The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => 1988 Theatrical Release => Topic started by: Saftycera on September 17, 2007, 06:59:22 AM
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I was capping my DVD for again today for icons when I noticed something about Cera's family...There's a scene later on in the movie where she says "When I find my sisters I won't BE alone!"
But upon further inspection of said "Sisters" Only one of the other three Three-horn actually has eyelashes and looks feminine the other two from my point of view look very masculine to me.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/Safty/Land17.jpg)
What do you guys think? Of course I could be completley wrong but in a way I get kinda depressed to know that Cera's maternal mother and her sisters/brothers didn't make it to The Great Valley.
~Safty
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This is yet another mystery brought on by the sequels. Indeedm we never see of them in the Great Valley, that I know of. However, if memory serves, there are some threehotn hatchlings that appear at the end of LBT 2. However, not only are they too young to be Cera's lost siblings, but they are, too, not heard from anymore in the later sequels. Why, oh why, does this so often happen to LBT?
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I guess it takes more than long eyelashes to turn a male dinosaur into a female one (there are some scenes in which Littlefoot sports very long eyelashes) and more than short eylashes to turn a female into a male.
It is very difficult to draw a land before time character and make sure the character looks particularly male or female. By just looking at Cera's parents in the original movie it would be very difficult to tell who is Cera's father and who is his mother. The same is true for many other species as well. In case of the flyers we have one exception as the males (the grownup males that is) are sometimes depicted with a large crest (such as Pterano's) while the females usually have the smaller version such as that of Petrie's mother). Could anyone of you draw a flyer of Petrie's age and make sure that everyone knows this flyer to be a girl? The eye lashes seem to be the only detail we can name to pinpoint the different looks, but it doesn't seem to be a very substantial difference.
I recall that there had been some uncertainty about the gender of Ducky. She was never referred to as "she" in the original movie and some people were uncertain about her gender. In fact an audio play of the land before time was produced in which Ducky was referred to as "he" by the narrator.
Of course I could be completley wrong but in a way I get kinda depressed to know that Cera's maternal mother and her sisters/brothers didn't make it to The Great Valley.
This is a question I have been wondering about as well. In LBT 11 they beat the bush again by not saying anything at all about the whereabouts of Cera's mother and her sisters. We didn't see any threehorn but Cera's dad at the end of the original movie, but Cera's mother was shown in LBT 2 and in the sequels 3 and 4 there were other young threehorns around suggesting that parts of Cera's family were still around. Dinah and Dana in LBT 6 made the riddle complete. We were never told about their parents and they looked nothing like Cera (Cera might even grow a little jealous of the two considering the fact that they ARE threehorns while Cera still sports but one horn).
I have been writing a land before time story titled "Old Threehorns" in which Cera's mother and two of her sisters play a significant role. I came up with an explanation for their absence and for Dinah and Dana. Sadly the content of the story is in conflict with several land before time movies which were released after I started writing it. :(
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Cera's mom was in the Valley at the end of the movie. I think she was standing near Cera's father when they were nuzzling. As for the siblings, I'm certain they were there.
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Cera's mom was in the Valley at the end of the movie. I think she was standing near Cera's father when they were nuzzling. As for the siblings, I'm certain they were there.
The where'd they go for the rest of the series? We really don't see anything of them. And if Topsy's mate made it to the Valley, then why did he get a new one in LBT 11? Very puzzling....
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I would guess they did a sort of retcon to say Cera's mom and her siblings didn't make it, or a continuity mistake. Just a guess on my part.
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I came up with several reasons why Cera's mom and siblings aren't around. Some of which shouldn't be discussed with kids.
One fair prediction I've made is that they simply didn't make it in LBT 5. I'm sure that the journey to find another place with green food cost them a few lives, some of which were rather grusome for kids. (It's not pleasing to see someone die of starvation and dehydration.) Other accounts could be possible sharpteeth encounters to deal with. Who knows if anyone was actually lost in LBT 5? A number of Cera's family could be the sad victims.
I do have a few others, but I do not wish to discuss them, as they are more adult, if you know what I mean.
Still, who knows what happened, but my prediction could be a good one. :)
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There could be other reasons, like you mentioned including events from certain movies. I forgot about those, perhaps partly since it isn't a think kids should hear likely.
Another option, thought it makes things more complex, is to say certain movies happen on LBT earth 1, others on LBT earth 2, may or may not need an LBT earth 3. I don't think in these terms since, like I said, it makes things pretty complex. Though you'd have to be old like me to think of that or understand what earth 1, earth 2, is, since they were wiped out in the mid 80's story in dc comics.
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I don't count the sequels, so I can't say about them. I'm certain I remember seeing Cera's mom in the Valley. The other baby topses, no, but the mom, yes.
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There is a Triceratops in the background in the LBT 2 scene in which Cera's Dad reacts to hearing the shouts of Cera and the others (who are stuck in the Sinking sands), who by all likelihood was supposed to be Cera's Mum. LBT 3 has another threehorn (the scene when the Thundering Falls stop) and also some kids who look like Cera but definitely younger. However in spite of these scenes there is not one which would beyond any doubt present one dinosaur as Cera's mother. There are no scenes with the whole family depicted as such (while we do see Ducky's families' nest with both parents). Cera's mother is nowhere in the reunification scene of LBT 5 (last time we saw Ducky's Dad).
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It could be considered either a retcon where they rethought what they intended earlier on, or could be they forgot what they had done earlier. Some tv series and movie series have such mistakes that occur. There was even a series of netpicker's guide of books that came out for a bit. Likely the reason is there is no one who forces them to stick to pre established continuity and they ignore the past to varying extents and focus only on the current story they are working on.
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Unless there's evidence to suggest otherwise, it's possible that Cera's siblings never made it to the Great Valley, and that Cera's mother didn't make it through the swarming leaf gobblers debacle in LBT 5.
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That is the easiest approach. Either try to ignore inconstancies or make up what makes sense and say it happened off screen. I usually take the second approach. After all with the various disasters that happened one could say her siblings and mother may have had something happen off screen. It could have been to both at once, or in separate movies.
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Hello:
Today I could see the movie again and I saw the earthshake sequence very well, in a segment we can see several dinosaurs falling with rocks when the lands got separated, between those dinosaurs there were some Longnecks and many ThreeHorns, and the only dinosaurs we can see that were safe were Littlefoot's grandparents and Cera's father with only one more Threehorn. Maybe (and I say maybe) between the dinosaurs that couldn't survive the cataclysm were Cera's siblings :(
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One LBT story I've been writing is focused primarily on Cera's family and suggests that the great earthquake separated not just Cera but also her siblings from her dad and her mum (who in turn was missed after an aftershock of the earthquake). That story assumes that two of Cera's sisters survived and were found by Cera's mum who, though separated from her husband, also survived.
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That is possible. If they were separated they may assume that the other did not make it. If some did not know where the great valley was, or thought it only a myth they may never go to the great valley.
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It is also quite likely that there were different descriptions of the way to the Great Valley from the one we were given in the original movie. For example I would expect threehorns or other kinds to focus on land marks other than the rock that looks like a longneck :lol
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True, and I think Doc mentioned other places as nice as the great valley. Some word of mouth from far walkers and other dinos who visit one or more of these places as well as the great valley may have gotten things mixed as things spread by word of mouth up so Cera's mother and sisters may have would up at one of those other places.
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Here's something I just thought of today:
According to LBT 1, Cera has sisters:
When I find my sisters, I won't be alone!
BUT according to LBT 3, Mr. Threehorn has just a single surviving female child: Cera. Note the lyrics in the song "Standing Tough"
I have A DAUGHTER and I'm HER father
It says nothing about there being any other female siblings (Daughters, Their father) and if there are other siblings, Mr. Threehorn sure doesn't think much of them...
Therefore, either Mr. Threehorn fails to acknowledge that fact that he has other children or Cera is the only surviving female child. This doesn't rule out the possibility of male siblings who are never mentioned though.
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If Cera's dad have not seen his other kids since they were separated, and they never came to the great valley he may well think they were dead and doesn't speak about them.
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Therefore, either Mr. Threehorn fails to acknowledge that fact that he has other children or Cera is the only surviving female child. This doesn't rule out the possibility of male siblings who are never mentioned though.
And any other siblings of Cera are very unlikely as I really don't see why Cera's father would order her to follow him during the fire but not loose a word about everyone else. The only point speaking really for any other relatives in the Great Valley are Dinah and Dana, but from their looks I really think they are more likely to be adopted. Any of the other threehorns we see near Cera's father in LBT 2, 3, and 4 can easily be seen as members of another family who just happened to stand nearby, though in some cases it appears likely that whoever drew them was thinking of them as relatives of Cera.
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Some of them could be her cousins or aunts and uncles. It's likely Cera's dad does have at least a couple of brothers and sisters and her mother also.
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I personaly think that her mother and sibblings did'nt make it. Thou I did get confused with Dana and Dinah appearing then suddenly dissapearing as the sequels progressed.
Thou I dont follow sequels since it's other writer's doing the job and they tend to make stuff up if they cant explain something.
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I, too, agree they did'nt make it :cry. As far as Dinah and Dana are concerned, I tend to believe Cera has an older sister who has never made an appearance :yes. Whoever this sister is probably does not have strong ties to her father, as seen in how harsh his attitude was before. However, she does not hold his grandkids hostage from him. But that's just my theory.
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That is one possibility. I think it's been mentioned before. It could also explain why their parents didn't appear, they didn't hang out with cera's dad much.
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That is one possibility. I think it's been mentioned before. It could also explain why their parents didn't appear, they didn't hang out with cera's dad much.
If ya could possibly inform me where this was quoted in the series, I would greatly appreciate it ;) :yes. On another note, I heard of something rather interesting. Y'all know threehorns fall under the group called ceratopsians. Well, allow me to demonstrate:
Tri=Tria
Cera=Cera
Topsi=Topsy
An=Anne
Don't know where Tricia comes into play here, but this was too interesting to not post :yes.
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As for Dinah and Dana, I still think they are more likely to be adopted or (looking at their sudden disappearance) "temporarily taken care of" by Cera's father. Of course they are refered to as "family" by Cera, but in LBT 4 we have Littlefoot's grandpa refer to a herd of longnecks they have never met before as "cousins". These movies suggest that the term "family" is much broader defined in the understanding of LBT dinosaurs than in ours. LBT 8 again creates a very different impression about this, but Spike is definitely defined as part of Ducky's family (and so may Dinah and Dana be defined as part of Cera's family). Apart from their disappearance one of the major points to support the addoption theory is that Dinah and Dana look extremely different from Cera or from the threehorn hatchlings we saw in LBT 2 and 3. Their colors differ and unlike much older Cera they already sport three rather than one horn. The factual reason for these differences is probably that they meant them to look different from Cera or any other threehorns to prevent confusion (same with Tricia who might be brought up as an argument against the thesis of Dinah and Dana being a different species of threehorn), but that is not a reason that could be understood if laid out to an LBT character ;)
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Yeah... I also think the family thing might more broadly defined in LBT than we would define it, yet, they probably know the difference... So, maybe think of it like this: there are those of us who have really good friends, best friends, and also consider them family. I, for one, have such a friend... We come from different peoples, and our blood types are different - radically different; I'm A+, he's O - but, I have considered him, and will always consider him to be family, regardless of our different ethnic backgrounds (despite both of us looking caucasian, he does have some Indian in him) because of our strong bonds. He's always family to me, and I always treat him as such... I've felt a strong connection to LBT 8 because of that, recalling, at the very least, the "Family" song. It's obvious from the lyrics that the gang considers themselves to be a family; this would make a lot of sense, considering all that they've gone through together... (On a side note, that single word, "together..." So many images roll through my head about LBT when I think of that single word... It's astonishing...) :D
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Dinah and Dana could have been temporarily taken care of by Threehorn. We don't know how long they were there, it could have been months they were there. They could have been separated from their parents and a farwalker herd may have taken them to the Great Valley since that is safer for hatchlings then letting them wonder alone in the mysterious beyond. Threehorn may have adopted them till their real parents came into the Great Valley somewhere between 6 and 7. They may have been heading there when they got separated from their hatchlings. Though it would have been better if they had at least been mentioned in passing in one of the movies after 6.
As for the longnecks being referred to as cousins, as I've said elsewhere it could be that all of the same type may consider themselves cousins partially since some move around a lot or are farwalkers so another dino of the same type you meet may very well be a cousin. Threehorn may well have called, offscreen, the threehorns we've seen cousins.
It may also be, as I mentioned elsewhere, that Littlefoot's and Ali's herds (or at least some of Ali's herd, may share common ancestors. I doubt the disasters that we have seen hit the great valley were the first ones to do so. It could be one of the same disasters has hit before, and with no group like Littlefoot and his friends to fix things, that the herds did leave the Great Valley and split up like they were going to in the 5th movie. A family of longnecks may have disagreed where to go, with some heading say west, and some heading east, south or north. This would explain how Littlefoot's mother and her parents (I assume they are her parents since in the 10th movie Bron does not call Grandpa longneck dad, but papa longneck, maybe a title like old one) knew how to get to the Great Valley since their ancestors and the Old one's, may have actually lived in the Great Valley and passed down not just storied of the Great Valley but how to get to there also. They could be cousins but not first, but 5th, 10th or more.
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Yeah, there's so much possibility there, too... There's just so much we don't know... So many interesting theories have come up...! :DD
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Doesn't Cera have a nephew and niece? :blink:
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The twin threehorns in the 6th movie are mentioned and called her niece & nephew, but we don't know if they really are, or if Threehorn "adopted" them till their parents could come and find them, or if their parents were visiting the great valley and he promised to look after them for a while.
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Actually the twins are never referred to as niece or nephew. All that is said in LBT 6 is that they refer to Cera as "Auntie" and to her father as "Grandpa". Both of these addresses don't make it absolutely certain that they are really related by blood (the horns of Dinah and Dana and their colors suggesting that they might be a different species of Threehorn). Dear friends or neighbors of a family might be referred to as "auntie", "uncle", or (depending on the age) as "grandma" or "grandpa". The total absence of Dinah and Dana in the later sequels may make it very likely that they were adopted at least temporarily (maybe their parents were presumed dead but reappeared later or perhaps they had to undertake some journey which would have been to dangerous for the little ones or the like). It is probably just the filmmakers not caring enough to make their stories coherent, but in our efforts to make up for those shortcomings the idea of them being no real relatives to Cera fits in better than the idea of them being actual niece and nephew of Cera (this goes especially for the movies since the popping up of Tria).