Where were the Grandparents during the Earthshake?

[Ducky123]

I'm surprised there isn't a topic bout this yet  

Well! I just wonder, why Littlefoots grandparents weren't around, when Littlefoots mother fighted THE Sharptooth?
Would she be alive, when they had helped her to fight him?

Why didn't they slept with Littlefoot and his mother instead of sleeping somewhere else?

What do you think?

[somerandomfangirl]

Since Littlefoot's mother was resting her head on top of one of the grandparents, they may not have even noticed that had left. She may have noticed that Littlefoot wasn't there and wandered off to find him, while the grandparents may have only woken up when they heard the sharptooth and the children's screams. By the time they got there, the earthshake happened.

As for the "would it have saved her life" part, I think three longnecks against one sharptooth would probably end badly for the sharptooth. However, seeing as how strong the sharptooth was, if it had dealt the wounds that were given to Littlefoot's mother to one of the grandparents, then I'd say that it is likely one of them would have died. If it had killed Littlefoot's mother, then I guess his grandparents would have been there to help lessen the blow slightly and escort Littlefoot to the Great Valley. However, this probably wouldn't have helped with the racism part of the story.

The grandparents had quite a minor role in this film, and I think the film wanted to show Littlefoot's mother as the big hero, so they were left out of the picture until the earthquake happened. I believe the grandparents were just there as encouragement for Littlefoot to go to the Great Valley, since most of his interaction was with his mother.

[jalistair]

That's a good question. What did they just run away or something? Wouldn't surprise me since Cera's parents didn't even look for a way to get to the other side of the ravine to get to Cera when they knew she was there, they just continued on their way.

[Almaron]

I always got the feeling that they'd slept through the fight, while Littlefoot's mother roused early for some reason, noticed Littlefoot was gone, heard the screams, and charged off to save him. I suppose it could be noted that Cera's parents didn't come to help, so if they slept through her yells than it's not too hard to imagine Littlefoot's grandparents doing the same.

It's worth noting that Littlefoot, his mother and Cera all end up quite far away from their original nesting site as a result of the battle (besides, isn't that how they end up on either side of the divide; the nests were on one side, and Sharptooth chased them so they ended up on the other side?), and I seem to recall there being a shot of Grandpa and Grandma Longneck looking around as the Earthshake begins? Chances are that they were woken up just before the Earthshake began, and as such they didn't have any time to go after Littlefoot and his mother.

Incidentally, this would have meant that they wouldn't have known what happened to Littlefoot or his mother, but they would have been able to see her corpse from that height, and this might have been why they moved on with the others; they could have assumed that Littlefoot died with his mother, or that she died while trying to save him.

[Malte279]

One factor which, in spite of being a main topic of the original movie, may easily be overlooked is hunger. Given the huge amount of green food which an adult longneck, or even an adult threehorn would have to consume not for the sake of comfort but for the sake of survival the adults may have had no choice but to move on even if they knew (as in case of Cera's family) that their child was still alive. It was probably the choice between moving on or dying of starvation for most of the families.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

Great topic to bring up!    

Really, thanks for bringning it up. I found it strange how they only show them when the earthquake begins. There was a photo that we found a while back of a  possible deleted scene; it showed a grown longneck at night looking panicked that some suggested was Littlefoot's mom waking up and realizing he's gone. Perhaps that would offer an explanation?

I believe the grandparents were just there as encouragement for Littlefoot to go to the Great Valley, since most of his interaction was with his mother.

Which is why I find it strange that they didn't give him a father. It wouldn't have changed the story of the original.

[OllyDirectioner]

I think they may have been still asleep, or at least before the earthshake happened.

[Ducky123]

Yeah...
They must have been asleep. Littlefoots mother woke up and realized there was no Littlefoot so she searched for him and heard Sharptooth... she fought him on her own and... failed since she hadn't woke up the Grandparents to help her searching for Littlefoot and fighting the Sharptooth

[jalistair]

There was a photo that we found a while back of a possible deleted scene; it showed a grown longneck at night looking panicked that some suggested was Littlefoot's mom waking up and realizing he's gone

Wow I've never heard of that one. Does anybody still have the pic?  

Maybe the grandparents didn't wake up because they were exhausted from hunger. I mean, it couldn't have been easy to walk across a dying landscape with no food when your also elderly.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

Wow I've never heard of that one. Does anybody still have the pic?

Here's the link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-Land-Before-T...h=auc2c60c7cfc8

[Ducky123]

that might be another possible reason
Since the grandparents are pretty old they likely let Littlefoot and his mother eat first so that they're really hungry and weak...

I too would like to see that pic

EDIT: Ah, you posted it already Bruton    thanks

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

Your welcome.

Personally I got the idea that they could have explained this by having Mama Longneck tell her parents to stay out of harm's way while she looks for her son. But, of course, they'd probably go help her anyways.  

[Almaron]

When I wrote my earlier post I briefly toyed with the idea that Littlefoot's Mother might have actually have been leading Sharptooth away from her parents shortly before the Earthshake began; hoping she could throw him off before returning...but then I thought it would make sense to return to them since three Longnecks vs one Sharptooth mean a better chance of survival for the Longnecks. Plus, she's not leading the others; she's just following Littlefoot and Cera. Course, they might not know which way they're running, and they could be mistakenly heading away from their herds...