinct so there would have been some sense in such an end (unhappy as it may be), the description of the never ever seen Great Valley "some things you see with your eyes, others you see with your heart" does sound a lot like a description of heaven to me, and there still is the matter of Littlefoot's mother who dies but still maintains a relatively distinct contact with him. Don't forget the fact that Bluth was intended to make the movie a bit harsher than it is and that it was the intervention of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg that took some scary scenes (the direct references we have are about sharptooth scenes) from the movie. If we take all this into account I don't really understand why so many take the rumor as totally incredible.
Of course the way the movie is made it is clear that the gang does NOT die. But of all the rumors existing about LBT I consider the one that the option of a movie ending in which the characters died and passed on to the Great Valley as a kind of dinosaur heaven was considered a rather credible rumor.
If we ignore all the sequels and focus exclusively on the mood of the first movie with its dying world (rather than the Great Valley being but one of many places "just as nice") I think it would have been a sad but sensible and sentimental ending. I see why they would change such an ending (crying kids in the lobbies) but I don't see why there is such an extreme conviction that there couldn't be any basis whatsoever to the rumor.

[Coyote_A]

"Today's lesson is: no matter how hard you try, you're doomed anyway". No way. :blink:

[DarkHououmon]

Don Bluth is not too flimsy about the topic, with "All Dogs go to heaven" there was another movie for kids at the time which included the topic, everyone knows dinosaurs are extinct so there would have been some sense in such an end (unhappy as it may be), the description of the never ever seen Great Valley "some things you see with your eyes, others you see with your heart" does sound a lot like a description of heaven to me, and there still is the matter of Littlefoot's mother who dies but still maintains a relatively distinct contact with him. Don't forget the fact that Bluth was intended to make the movie a bit harsher than it is and that it was the intervention of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg that took some scary scenes (the direct references we have are about sharptooth scenes) from the movie. If we take all this into account I don't really understand why so many take the rumor as totally incredible.

While it is true in All Dogs Go To Heaven the main character does die, I don't think it's enough to make the rumor of the gang dying very credible. The problem is that All Dogs Go To Heaven is about, well, heaven, so death is much more integrated into the story. Charlie dies, goes to heaven, then comes back, then dies again. Land Before Time, on the other hand, is not about the afterlife, but instead finding a lush haven. In this sense, having the gang die would be a big slap in the face for this type of story, since it's about their struggles, hopes, and dreams of finding the valley and their family again. I don't think the gang dying would have been a credible ending simply because of the type of story told. Yes it would have been realistic, but even An American Tail, which is one of the most depressing movies I've seen by Don Bluth, ended on a happy note. I think All Dogs Go To Heaven is the only Don Bluth movie I can think of where the main character dies in the end. And there's only two character deaths; Charlie and Carface. Don Bluth did not kill off the entire main character cast (Ann-Marie and Itchy are still alive).

[WeirdRaptor]

Coyote A said it best. When you think about the rumored "original ending", the whole thing would have just been an excercise in hopeless nihilism, and that's just not Bluth.
The very notion that such a terrible ending would ever have been considered for a family film is ridiculous beyond reason. I don't mean that as an insult to any of the people asking. I direct that to the person or persons who started the rumor.

[Malte279]

I still disagree about it being so utterly impossible as most seem to think. There are more movies (including family movies) in which one or all of the characters die in the end. If death is "prepared" as something like the Great Valley it can even be seen as a not too depressing an end (and they lived happily ever after... after they had died ).
In Watership Down we also have Hazel die in the end (accompanying the black rabbit), in the Disney TV series Dinosaurs they all die in the last episode...
I think with the way the Great Valley is described, with the way that death is presented as nothing too final (Mum's still chatting and giving directions in a very direct manner), the awareness that dinosaurs are extinct, and the "endtime mood" of the opening in the original movie I still think that of all the rumors out there this one ranks among the more credible ones. Keep in mind that I am just pointing out the possibility that it may have been considered. I am not speaking of any "original ending" as anything that had ever been produced. There is NO indication whatsoever that any scene was ever produced in which the characters die or anything to that effect. All I say is that I consider it possible and even likely that such a scenario was considered, discussed, and ultimately discarded by the movie producers.

[Ducky123]

BUMP!

Well, that's a very difficult but interesting question.

I bumped this since the discussion doesn't seem to be fully discussed and since there are many new members (including me) who may want to give theit two pence on that matter
So what are your thoughts, guys?

[Petrie85]

I've been here  for two years and a month and never knew this topic existed. But I'm gonna say no but I did read some where that was the case but Don Bluth said those rumors where not true at all.

[Malte279]

Where did you read that? Did really Don Bluth himself ever say that there had never ever been any such considerations?

[Mumbling]

Since I heard this 'rumor' I've believed it to be their true intention. But it is not obvious in the movie, so they didn't actually work it out in the scenes.

I remember seeing a comic about this, but sadly enough I can't find it anywhere. I did find this amazing piece of work again