Dana and Dinah

F-14 Ace · **on:** December 02, 2005, 11:41:46 PM

Re remember Dana and Dinah, right? What ever happened to them? I mean, they were in that one movie and we never see them again yet it never tells us what became of them.

action9000 · **Reply #1 on:** December 03, 2005, 01:48:15 AM

Spike ate them

I wondered the same thing myself; all I can figure is that they were temporarily under the care of Mr. Threehorn and his family, due to the fact that the Twin's real family (who must be a family friend of Cera's family) was unavailable at the time. The Twins were returned to their family, who possibly also reside in the Great Valley, and that family is simply never seen in a later LBT movie.

However, the serious contradiction to this is when the Gang is chasing after the twins on the way to Saurus Rock. Prior to crossing the gorge, Cera nervously says to herself: "The things I do for family..."
Meaning that, either
1) Cera, deep down, considers the twins family even if they are not.
2) They truly are family, which shoots down my theory.

If it is #2 above, then possibly they are cousins or distant relatives of Cera's family, who, like I mentioned above, were temporarily unavailable, and asked Cera's family to babysit them for awhile.

Just my 2-3 cents.

Malte279 · **Reply #2 on:** December 03, 2005, 04:38:57 AM

Dinah and Dana never played any whatsoever role after LBT 6, yet they do have a guest appearance in the prologue of LBT 8. You can see them chasing each other around Cera's Dad. The colors are not the same as in LBT 6, but other than that they look very much like Dinah and Dana. I consider it one of the producers regretable thoughtlessnesses that they are totaly ignored in further storylines. In LBT 11 (with Tria coming up) they should have been mentioned at least.
I don't think that Dinah and Dana are sibships of Cera and her Dad. The twins look very different from Cera both in color and for the fact that they sport three horns already while the horns on Cera's forehead have yet to develope. This might indicate that, while Dinah and Dana are threehorns, they may not be precisely the same species as Cera and her Dad. Also they look nothing like other threehorn kids shown in the original movie and the sequels 2 and 3. With Cera's mother being gone ever after the first movie I consider it most likely that Dinah and Dana have been adopted by Cera's father after loosing their parents; similar to the way Spike has been adopted by Ducky's family. With all the perils on the way to the Great Valley I'm sure there is no lack of orphans (Ducky is the only character who still has both parents though her father wasn't shown after LBT 5 anymore as he never played any significant role).
At least this is what I claim in a fanfiction I'm currently writing:

Quote

Styrax let his eyes travel along his herd and Cera felt his strong charisma that allowed him to control the herd without even speaking. Yet after another moment Styrax raised his pleasantly sounding voice: “Horneds, we have...” Suddenly the reverently silence of the herd and the pleasingly sound of Styrax’s voice was disrupted by a loud, unarticulated jabbering of two very young voices. Cera felt very sick suddenly when all the looks of the dinosaurs who were obviously indignant about this disruption of the solemnly aura turned in her direction, at a spot right behind her. Cera knew who stood there and that she had to silence them. She blushed with embarrassment when she jerked round and hissed at Dinah and Dana who had appeared behind her eagerly prattling their gibberish: “Shh!”
Cera’s order was so vigorously that the twins fell silent immediately and looked at Cera frightened. For a terrible second Cera feared that the two would start to cry and thus make the situation even more embarrassing, but for her relief the looks of all the grownup dinosaurs around seemed to intimidate Dinah and Dana so much that they didn’t even cry. “Who are these?” asked Styrax surprised and although it was hard to detect Cera believed to hear an angry undertone in his voice. “I’m awfully sorry Styrax, Sir! They belong to us. I hadn’t seen they were here. They certainly...” explained Cera so quickly that it was hard to hear when one word ended and the next began.
For Cera’s boundless relief her father intervened hasty: “I beg your pardon! As my daughter said these two kids belong to us. When they lost their parents me and my daughter took care of them. I thought that they were too young to take part in your first welcoming. I fear we both have completely forgotten them about everything that has happened. So I suppose they followed us and they are not old enough yet to know when they should be quiet.”

pokeplayer984 · **Reply #3 on:** December 04, 2005, 02:24:34 AM

Well, there is one point we can not leave out to discovering a few things about the twins.

They call Cera "Auntie Ceri."

As hard as it may be to believe, (due to Cera's age) there is a chance that Cera is their Aunt.

With this piece of information, it ends up making one believe that Cera does have a brother/sister that is older than her and has a family. There is a chance they are related in that sense. Whoever it was, must've mated with a different speices of Triceratops that was still compatable. Thus, the birth of the twins.

So, I believe that Dinah and Dana are the direct niece and nephew of Cera, despite their slight differences.

Malte279 · **Reply #4 on:** December 04, 2005, 06:36:03 AM

Aunti and Uncle however are also an address that can easily be used for very good and close friends of a family (by someone younger than the said friend). If indeed Dinah and Dana were adopted such an address would be even more likely (most adopted childs would certainly refer to their surrogate parents as mum and dad). With the age difference between Cera's Dad and the twins being rather large it is easy to explain why they would call him "grampee" (grandpa) rather than papa. We never saw any sibilings of Cera since the original movie (though there has been some speculation about a young threehorn standing beside Cera's Dad during the welcoming of the longneckherd in LBT 4). I consider the adoption more likely though not incontestable thesis.

F-14 Ace · **Reply #5 on:** December 04, 2005, 05:50:18 PM

I just don't know why they would leave loose ends like that unexplained.

Malte279 · **Reply #6 on:** December 04, 2005, 06:55:51 PM

Let's be glad they did. Otherwise we wouldn't have anything to talk about.

F-14 Ace · **Reply #7 on:** December 04, 2005, 09:08:05 PM

Yeah, I guess you're right.

Petrie. · **Reply #8 on:** December 05, 2005, 11:19:25 AM

Leaving loose ends gives them a chance to bring them back in a future film without any questions asked.

F-14 Ace · **Reply #9 on:** December 20, 2005, 11:19:37 PM

Hey, what ever happened to any of the other chartacters like the bullies? At least we get to see Chomper again but the other characters never show up again.

Petrie. · **Reply #10 on:** December 21, 2005, 08:09:45 AM

Maybe that one didn't sell too well so they are reluctant to bring back the bullies, maybe because parents didn't like the message that was sending their kids. That's about the only reason I can think of.

Malte279 · **Reply #11 on:** December 21, 2005, 12:43:25 PM

I don't really think so. There seems to be a general reluctance to return characters from earlier movies. Chomper has so far been the only one. I do not think that it has really anything to do with Hyp and his crownies in particular, for otherwise there would be no reason why others should not return. The only reason I can think of is that maybe they want to create "independent" stories. So anyone can watch any movie without the one who watches it thinking: "Who are these guys (characters from earlier movies) whom everyone but me seems to know?"

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #12 on:** December 27, 2005, 06:43:55 PM

The filmmakers figured out how unpopular those two were and promptly had them shot. (Just kidding...I think...)

I don't think any of us know what happened to them. It was just nonsensica for them to disappear.

Petrie. · **Reply #13 on:** December 28, 2005, 09:52:22 AM

WR, you may not be too far from the truth. Think about it....the target audience isn't going to go out and buy the film themselves, so the ones putting it in their hands, are most likely their parents. If the parents don't like what they see on screen, that's the last time its shown.

pokeplayer984 · **Reply #14 on:** December 28, 2005, 10:41:10 AM

Here's my guess after some serious thinking.

The Land Before Time Movie series ends up having guest stars that are all different. They give them a decent enough time to help us understand their charcter and personality within. Which was the basic reason Chomper got a second appearance. He basically didn't have his personality and charcter fully explained and a second one was made to provide that.

I believe that the TV series that's coming will bring back all the guest stars that are still alive and tie up whatever loose ends there may be.

So, my guess was that since they got the charcter and personality basically fully explained with Dinah and Dana, they just decided to basically leave them out until the TV series airs.

So, I have a feeling we'll see each of these guest stars again in the TV series and will finally know what happened to all of them.

Malte279 · **Reply #15 on:** December 28, 2005, 10:44:02 AM

Quote

If the parents don't like what they see on screen, that's the last time its shown.

But I really don't see why a considerable number of parents would have serious objections to such harmless characters as Dinah and Dana. I would even less see how universals would get as detailed information as the popularity of particular characters. They could only read what is written in forums such as this one and our opinion is not representative as every single one of us comes up with more than average interest in the land before time.
They are not going to start pols among average people asking them if they happen to have seen LBT 6 and what they think about Dinah and Dana. Really I think the theory of their trying to make secluded stories which everyone can understand without having seen the other sequels comes closer to the truth.

Malte279 · **Reply #16 on:** December 28, 2005, 10:50:15 AM

We must have written our messages at the same time pokeplayer984 which is why there is no reference to your post in the last message of mine.
Much as I would like to think of more character reappearances in the series, I don't see any point supporting your theory of all characters returning. I suppose that some might return and there are official statements according to which Chomper will be back.
However, most of the characters have probably been considered "tools" to make a story. Once that story is told those characters are no longer needed and disappear without leaving a trace but in memory. That is sort of a cruel way to look at the characters, but I honestly don't think the creators of LBT take enough interest in them to bring them back for their own sake only.
If we are going to see characters again I suppose it will be because they found they make for another story. Chomper is particularly interesting for them for his being a sharptooth.
I hope you are right, I don't think you are.

Petrie. · **Reply #17 on:** December 28, 2005, 06:39:37 PM

I thought we were talking about the bullies.

Malte279 · **Reply #18 on:** December 28, 2005, 07:26:24 PM

WR wrote "those two" which is why I was thinking about Dinah and Dana who are mentioned as the topic of the thread. The very existence of characters of "integrity" who don't return however makes the theory of parents as the reason for never returning characters quite useless. Parents would have been outraged at quite a few characters if their not returning was indeed a sign for them being unpopular among parents.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #19 on:** December 30, 2005, 06:20:11 AM

I wasn't talking about parents. I was talking about the traget audience. I mean, honestly: who soul-bonded with Dana and Dinah as characters? Not me, nor did anyone I know that also watches this series. Honestly! Dana and Dinah were plot devices! Not characters!