The Gang of Five

The Land Before Time => General Land Before Time => Topic started by: The Friendly Sharptooth on October 29, 2011, 12:45:56 AM

Title: The Great (Mysterious) Wall
Post by: The Friendly Sharptooth on October 29, 2011, 12:45:56 AM
What may seem like a plot hole may make sense if certain modern ideas come into play. There are two things we know for certain:

1.   The great wall protects the Great Valley from sharpteeth.

2.   Longnecks, much bigger creatures, are able to come and go as they please.

This at first seemed contradictory to me, but what if they (the residents) had clever ways of keeping them out? I don’t recall a continuous shot from being on the ground in the Great Valley to leaving the Great Valley while at the same time seeing the distance between the starting point and exit point. So what if they did something like create a door of rocks or trees that they can move with ease with a group effort but would fool sharpteeth into thinking it was a dead end? I think that there are many ways that sharpteeth can be kept out, and being as others can just leave and enter easily, something else must be keeping carnivores out, some secret we haven’t seen. Any thoughts on this matter? Did I miss something? If there is a gaping hole somewhere, is there possibly more fruit near it or something?
Title: The Great (Mysterious) Wall
Post by: Kiwizoom on October 29, 2011, 03:15:36 PM
Mmm, I think it's just making up theories to make a plot hole seem like not a plot hole ^^  It probably is a hole, but it's pretty small.
Also consider that the Valley is a secret among the talking herbivores; and the carnivores tend to be mute and without working social groups half the time.
Title: The Great (Mysterious) Wall
Post by: Almaron on October 29, 2011, 03:39:27 PM
Hmm...that is something to consider. I don't know about using false walls; I just assumed the routes in and out of the Valley were fairly difficult to use - consider the high route taken to get to the Valley containing Saurus Rock, or the rocky mountain route used during the heavy Winter.

Someone else suggested that the Sharpteeth normally avoided the Valley cause there were too many Leaf-Eaters - enough to fight back. This works for some of the Sharpteeth seen - Chomper's parents, for instance, who were only entering the Valley to find their kid - but falls apart when you remember the Sharpteeth who snuck into the Valley after the Tinysauruses.

Alternatively, it could in fact be a clever counter-scheme by the Sharpteeth. They don't enter the Valley because they want there to be a stable supply of Leaf-Eaters living in there. Instead, Sharpteeth linger in the areas around the Valley, and pick off the odd Leaf-Eater heading in through one of the smaller routes. Wait...that doesn't work; the Original Sharptooth was working to get inside, and so was Redclaw, I believe...perhaps they do that anyway, but simply haven't found the routes in?

This needs greater examination...

Title: The Great (Mysterious) Wall
Post by: Bruton the Iguanodon on October 31, 2011, 10:40:03 PM
Wasn't in the original version Littlefoot and co. trying to kill sharptooth to prevent him from getting in the great valley (which littlefoot originally found on his own)
Title: The Great (Mysterious) Wall
Post by: Malte279 on November 01, 2011, 06:51:10 AM
That's right Bruton :yes
 
As for the Great Wall in general I have a different theory about why the Great Valley is a relatively save place. In spite of the stress that is put on the importance of the Great Wall in the 2nd movie, I don't believe that it alone is responsible for the security of the Great Valley. It is surely not hurting that the Great Valley can be entered at a few spots only, but I think that the more important point is that no sharptooth in his or her right mind would want to be in the Great Valley without some really good reason (like looking for their hatchling). The Great Valley would likely be a rather scary place for sharpteeth. With the inhabitants of the Great Valley standing together the way they did for example in LBT 2 and 3 entering the Great Valley to face that group of leafeaters holding on together seems to be a bad choice for a sharptooth. Looking at the piles of skeletons we see in the surroundings of the Great Valley in LBT 2 and 3 and with the references to herds moving around outside the Valley in LBT 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 13 (and I skipped minor references in other movies) it seems very likely that Sharpteeth would find enough food outside the Valley and also much easier prey (a straggler from a moving herd would be by far less risky than having to face all the Great Valley parents). This theory of mine is also supported by the fact that in LBT 2 Chomper's parents are leaving the Valley instantly after finding Chomper they never seem to consider staying any longer than necessary. In LBT 6 we hear about the death of a particularly strong sharptooth after it entered the Great Valley and we also see two sharpteeth who were hanging around on the outskirts of the Valley (from where they could have entered the Valley if they had wanted to) being "executed" by alive burial (in what I consider one of the most brutal LBT scenes).
My theory is that from the point of view of most sharpteeth the Great Valley would be considered a very dangerous (possibly even haunted given the lone dinosaur stories) place. A sharpteeth might think of it as a kind of "Death Valley" and go for the easier prey outside instead. By this theory a sharptooth like Redclaw would be a kind of daredevil defying the uncanny reputation of the Valley (which would be a reason for him to stand out from the many other sharpteeth who are not so explicitly named in LBT).