The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => General Land Before Time => Topic started by: Achillobator on August 17, 2008, 09:19:41 PM
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We all talked about the things we liked about TLBT...but how about what he hated most? ;3 Eh? Come on, spill your guts. We're not here to judge you. This site isn't a contest on who's the biggest fan...just tell us how you feel.
Personally, I dislike the lack of competent villains.
What about you?
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Bad songs (I'd be happy if they didn't sing at all.)
Villians don't pose enough of a threat.
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Bad songs (I'd be happy if they didn't sing at all.)
Villians don't pose enough of a threat.
Yes...my favourite is when Shorty 'tripped' the sharptooth...wow...how...lame.
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Some are how the villains are not competent, others are the number of 1 shot characters, many of which live in the Great Valley and should be seen, at least in back ground shots if nothing else. The way it seems the gang are the only kids in the valley. Farwalker herds having at most 1 kid.
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I personally dislike how so many people think of LBT as childish. Would that count? If not, I think that the overdone singing.
Oh, by the way, Achillobator, I love the xkcd thing in your sig. I love xkcd.
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The songs. God, if they can't think up anything good then why do they even do it at all? And even if you had to have a song, why not use a pre-existing one?
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I want no more song like oops eeps
(Jedi472 if your message thing didn't tell you I sent you a PM with a Youtube link to a vid of Star wars bloopers.)
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Villians are too lame.Chopper is more threatening and he is only a baby.
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The movies are too short. 1.5-2 hours would be perfect. I hour and 14 minutes just doesn't cut it for me.
EDIT: And no directors I'm not suggesting adding more songs to fill up time. :p
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Sometimes the movies get to childish for me. But that¥s all.
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I have to agree with LBT/cty lover and LBTlover on this one.
To quote LBT/cty lover: True, I don't see the point of it.
And they could've been longer, yeah.
Songs. Nothing against them, but they appear quite frequently... Not even talking about the series. :rolleyes:
And yes, Indeed it seems like the Gang are the only kids...
That's all I can think of for now.
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^ Actually it is not like we have been ignoring what we dislike about LBT in discussions so far. ;)
I certainly agree with those who named poor villains (I guess I will never stop ranting about those sharptoothed toys for little dinosaur kids we saw in LBT 10). However, what makes me really angry are plotholes and lack of coherence. There are some plotholes which may be possible to swallow when we don't have to think too much about them as they are not too important for the general way of the plot (e.g. such contradictions of the laws of nature as provided by a wave rolling from the coast towards the open sea in LBT 5), but the total messing up of earlier movies and lack of any logic in the explanation of Bron's absences in LBT 10 made me really furious! :bang
I heartily dislike some of the effects some movie maker seems to be very fond of, namely the turning red of everything in case of danger.
I do not support the calls of some fans for the inclusion of Science Fiction or other non-LBT elements (they should have kept the rainbowfaces mysterious in my opinion), but I agree that the makers of LBT should guard against kidifying the series as has been done in recent sequels. There is a way to make the stories suitable for children without making them too corny for grownups. The makers of the movies should not forget about that balance.
As for the songs, there are some which I really can't stand, but I am willing to accept them if they come along with the really beautiful songs we have had as well.
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Oh yeah, the Rainbowfaces and their little way of dissapearing made me quite dissapointed... <_<
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A lot of the songs should have never seen the light of day....the tv series having produced most of those types. I mean, other kids stuff often lacks songs and it seems their audiences cope with the plot and pace just fine...why not follow that mold? Its not like Universal is trying to make cd sales off of LBT songs.
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No matter what we dislike. We all have to remember that it¥s at least a kids show. And kids don¥t really think of what happens in a movie. They just watch it.
To Maltes quote: The movie turns into red in dangour situations. I think that¥s just a more understandable way to show the little ones that there is dangour. To be honest. As I was young I really got confused with some scenes in the film because I didn¥t know is that what happens there good or bad.
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I am willing to accept songs in the movies because we have been given some beautiful songs in the process (Always There, Bestest Friend, No One Has To Be Alone), but singing in the TV series is not neccessary. Ok, I can understand the producers want the show to appeal to younger audiances, but they don't need to add songs into it!
I do agree, the villains are not threatening at all. The only three villains I found dangerous were Sharptooth (obviously), Ozzy (Not Strut), and Sierra (Not Rinkus OR Pterano). Sharptooth obviously is THE Sharptooth, and he killed Littlefoots mom and chased them all the way. I actually had nightmares when I was a kid about the Sharptooth, he scared the crap out of me! Ozzy was the most evil out of the two, but even though Strut suggests throwing Littlefoot over the Great Wall, Ozzy would have thought of something much more violent. Sierra wanted to get rid of Ducky ever since they kidnapped her, and he was the least clumsy.
How to improve the villains? Make them more persistent and scarey like SHarptooth. I would also find the villains more threatening if they kidnapped members of the gang more often. I know Ducky and Petrie were both "kidnapped" for maybe 20 seconds by Ichy and Dill in LBT 4, but the two of them were too busy arguing over who got to eat whom so it wasn't very evil or threatening.
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^ I still think that the red is far from necessary to make even young kids realize that it is a bad thing for Littlefoot if he has a sharptooth snapping at his heels. The original movie as well as the sequels made by Roy Alan Smith (and the TV series) do quite well without that red effect.
As for the villains Strut and Rinkus are not necessarily among those I would consider perfectly harmless. You already mentioned Strut's idea to throw Littlefoot down the great wall. I agree that Strut would probably not even be a villain if he was left the choice, but he still has some potential for evil action. But as he is not really supposed to be a total villain I would not include him on the list of "weak villains" either. I always think mainly of intentionally stupid sharpteeth whose clumsiness really goes beyond what is realistic (those from LBT 10 are a particularly striking example though they were neither the first nor the last of that group).
As for Rinkus he is not the physically most impressive character, but he is more sly than Sierra. It is Rinkus who suggests to let Pterano lead him and Sierra to the stone and it is him who (more explicitly in the German than in the English version) suggests to torture (that's the word used in the German translation) the landing site of the stone of cold fire out of Littlefoot. Sometimes the one who makes up evil plans or ideas can be more scary than the one who carries them out on the plan makers behalf.
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As with all things, there are good sides and bad sides. I dont tend to look at the negative side of something unless that is truly what it is intended to achieve. Still, with LBT there are a few things that do get my goat.
1. Already been said but I'll reiterate. NEEDLESS SING-A-LONGS!!! In all fairness, despite some of them being rather melodious and moving, there's no ultimate reason for them. They don't advance the plot neither are they particularly spectacular to behold. What makes it doubly irritating is that Universal seemed to see a need to invoke a given quote of songs per sequel (i.e. a minimum of 3). Maybe one at the most but three?!
2. Superstar Celebrity Voices. Let's face it, LBT's never gonna match up with modern animation hits like Shrek or Toy Story etc. but the least they could have done was not to follow the trend and try and salvage the decreasingly profitability of the sequels by invoking "celebrity talents". Names like Kiefer Sutherland, Kris Kristofferson, Donny Osmond, Olivia Newton-John, Sandra Oh, Cuba Gooding Jr. Is slapping a famous actor's name on the blurb on the back of the DVD case REALLY gonna boost sales that much?! The kids watching the bloody thing are gonna know the difference!
3. Again, already been mentioned, but the distinct lack of strong villianous roles has always been a pothole for the LBT saga. Even down to the series where they tried to portray a semi "long-term" villian with Red Claw, Screech and Thud. Even with these constant meetings within the series, the gang didn't sought out any means of actually dispatching Red Claw (if he was supposed to be shown as the gang's nemesis and main line antagonist). Or even finding a way to deal with Red Claw (not necessarily kill him. Somehow I don't think that would fly very far given the target audience).
One thing I would've had liked to have seen within the series was possibly a cliffhanger episode over maybe 3 or 4 parts where the gang are left (after the 30min programme slot) facing a dangerous situation. Kind of a "tune in next week to find out what happens" or "to be continued" sorta ploy I reckon could have made the TV series a little more exciting. It's nothing ground-breaking coz most animated shows put this kinda plan into action once their series has run a few episodes. So given that fact, surely an extended episode split over a few parts couldn't have done the series too much harm right?
Gotta stress that despite all these niggling like tid-bits get on my nerves, I tend to be able to supress that nattering little voice that tries to point them out. I'll still sit down and watch the movies and Tv series coz I can see past the down points. I'll never be able to complete disregard my adoration for this animated series, despite what the outsiders say ;)
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As with all things, there are good sides and bad sides. I dont tend to look at the negative side of something unless that is truly what it is intended to achieve. Still, with LBT there are a few things that do get my goat.
1. Already been said but I'll reiterate. NEEDLESS SING-A-LONGS!!! In all fairness, despite some of them being rather melodious and moving, there's no ultimate reason for them. They don't advance the plot neither are they particularly spectacular to behold. What makes it doubly irritating is that Universal seemed to see a need to invoke a given quote of songs per sequel (i.e. a minimum of 3). Maybe one at the most but three?!
2. Superstar Celebrity Voices. Let's face it, LBT's never gonna match up with modern animation hits like Shrek or Toy Story etc. but the least they could have done was not to follow the trend and try and salvage the decreasingly profitability of the sequels by invoking "celebrity talents". Names like Kiefer Sutherland, Kris Kristofferson, Donny Osmond, Olivia Newton-John, Sandra Oh, Cuba Gooding Jr. Is slapping a famous actor's name on the blurb on the back of the DVD case REALLY gonna boost sales that much?! The kids watching the bloody thing are gonna know the difference!
3. Again, already been mentioned, but the distinct lack of strong villianous roles has always been a pothole for the LBT saga. Even down to the series where they tried to portray a semi "long-term" villian with Red Claw, Screech and Thud. Even with these constant meetings within the series, the gang didn't sought out any means of actually dispatching Red Claw (if he was supposed to be shown as the gang's nemesis and main line antagonist). Or even finding a way to deal with Red Claw (not necessarily kill him. Somehow I don't think that would fly very far given the target audience).
One thing I would've had liked to have seen within the series was possibly a cliffhanger episode over maybe 3 or 4 parts where the gang are left (after the 30min programme slot) facing a dangerous situation. Kind of a "tune in next week to find out what happens" or "to be continued" sorta ploy I reckon could have made the TV series a little more exciting. It's nothing ground-breaking coz most animated shows put this kinda plan into action once their series has run a few episodes. So given that fact, surely an extended episode split over a few parts couldn't have done the series too much harm right?
Gotta stress that despite all these niggling like tid-bits get on my nerves, I tend to be able to supress that nattering little voice that tries to point them out. I'll still sit down and watch the movies and Tv series coz I can see past the down points. I'll never be able to complete disregard my adoration for this animated series, despite what the outsiders say ;)
Yeah I agree about the cliff hanger endings to the TV eps with the continuation later. The TV show should have no singing what so ever. If you think about it they waste time with the songs in the show. I would like to see more action in LBT.
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If there's anything I dislike about LBT, it's the drastically decreased intensity of suspense :slap. I have to admit LBT I-V were quite suspenseful to me, especially the wildfire scene in LBT III(glad Cera and her father got out okay; that one really had my nerves revved up). I really would like to see the same level of suspense there once was in LBT, but please no killing off of any of the Great Valley residents or even the Gang :(.
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Let's face it, LBT's never gonna match up with modern animation hits like Shrek or Toy Story etc. but the least they could have done was not to follow the trend and try and salvage the decreasingly profitability of the sequels by invoking "celebrity talents". Names like Kiefer Sutherland, Kris Kristofferson, Donny Osmond, Olivia Newton-John, Sandra Oh, Cuba Gooding Jr. Is slapping a famous actor's name on the blurb on the back of the DVD case REALLY gonna boost sales that much?!
I agree with you on most of the actorbased nags, but I think it was cool having a well-known and experienced actor play a part in the movie(only liked Kiefer Sutherland, though. Everybody else didn't seem to make much of a mark, but because of him Bron seemed that much better than some of the other one-time characters).
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I agree on the suspense and the lack of any sense in employing expensive actors for LBT (speaking as one however who knows so little about actors that I might not even notice if I passed an actor on the road whom some people would kill to behold just once in real live).
I don't totally agree on everything that has been said about the songs. True, most of them don't advance the plot and I also agree that the apparent requirement to fulfill a quota of songs rather than using them only where they are necessary is to be held responsible for some of the really silly songs that didn't lead anywhere. However, I would stop short at saying the the songs don't make any sense at all. Very often they are used to bring across emotions which would sound awkward, or corny, or both in prose. Here is the prose alternative for the very first song "Peaceful Valley" (which is not even the best example and not one of my favorite songs either) to show what I mean:
Littlefoot: "The Great Valley is just great!"
Cera: "It certainly is!"
Ducky: "Yep, yep, yep!"
Petrie: "We never be hungry again!"
Spike: "[Insert fitting Spike sound here]"
Littlefoot: "I'm so happy we are here at last!"
Cera: "I am too!"
Ducky: "Yep, yep, yep!"
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See? Even if more effort was put into it it is likely to sound kind of blah and it would be very difficult to get the intensity of emotion accross which the song provided. Other examples for such emotional songs which are not necessary for the understanding of the story but very helpful to understand the emotions include for example Always There, Family, Chancon de'Ennui and Bestest Friends.
Other songs are used to clarify some of the "morals" of a movie which would likely sound corny in dialogue, examples for this are "Kids like us", "It takes all sorts", and "No one has to be alone".
Some of the songs introduce characters or concepts of thinking which again would require twisted dialogue that would hardly bring the idea across as well as the song. The best examples for that type of song would be the LBT 7 songs Beyond the Mysterious Beyond and Very important creature.
To sum it up, the songs are never indispensable for the telling of the stories and in some cases they are even unnecessary; but in many (I'd go so far as to say most) cases they make it a lot easier to understand some idea or emotion that is to be brought across.
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Not enough Sharpteeth fights.
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While there are a few things I would classify as uneccessary or needs improvement, there is one thing I can boldly say that I do not like whatsoever. Littlefoot's build up of trust that grows over ten movies then is completely uprooted in the next movie. From I-X Littlefoot had become known for his pure character. Not saying he was perfect, but you had every reason to believe what he said. Provided he would keep things from the grownups, but he wouldn't say something unless there was truth in it. Now all kids have trouble with relating things exactly and some do lie to others, but Littlefoot never really lied. Things like "I'm okay" when he really wasn't doesn't count; everyone says that sometimes; that kind of statement is irrelavent. So ten movies fly by and Littlefoot's on a role. Then XI came out and the theme was for Littlefoot to lie to the whole valley to get out of trouble to learn a lesson. This's just like Search for the Sky Color Stones! A main character is taken completely out of character to add to the story. Littlefoot can and has learned from his friends mistakes on several occasions. If they wanted a deceiver, pick someone experienced like Petrie (VII) or Cera (a lot). Any huge Ducky fans who watched the episode I mentioned knows how I feel. The creators misused characters to make it easier to write their story. But by changing characters, they really only made the plots more complicated. Stop altering
the gang's mindsets that have already been clearly established and I'll be happy.
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They don't really keep to firm continuity in lbt, look at the addition to Bron and the problems that'll cause, not to mention not keeping to character continuity. They could have added one of the others as you mentioned, or even a previous movie char like one of the bullies. But they never think of stuff like that. Part of why when certain movies or episodes come up I'll have to decide if I want to watch them, or maybe only certain scenes, or do an edit of the movie or episode.
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While there are a few things I would classify as uneccessary or needs improvement, there is one thing I can boldly say that I do not like whatsoever. Littlefoot's build up of trust that grows over ten movies then is completely uprooted in the next movie. From I-X Littlefoot had become known for his pure character. Not saying he was perfect, but you had every reason to believe what he said. Provided he would keep things from the grownups, but he wouldn't say something unless there was truth in it. Now all kids have trouble with relating things exactly and some do lie to others, but Littlefoot never really lied. Things like "I'm okay" when he really wasn't doesn't count; everyone says that sometimes; that kind of statement is irrelavent. So ten movies fly by and Littlefoot's on a role. Then XI came out and the theme was for Littlefoot to lie to the whole valley to get out of trouble to learn a lesson. This's just like Search for the Sky Color Stones! A main character is taken completely out of character to add to the story. Littlefoot can and has learned from his friends mistakes on several occasions. If they wanted a deceiver, pick someone experienced like Petrie (VII) or Cera (a lot). Any huge Ducky fans who watched the episode I mentioned knows how I feel. The creators misused characters to make it easier to write their story. But by changing characters, they really only made the plots more complicated. Stop altering
the gang's mindsets that have already been clearly established and I'll be happy
I don't typically quote someone's whole post, but well said. I agree with everything you mentioned. :yes
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I agree on most of the things you guys have to say, though I do like some of the songs written for the movies.
However, what I really dislike through the movies, from the first to the 14th, is the drawing style. They've gone from being a bit more realistic (don't count the actions into this) to being far more childish and sweet.
An example is the sharpteeth. The first movie was great, giving a damn evil sharptooth, and an scary appearance too. The second and third was okay, since the sharpteeths still had a nasty appearance. Take thise examples and compare them with the sharpteeth from the 10th or 11th movie. Thise sharpteeth are just..... nothing really. They don't have the same appearance anymore. And that goes for all the characters.
And putting computer animations into the movies, doesn't make it at all any better.
Wish they would have sticked to the old style, instead of so "bright" as the new ones thise days.
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It looks like when they changed directors to the one who took over for the 5th and up was more of a friendly toon sort of thing rather then animated, with the focus changing over the course of the progression of the movies.
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Except for 2 and 5, how the sharpteeth were always portrayed as mindless killers
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Yeah, the "mindless" thing about the sharpteeth other than Chomper's family is getting really old for me too. I mean, Redclaw is suposed to be one of the best sharpteeth right now, right? The next time they get away from him by running between his legs, scare him with an echo, hide from him when they were in his direct sight but then he just walks past their hiding place without noticing, or something of that nature, well, my annoyance meter is going into red. I mean it.
I don't think that this is what the previous post was referring to though; that was just my own random thought I had that I put at the beginning of this post. I believe brekclub85 is referring to how it seems most sharpteeth are portrayed as having no feelings, are highly unintelligent, and go around killing just to kill even when they don't need the food. Of course, I just work here part time as a general aid. Brekclub85 is full time in the sharpteeth department, so any further explanation from me on this subject would be wasted, since he knows the subject fully and can explain it much better than I could. I even doubt I explained my summary explaination on this matter as accurately as possible. Oh well. I tried my best.
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The things than annoyed me was that whenever they talk about the "Circle of Life", they never once mention that meat eaters have an essential part in it. I mean, I understand that the leafeaters don't want to get killed or anything, but they have to realize is: sharpteeth need to survive too.
One story arc in my Sharptooth Valley fanfic was when the leafeater version of Redclaw (named Redfoot in the story) attempted to kill all the sharpteeth in the Great Valley by poisoning the valley's water supply. The plan nearly works, except 6 of the main characters managed to avoid ingesting the water and set on a quest to get the antidote from the leaf eater valley.
Eventually, the kid leaf eaters start to realize something: If there was no sharpteeth left in the world, since the flatteeth population would stop decreasing, there would be more dinos but much less food. Eventually, the food supply would run out, and all the leafeaters would die from starvation. (Which is what would happen if something like this would ever happen.)
It seems to me, is that the Circle of Life, as described in the LBT movies, is just used by the characters to justify their own actions and condem the sharpteeth's. Bron calling sharpteeth "cowards" in X annoyed me.
I mean, if you fed a leafeater meat and a sharpteeth leaves, the reaction would be the same: they would hate it. Meat eaters have to eat meat and leaf eaters have to eat leaves. You can't change that, you have to accept it.
Besides, the leafeaters commit herbicide on a daily basis. And unlike themselves, plants can't fight, that, to me, would make the flatteeth even more cruel than the sharpteeth!
My understanding of sharpteeth's importance in the LBT/dinosaur world started from my natural distaste towards extreme vegetarians, who annoy the crap out of me.
Eating meat and eating vegetables is the same. Both involve taking life away, there is no difference
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Looks like I was right. There is no way I could've thought of that myself, and no way for me to express it so well if I had. Thank you for explaining your field so well to those who don't specialize in that area (like me). Sharpteeth and flateeth both simply do what they must to survive. Neither is wrong in doing so, even though sharpteeth are considered the bad guys. Now that's annoying. Wanting sharpteeth to stop eating other dinosaurs is just as preposterous as wanting flateeth to stop eating plants! I couldn't possibly agree with that logic more. You really open up a new world (literally) with your ideas. (Sigh) If I had tried a little harder in school I probably would have gotten better than a C+ in Sharpteeth Social Skills and a D in Psychology and Meat Eaters (which I dropped by the way.) Looks like I found a good tutor though. But I wasn't THAT bad. I still got an A in both The World of Dinosaur Grammar and Leaf Eater Singing 101. Easy classes or not, I STILL got A's in them.
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The things than annoyed me was that whenever they talk about the "Circle of Life", they never once mention that meat eaters have an essential part in it. I mean, I understand that the leafeaters don't want to get killed or anything, but they have to realize is: sharpteeth need to survive too.
One might interpret Rooter's Circle of Life speech ("It is nobody's fault") in a way that would include Sharpteeth. The main argument against this would be that when it comes to "fault" Littlefoot did not mention Sharptooth at all, but only his mother and his straying from her and his herd. Sharptooth must be a natural enemy in the original movie but his persistence in pursuing Littlefoot and the others makes less of an impression of a case of hunting and killing for the "fun" of it than is the case with some sequel sharpteeth who will just "shrug and smile" the moment they don't see Littlefoot and the others anymore.
Besides, the leafeaters commit herbicide on a daily basis. And unlike themselves, plants can't fight, that, to me, would make the flatteeth even more cruel than the sharpteeth!
My understanding of sharpteeth's importance in the LBT/dinosaur world started from my natural distaste towards extreme vegetarians, who annoy the crap out of me.
Eating meat and eating vegetables is the same. Both involve taking life away, there is no difference
I do not agree. I see where you are coming from and I know the kind of vegetarians / vegans you are referring to (everyone else is a murderer! etc.), but you miss that there are also those vegetarians / vegans who will not try to impose their way upon others. I also think that there is a difference between the killing of an animal and the plucking of a flower. In spite of the amazing tricks of some plants, there is no hint of a real consciousness (most animals for example are able to recognize different humans) in them or in nerves etc. which would allow for them to feel pain. I am no vegetarian myself, but in our society (to which I am referring to not because it had any reference to the LBT discussion but because you brought the vegetarians in) it can hardly be denied that the meat production is a rather ugly business, not just because of the act of killing.
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I also think that there is a difference between the killing of an animal and the plucking of a flower.
That is very true in reality. I have met a lot people who hate animals getting sick, injured, dying, eating meat, etcetera. Yet I haven't met a single person who has ever been bothered in the slightest when I pick a plant up. Like you said, that has to do with the fact that animals suffer, while plants do not. That is quite logical and I feel the exact same way on that matter. However, I still believe that brekclub85's speech would make quite a few flateeth think things a lot differently when they eat or see a sharptooth.
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Taking a leaf from a tree is not "hurting", because it'll drop them anyway later. Now, if you take a rope around the trunk of a tree, and don't put something protective between, you'll kill the tree since you'll cut of any flow of minerals, water and sugger between the leafs, and the roots.
A flower is different. Most flowers won't feel much, since they do, as a tree, drop it's stilk (think it's the same as in danish) and the main flower, where as the root is the heart, and as long as you don't do anything to it, a flower can actually live quite a long time, for a plant of cause.
Animals are different from plant in many ways. Where animals can show emotions, mate and be protective, plants can't. They can show illness, and suffering to some degree, but that's it. I think humans don't think so much about plants, because we ofcause see a bigger similarity between ourselfs and other animals.
As with the dinosaurs, they don't see eating plants is wrong, since they can't imagine how it is to be a plant, or a tree.
Besides, there is nothing wrong with eating meat or plants. Either we do it, or the rest of the ecosystem does it.
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Besides, the leafeaters commit herbicide on a daily basis. And unlike themselves, plants can't fight, that, to me, would make the flatteeth even more cruel than the sharpteeth!
Eating meat and eating vegetables is the same. Both involve taking life away, there is no difference
I have to disagree with you. Yes, both do involve killing a living organism, but as pointed out already, plants do not feel pain or have a sense of consciousness. Plants do not show feelings. They don't show pain, love, fear, or anything. They don't even have a face. So how can killing a plant be as cruel as killing an animal, something with a face that can show fear and pain, can feel eveything you do to it? I am not a vegetarian/vegan myself, but I cannot agree with your claim that the flatteeth are more cruel than the sharpteeth.
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They have very little information on some characters and the movies do need to be a little longer like some of you guys suggested. Most of the songs I think were okay, but I had doubts on some songs from the sequels and T.V. series.
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The songs from the TV serie, is just remakes of the same songs. Horrible I say...
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Some are how the villains are not competent, others are the number of 1 shot characters, many of which live in the Great Valley and should be seen, at least in back ground shots if nothing else. The way it seems the gang are the only kids in the valley. Farwalker herds having at most 1 kid.
I see what you mean. Go to LBT wikia article and browse around and you are going to see other kids.
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As with all things, there are good sides and bad sides. I dont tend to look at the negative side of something unless that is truly what it is intended to achieve. Still, with LBT there are a few things that do get my goat.
1. Already been said but I'll reiterate. NEEDLESS SING-A-LONGS!!! In all fairness, despite some of them being rather melodious and moving, there's no ultimate reason for them. They don't advance the plot neither are they particularly spectacular to behold. What makes it doubly irritating is that Universal seemed to see a need to invoke a given quote of songs per sequel (i.e. a minimum of 3). Maybe one at the most but three?!
2. Superstar Celebrity Voices. Let's face it, LBT's never gonna match up with modern animation hits like Shrek or Toy Story etc. but the least they could have done was not to follow the trend and try and salvage the decreasingly profitability of the sequels by invoking "celebrity talents". Names like Kiefer Sutherland, Kris Kristofferson, Donny Osmond, Olivia Newton-John, Sandra Oh, Cuba Gooding Jr. Is slapping a famous actor's name on the blurb on the back of the DVD case REALLY gonna boost sales that much?! The kids watching the bloody thing are gonna know the difference!
3. Again, already been mentioned, but the distinct lack of strong villianous roles has always been a pothole for the LBT saga. Even down to the series where they tried to portray a semi "long-term" villian with Red Claw, Screech and Thud. Even with these constant meetings within the series, the gang didn't sought out any means of actually dispatching Red Claw (if he was supposed to be shown as the gang's nemesis and main line antagonist). Or even finding a way to deal with Red Claw (not necessarily kill him. Somehow I don't think that would fly very far given the target audience).
One thing I would've had liked to have seen within the series was possibly a cliffhanger episode over maybe 3 or 4 parts where the gang are left (after the 30min programme slot) facing a dangerous situation. Kind of a "tune in next week to find out what happens" or "to be continued" sorta ploy I reckon could have made the TV series a little more exciting. It's nothing ground-breaking coz most animated shows put this kinda plan into action once their series has run a few episodes. So given that fact, surely an extended episode split over a few parts couldn't have done the series too much harm right?
Gotta stress that despite all these niggling like tid-bits get on my nerves, I tend to be able to supress that nattering little voice that tries to point them out. I'll still sit down and watch the movies and Tv series coz I can see past the down points. I'll never be able to complete disregard my adoration for this animated series, despite what the outsiders say ;)
I agree on all points but will add one glaring item sorely missing from the LBT franchise: A smart sense of humor. Think about it, the movie and DTV's are aimed at kids, but guess who's watching along with the youngsters. The parents and/or other adult caretakers. It won't be long before I'll introduce my niece to the joys of LBT, and I doubt, despite well developed plots and characters -- and cute songs -- TPTB at Universal will ever take the Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks route and give us adults some smart humor. I mean little in-jokes, pop culture asides, something so out of the LBT ordinary. Not that I want to see total goofiness or an "LBT meets SNL" but some laughs for the grown-ups would be nice. :)
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Some of that would be good. It would give the adults something they could enjoy written at their level. Though that is a thing not often thought up by others, that you can write for adults and kids at the same time.
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This is my first post on this site. Maybe I won't come off with such a good first impression. :lol
While I LOVE the original LBT and some of the sequels (2 - 7; 5 and 6 were alright), there are undoubetedly things about the recent/current LBT that annoy me.
First off, how the movies seem to get kiddier as they go along. I'm not saying older people can't enjoy them, but I'm sure most of them prefer the earliest LBTs. That'd be around the first five movies. I understand that the idea of using dinosaurs in a show is a little iffy and a lot of people would assume it'd be for kids, but Don Bluth completely turned that around. I watched the original twice recently, and I was amazed at what a masterpiece he created. I understood so much more in comparison to when I was younger.
Admittedly, when I was younger, I preferred the second and third movies to the original. I guess it was because they were aimed at a younger age so I understood them more. But I didn't find them TOO kiddish. These days I almost feel like the current scriptwriters are roping off the series to kids only. Obviously, plenty of older folks still enjoy the series, myself included, but overall I feel like there's a decrease in the "family" quality of the films as the series goes on.
It actually reminds me of Disney. One reason why kids could so easily get their parents to take them to the theatre for an animated feature all the time was because Disney used to make films for kids AND adults. These days, it's like Disney is ATTEMPTING to make movies that adults would enjoy too, but overall it feels like they're trying to influence kids to act like teenagers, IMO.
Also, the pushing of morals. The original sent PLENTY of messages, but they weren't straightforwardly thrown out through attempted "meaningful" dialogue. In short, I think LBT is getting preachy.
Of course, the songs. I admit there are a good handful of them I like ("When You're Big;" "Very Important Creature;" and "Beyond the Mysterious Beyond" for a start), but most of them really get on my nerves. I'm listening to music from the original movie (yes, going back to that again :p ) and it is simply wonderful. The whole movie was wonderful...and they managed it without singing.
This is a new one, but the animation is starting to bother me too. LBT 7, as good as it was, will forever reign as the worst animated LBT of them all.......aside from that, I'm missing the animation from, say, the first four movies. Now the animation is more cartoony. Some really good shows have cartoony styles, but I miss the original animation style of LBT. Oh well. At least it isn't computer-animated.
Thus ending my long, rantish first post on GoF. x3
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Welcome with us RFZT :)
I must say I'm positively delighted that of lately several of our newer members have introduced themselves with posts which really contribute to respectively trigger discussion. As far as I am concerned this is about the best impression anyone can make :yes
The increasing childishness of the later land before time movies is indeed a very sad trend. Even the covers of the movies have (beginning with LBT 7 I think) stopped to depict the characters the way they appear in the movie but rather show them in a more "kiddified" version. Mercifully those versions of the characters did not find their way into the movies.
As for the sequels (which from the first sequel on present LBT in a very different way from the way the original movie did) I too prefer the early sequels made by Roy Alan Smith (LBT 2 - 4) over the sequels made by Charles Grosvenor. In all fairness it must be said that with many ideas already covered by the original movie and Smith's sequels Grosvenor and his team probably had a harder time to come up with something new than their predecessors, but still in some respects they could have really done a lot better, especially with the very late sequels.
LBT 5 is often named among the favorite LBT movies of fans and to prevent any misunderstandings, I too liked LBT 5. Nevertheless the movie already did show a lot of the things which I came to dislike about Grosvenor's movie for example such exaggerated effects as everything turning red in case of danger and his neglect or disregard for details such as having a tsunami roll from the shore towards the open sea.
When it comes to the preaching you mentioned I tend to agree that the overdoing of morals is a problem, but not one that is limited to the later sequels only (even though I admit it has been very strong in the latest installments). One of the most preaching LBT movies however was LBT 3. I like LBT 3 (though that one is regarded by many with much more criticism than LBT 5 is) but especially the final scenes really overdid the wielding of the moral club.
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3 did overdo the moral message by quite a bit. I guess kiddifying the movies may be a current trend, or it may be the fact they get cheaper writers to save money instead of getting good writers who know how to write to all age groups. & the director may prefer to aim the movies at just kids since it is easier for them to do then the more complicated all age groups, even though it seems, to me at least, aiming at all age groups leads to a better product. I find the turning red and green annoying. Also the getting things wrong as well. Not to mention characters going poof after the movie they are in & certain things being not clear.
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I believe crazedwriter's suggestion might actually be the best. Sure, a movie can still have a lacking plotnand one-shot characters, but if it's funny, it still seems like an Ok or good movie.
By the way, the LBT/SNL thing you said gave me a great idea...
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No matter what we dislike. We all have to remember that it¥s at least a kids show. And kids don¥t really think of what happens in a movie. They just watch it.
To Maltes quote: The movie turns into red in dangour situations. I think that¥s just a more understandable way to show the little ones that there is dangour. To be honest. As I was young I really got confused with some scenes in the film because I didn¥t know is that what happens there good or bad.
Actually, the red in times of danger have always helped me out. A problem with Asperger's Syndrome is that the individual seems to lack a sense of danger. They may panic over non-threatening things and not recognize a life-threatening situation as dangerous. Plus, the inability to "read" folks. Unless I see an extreme expression of terror, such as the image of Ducky Malte posted in the Land Before Time section (can't recall the topic name :bang), I can't really tell if someone is in jeopardy unless they've been injured or caught up in some disaster. Perhaps I can clarify this better using LBT as an example. It seems that, to avoid spooking the little ones, the Gang's expressions of fear or terror are restricted compared to the original, therefore making it difficult for me to sense or feel the emotion of fear. So, to get to the point, adding the red in helps me. However, I know there are many neurotypical fans of LBT and this visual effect may annoy them, so I'm not trying to convince y'all to like this effect.
In response to a statement The Friendly Sharptooth made, I have to disagree with him saying Cera has had a lot of experience as being a deceiver. As far as I'm concerned, Cera is the most straight-forward, down-to-earth member of the Gang. She has the ability to be tactful and may exaggerate things sometimes, but she does not hesitate to to tell anyone what she really thinks or feels. I'll stop with Cera as this is not the character discussion area. I love how they showed that our adorable little swimmer, Ducky, actually has a dark side. I mean, we've seen everyone else's shortcomings: Petrie can come across as opinionated (he started that nonsense about Cera in "The Amazing Threehorn Girl" and never suffered the repercussions when the truth was exposed <_<), Littlefoot has (lately) been arrogant to the point where ya want to knock it out of him, Spike tends to eat far too much compared to the others, and Cera seems to be quite insecure (perhaps she liked the recogition she received during the episode mentioned 'cuz it made her feel good; then again, it seems everyone likes recognition at times) and does not like to be seen as weak or vulnerable. So... it was nice to see Ducky's dark side finally.
Speaking of "The Amazing Threehorn Girl" ep, this is one fine example of falling off the continuity of the series. The Gang, as far as I can remember, have always stuck together and accepted each other no matter what. To see them shun Cera was both a shock and a disappointment to me. If my friends ever did that to me, especially if one of them was the culprit and never took responsibility for his or her actions, I don't think I would ever want to associate with them again :anger. True friends don't abandon someone when he or she is in a pickle. To see the Gang do a member dirty is downright mean and does not fit well in a series which teaches devotion, love, trust and forgiveness. Well, that's my two-cents for now. *Takes deep breath* Universal has a lot of work to do on LBT.
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As for the red, I really don't think it to be necessary for even a young audience to get across the message that the characters are in trouble. The red usually appears when the characters are running and screaming or if there is somebody with really big teeth around.
The movies up to the 5th did well enough without the red and so did some of the later sequels which did not use that feature (e.g. LBT 9). I think it is another of the cases where, as you mentioned in another thread recently, the makers of LBT are considering their audience too "dense".
The Ducky picture you mentioned is probably the one from the deleted scenes thread (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=1300.0).
As for Cera I agree with you. Same as you I don't want to push character discussion too far in a thread not made for it, but I don't think Cera to be subtle enough to be a deceiver. When she is not telling the truth it usually comes as so exaggerated boasting that others will see through it right away but are aware that it would be pointless to start a debate with Cera. In "The Amazing Threehorn Girl" it was even Cera's father who was mainly behind the whole boasting on her part while she was originally telling the truth. I also agree that they probably would have done better if they had closed on a more conciliatory note regarding Cera and the rest of the gang.
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I guess what I dislike the most about LBT is how the adults switched from having common sense and co-operation with each other; to always arguing and not getting anything done when there is a serious problem in the Great Valley (Which for some reason seems to happen on a 24 hour basis). And it all comes down to the Gang of Five (or sometimes Seven) to deal with it themselves. This is greatly shown in the seventh movie and the Forbidden Friendship episode.
But then again this is a show made for a very young audience, and they don't know much about show continuinity (forgive me if I spelled that wrong).
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I still say kids are not as dumb, some anyway, as Hollywood thinks that they are. No idea why they do the red in danger, seems pretty stupid. Maybe it's the kids's danger sense, that only pops up when they are in danger, and not otherwise very useful, sorta like spidey's was very early on. I would guess it and the other things are the new director's ideas and doings.
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I still say kids are not as dumb, some anyway, as Hollywood thinks that they are.
Once again, I'd have to agree with Kor. As far as I'm concerned about the LBT in general, that's one of the negative points: INOVATION, people.
But let's not go too far with the inovation, it may end up with a bad result. <.<
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This was odd when in the tv show Littlefoot said people. How did he know about people? He could of said dinos. I dont know if the word people is apart of the lbt world or not, but it was funny hearing it said by a dino when people were not around. Than again it was cool and made sence the way he said it to let us know what he ment.
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topsy is such jerk about chomper.
sense darkness in him!
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So far i dont know of many things i hate about LBT except the one part in the first movie when Cera wins the fight after calling littlefoots mother a "Stupid Longneck". That one kinda bothered me.
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I'd grab her by the neck and hang her high and watch her face turn blue and make take that back by farce!!
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I'd grab her by the neck and hang her high and watch her face turn blue...
Good example for why I'm not keen on ever seeing humans in LBT.
As for the quarrel of the original movie, I do agree though that it was left kind of unsolved. Perhaps Littlefoot is just too composed a character to demand of Cera to take back which I'm sure she regretted saying.
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I'm not surprised Cera won the fight. I actually believe it was Littlefoot who initiated the fight. Cera didn't want to. And I highly doubt she even knew Littlefoot's mother was dead at this point.
Cera was the stronger fighter, more experienced. As soon as the fight started, it was a sure thing that she would win.
As for Cera calling Littlefoot's mother "stupid", it was likely because she couldn't believe LF's mother would want to go through all that hardship (the climbing up we see in the movie) or because the threehorns knew of another way and they thought it was the only way to go, or something. Or perhaps it could just be that she felt important and felt that she should lead and not Littlefoot.
But as for the fight, I don't think Cera was intentionally provoking Littlefoot. She even looked shocked when he got angry at her. It just seemed like she just blurted something out due to the "heat of the moment" so-to-speak. As for not taking it back, it just seems part of her character. She probably thought she would appear weak if she took it back. All she wanted to do was leave, but it was Littlefoot who tried to stop her and it was Littlefoot who made the first move.
I do agree with Malte. Cera likely does feel bad for what she said. And while we never see it, she probably does apologize at some point in the LBT timeline. And Littlefoot has forgiven her, so maybe she had apologized, or maybe Littlefoot just has a soft heart and couldn't hold a grudge against her.
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I always took it in the spirit of some little kids who at times get annoyed and spout out something without thinking and later on may wish they hadn't said it. And as Cera winning (I've not seen the first movie in it's entirety in a while) I'm sure Cera's dad and maybe her mother started her training early on. Look at his personality, do you think he'd not teach her how to fight early on, and look how she was acting before she had fully hatched and hatched. By then she likely had some training from her dad or both parents and Littlefoot may have had little if any battle training.
The things I dislike a some of the inconsistencies and plot problems and characters being in 1 movie and going poof never to be seen again when they do live in the great valley and should be seen here and there. & why not get good writers for all the movies.
:lol and that there are not 50 lbt movies. :lol
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I'm not surprised Cera won the fight. I actually believe it was Littlefoot who initiated the fight. Cera didn't want to. And I highly doubt she even knew Littlefoot's mother was dead at this point.
I do not really agree with all of this. Even though we never actually see a scene in which Littlefoot tells Cera (or anyone else) about the death of his mother I still think he very likely must have on some occasion. He mentions finding his grandparents to Ducky (which would pretty much provoke the question about the parents). Also note that Cera said about Littlefoot's mother "Then she was a stupid longneck too."
In the past tense it does not sound like what one would say about someone whom one deems still alive. While I suppose Cera was taken by surprise by Littlefoot's attack I would not go so far as to say that her being unprepared signaled any actual reluctance for a fight. Though she was understandably frustrated I would not "absolve" Cera from displaying a total absence of consideration here. Taken by surprise by Littlefoot's attack as she may have been I still think it would go too far to suggest that she really did not want to fight at all.
Whatever her intentions in that particular moment I take it for granted that she did feel remorse about it later on (it is also spelled out like this in at least one of the LBT books I have; possibly in more, but I would have to check out to make sure).
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I could easy say "Cheyenne was very silly, digging up the yard and hiding the bones." but I am in no way implying that he's dead (he's alive and well). So I do not think that Cera saying "was" indicates that she knows that Littlefoot's mother was dead. I'm sure by the sequels she knows, but in the first movie, there's just no clearcut evidence to me that she knew LF's mother was dead. She never even saw her die, and she was seperated from her parents, so I think it's logical to assume that she thought Littlefoot was just seperated from his mother due to the earthquake.
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Cera however made a general statement about Littlefoot's mum rather than one particular action of hers (which is what your statement on Chayenne would be).
I do not argue the point that it would be possible to interpret: "Then she was a stupid longneck too." as "In case she was here with us now and intended to walk through the rugged ground ahead of us she would be a stupid longneck too.", but by comparison I think the interpretation that Cera was aware of the death of Littlefoot's mum seems more likely.
Cera did not witness the last breaths of Littlefoot's mother, but she did see Sharptooth inflict the wounds that would ultimately kill her. If up to that quarrel Cera had, under those conditions, never bothered to ask about Littlefoot's mum at all, I think this would suggest her to be much less considerate and concerned than even a deliberate snide at Littlefoot's dead mother.
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Perhaps she was just afraid to ask. We have seen that she can be afraid on many occassions. I don't think her not asking Littlefoot (if she didn't ask at all) about his mother is evidence that she was not being very considerate or concerned.
On the other hand, it could be possible that Littlefoot didn't want to talk about it. The only one I am certain he told is Ducky (of his friends, he did tell Rooter though), but as far as that goes, the only thing she indicates she knows is that his mom gave him the treestar.
Maybe it is stuff that occurred offscreen, the things we did not see. I just don't see any evidence onscreen in the first movie of Littlefoot telling anyone. The only time I think it's indicated that his friends know what happened is the 5th movie, when I think Littlefoot alludes to his mother during the song Always There, and the others look at him sympathetically.
Though I'm sure at some point in the LBT timeline, whether it be offscreen in movie 1 or sometime offscreen during the sequels, Littlefoot told them what happened.
Anyway, as for what I told like about the movies, well one thing in particular that I didn't like was Cera's sudden change in size. She's now larger, or almost the same size, as Littlefoot I believe. I'm not sure if this was done to make her appear stronger or what, but it felt awkward to me. It's not the thing I dislike the most about LBT, but it's one of the things that annoys me. Though it's nothing that bad, just a change in character design.
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the word was could have been a slip or mistake on the part of the scriptwriter as well.
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i'd like to say i'm sorry for the way i acted the other day.
my brother gave mme a hard time last night. :cry2
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What I dislike about LBT are the Unsolved Mysteries the Animators never tried to explain what happen with most of the characters that strangely disappeared in the earlier movies.
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I agree there are some mysteries which I would like to see a bit more illuminated (Dinah and Dana for example) while there are other elements which I think ought to have kept a bit more mysterious (the rainbowfaces).
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*skips in*
For starters, I can't help but notice that every sequel revolves around something that Littlefoot saw/did/said/all that such. Spotlight character. It made sense in the first and tenth. But beyond that? Different characters should've had different spotlights. With some of them, it's pretty hard. I definately think that Petrie should've had the spotlight of VII for certain, then VIII should have been just Ducky (since Littlefoot had his 'side story').
From nine onward, there are bright colors and "CGI camera movements" (as I call them) that really get on my nerves. I loved the soft-toned colors of at least I to IV . I guess Grovensor had something to do with the bright colors :p .
Villains. I'll agree with everyone else. I can't help but notice that the only villains that ARE threatening don't want to eat them :lol . And all the lame villains usually do.
Plot holes are another thing in almost every movie. You could drive a big ol SEMI through them.
I don't mind some of the guest stars...*looks around*...okay, ONE guest star. Because "he" played "him", I officially got pulled into a world of my own =3 . I'll never forget that. Now, this is what I think is interesting. Michael York says that his life is pretty much his wife's as well. "I would not accept a role without her consent, because where we go and what we do is Pat's life too.
(From "Accidentally on Purpose: An Autobiography")
Hmmmm...
I gotta say that VII might be a bit more "engaging" for their great grandchildren (if there were any in 2000) than such things as The Three/Four Musketeers (I was bored silly by it when I was young). Heck, any kid wouldn't understand a thing in almost every film he's in (and The Last Remake of Beau Geste is definately off that list, because not only are the jokes un-understandable, but it also has some adult elements here and there.) Maybe it's the same for any other guest star...hence why they show up.
"You know, Kris Kristopherson is a pretty cool guy, but kids these days have no idea who he is. Why don't we see if he'll take a role?" If that's the theory, BOY did it work with Michael York...at least for me =P
Then Petrie in bits of 9 and twelve, and the entirety of the TV series. I've said it before. His personality went from a pretty shiny box to bits of metal with a few wires strewn everywhere. I don't know about you, but after literally going eye-to-eye with a sharptooth, you'd think he wouldn't be scared to fly through clouds (he even PECKS one in the eye in XI) The moment imaginary friends came into play, not just Petrie, but the whole series flipped for me. It was a BLAM, even for THAT movie!
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The Wisdom of Friends.
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I don't like that all the realistic details are not there in the sequels. And the fact that sharpteeth are only capable of growling.
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The only thing I really dislike about LBT is the songs. Some of them are really good, but you don't need to put songs in a movie to get kids' attention.
I suppose the plot holes in the sequels are quite annoying, but I don't usually think about that sort of stuff when watching a movie, especially when it's LBT. I only really realised that LBT7 had a patchy plot when Malte outlined the inconsistensies.
The use of CGI in later sequels is kind of unnecessary too. I mean, when I first saw the CGI log in LBT8 I thought it was cool, but then I was only 7 or 8 years old. :p
On the subject of Sci-Fi, I didn't mind the ending of LBT7 - as many here know, I actually really enjoyed it, being a guy who has always liked to put science fiction/crossover elements in my favourite animations - but if the Sci-Fi thing became a normal part of LBT, I'd be annoyed. It would take LBT in a completely new direction, and that I wouldn't want. I believe that it's okay for a series to have one or two departures from the norm, but it needs to keep more or less to its roots - as far as I can see, LBT has done that, and what we need to remember is that LBT7 is just one movie out of thirteen.
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I really dislike adults in Great Valley being ignorant and careless all the time. Scripters could've made them a more important part of the plot. Sometimes it seems like gang's parents only remember about their kids if something bad's happening. :huh:
I'm reffering to sequels of course. Littlefoot's mother in the original LBT movie was perfect. :)
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I can't stand the end of LBT7. A crackhead monkey with brain damage could come up with some better than aliens.
I hated that log that Sarah was pushing with her dad in...9? I think it was?
Hated how Shorty tripped a T-Rex. That thing had to weigh as much as an airplane. In fact, I hate Shorty too. A simplistic cliche character.
And the last movie.
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I hate how most of the sharpteeth are pushovers. Why aren't they all dead from starvation by now? They obviously can't catch a darn thing!
And most of the songs are awful. I usually just skip them whenever they come up. There's some songs I still haven't bothered to listen to all the way through, and I don't really want to listen to them either.
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Films XI,XII and XIII as well as the TV series for the most part.
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The log thing in LBT 9 made no sense at all. I'm watching LBT 9 right now and moving that log would realistically take what...2 minutes? And besides even if it did take all day to move a single log, Cera would be no help to her father.
Now that LBT 13 finally came out, I have to say the thing I hate the most about LBT is the Yellow Bellies. Stupid do-do creatures with butts that look like bushes. I'd rather have Darth Maul in an LBT story than a Yellow Belly. At least then we'd get a decent antagonist.
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Well, this being a series I hold very dear, this is a kinda hard topic for me, but I do have a few major qualms:
1. "Imaginary Friend". It's probably the closest thing the series has gotten to having a Big Lipped Alligator Moment (A sequence in a film that has nothing to do with the plot, comes out of nowhere, is totally over the top, and is never mentioned again after it ends). The segue into the song wasn't too bad, but as soon as I saw Petrie drumming on the shells of those turtles, I knew this song was gonna blow. It just seemed a little too bizarre for them, the designs of the imaginary friends didn't really look like creatures that dinosars could devise, and dinosaurs really should never sing reggae. Plus, how as soon as the song was over, the message was pretty much void (since Mo appeared a proved that he wasn't imaginary).
Most of the other songs, I can stand to listen to. In fact with several, I really enjoy them. I know they lighten the mood of the films, but I realy don't care. I've just learned to accept that they weren't made by Don Bluth, and I've moved on with it.
The only other songs I have a really hard time sitting through are "One of Us Now" and "Friends For Dinner". The former, because it just seems kinda out of place and just doesn't sound that good, and the latter because Chomper's voice actor can barely act, let alone sing!
(Note, this is not including the TV series songs, which are an entire different matter)
2. The Yellow Bellies. These characters had some potential. Their personalities and actions were pretty funny, and the way they thought and did things on a whim, kinda reminded me of me. The only major problem I had with them was their design. It looks more akin to an alien from a Hanna-Barbera cartoon than a dinosaur. The Flintstones could have gotten away with it, but LBT has always maintained a certain degree of accuracy with their designs, so they just seemed comletely out of place. Those gigantic bellies and posteriers that make one wonder how they can stand up straight, and that whole belly-bouncing thing made me cringe. If they could have just kept a little closer to the design of the dinosaur they are based on, it could have worked.
Incidentally, one reason I think that the final film was so different was because it had a different director to the other sequels, for some reason.
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in original movie littlefoot's mother looks very old. :anger
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in original movie littlefoot's mother looks very old. :anger
That's not really a flaw.Although in TLBT X the mother that is seen in Bron's flashback had horrible design,she looked more like Grandma Longneck instead of Littlefoot's mother,but it wasn't that big of a flaw.
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This is more for LBT fanfiction and roleplays, but GOD, sharpteeth are freaking gluttons! They just seem to eat so much and so often. I'm more of the midset that they should be more like carnivorous animals of today, in that they are built to go days without eating, and that they don't have to eat as much.
When I read of Redclaw killing an old threehorn (A creature of comparable size to him in my eyes) and finishing it off in less than a day, then wanting to find something else to eat, I just find it ridiculous. I mean, animals really only eat like 5% of their body weight at a time, and that low percentage will give them energy for a while. If a sharptooth downs something about the same size as it is, that carcass should last him for days (Weeks actually, if only the carcass wouldn't rot in that time frame).
It just doesn't make much sense to me. Someone care to explain?
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I dislike a great many things about the LBT sequels, even though I love most of them overall. I'm going to list all the sequels and what was wrong with them.
LBT2: I don't have any real problems with this one, other than the incompetence of Scrut and Ozie.
LBT3: The bullies were grating and annoying. On top of that, the plot was just weak. The adults should already have been out looking for where the water was blocked, Daddy Tops was absolutely in the right to regulate the drinking turns they had agreed upon even though the film made him out to be the bad guy, and the "sharing is caring" moral was just too blatant.
LBT4: This is probably the best of the sequels and captures the spirit of The Land Before Time the best. It has the group out of their own in dangerous territory, a loved one is at risk of dying, and the Ali actually made a good addition to the group. However, Dil and Itchy were completely unnecessary as villains as the conflict of finding the cure for Grandpa Longneck was enough. More than enough, actually.
LBT5: Not a great sequel, but not a bad one, either. However, the new director's surreal style really bogs the rest of the series down, starting with this one.
LBT6: LBT and Western Movie-style themes do not mix. The folk song about the Lone Dinosaur, ending with the gang going "YEEHA" just about broke my brain.
Littlefoot's new voice sucked. He sounds like a freaking girl.
LBT7: Pterano was too obvious, the whole subplot with the Rainbow Faces was unneeded and inane, because the frikking rock turned out to be utterly useless, and that twat who was voicing Littlefoot still sucked.
LBT8: The other Spiketail was annoyin on Jar Jar Binks levels and Littlefoot's current voice at the time still sucked.
LBT 9: The last LBT Thomas Dekker took part in! HUZZAH!
LBT10: The whole thing was a mess.
LBT11: Littlefoot shifts blame. Enough said.
LBT12: Never saw it.
LBT13: Littlefoot preaching proverbs. I need to lie down for a while.
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Error you said Land Before Time 14 when that was suppose to be a 13. And a lot of these sequels where god awful I do admit that whole country theme in Land Before Time 6 was kinda horrible. And the country pop song was eh okay not great. Movie 13 just was so god awful that I had to drink something to get through it. But most of the sequels where okay I liked some.
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Thanks, I corrected my error.
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The songs. Some of them are okay, I guess, but in general I hate songs in any film or TV show.
Also I can't stand Mo or the Yellowbellies.
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I also hate how the adults never give out punishment to the kids that do bad things. It's like come on give them some kind of punishment. And how the adults are so stupid and dumb that there kids know more than the adults.
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I cant stand the singing and songs, and there are too many characters that are in just 1 movie and never came back in the tv show or even another movie.
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I have to agree somewhat Ducky fan. Most of the song's are bad but a lot of them are actually good and worth listening to.. And most of the new characters I didn't like at all. Like The Female Long Neck and Ruby.
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I have a whole list of things that disgust me about LBT, so I'm not gonna go into it. I am gonna go into this though:
know Ducky and Petrie were both "kidnapped" for maybe 20 seconds by Ichy and Dill in LBT 4
No offense, but is there a reason you're approximating the amount of time they were kidnapped to "maybe 20 seconds"? Are you saying it should have been for longer, like 10 minutes?
And the way you said it, it makes it seem like they were kidnapped together, but they weren't. Petrie was kidnapped by Ichy and saved by the stupid mouse. Ducky was also kidnapped by Ichy and...was attempted to be saved by Petrie. Would have made it really better if Ducky had saved Petrie earlier on instead of the mouse, who was really unnecessary.
Also I can't stand Mo or the Yellowbellies.
That's fine about the yellowbellies, I hate them too...but how dare you say that about Mo, my favorite LBT character ever?!
But no, seriously, that's fine, if you feel that way. :exactly
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What I disliked was indeed several of the songs. IMHO I think the songs were unnecessary and redundant in the sequels and should not have been added. Same goes with the T.V. series. Some songs don't get me wrong had a purpose being the sequels like Grandma's Lullaby in LBT IV and Bestest Friends in LBT X. But then there were songs that had nothing to do with anything in some sequels.
My issues with the Yellowbellies is that they basically procrastinated several times in the movie. On top of that they weren't very bright when it came to escaping the sharpteeth the first time or dangerous situations all together. Shoot as a matter of fact I'm surprised they weren't dead yet looking at what they went through in the 13th movie.
If the Yellowbellies were how should I say more serious about the predicament they were in and not goofing off in tough situations throughout the entire movie I think they would of been better characters and much more tolerable for everyone to watch and tolerable for Cera too. :DD Not that I had any serious problems with them or anything, but I'm just saying it from everyone's point of view on those characters. What really gets me in 13 is how the entire Yellowbelly herd coward in fear and ran away from a pack of four sharpteeth. I mean you got to be kidding me? They are a huge herd of dinosaurs against four sharpteeth. They could of taken those four down with ease. I mean come on you gotta kidding me with that. That right there is something I still don't get almost five years later after the release of that movie.
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Besides LBT 13... and minor voice changes in later films...
The animation on LBT 6 wasn't that bad. It was the character design. Especially on the song "On Your Own", Littlefoot looks like an alien XD :lol
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Well, I don't like the fact that sharpteeth are kinda weak. And the fact that all the movies are mostly about Littlefoot. I like him, but it gets kinda boring, and the other characters get a bit neglected. And I'm annoyed at the behavior of the adults.
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Well, I don't like the fact that sharpteeth are kinda weak. And the fact that all the movies are mostly about Littlefoot. I like him, but it gets kinda boring, and the other characters get a bit neglected. And I'm annoyed at the behavior of the adults.
I'm actually quite surprised they only focused on Littlefoot in all 13 movies plus the show. LBT 12 however focused a lot more on both Cera and Petrie and their families then it did with Littlefoot. They probably didn't want to end up repeating what was taking place with other movies/shows. Shows that have the name of the main character have the tendency to focus on other characters throughout the show like House of Mouse, Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory, Arthur, and many others.
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I know Ducky and Petrie were both "kidnapped" for maybe 20 seconds by Ichy and Dill in LBT 4,
Why are you being so know-it-all as to approximate it to "20 seconds"?! You want me to give you the exact time?
And it was just Ichy. And they weren't kidnapped together.
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On the other hand, it could be possible that Littlefoot didn't want to talk about it. The only one I am certain he told is Ducky (of his friends, he did tell Rooter though), but as far as that goes, the only thing she indicates she knows is that his mom gave him the treestar.
Maybe it is stuff that occurred offscreen, the things we did not see. I just don't see any evidence onscreen in the first movie of Littlefoot telling anyone. The only time I think it's indicated that his friends know what happened is the 5th movie, when I think Littlefoot alludes to his mother during the song Always There, and the others look at him sympathetically.
Though I'm sure at some point in the LBT timeline, whether it be offscreen in movie 1 or sometime offscreen during the sequels, Littlefoot told them what happened.
They never showed Ducky being told about it.
They never showed anyone being told about it,
None of the gang know what happened to Littlefoot's mom, I like to think.
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Well, let's see here; the darker tones growing less and less as the series progressed, but my biggest complaint would have to be Universal writing off characters that you never see or hear from again.
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I have a list of dislikes in Land Before Time, and these are my opinions, and if someone doesn't like them, as Mr. Threehorn would say: TOUGH! So here it is:
Seriously incompetent Sharpteeth, there supposed to be predators, and to trip over a baby Brachiosaurus in 10, come on, you supposed to weigh 6 tons and you trip over a 50 pound hatchling. The sharpteeth from 1-3, 5, 7, and 9, were the most threatening, here is why
Sharptooth: An awesome T-rex who is out for revenge against Littlefoot, and in my opinion he IS a villain, so don't say 'how is he a villain?', he kills Littlefoot's mother, he tracks the gang all the way to the Great Valley, and he almost kills Petrie, what reason is he not a villain, a predator doesn't track its failed prey for months, like he did, and a predator doesn't simply go after hatchlings when he could have a full grown longneck, he injured the mother, if he was hungry, he would just finish the already injured mother off, so as far as I'm concerned, he IS A VIllain!
Mama and Papa Sharptooth: They were actually a little less threatening, because they actually seemed like more realistic T-rex, they didn't jump very often, and they went after larger prey when given the chance, ex. Mother Sharptooth vs. Grandpa Longneck, the only problem with them was tripping over two hatchlings, atleast Chomper and Littlefoot didn't try to step under her.
Velociraptors from three: Now these guys were cool, the reason is because they almost killed the adults, and got a few good hits in, also, they resembled the Velociraptor males from Lost World: Jurassic Park, the same red skin with dark stripes, just added to the cool factor, they also didn't have any slapstick. One Raptor did get hit by a rock, but because he didn't get up, it is likely that he was killed, as Raptors in real life could be killed with a baseball bat.
In 5, that Giganotosaurus(he was to big to be a Carnotaurus) was cool, because he drew blood, twice, and was pretty bad-a**, especially how he was able to defeat two T-rexs with ease, the only reason they won is because Chomper's father surprised him with a tail swipe.
7, these Raptors were pretty scary for one reason, that they killed the entire herd, even though it wasn't shown.
9, This guy made me unable to watch LBT 9, it wasn't Mo.
After this, the sharpteeth became these slapstick obstacle courses for the kids, I wonder why the adults fear them so much, if 7 hatchlings can easily outwit them, then why fear them?
The incompetent attitude of the adults, they just talk and argue, and they never actually do anything except a few times, they never do anything, they just argue, as if arguing will do anything.
So that is my list, now I don't want anyone to say that sharptooth never showed any signs of being a villain, a normal t-rex wouldn't track down a group of 5 hatchlings for revenge, they would follow large prey like Longnecks or Threehorns.
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I thought the swimming sharptooth of the 9th movie was pretty scary. Well definitely scarier than other sharpteeth. He actually came the closest to the original Sharptooth.
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The incompetent attitude of the adults, they just talk and argue, and they never actually do anything except a few times, they never do anything, they just argue, as if arguing will do anything.
Wouldn't you know it? I actually forgot to add that to my list... -_-
But, I agree with you on that for the most part; Universal sort of just portrayed them as useless... Don't get me wrong, some of them had actually done something, like Petrie's mother getting that other flyer in the seventh film, for example.
Sadly enough, there just isn't enough of those moments...
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The incompetent attitude of the adults, they just talk and argue, and they never actually do anything except a few times, they never do anything, they just argue, as if arguing will do anything.
Wouldn't you know it? I actually forgot to add that to my list... -_-
But, I agree with you on that for the most part; Universal sort of just portrayed them as useless... Don't get me wrong, some of them had actually done something, like Petrie's mother getting that other flyer in the seventh film, for example.
Sadly enough, there just isn't enough of those moments...
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Oh, great. I double posted... -_-
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I don't like the fact that there's no sense of continuity between the movies. Characters and places just come and vanish for no reason. This makes the whole series less realistic I think.
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How they still portray carnivores and sharpteeth in a negative light,even after the fifth movie,where we discover they're not bad after all
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It is a law of nature rather than a question of good or bad. Either they eat meat or they die. To get that meat they got to kill leafeaters. Leafeaters too want to live so they cannot really be blamed for taking offense in being killed even for the purpose of a meateater's suvival.
I do agree however that on this basis and after the events of LBT 5 it was kind of disturbing to see Littlefoot and the others cheer the execution of two unconscious sharpteeth in LBT 6 rather than (at most) accepting it as a necessity for the survival of others.
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How little foots mom died so early.
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Well, there sure are things I dislike but I'm afraid all of them had already been named before. It wouldn't add anything to name them again...
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I have to agree with some people the mixture of 2-D And CGI Animation at times where eye sore's at times.
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The overall direction-change halfway or so through the series. Not that it's necessarily bad. Some of my favorites aren't within the first half of movies. It's just quite different how things changed is all. Wouldn't call it hate.
LBT13 xD
Watching LBT11 and being like "what the!?" when first hearing Littlefoot's voice
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Yes most of us agree the 13th Land Before Time Movie was horrible and very annoying.
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As it was mentioned earlier, I don't like how the children take control so often - that's not how things work and it's a rather overplayed and annoying theme - don't get me wrong, I have a huge respect for children and they way they think - they are a fascinating little form of study - but they simply cannot take on huge responsibilities like they so often do and come out as the heroes. Yeah sure, grownups may seem the enemies of childhood, but in truth, children need adults' guidance and insight, as well as greater size and power, to aid them.
Sometimes the songs seems little overplayed, but I really didn't mind them that much. They were fun and catchy tunes afterall, nothing like most of the tunes put out on TV nowadays.
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@Strut Then again, many times the parents came to their rescue or aid :). It was usually the kids running off somewhere that got them in trouble. I've done that too lol!
Wait. TV these days has TV-show centric songs??? (sarcasm)
*sigh* I miss the olden animated movie melody days
EDIT: Ha though I loved the music in The Lorax (2012) :D
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@Strut Then again, many times the parents came to their rescue or aid :). It was usually the kids running off somewhere that got them in trouble. I've done that too lol!
All I can think of is LBT II, VII, and VIII... well, maybe VI and X too.
:lol
Well I guess I just wasn't as adventurous as a child, lol
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Yeah to me at least the kids in the movies actually did something instead of whining and complaining like the adults did. I hated how pathetic and useless all the adult dinosaurs where in situations. They could have done more but nope that requires work that we hate doing so it's the kids to the rescue to solve everything.
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Yeah to me at least the kids in the movies actually did something instead of whining and complaining like the adults did. I hated how pathetic and useless all the adult dinosaurs where in situations. They could have done more but nope that requires work that we hate doing so it's the kids to the rescue to solve everything.
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@Petrie I just had an epiphany :o!
What if they argue and whine so much because this:
Before they came to the great valley, they lived in separate herds. They're used to living with themselves and seldom communicating with other dinosaur species. Meanwhile, there's always sharpteeth and other calamities in the mysterious beyond it's a wonder that all the dinosaurs didn't go emo or something. Hmm.. in fact, maybe they struggled to survive so much, that they didn't think too much of higher things.
Now picture this. After the long arduous travel to the great valley, they finally arrive there. And after a while, they realize the peace and abundance of food and (relatively) little problems to deal with. At least predatory problems that is. They now have more time to think about what part of this luxury resort they want to call home, so maybe there were territorial disputes (just a thought). But anyway, with the dinosaurs in a much closer and CONTINUED (remember that part!) proximity to each other in safety, they not only learned things about other species they might not have known before, but were also able to think of 'higher' things more often since they weren't, y'know, struggling to survive. This is probably what lead to the plot on LBT3. I just think the dinosaurs found it hard to get used to each other. This was kind of similar in other sequels when they'd bicker over things. Each dinosaur has a completely different look and sometimes even purpose (take a longneck compared to a threehorn and tell me the differences). I don't think it was just racial (species)discrimination (if that) but also the fact that these neighbors lived so close together and with continued proximity (as well as the whole "this is my turf" attitude). Since these are animals, I kinda think this was very.... dinosaur-like I guess. Sure, the great valley is big, but eeeveryone goes to the waterhole/river
Though they sure learned a lesson after LBT3 :D... hopefully XD