The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => 1988 Theatrical Release => Topic started by: Ratiasu on January 12, 2007, 11:20:57 PM
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I've always noticed how, out of all the herbivores, Pachycephalosaurus seem to be the only...unculturized species, both in the original movie and fourth. Why do you think this is? Oh, and if this should go under the Sequelitis board, my mistake. I'm bit busy watching the 2nd episode of the Land Before Time TV series. Much thanks for uploading, action!
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I've been wondering about this too. It seems that perhaps we have a species of even less controllable tempers than threehorns. Nevertheless there seem to be well behaved Pachycepholosaurus in the Great Valley. At the end of LBT 6 you see a Pachycephalosaurus hatchling among the kids listening to the story of Littlefoot and the others. Pachycephalosaurus are also mentioned in a book of the original movie in a scene which never made it into the movie. In that scene they come across as racist and egoistic, guarding a copse of green trees against anyond of a different species, but not more so than other species (next to the trees in that scene is a waterhole guarded by Ducky's kinfold).
The creators of LBT probably meant to come up with a dangerous dinosaur without sharp teeth for a change. Maybe there are some "nuts" among the LBT dinosaurs and so far we have sen only Pachycepholosaurus representatives of that kind of temper.
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Pachycephalosaurus also appear in lbt 5, when the grown ups are discussing if they should leave the great valley. I always found this species wrongly potraied as a carnivore. If you look closely to the scene where Cera is being chased by a couple of them in the original movie, just before Littlefoot and the gang show up to rescue her, they open their mouths like they were going to eat her, and you can even see a couple of sharp teeth... They were obviously herbivores, the producers probably thought they looked too scary to just be herbivores
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I never thought they were portrayed as carnivores; just overly vicious. After all, some herbivores today can act very hostile. Bull hippos, water buffalos, male elephants in musk, and rhinos just to name some.
I don't think the pachys were going to eat Cera, and sharp teeth don't always mean carnivore. Look at gorillas; they've got sharp canines but they're herbivores.
I think the pachys in LBT were portrayed as very protective of their territory, and would defend it against any intruder, even another herbivore.
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Even if the Domeheads (as the LBT dinosaurs would probably call them) were not going to eat Cera in the original movie, it still didn't look like they intended to let Cera get away with her life. If they had merely defended the territory we should also notice that they had picked quite a strange place to live amidst the burning mountains. It is kind of a pity that we were never shown how Cera first ran into them or how Littlefoot and the others in the tar pit spotted Cera fleeing from the Domeheads. I never ever found the slightest indication that anything was cut from this part of the movie, but at least it doesn't seem very unlikely.
One LBT book I have includes a short scene in which Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike realize that the tarpit in which they ended up was more like a deep puddle, posing no real danger, at least to Littlefoot and Spike. Such a scene would make sense as in the movie we only see a glimpse of surprise on Littlefoot's face before the scene switches to Cera. Some people may have wondered how Littlefoot and the others ever got out of the pit which the audience may easily continue to understand as "bottomless". Still I cannot see the book in which that short dialogue is mentioned as a real indication that there was something like this in the original movie. The book is in German and, unlike in case of Jim Razzi, I don't expect the author had any true insight information on the movie's original content, but merely supplemented what she felt wasn't properly explained in the movie.
Another book I have supports your theory of the domeheads defending their territory. It describes Cera entering a cave and accidentally bumping into one of the resting domeheads.
In case of the LBT 4 domehead it really looks very much like he or she is mainly defending his or her territory. I wonder if that domehead was what all those eggeaters were running away from. That whole scene in LBT 4 gives room for some speculation and / or discussion.
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Even if the Domeheads (as the LBT dinosaurs would probably call them) were not going to eat Cera in the original movie, it still didn't look like they intended to let Cera get away with her life.
Ah yes, hippos can be like this too. If humans or crocs stray into their territory, they will kill them if they don't get out fast. Same goes for bull elephants in musk; during this part of their life, they are highly destructive and will kill almost anyone in their path if given the chance. The only thing they won't kill is a female elephant.
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I always thought the Pachys were overprotective of their territory as well, Malte. In the original movie, they certainly (to me) didn't seem to want to kill Cera - or at least not to eat her - and the way the sort of surrounded her at the end, I think they were just getting ready to ram her to death or break her back or something. In any case, they were a nice change from the docile natures a lot of people seem to portray all herbivores to be.
As for the Pachy in LBT 6, I do remember seeing that little guy. Which makes me wonder if most of the Pachycephalosaurus choose not to be...culturized, or whatever, and if they take pride in retaining their wild ways. I guess the little Pachy at the end of LBT 6 shows that some are choosing to go the way of the other herbivores. I'm kind of wondering what happened to him, to be honest. As for that tree scene in the book, yeah, the first movie was kind of about segregation and racism, so you can't really expect the Pachys to act different from everybody else. I think. Of course, as Malte said, the Pachys could just be hermit-like psychos.
LBT 5...that's when the swarming leaf gobblers come, correct? I do remember seeing at least one Pachy, but after one scene he pretty much disappeared and was replaced by something else, so I don't really think that counts.
I agree that their territory was a bit of an odd choice, but I do remember Pachys being a species prone to living on mountain tops, so I guess the volcano was the closest thing to fit their needs. I would have liked to know how Cera ran into them, too...then again I wished the movie had been a bit longer...but that book sounds interesting. Does it have any pictures that weren't from the film?
About the eggeaters in LBT 4, I think they were running away from a Sharptooth, or...or was that something in the opening animation? Gah, I need to watch that movie again...I think there were two times when eggeaters were fleeing from something in that movie, and a Pachy is highly possible.
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In any case, they were a nice change from the docile natures a lot of people seem to portray all herbivores to be.
Indeed :yes
It is one of the few cases in which the "villains" behaviour is not based on the desire to eat the main character (or so we must presume. Who knows how far hunger might drive the herbivores... :unsure: I better stop short of canibalist, gory details :lol:); Pterano, Rinkus, and Sierra would be the only other example we know from the movies (unless you count the bullies whose villainy is on another level than that of the other villains though).
I agree that their territory was a bit of an odd choice, but I do remember Pachys being a species prone to living on mountain tops, so I guess the volcano was the closest thing to fit their needs.
I think most Pachy fossils have been found near the Rocky Mountains, and the Rocky Mountains came into existence to the Cretaceous with the Pachys living at the end of that period. Still mountains by itself don't provide a living for any herbivore. What would those Pachys live on in that plantforsaken mountains? (Don't think of canibalist, gory details :unsure:).
I would have liked to know how Cera ran into them, too...then again I wished the movie had been a bit longer...but that book sounds interesting. Does it have any pictures that weren't from the film?
Yes, the book is illustrated with very beautiful pictures. They are not any shots from the movie, but painted. While making a very nice change from some other books using only movie shots this also means that none of the pictures from scenes not shown in the movie proves anything about whether or not such a scene was actually made but not included in the final cut.
About the eggeaters in LBT 4, I think they were running away from a Sharptooth, or...or was that something in the opening animation? Gah, I need to watch that movie again...I think there were two times when eggeaters were fleeing from something in that movie, and a Pachy is highly possible.
There was no shartptooth in that eggeater scene within the land of mists. In fact the behaviour of the eggeaters struck me as rather odd. Just running to jump into the river and being washed away; I had to think of the alleged behaviour of lemmings (they don't commit collective suicide by leaping down into the sea from cliffs as suggested in a Disney movie in which such scenes were staged cementing the false idea of lemming suicidal behaviour into peoples' minds). Another remarkable point about the eggeaters in LBT 4 is that the first two look exactly like Ozzy and Strut from LBT 2. I wonder if it was actually meant to be a guest appearance, which would make it the only ever guestappearance from an earlier movie's character in an LBT movie by Roy Alan Smith.
Thanks for starting this thread Ratiasu :yes I don't think there has ever been a real discussion of the LBT domeheads (who are by the way refered to as "lizardheads" in several English LBT books).
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Mm, I wouldn't count the bullies as villains, not really. They were more antagonistic...but then again, the same could be said for all the LBT villains (that I remember at the moment). The sharpteeth need to hunt to survive, the bullies are bugging Littlefoot and his friends just for the heck of it ("Why? Because we're bigger! Bigger is smarter, bigger is meaner, and bigger is better!"). As for Rinkus and Sierra, their goals didn't really harm anyone. The two flyers just wanted to find the stone and see if it had the proposed magical powers. Pterano was caught up in his own...self and believes and stuff, so he's not a villain, but he's an interesting character just the same.
As for Pachys living on the mountains, they might have used the horns on their snouts to dig for roots. I always thought they were omnivorous - eating insects sometimes, you know...
Wow. Painted? That sounds really neat. I've always somewhat disliked movie-based picture books that take screenshots directly out of the movie - seems like a bit of a waste of money if you ask me. Individual representation of characters and events are always more engaging than people putting in more and no less than what was shown.
I'm remembering a bit more of that scene now. Maybe the T. Rex chasing after a group of Struthiomimus was from somewhere else. In any case, yes, that jumping-off-a-small-cliff-and-escaping-into-the-river did seem a bit random. I think a Pachy pushed through the bushes next to Littlefoot just afterwards, but I haven't seen that movie in a while....as for the Struthios looking alike, that's a bit granted. I mean, they are the same species, you know. But then again, there are varieties between different members of one species, like Chomper's parents and Cera's father and Tria, so that may have been Ozzy and Strut mixed in with that crowd or not. Either way I'm sure the eggeaters survived...well, okay, maybe not, because Chomper's parents were practically rentless. And didn't Strut jump into lava near the end or something? Oh, and by the way, I heard that Mr. Thicknose is going to come back in the TV series. Is that comfirmed, or is it just a rumor? I hope it's a rumor. I mean, no offense to the guy, but him, out of all the past characters?
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Oh, and you're welcome! I always tend to observe (or else like) the lesser characters of a series. But hmm. Lizardheads? Er, how many LBT books are there?
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Actually it is an interesting question how vicious Hyp, Nod, and Mutt would have become if given the chance. What in case they had caught Littlefoot, Cera, Petrie, Ducky, Spike, or just one of them after the discovery of the waterhole. What would / could they have done anyway? How far would they have gone?
There is one land before time book and an audio play in which they capture Spike apparently for the mere sake of tyrannizing him and his friends. Other than preventing him from getting away neither the audio play nor the book give any details on what they actually wanted to do. In the audio play the image is created that they put Spike in a small ravine with only one exit and laid to rest at that only exit. A picture of the book sugests that they tied Spike with a vine.
As for Pterano, Rinkus, and Sierra they would have harmed others. They were just lacking the proper device to do so, but never ever got it. The main difference is that while Pterano thought his becoming the undisputed leader of the dinosaurs (by whatever means) would be beneficial for everyone Rinkus and Sierra only thought of their own advantage. While we cannot be sure what exactly they had in mind we may get a vague idea of Sierra's planning to feed the kids to the sharpteeth.
As for Pachys living on the mountains, they might have used the horns on their snouts to dig for roots. I always thought they were omnivorous - eating insects sometimes, you know...
I seriously doubt the Pachys in LBT were meant to stay where they were. With nothing growing around there wouldn't be many roots for them to dig up either, least of all in the mostly rocky terrain. It would also take a huge pile of insects to feed them. No, I really don't think those Pachys were meant to live where Cera encountered them. But perhaps the Pachy consider any place where they are "their territory", no matter how long they have been there or how long they are going to stay. So even if they didn't live where Cera encountered them, defending "their territory" may still have been a reason for their aggressiveness. Maybe Cera really bumped into a sleeping Pachy as suggested by one book. Any way, they were clearly overreacting :lol
I think a Pachy pushed through the bushes next to Littlefoot just afterwards, but I haven't seen that movie in a while....as for the Struthios looking alike, that's a bit granted. I mean, they are the same species, you know.
Probably. Ozzy and Struth had distinct yellow respectively orange eyes (one of the points to keep them appart), the Struthiomimuses in that scene may have had both colors too. Anyway, as there was no real action or recognition on the part of the Struthiomimuses I guess it is very unlikely that Ozzy and Strut were among them. If they were it apparently didn't make any difference at all.
As for Mr. Thicknose I need to rake my memory. I think (I have no 100% faith in my memory about this point) the information on a return of Mr. Thicknose came straight from Aria, which would make it more than a rumor. I'm not absolutely certain...
Okay, now I am. I checked out my old emails. In a mail of april 9th 2006 Aria wrote: DORIAN PLAYS A RECURRING CHARACTER, "MR. THICKNOSE" ON THE SERIES!
So I'm afraid whether you like him or not Mr. Thicknose will recur in the series ;)
Maybe he'll do better this time.
There are quite a few LBT books actually... Well, I suppose LBT coloring books are not what we are talking about, which gets the number down a bit.
The book by Jim Razzi is certainly the most elaborate and beautiful English adaptation of the original movie. The illustrationsin this book are by David Kirschner and Beverly Lazor-Bahr.
Around the same time as Razzi's book (that is the time the movie was in the cinemas) two other books were published. I think there were soft and hardcover versions of both of them, though I have the hardcover version of only one of them. The content is the same though. The books are titled "Friends in Need" and "The Search for the Great Valley". Both of them tell parts of the original movies story, but are not exactly complete. "Friends in Need" ends after Littlefoot and the others saved Cera from the Pachys. The reunion, the fight with the Sharptooth, and the reaching of the Great Valley are not included. In case of the Search for the Great Valley (which is by no means a sequel or prequel to "Friends in Need") the story ends with Littlefoot finding the Great Valley but turning back to lead the others there. Both books tell the original concept of the story according to which Littlefoot found the Great Valley BEFORE he returned to save Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike. In spite of their incompleteness the text of these books is more elaborate than in some later adaptations. They are illustrated with screenshots from the movie. Interestingly there are a few pictures of scenes which were cut from the movie later on.
Another 1988 book is more aimed at young children and is titled "Littlefoot's New Friends". It is made of solid carton rather than paper (thereby setting the pattern for at least five more land before time books with no direct reference to the movies which were published in later years). The text in this book is very short and simple, but the illustrations are also made by Mr. Kirschner and Mr. Lazor-Bahr and they look really beautiful. They didn't reuse the pictures for the Jim Razzi book. The story of the book is cut short to say the least. It is mainly Littlefoot meeting Cera, getting separated by the earthquake (sharptooth and the death of Littlefoot's mother are never even mentioned), meeting, Ducky, meeting Petrie, finding Spike, finding the Great Valley, and that's it.
A 1999 land before time book by Molly Goode tells the whole story of the original movie in rhymes. The book is clearly aimed at very young kids. It goes like this:
In the land before time
in an age long ago,
a dinosaur hatched...
and started to grow.
Littlefoot was the name
of this dinosaur boy.
His mom was so proud,
for he gave her great joy
Littlefoot's mom
watched as he grew
Grandma and Grandpa
watched over him too.
Well, you get the picture. Critical parts of the story (e.g. the death of Littlefoot's mother and the quarrel with Cera) are very much downplayed as not to provide anything a kid might find scary. The illustrations of the book are not from the movie, but by Beverly Lazor-Bahr. The pictures are however in this "later style" in which all character have knobby knees and Petrie looks like a sick, ancient bat (I wonder if Mr. Lazor-Bahr is the one who invented that "sacrilege".
Another softcover adaptation from the same year has illustrations of Mr. Lazor-Bahr too. They have the same look of the characters, but at least the landscape around the characters looks better. The text is not nearly as elaborate as in the 1988 books, but still slightly above the level of many land before time books with no direct reverence to the original movie which tell stories in really exteremely short and simple sentences. This book sticks to the movie's version of the Great Valley discovery.
Apart from these there is a respectable number of land before time books not directly related to the first movie, or any of the movies at that.
In Germany there are four different books on the original story plus a translation of "Friends in need". I will never forgive the translators of that book that they actually did translate Littlefoot's name (which is not done in any other book and certainly not in the movie). I suppose there must have been a translation of "The Search for the Great Valley" too, but I expect the edition was only a few hundred or thousand books, so they are extremely rare...
I'm not sure if those German books or those not refering to the movie are of any interest to you.
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I actually have wondered that, about what would happen if Hyp, Mutt, or Nod had managed to catch one of the gang. Mutt and Nod didn't seem like much of a threat, as they were just following Hyp around, and Hyp is rather cocky and doesn't tend to think things through (ex., he jumped straight into the tar pit)...hmm. As for the three pterosaurs, yeah, I just remembered Sierra saying that he'd feed the gang to some sharpteeth. I think Rinkus said that they should get Littlefoot to tell them where the stone landed or they'd cut his throat or something.
Oh, that's a good point, about the Pachys not actually living on the mountain. Maybe they were on their way to the valley too? But yes, they really spazzed out and went into berserk mode...
I've heard some shows re-using character designs. Maybe they did the same with Ozzy's and Strut's design for the Struthiomimus flock? Well, either way, yeah, it doesn't matter. I mean, they were amusing, bumbling, totally unorganized, unfocused fools trying to be bad.
Mm. So Mr. Thicknose will probably return. I would have preferred Ali, or Dina/Dinah, or whoever you spell Cera's neice and nephew's names. They kinda disappeared randomly after movie 6. As for the books, thanks for informing me about them. I didn't know they existed until today!
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Conplex answer made simple: Cera + Irate Dinosaurs = Disaster.
My take on the Pachys is that they were starving, tired, grumpy, and this is Cera we're also talking about here. We all know she probably said something to antagonize them. Yeah, no matter the cause, they weren't letting her get away with her life until Littlefoot and the others showed up looking like the creature from the black lagoon.
Hmm. I've read some stories where Pachys do actually live in mountains, but I highly doubt that they'd live near raging volcanos.
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I've read some stories where Pachys do actually live in mountains, but I highly doubt that they'd live near raging volcanos.
As pointed out before, they could have not been living there. They could have been making their way to the valley as well.
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Hey Malte, do you happen to have a scanner of some kind that will allow us to see the pictures you mentioned in the book? :)
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I was just giving my imput. I never got the impression they were heading for the Great Valley, though.
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Conplex answer made simple: Cera + Irate Dinosaurs = Disaster.
Well, we still don't really know what that disaster would have looked like. Disaster for whom anyway?
I don't suppose Hyp, Nod, and Mutt would have caused any "lasting damage" to Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, or Spike; be it for what scruple remained in them in spite of all the bully attitute or be it for fear of the grownups reactions if they really did something.
What did we actually see Hyp and the others commit? Make as if to step on Ducky so she has to run away, showing some teeth and snarling a bit, letting Nod drop on Littlefoot, chasing them. We didn't ever even see Hyp actually hurt anyone physically (as he had announced he would in one scene). Had they actually caught Littlefoot and/or some/all of the others it would have been interesting to see how far they would have gone.
Perhaps the disaster would have been all his if he had caught anyone. It would have been him caught between the need to keep his face in front of Nod and Mutt yet not do anything that would get him in REAL trouble from the grownups.
We all know she probably said something to antagonize them.
I don't even expect she actually said anything (she may have, but not necessarily). I don't think LBT 1 Cera was prone to talk to strangers who were older and stronger than her. I rather expect she accidentally stumbled into those Pachys temporarry resting place. Perhaps she just woke them up, perhaps she didn't even do that. We won't know for sure, but I don't expect it would have taken a great deal of provocation on Cera's part to set those Pachys off.
Hey Malte, do you happen to have a scanner of some kind that will allow us to see the pictures you mentioned in the book?
We do have a scanner, but currently it is providing us with nothing but a chaotic mixture of all colors except for those which actually exist in a picture you try to scan. However, I can try to take a picture with a digital camera and upload it. Don't expect a fancy picture, it is in this "later style" where Petrie looks like a bat.
I was just giving my imput. I never got the impression they were heading for the Great Valley, though.
You may be right. They sure don't seem to be the kind that would assimilate easily into the Great Valley's society. They are not likely to stay amongst all those volcanos either. Perhaps they were just adrift; knowing they couldn't stay where they were but not knowing where to go either. One might even feel some sympathy for them. Maybe with their over irascible nature (exceeding even that of a threehorn) they wouldn't even feel happy in such a peaceful place of the Great Valley. Perhaps that's why there seem to be so few Pachys, perhaps that is why the only really noteable Pachy appearance in the sequels is in the Land of Mists. Perhaps they need to struggle for their life to actually enjoy it, and perhaps I'm just overinterpreting things :lol:
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Here we go:
(http://mitglied.lycos.de/malte2709/Spike_captured.JPG)
The picture is from a carton book titled "We did it together". It was issued along with a couple of similar land before time children books. I think they were issued in 1998 (along with some other LBT stuff that was issued at that time), but I'm not a 100% certain about it as the books don't give any information on when they were printed.
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There could be two different kinds of behavior for Pachys in LBT. The ones we saw in the original were the only ones we've seen act overly viciously, and who knows what the ones in LBT4 were doing. But, the ones we've seen in the Great Valley don't seem to be any worse off. I guess it could depend on which Pachy group you get.
Its never gone over in the series, but the makers definitely leave it open for grabs.
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No doubt about it. It is probably similar to the varying degree of racism we see among different dinosaurs of different species (e.g. while "Topsy" never quite gets over his reservations against longnecks Tria doesn't show any such behaviour at all). While Littlefoot's grandparents don't show any racism in the sequels it is rather clear that the Old One from Ali's herds wants it to be a herd for longnecks only. There doesn't seem to be any racism among the farwalkers.
The degree of aggressiveness of the Pachys may vary in a similar way and perhaps the harsh circumstances in places such as the volcanic landscape in the original movie or the land of mists contribute to enhance that aggressivity while easy life in the Great Valley may placate them to a certain degree.
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Mm. Well, I certainly like that picture you photographed, Malte - I've always liked Hyp. Does that book only mention the bullies, or does it go further?
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Personally I'm not too fond of the style of that picture (least of all of Petrie). The story of that book is very short. Basically Hyp and the other tell Littlefoot and the others that they got Spike and they free him by making Hyp and the others believe, that a huge dinosaur is approaching (by creating noise large shadows etc.). Hyp, Nod, and Mutt flee, Spike is saved and everyone is happy. The story is much more elaborate in the audio play version of it. It is really a pity that those audio plays (six altogether) are in German. The stories are simple (based on the stories of the carton books), but the dialogues are well done really the way you would expect the characters to talk.
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Ah, I see. Yeah, I don't like bat-Petrie either...
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Somehow, I actually can't quite see Hyp going that far (kidnapping Spike), even if he was a bully for a large portion of the story of LBT3.
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According to both the book and the audio play he had no motive other than being a bully. The story is not my invention. Neither book nor audio play suggest however that they did anything more serious to Spike than preventing him to walk off freely.
I still wonder what Hyp would have done if he had captured Littlefoot and / or the others in that LBT 3 scene after the discovery of the waterhole. It was probably luck for him that he didn't catch anybody, for he would have lost face in front of his cronies if he hadn't done anything to stop Littlefoot and the others from telling about the grownups, but there was no way short of killing in which he could have done that (and however much of a bully he may be I really can't think of Hyp as a murderer).
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Yeah - Hyp's definantely not a murderer. I think they worse they would have done was beat the gang up a bit - nothing too serious because no one wants and angry Mr. Threehorn standing over them. Hyp wasn't (that) stupid. Heh, wow, we sure had a subject fling, didn't we?
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That's what happens in discussions that last for a while, sometimes. I once saw a discussion about chainsaws turn into a discussion about prunes. -_-
Anyway, back to topic, obviously there are exceptions, like Tria, to every rule. She's fairly level-tempered and lacks the sheer level arrogance of a lot of her fellow threehorns. We're never given enough about the pachys to mak a fair assessment of which is their typical behavior, but then again, there may not be a typical behavior for them.
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Wow! Chainsaws to prunes! That's something I would have never expected. In any case, that's a good point. But a large portion of the Pachys we've seen in the movies are incredibly aggressive, so maybe the nice 'oddball' Pachys live in the Great Valley.
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A few of them were seen in the Geat Valley. Ok, maybe only one. He/she appears in LBT V and XI.
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There are some teenage ones in the tv series seen twice in short scenes. There have been an adult or 2 shown in the background of some tv series scenes but I don't think they had a talking part.
They are not shown in speaking parts to show if they have a certain culture. Though threehorns really are not either. Some one dispute that but really we've only seen mainly 2 adult threehorns in speaking parts, the rest are shown in the background and it is hard to get an idea if threehorns have a certain culture or if there are several diverse cultures from seeing some standing around in the background.
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There was also a young Pachycephalosaurus among the audience at the very end of LBT VI.
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Yes, I forgot about that one.
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The ones that stole ducky's treestars were very aggressive and in the movie, they appear to be meat eaters. :bang There aren't very many teenaged dinos in the movie or series,aren't they?Besides Hyp and his gang.There aren't very many young adult dinos unless count Tria or singles ones. There aren't many sibling dinos playing with each other and there is no entire species fighting either. Cera, Ruby and shortie seem to be the oldest ones. :unsure:
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Not to aggressive since ruby talked to them a bit loudly telling them to drop the tree stars and they do the run off. Also them, or other teenage domeheads are scared off by Cera while she is singing her mad song.
I'd guess based on their behavior they are very recent arrivals to the Great Valley and use to living in an area where food is scarce. Where it is ok to steal from others to get some and if threatened it may be best to run away. As for the movie, they were likely being territorial and 1 trying to fight off the other domehead. Remember in the movie food was very scarce and hard to find.
They have shown an adult domehead standing with some others in a tv episode, like the Amazing Threehorn Girl. It looks like in this episode the adult knows there is plenty of food and there is no need to steal it or keep others away.
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Interestingly, while Pachycephalosaurus is described as a plant-eater in most media, some paleontologists have suggested that it and its relatives were omnivores. The teeth of the LBT pachys are much larger and sharper than those of the real dinosaur, but if you look at a pachycephalosaur skull (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomw1942/2311035794/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomw1942/2311035794/)), you will see that this wasn’t exactly a dinosaur you would call a “flattooth.” (There’s no scientific basis for the ghoulish claws of the LBT domeheads, though.) The teeth in the front of pachycephalosaur jaws were pointed and conical (good for nipping), while those in the back were small and serrated, better suited for shredding than chewing. Interestingly, the theropod Troodonóa dinosaur generally regarded as a meat-eaterówas once believed to have been a pachycephalosaur, because its teeth were so similarly shaped; it too may have been omnivorous.
I’m willing to attribute the aggressive behavior of the LBT pachys to territoriality (the two in movie IV certainly seemed to show more interest in attacking each other than the gang), but I wouldn’t put it past the pachys in the first movie to have been intent on eating Cera. Perhaps such an opportunistic diet is what enables the domeheads to survive in regions forsaken by most other dinosaurs, such as the Burning Mountains and the Land of Mists. Consider that the egg stealers and fast runnersóboth omnivorous dinosaursóare seen to do reasonably well in regions that the Great Valley residents consider inhospitable.
As for the domeheads we have seen in the Great Valley (in movies V, VI, XI, and XII, as well as numerous TV episodes), I would imagine that the abundance of green food there removes the necessity for such territorial and part-time predatory behavior, allowing them the same “culturized” lifestyle as the other leafeaters. As an off-note, I suspect that the adolescent domeheads in the TV series are a different species (possibly Stegoceras or Prenocephale) than the other domeheads we have seen, given their radically different coloration and the fact that they lack nose horns (even the baby Pachycephalosaurus from movies VI and XII had those).
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*I didn’t take this photo, and hopefully I am not breaking any sort of copyright law by linking to it. If I am, please let me know, and I will find a replacement.
It doesn't matter if you post up someone else's picture :) (Only if the artist told that you should not use that picture without his or her permission, but that's usually not a problem at all)
At GoF we do not have some kind of rule that you can't post other people's pictures. :yes
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unless with permission?
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Pachycephalosaurus is actually one of my favourite dinosaurs. I always wanted to see one of them as important positive character in LBT movie. :)
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I started looking for posts on Domeheads today and I finally found one! Seems like a dead topic though...... Oh well! :DD
I personally have a few theories on why the Domeheads in the first movie were so vicious, some already mentioned on the topic.
Theory 1- I have little doubt they were indeed territorial and I feel this has been explained enough already to support it.
Theory 2- They might've been hungry (Yes, I am thinking cannibalist gory thoughts, Malte! :D ). As pointed out by Malte, who knows how desperate they were!
Theory 3- I also believed that it pretty much seemed to have been a kind of game for them or something. I caught a few quick screenshots of the Domeheads smirking menacingly, as if they were enjoying scaring the living daylights out of a helpless hatchling. Maybe they are sadistic psycho bullies taking pleasure in attacking poor Cera for no rational reason.
Theory 4- And a dark thought of dino-version hate crimes is brought to my mind: what if they were attacking her simply for the reason that she was another species they might consider inferior to them.... This was a movie on racism and segregation and stuff... So maybe racial violence might be portrayed here.
Or maybe it's all four of them! I'm sorry if my post is a waste of time and isn't as clear as I want it to be, I'm just so sleepy today for some reason.
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On the contrary, reviving old threads and sharing new ideas is exactly the kind of thing that is appreciated and encouraged on the GOF, especially among new members. :yes Keep up the good work! :smile
Your second two theories are definitely food for thought. I’d never thought about the domeheads’ motives that way. The idea that it was the dinosaur equivalent of a hate crime certainly opens up the possibility of a whole new dark side to the species segregation in the LBT world. :blink:
By the way, technically, eating other leafeaters wouldn’t make the domeheads any more cannibalistic than sharpteeth, as cannibalism is defined as eating members of one’s own species. (Come to think of it, though, if the LBT dinosaurs have taboos against cannibalism, that might be exactly the kind of reasoning the domeheads use to justify such behavior.)
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Yay, so my reply was not in vain! I felt bringing in a dead topic would annoy everyone here, but I'm very happy to know it's not!
I had many reasons for the domehead's behavior, but these were the ones that made the most sense to me. I'm glad to have opened a dark side to this dark-filled movie. But I guess their true motives will never be known. If only those domeheads spoke, maybe then we'd know... :) But I imagine, if it was a hate crime the domehead's were commiting, that must mean Topsy's a comparatively nice racist!
My science teacher lied to me then. :cry She gave me an example of 'cannibalism' and said to imagine a wolf eating my pet dog.... So Malte's comment made sense to me as a 'Leaf Eater eating another Leaf Eater' kinda thing. Makes me question what other wrong stuff our teachers are teaching us... <_<
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She gave me an example of 'cannibalism' and said to imagine a wolf eating my pet dog
Dogs are thought of as a subspecies of wolf and are so genetically related that they can have offspring with each other. So that's probably why your teacher made that example.
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I personally think that those domeheads in 1 had mental issues, and that they were trying to kill Cera for the heck of it. Perhaps they took the racism to far, and they kill any dinosaur other then Pachycephalosaurs they meet, the Land Before Time's nazis, either that, or just the animators didn't do research.