Okay, everyone. After thoroughly analyzing the movie frame-by-frame multiple times and having to re-watch infamous, cringe-worthy scenes (some of them no less than five times), I have the results for each character's screen time for the original Land Before Time!
Fair warning: I ended up discovering a startling surprise that may make us all never look at this movie the same way again ...
No, your eyes are not deceiving you. Even I thought for a moment that Vegas Pro had left me cross-eyed, but the editing system speaks nothing but the truth ...
Ducky has more screen time than Cera! MORE THAN TWO MINUTES no less!
Even though Ducky was formally introduced to the audience much later than Cera, the Threehorn's absence from most of the final battle coupled with Ducky being the bait for Sharptooth essentially allowed the Swimmer to overtake the Threehorn for second place in screen time.
Rooter was on screen for only 73 seconds, but that was all he needed to deliver his powerful message about the great Circle of Life.
I was honestly expecting slightly bigger numbers for Sharptooth, but given that a big chunk of scenes ended up being cut from the movie, I guess it's no wonder his screen time was cut down to just over 4 minutes.
As for the siblings, those are credited as a combination of the siblings from each of the Gang's families. The only reason I counted them was because they are related to the main characters, even though Cera's siblings will never be seen again (their shared combination of 14 seconds ALL during Cera's hatching scene, shockingly). Ducky's siblings never really become supporting characters, either, but we know very well that Petrie's siblings eventually will.
Littlefoot's grandparents were just utterly confusing throughout the time I studied their scenes. This is actually the only film in the series where they have the scientifically correct coloring (based on gender), as these were mysteriously swapped out from the second movie onward. Their numbers were simply based on assumption after I decided to go with my gut.
Of course, though, Littlefoot is unsurprisingly far ahead of everyone, his screen time almost doubling that of the runner-up. It should be noted, though, that most of the movie was essentially being seen through his perspective, so it should come as no surprise that Littlefoot the fearless Longneck leader of the Gang starts off the series seated on the throne as Screen Time King. The question is, though, will he stay up there throughout the entire series given just how many sequels there are?
That's all for now, though. I'll see you later with my next post, where we dissect the characters' screen time in The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure!
