The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => General Land Before Time => Topic started by: Almaron on September 09, 2009, 02:14:50 AM
-
I have watched each of the films and made tiny notes at crucial points in an attempt to draw a map of the Great Valley and the surrounding areas. I haven't yet uploaded a map, but I will draw a text description.
Lands Around GV:
N: Mountains
NE: Water from 3 (within Mts), Barren lands/Berry Valley.
E: Barren Lands from 1.
SE: Smoking Mountains.
S: Smoking Mounts and desert.
SW: Desert, then Land Of Mists)
W: Desert, and Movie 5 lands
NW: Mountain routes, and Movie 9 lands.
(That was written presuming the mountain chain runs N-S. Looking at maps, and judging by scenes in 1 and 4, the chain may really run NNW-SSE.)
Now follows my reasoning. (WARNING: LENGTHY NOTES FOLLOW) Please note, since some movies show areas that don’t necessarily fit together, I have changed a few things to fit them better. For example, Sun placement has not always been noted.
First of all, what we know from the first film is that the eastern lands are barren, the north and south are divided by a large chasm, and a large mountain chain runs north-south in the west. This is where the great valley is.
Now, lets look at the main dinosaurs, and where they were found. Personally, I think the GV was located in Western America, as an older feature of the Rocky Mountains. Look at this map:US Cretaceous Map (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_cretaceous_general.jpg)
Taking some liberties with the surrounding areas, that could easily be the world of LBT.
Triceratops was only located in Western America. Apatosaurs, Stegosaurs and Pteranodons were also found here. Saurolophus was too, but the Asian species which had a longer crest fits Ducky's look better. However, there was a land bridge connecting Asia and America in the north, so her family could have migrated.
Now, lets look at the knowledge that we got in each film.
In the first film, we know that there are two mountain lines to the east. One is the barrier that stops Sharptooth following them. Behind this is the Longneck statue. Then, there is the other mountain line that Littlefoot pushes Cera down to fight in. Over the hill down there is the Great Valley. To the left (South) are "Mountains That Burn"; these are presumably the same as the Smoking Mountains. The tiny lake that they defeat sharptooth at is located near the GV (You can see the rock on the plateau over the lake when Littlefoot sees his mother in the clouds. The film originally had this scene earlier.) As for the Great Valley, one thing that must remain consistent, is that a waterfall flows into the valley, and a river runs from it, East To West.
The second film doesn't show much outside the valley, apart from the large area of tar and skeletons which appears to be the same place as the smoking mountains in the first film. As for the route that is taken to get there, it looks as if they followed Ozzy and Strut over the mountains surrounding the GV, travelling south towards the Smoking Mountains, before returning through the area created by the rockfall; a passage to the east.
The third film gives the waterfall a name; The Thundering Falls. When the trapped water is found, it takes up a large area (this may be flooded land). It must be near the falls, and the land to the southeast has been mapped, that means that the water must be to the northeast, probably further north than east, to provide room for the adults to reach the valley (In the first movie)
Four and Five are a bit confusing. Four shows the valley emerging from the mountain chain into a desert peppered with rocks. Across from these (Apparently West) are high rocks that border the Land Of Mists.
Five also shows a vast area of desert, although in some areas it appears to be desolate land. This could be east, but I doubt that the characters would ever return there, and also in Nine, Cera remarks that they went “Right” at the Smoking Mts. The explanation? The land is desolate, recently wrecked by the locusts.
Six shows the area where Saurus Rock is located. This is an interesting area. First of all, in Grandpa Longneck’s story, he claims that Saurus Rock, and the area where the attack took place, were a part of the Great Valley. If you ask me, it once was an area of the valley, but was abandoned for lack of safety, or a later event that made it unsafe, such as an earthquake. For a mountain line that big, plus with volcanos, the GV must be on a faultline (This could be the San Andreas Fault, following my Western America theory).
Seven is interesting as it shows that the GV is not completely bordered by mountains. The GOF cross a gorge over a river that divides the Valley and the Smoking Mountains, and Threehorn Peak. The river is seen to go over into fertile lands. Presumably, this area, and Threehorn Peak, are to the south, past the dangerous areas of the first film.
The flashback in their film is also interesting. Presumably, the great divide stretched all the way to the mountains, otherwise the families could have reunited easily. Pterano leads his group to a small canyon in the south (left) while the others continue their trek (right).
Eight shows that there is a mountain route to the valley. Since all other directions have already been shown, this must be a northern route. There is also a tall mountain that is apparently used as a landmark. This would make up part of the western wall of the GV.
Nine shows more waterfalls, but this is a result of the rains. Interestingly, an Earthquake destroys one small part of the Valley, creating a gorge. As for the route, Presumably, the GOF are travelling west with Mo.
Ten is interesting, as their route appears to go through the Land Of Mists. Both 4 and 10 go through a high rocky area, and then a misty swamp. The longneck herd in movie 10 go further. This places the LOM to the SW. Further south is the longneck canyon.
11 shows nothing new, just the same dead lands of the smoking mountains. Presumably, their cave is located to the SE.
12 is just a barren land, that could be many areas. Since they go past an active volcanic area, it is probably south, or possibly the area created by the earthquake in 9.
13 is interesting. The land we see when they first enter the mysterious beyond doesn’t match any of the sequels yet, so it must be the lands to the north of the divide. Berry Valley is located far to the north, though slightly to the east of the GV.
Okay, that’s enough for now. I have more, but it can be difficult adapting my notes to computer form. I’ll post more later.
-
Interesting. Maybe some others here who have attempted to do the same can compare notes with you and you can all compare notes to each other.
-
Oh yeah, and I forgot to add:
The time I think the GV is in is not near the extinction point. Note, the end of the first film has the narrator state that "Generations upon Generations" passed down the stories of their ancestors. Since some species would have been extinct at different times, we can assume that the movies take place during a fictional time, such as Mid-Late Cretaceous.
Another thing is that whatever the time is, the land is going through some changes, as evidenced in movies 1, 4, 8, and 9. This could explain the change in some lands.
Something else of note is that Grandpa Longneck claims to have lived in the valley as a hatchling in 6. We see that he knows what locusts are, so maybe they decimated the valley years ago, and he left to the east. There is nothing that says that the Great Valley was always known by that name.
Also, in his story, there is a focus on Longnecks. This could reflect the segregation that would have been rampant in his youth, or it could mean that the valley was once home to Longnecks. The latter seems unlikely, as there is a Threehorn and a Bigmouth visible, plus Thicknose, the oldest inhabitant, remembered multiple herds in the valley. This raises the question of whether or not Grandpa Longneck and him knew eachother. Of course, they could have lived at opposite ends of the valley (Come to think of it, were there any Longnecks in his flashback?)
-
Found something new!
This webpage has realistic maps of the world from the Cretaceous to the Precambrian at major events! We could easily use these to map the world!
Rectangular Global Maps (http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rcb7/rect_globe.html)
-
Thanks!
-
Awesome link!
If you hadn't found those maps, I would have suggested these: http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm (http://www.scotese.com/earth.htm)
But the ones you found look even better. :yes
(Just to give you my opinion, I've always imagined the LBT movies taking place about one million years before the K/T extinction. (This allows plenty of time for the "generations upon generations", and is at a time when dinosaurs like T-Rex were around.) Since only one million years worth of continental drift is hardly noticeable, I've used the map from the K/T extinction. (ignoring the impact site, of course))
-
A very thorough and methodically detailed analysis, Almaron. :yes It’s inspired me to share my own attempts at pinpointing the locations of various LBT landmarks. Some disclaimers of my own before I begin: Firstly, many of my observations and opinions conflict with those you have shared, so please excuse me if my comments bear the slightest indication of rudeness; I assure you that I did not intend them to. Secondly, rather than being based on notes I have written down, most of these details I am recalling from memory. Thirdly, it is entirely possible that I have overlooked some details which may potentially nullify my assertions. If this turns out to be the case, bring on the humble pie. :p And finally, it should go without saying that the disparities between my interpretations and yours (or anybody’s, for that matter) can only be expected, as much of the LBT world’s pre-established geography is almost certainly not taken into account by the filmmakers whenever a new movie is made. That said, please forgive me for the amount of nitpicking in this post:
As for the Great Valley, one thing that must remain consistent, is that a waterfall flows into the valley, and a river runs from it, East To West.
Curiously, the valley appears to be fed by TWO waterfalls; one from the east where the gang first enters it, and another at the far end in the west. (I interpreted the latter to be the Thundering Falls, as the gang did not pass the vast mountain reservoirs seen in LBT III, and the falls they came across looked a lot smaller.) Clearly the Great Valley must absorb water like a sponge (maybe that’s why it dried up so fast in LBT III :p), or else it had some sort of drainage system even before the topography-rearranging events of movie IX; otherwise it would be known as the Great Lake. :p
The second film doesn't show much outside the valley, apart from the large area of tar and skeletons which appears to be the same place as the smoking mountains in the first film.
I don’t think the location in the Mysterious Beyond seen in LBT II is a tar pit; probably just a stagnant pool of water situated over a volcanic vent (explaining the bubbles). I doubt the snake/lizard/aigialosaur-like creature briefly seen swimming through it could have so easily done so if it were tar. :p The skeletons seen there could have belonged to dinosaurs that simply didn’t make it to the Great Valley as a result of starvation or being ambushed by sharpteeth, or even succumbed to an eruption of volcanic fumes (a creepy thought... :unsure). My point being, I don’t think this is near the tar pits from the first movie. It still could be near where the gang entered the valley, though (i.e., in the east): Ducky’s family’s nest is shown as being relatively close by (Ducky was the first member of the gang to reunite with her family), and it’s conceivable that the migrating herds entered the valley from the same direction, sealing the opening behind them so that sharpteeth couldn’t follow. (Admittedly, my reasoning here is largely conjectural.)
The Smoking Mountain, seen in movie II and referenced in III, is presumably in the west, as Grandma Longneck states that the sun will touch it when it is the longnecks’ turn for water, and at the time it already appears to be too late in the day for the sun to have not touched it yet on its morning ascent into the sky.
If my assumption that the Thundering Falls is located at the west end of the valley is correct, then the parts of the Mysterious Beyond seen in LBT III must also be in that direction. My belief is that it is northwest (the ledge from which the gang first discovers that the water is blocked being in the north).
Five also shows a vast area of desert, although in some areas it appears to be desolate land. This could be east, but I doubt that the characters would ever return there, and also in Nine, Cera remarks that they went “Right” at the Smoking Mts. The explanation? The land is desolate, recently wrecked by the locusts.
Locusts don’t eat wood; :p only the soft parts of plants. I think that that place really was a desert, and that the dinosaurs were simply forced to pass through it in their search for a new home. However, I agree with you in that the locations seen in movie V are probably either west or southwest of the Great Valley.
Ten is interesting, as their route appears to go through the Land Of Mists. Both 4 and 10 go through a high rocky area, and then a misty swamp. The longneck herd in movie 10 go further. This places the LOM to the SW. Further south is the longneck canyon.
I personally doubt that the swamp in LBT X is the Land of Mists; probably just a similar-looking region. Same goes for the rocky area.
Something else of note is that Grandpa Longneck claims to have lived in the valley as a hatchling in 6. We see that he knows what locusts are, so maybe they decimated the valley years ago, and he left to the east. There is nothing that says that the Great Valley was always known by that name.
Unless you're thinking of a different line (in which case I’m missing something :confused), what he actually said was that his own grandfather had told him stories about Saurus Rock. That could mean that one of Grandpa Longneck's ancestors lived in the Great Valley, but not necessarily him. It's even possible that his grandfather or grandfather's ancestor had heard about Saurus Rock from other longnecks who had been to the Great Valley or heard the story themselves from OTHER longnecks that had been there. Inherited stories appear to be a cultural characteristic of longnecks, and indeed all dinosaurs in LBT (obviously, considering they have no other means of passing on information besides word of mouth :p).
That’s about all I’ve got for now. ;)
-
Hmm, I'm going to have to go over some of my notes again. Thanks for the notes though! And yes, it is confusing when each of the movies contradict eachother (4 being the worst, with that huge desert). I'm really bad at typing things, so I hope I don't sound grumpy or anything.
I forgot to say in my earlier post that there is another waterfall, it is the one that Guido and Tria almost fall off in 12. Is that what you meant by the west waterfall? That could easily drain the water of the valley.
As for the Thundering Falls, I assumed since only one waterfall is seen in the first film, and we know it is in the west that the water would be somewhere near there, maybe to the north, as the south had been explored. I think that there was only one waterfall initially, but over time, with the lands changing, more became part of the valley. There is that one lake seen in the credits of 1, and plenty of new waterfalls seen in 9, as a result of the flooding. We know Littlefoot's family lives near the falls, from films like 4 (bathing) and 9 (In the background). The morning sun is behind the falls in that shot, so presumably those are the falls he entered on.
Come to think of it, all their families may live near the falls, judging by how quickly they reunited.
I don’t think the location in the Mysterious Beyond seen in LBT II is a tar pit; probably just a stagnant pool of water situated over a volcanic vent (explaining the bubbles). I doubt the snake/lizard/aigialosaur-like creature briefly seen swimming through it could have so easily done so if it were tar. The skeletons seen there could have belonged to dinosaurs that simply didn’t make it to the Great Valley as a result of starvation or being ambushed by sharpteeth, or even succumbed to an eruption of volcanic fumes (a creepy thought... :unsure). My point being, I don’t think this is near the tar pits from the first movie. It still could be near where the gang entered the valley, though (i.e., in the east): Ducky’s family’s nest is shown as being relatively close by (Ducky was the first member of the gang to reunite with her family), and it’s conceivable that the migrating herds entered the valley from the same direction, sealing the opening behind them so that sharpteeth couldn’t follow. (Admittedly, my reasoning here is largely conjectural.)
Ducky's family could have been located close to the waterfall in the first film, as she found them relatively quickly. And it looked pretty similar to the area from the first film (which was located to the south of the valley); I'm sure the filmmakers were trying to be similar. But yes, it isn't as vicious as the lava pits seen in the film.
My reasoning for that area being to the south (or southeast) comes from the first film, where Littlefoot continues ahead, while the others go to the left. If you watch the scene with his mothers ghost (Which originally went next, according to the deleted scenes), you can see that he is at formation on the top of the hill (same slopy and raggedy rocks) and below him is the plateau with the rock waiting to fall on Sharptooth. Presumably, this places the smoking area to the south.
I remember from one of my notes that when the GOF return through the gorge with chompers egg, the sun is behind them. Of course, the sun is all over the place in the LBT films, and should be considered conjectural at best (In 9, it starts over the falls, and then again over Mo in a matter of minutes.) Plus, that gorge took them near the tar-like dead zone, which could make that area an entrance to the Burning area.
The Smoking Mountain, seen in movie II and referenced in III, is presumably in the west, as Grandma Longneck states that the sun will touch it when it is the longnecks’ turn for water, and at the time it already appears to be too late in the day for the sun to have not touched it yet on its morning ascent into the sky.
If my assumption that the Thundering Falls is located at the west end of the valley is correct, then the parts of the Mysterious Beyond seen in LBT III must also be in that direction. My belief is that it is northwest (the ledge from which the gang first discovers that the water is blocked being in the north).
My main criticism with that is that the Thundering Falls appears to be the main water source, and I assume that's how Littlefoot entered the valley. If that was a lesser fall, even that would still be delivering water if the main was stopped.
I missed that line of Grandma's when mapping areas, thanks for posting that! Of course, since the valley is in a mountain chain, volcanos could be all over the place. Littlefoot's mother called the area the "Mountains that Burn", I just assumed they were part of the Smoking Mts. Maybe the mts that burn is the nasty place from 1, and the smoking mts the other places?
I personally doubt that the swamp in LBT X is the Land of Mists; probably just a similar-looking region. Same goes for the rocky area.
Yeah, it was a bit of a long shot. I just used that because it made things fit better, and required the least changes to be made to one of the maps. It does have merit though, as where have we seen such lands before? Those ridiculously high rocks don't look like any of the mountains around the valley.
Actually, I want to know more about the (west?) end of the valley, as it has changed quite a bit. In 7, the way to Threehorn Peak is made by crossing a gorge, instead of mountains. And after fooling Rinkus and Sierra, you can see that the valley is not even protected on this side by mts, only by its height! And in 12, the waterfall must go to a lower area too. Maybe there's a lower area in the valley?
I really need to upload my notes, this would make describing things much easier! I have a lot of papers covered with notes, and several maps of varying quality. The only problem with each of them is that each has at least one mistake that I noticed too late, and so made another map, not noticing another mistake made...and so on.
-
Here's one of my most recent maps:
Great Valley Map (http://amcalmaron.deviantart.com/art/Possible-Great-Valley-Map-136851994)
I know I have more explanations about the placement of things which I haven't posted, but I can't remember them at the moment. I'll post them later.
Remember, this map was drawn assuming that the LBT world takes place in Western US in the Cretaceous. Mainly because each of the GOF were found there (And only there, I think). So some things have been changed to make them fit better. Also remember, the scale is completely wrong. I just drew it that way to make it easier to draw. Chances are, there are miles of empty mountains inbetween some areas.
(Just remembered one of my explanations!) Raptors are rarely seen in the LBT films. In 3, they terrorize the water areas, and in 7, they attack Pterano's group, who went south, while travelling west (to the valley) on the northern half of the divide. Presumably, Raptors live in the NE areas of the lands surrounding the valley. (in 11, two raptors are seen in the smoking mts area, but they could be strays. Actually, they reminded me of the two raptors from the series. Which I haven't actually seen, only read about)
-
Ah...remember what I said about the possibility that I had overlooked certain things? Well, bring on the humble pie! :oops
I had really, seriously believed that in at the end of the first movie, two waterfalls were shown on opposite ends of the Valley. Turns out the reason for this was that, in the big reveal (http://s556.photobucket.com/albums/ss2/Pangaean/TheGreatValley1.png) of the Great Valley, Littlefoot is standing next to one waterfall (which I had misremembered as appearing relatively small, and thus less likely the Thundering Fallsóat this point I am convinced otherwise), and a few cuts later, during Littlefoot’s line “We did it! We did it together!”, a second waterfall was shown at the far end of the valley. After reviewing the scene, however, I realized that the second shot (http://s556.photobucket.com/albums/ss2/Pangaean/TheGreatValley2.png) was not from the gang’s point of view, looking out further over the valley, but a view from the other end of the valley, showing the gang’s waterfall in the distance. In other words, what I had thought to be two different waterfalls actually showed the SAME waterfall, but from different perspectives. Needless to say, I felt like a complete knucklehead after making that discovery. :lol But, you know, that’s the way my mind tends to work. I notice little tiny details that other people might miss, but completely overlook the great big honking mountain of obviousness directly in front of me. :P:
Just wanted to rectify that for now. I'll be back later with more observations. (This time I'll be careful not to trust my memory alone. :p)
-
Whoa, I don't think I've ever noticed that second shot of the falls! It seems like an odd angle, but yeah, I think it is still the Thundering Falls (There only ever seems to be the one waterfall in the films, except for the ones in the newer films).
This is a good thread, and I await your observations!
EDIT: I forgot to mention, in an earlier map I noted a place as being two boulder pass, but now I find I can't remember where that is, or what movie it's from. Anyone know?
ANOTHER EDIT: Something else is, I often disregard differences in locations between sequels (has the valley ever been depicted consistently? Mountain and river placement change constantly). As such, I placed the Land of mists in a place that meant it could be the land travelled through in 10. That, and I couldn't find anyother place to place that land in 10. I also assume that forest from the end of 13 is the forest from 6 for two reasons. One, we haven't seen any other trees like that before, except in that valley. Two, following my map/observances, they travelled north, also where I placed the Saurus Rock area. This would indeed make it a shortcut, like Littlefoot said. In fact, since their parents found them there, maybe that's the entrance that they used to get to the valley in the first place.
As for justifying my ignoring of sun placement in some scenes, sometimes it just doesn't fit with what we know to be true about the LBT world. Although, sometimes the sun appears to be in a different area depending on where you are. (At least, it seemed like that one time to me. I could be completely wrong here.)
-
I'm sorry I am joining this thread so late as creating maps of the Great Valley is of specific interest to me. There are some other map threads in the GOF already too. I agree that the Thundering falls are not likely to be the only waterfalls in the Great Valley though they are so important a water supply that their drying up had a significant effect on the state of the Great Valley. The Thundering Falls of LBT 3 looked very different though from the falls Littlefoot stood beside when he entered the Great Valley in the original movie or from the falls Littlefoot's grandparents used to take a "shower" in LBT 4. There are more examples of waterfalls in the Great Vally not all of which are at the edge of the Valley though (e.g. the ones from LBT 11 and the great log running game (which may be the same falls) seem to be located completely inside the valley). There is also a good chance that there are some "temporary waterfalls" depending on whether or not there has been rain in the nearby mountains which would flow down to the Valley (examples can be seen in LBT 9). In any case I think there may be significantly more than two waterfalls in the Great Valley.
With all the different locations we have seen in the Great Valley I think one of the basic assumptions we are forced to make is that the "overview" of the Great Valley we got at the end of the original movie was but just a small section of the Valley which must in fact be much... greater ;)
This also is the only plausible explanation I can think of for the apparent inconsistencies which you pointed out Almaron.
Unless you're thinking of a different line (in which case I’m missing something dino_confused.gif), what he actually said was that his own grandfather had told him stories about Saurus Rock. That could mean that one of Grandpa Longneck's ancestors lived in the Great Valley, but not necessarily him.
Very good point! :yes
That one has often been overlooked. Given the nature of the story about the Lone Dinosaur it may have been just the kind of stories of legend which made some of the herds head out for the west seeking the Great Valley though they had seen it with their hearts only.
I have drawn a number of maps of the Great Valley myself, the most recent of which is for the computer game we are creating. Not one of these maps is complete though.
Here is the very rough beginning for a map that I never finished. The location of some landmarks is marked by some little images at the side of the map. This one was started before the computer game project. Most locations are still missing. But you still see the concept of the part of the Great Valley we saw in the original movie as a secluded "Valley inside the Valley" on the east.
I also came up with an explanation for how in LBT 2 the gang could cross a canyon while chasing the eggeaters while the egg later on could roll savely back into Ducky's familie's nest. That explanation was more elaborated in other maps though. One concept in this map which is on my later maps as well is the idea of Saurus rock being located on a kind of plateau which is difficult to access from the Great Valley and the other way round but still accessible (just requires some climbing) with the Canyon the gang had to cross on the way to Saurus Rock being an open gate to the Mysterious Beyond. I think this plateau would be a kind of puffer region of the Great Valley. In spite of all the green stuff (e.g. trees which grew unusually high in the absence of any dinosaurs affecting their growth) we didn't see any large dinosaurs up there so perhaps that part is avoided not just for being difficult to access but also with the intention not to provide anything but empty "hunting grounds" so the sharpteeth, though free to enter, would have little reason to stay. I placed the watering hole they found in LBT 3 (the one "inside the Valley" I mean) on that plateau as well and had the LBT 6 canyon "shallow out" into that minor ditch into which the gang fell in LBT 3, which led to the ledge from which they saw the meteor crater. Anyway here that map is:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Computergame/Map6.jpg)
A bit more elaborate but equally incomplete is the following map which was created with the computer game in mind. Some of the elements of the other map have been included while more elements from many of the movies (some elements prominently lacking so far) have been put into the map with the explanation which combination of roman number (telling the movie it is from) and arabic number (telling the landmark it is) at the top of the map. There are large "white spots" still to be filled on that map and plenty of stuff to fill it up with:
(http://i547.photobucket.com/albums/hh475/Malte279/The%20Land%20before%20Time/Computergame/GreatValleymapsketch.jpg)
On a different note, I really enjoy reading so elaborate and interesting an exchange of thought. Thank you all for that :yes
-
This is a map I drew in the Fanart section... I'm pretty sure it went unnoticed during the lull of the summer.
EDIT: There are lots of places on their I made up names for such as:
Big Water: The Great Sea
The place where they stay briefly in 5: The Dawn Valley
Since its for my story, I had to make some guesses and suppositions.
(http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1797/brettsmap2.jpg)
-
Hmm, after thinking about it, the Saurus Rock area could be in the west. In that case, just swap it with the 8 areas.
I ignored the sun placement over the SR valley in 6, as that would place it in the east, which we know from 1 & 3 to be barren. However, if it is in the west, then it would have taken enough time to travel there for the sun to appear in the west. In 1 & 4, several mountain shots suggest that the mountains don't run North-South, more on an angle. This could explain the contradictory sun shots.
One problem I found (Which is really a mistake on the film-makers part) is that there are routes out of the valley and green lands around, so why did they all leave via a desert route in 5? The only answer I can think of is that the areas were also attacked by the locusts, or the area has too high a risk of sharpteeth.
On the other hand, why did the Spiketails leave in 8? Using my maps, that places them heading north, which should be worse, and colder!
-
^ Perhaps the spiketails headed north because their typical migratory patterns involved them traveling south to the Great Valley during the cold times, and returning north when things warmed up. Therefore, they were familiar with the areas north of the Great Valley (it was only the blizzard that threw them off course), and assumed that they would be able to find another location where there was food, or, failing that, circle around the valley from the northeast or northwest in search of greener pastures further south. It’s a shaky theory, I’ll admit; it seems strange that they did not simply take a more southerly route out of the valley, but it’s the best I could come up with.
The Thundering Falls of LBT 3 looked very different though from the falls Littlefoot stood beside when he entered the Great Valley in the original movie or from the falls Littlefoot's grandparents used to take a "shower" in LBT 4.
That’s another reason I assumed the Thundering Falls were different from the waterfall seen at the entrance to the Great Valley in the first movie; they looked too massive to have flowed from the relatively narrow river Littlefoot is shown standing next to, and their banks above the Great Valley, as shown in the third movie, were not so rocky. Still, from the looks of it, the first movie waterfall is apparently the source of the valley’s main river; therefore I think now that the Thundering Falls were intended to be the same, and am willing to attribute the discrepancies to inattention to detail on the animators’ part. :p
As for the waterfall in the middle of the Great Valley (the one seen in LBT XII), I had considered that perhaps it was formed as a result of the earthshake in movie IX. I have also considered that it is the same waterfall that appeared in the TV episode “The Great Log-Running Game”, referred to as “Roaring Falls”.
I also think the “New Water” of movie IX is probably in the west of the valley (where I previously assumed the Thundering Falls to be :oops), and the river that the gang follows to get to the Big Water may be the source of the fresh water in the coastal oasis the adult dinosaurs find in movie V.
-
I think now that the Thundering Falls were intended to be the same, and am willing to attribute the discrepancies to inattention to detail on the animators’ part.
No, it's the layout designer! Don't blame the poor animator!
Sorry, just had to interject :lol
-
^ Right, layout designer. Pardon me; I didn't know the terminology. :p
Actually, it's the fault of whoever TOLD the layout designer to design the backgrounds that way. :P:
-
Haha, true!
I'm not sure how much freedom the layout designers were given during the production of the LBT sequels... but I'm going to guess that it wasn't much :p
-
Yep, I agree with you on those theories Pangaea. I thought that could be why they went north.
Regarding the divide/waterfall, in an older version of this map, I assumed there must be a fault line running SW-NE, to explain the divide in the first film, and I assumed that it travelled through the valley, and that's what caused the quake in 9. (Back when I started mapping the areas, I used a map in the Fan Art section as a vague basis, changing placement of things when I found new evidence. I don't know where that is now, but if anyone can find it and link to it, it could be interesting (I believe Malte uploaded it, but didn't draw it; a friend did), despite the odd error, and lack of labelled places.)
I had another look at Caustizer's map, and if you flip it upside down, it's quite similar to mine, in terms of placement of the canon locations. We must be close to figuring out where everything is and making a final map! Can someone make a list of locations of the places in the TV series, and where they are in relationship to known landmarks(i.e, waterfalls, the sun, other)? Then we could make it even more accurate!
EDIT: I also think that there needs to be another route to the valley from the NE. We know that the divide went to the cliff wall (13, plus they didn't reunite in 1), and no adult footprints were found in the first film, so they took a different route into the valley. This could be where the water (3) is, as the area is flooded, although it could be through the Saurus Rock valley, as that appears to be a good entrance route, plus it resembles the exit route taken by the grandparents in 13 (Since they were following their kids into the lands they came from, it would make sense to return the way they came, unless they knew of a quicker route, which is unlikely, as they haven't exactly travelled there before). We also need to mark the small valley near the valley, the divide, and the water, which Pterano led many to (7. With it being this close, he may have assumed this to be their safe place).
-
I’m back again, this time with some ideas on the locations of the various “smoking mountains” (as well as their more violent relations, the Mountains That Burn) that appear in LBT. While the LBT dinosaurs frequently cite THE Smoking Mountain(s) as a landmark, I doubt that they are usually referring to the same smoking mountains in each instance.
In LBT II, the Smoking Mountain is a lone volcano, which I previously asserted to be in the west of the Great Valley, based on Grandma Longneck’s comment in movie III). Also...
I remember from one of my notes that when the GOF return through the gorge with chompers egg, the sun is behind them. Of course, the sun is all over the place in the LBT films, and should be considered conjectural at best (In 9, it starts over the falls, and then again over Mo in a matter of minutes.)
I think you may actually have something there. Although I will need to rewatch LBT II to make any safe observations on that movie, I distinctly recall that in the scene where the gang look out over the valley, and Petrie and Ducky respectively remark, "Home", "Sweet home", a smoking mountain (looking suspiciously like a chimney :lol) is visible in the distance directly ahead of them. Perhaps this is the same volcano they visit later in the film, and the sun's position is indeed correct in that scene.
In VII, the smoking mountains referred to are presumably the “horns” of Threehorn Peak; three tall, thin peaks arranged in an isosceles triangle formation atop the ceratopsian-head-shaped mountain. I’m still unsure of where it is located in relation to the Great Valley (though I am reasonably certain that it is to either the north or the south). On one hand, in the shot where the “Stone of Cold Fire” is seen crashing into it, Saurus Rock is nowhere in sight. On the other hand, no major waterfalls are visible in that shot either, so it is possible that Saurus Rock IS on the same side of the valley as Saurus Rock, but much further east or west (depending on which direction the SoCF was coming from). The position of the sunrise (as seen from the nook in the mountainside in which Pterano, Sierra, and Rinkus wait out the night) would suggest that Threehorn Peak is located in the north, but, of course, as Almaron has stated, solar orientation is a questionable means of determining direction in LBT.
In IX, Cera states that the path taken by the gang when they originally visited the Big Water in movie V required them to “turn right at the smoking mountains”. (As most of the journey undertaken by the dinosaurs in that movie was not shown, there is ample room to assume that this was the case) on the way to the Big Water in the fifth movie. When we finally see these mountains at the end of the film, they turn out to be a row of three rounded peaks, arranged very close together. Obviously these are not the same smoking mountains as those on Threehorn peak. In fact, I would consider it a possibility that they are not located near the Great Valley at all, but are simply a landmark the dinosaurs noted during their migration in LBT V.
As far as I’m concerned, the Mountains That Burn only appear in the first LBT. The way I see it, they’re located east of the Great Valley, south of the path Littlefoot’s mother told him to take (possibly parallel to the Great Valley’s eastern border). I base this observation on the scene in which the gang splits up, at the location I personally refer to as “Spire Valley (http://s556.photobucket.com/albums/ss2/Pangaean/SpireValley.png)”. (While I agree that the visible position of the sun in LBT is a very unreliable compass, I’m going to cite it as a geographical aid on this one occasion, on the argument that the filmmakers probably paid more attention the sun’s position in the first movie, given its significance in directing the characters to the Great Valley.) In that scene, the character’s shadows indicate that the sun is diagonal to their position, which would place Littlefoot as heading due west (perhaps a little to the north), and the others as going south or southeast (though southwest is not impossible either). This path, as we all know, took them through the Burning Mountains, beyond which (further west) were the caves in which Cera encountered the domeheads, and further still (west or northwest), the pond where the gang defeated Sharptooth; beyond that, the Great Valley.
(Oh, wait a minute, Almaron; did you already come to that conclusion about the Burning Mountains’ location? Whoops. :oops Oh well. At least we agree on it. :p)
-
Yep, same conclusion. Although you reminded me of something odd about one of the smoking mountains; in LBT 9, when Mo points out the smoking mountains to the GOF, they are to the southeast (assuming big water is to the east). However, in the very next scene they are going north! :confused
As for some of the mountains, I agree that there is the odd volcano all over the place. I assumed that there is a large patch of land to the south of the valley referred to as the smoking mountains (Parts of the mountains that burn looked like the areas in LBT2, and then to merge that with all the other nasty volcanic regions, including Threehorn Peak and those three peaks, makes it all fit. Or at least in my map).
Actually, upon re-reading your post, I like the idea of the three peaks being separate. It makes more sense for the herds to travel that way.
They must be on a large faultline of some sort. I actually just returned a rather good book on dinosaurs to the library, that actually had maps of where the animals were found (If you want to read it, it's the Usborne Book of Dinosaurs, and it has a large, badly drawn CGI T-Rex on the cover), and one section showed continent movement over the years. At some point in the cretaceous, it seemed as though there were three continents forming the Western US, like this (;|). If I read the map right, and there are multiple faultlines, then the horizontal fault could be the cause of the great divide, and the quake in 9, and the vertical fault the mountain range that forms the valley.
And to briefly change the subject, I really like those maps posted earlier, but I can't really see the details. If you read this post, Malte, could you please repost them a bit larger?
-
Y'know, what we really need is a picture that we can all easily edit. So we could make changes to a map of the LBT world without having to upload everything.
I remember hearing something about a website called "Your World Of Text", but I don't know much about it. It looks like a google thing, where you type a name at the end of the url, and that becomes a page on its own. Again, I don't know about it, so I can't vouch for spyware or anything, but it looks real, and I've seen people using it.
Basically, you get a large text page, and any part of it is editable by anyone at anytime, and everyone on the page will see any changes made. So using this, we could draw a map of the lands in text format, (with \ \ \ \ for mountains?) and then anyone could edit it and add their changes, or make a copy and change that. Either way, they should leave a log of their changes, in case the idea is debunked. I'm up for it, if it works.
EDIT: I've had another look at it, it seems fine, but it's really slow! At least on my computer. If the browser is smaller, it works better, but typing in stuff is a bit odd. You have to move around with the arrow keys, and type a letter in each box.
-
Yep, same conclusion. Although you reminded me of something odd about one of the smoking mountains; in LBT 9, when Mo points out the smoking mountains to the GOF, they are to the southeast (assuming big water is to the east). However, in the very next scene they are going north! :confused
Hmm...well, if you look at the first shot (http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss2/Pangaean/BigWaterSmokingMountains1.png) in which the smoking mountains are visible, there appears to be a stretch of water projecting inland in front of them (just behind the rocky strip of land from which Littlefoot views the coral reef). It’s conceivable (though it sounds a bit unlikely :p) that the gang swam across this inlet to reduce the amount of walking they would have to do to get to the smoking mountains. When they came ashore, they would have been on the right of the river seen flowing into the inlet in the second shot (http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss2/Pangaean/BigWaterSmokingMountains2.png), which would make the direction they were shown heading in make sense. (Of course, the explanation as a whole is a bit iffy; like the issue of the northward-bound spiketails, it’s just my best attempt at a logical explanation for what was probably a goof on the part of the LBT filmmakers. :p)
Also, I assumed the Big Water to be located west of the Great Valley. (I think the water seen spilling over the valley walls in movie IX is a temporary result of the storms, and is not connected to the Thundering Falls.) For another thing, in LBT V, the dinosaurs found the Big Water when they left the Great Valley in search of more food. Since they originally came to the valley from the east, I wouldn't think that they would look in that direction, knowing already that there was no food there. However, that would only exclude the Big Water from being to the east of the Great Valley, not the north or south. I’ll need to watch LBT V again before I can make any further statements I whose accuracy I can be confident of, but at this time, my assumption is that the Big Water lies to the west and southwest of the Great Valley, and possibly the south as well.
-
Evidence for it not being North or South is with the mountains. They travelled through a desert, we know the north to be mountainous, they wouldn't have travelled east, so Big Water is either south or west. SW, if we assume that Mo's route is west, and south leads to the Land Of Mists.
-
^ Yeah, that's what I thought. :yes
Though I also came up with another idea: maybe the Land of Mists is itself located near the Big Water. Thick fog and/or frequent rain are often associated with coastal environments, such as the temperate rainforests of America’s Pacific Northwest. (Even the Namib Desert in eastern Africa experiences dense morning fogs on a near daily basis.) While we know the Land of Mists to have originally been a drier region, perhaps some sudden climactic change led to wetter conditions there. This would also explain what Archie, Ichy, and the Elasmosaurus that chases Dil (all marine animals) are doing living there. (A family of Archelon was seen in the Great Valley earlier on in LBT IV, but they or their ancestors may have arrived there the same way Mo did in IX.)
-
I agree, and (If I recall correctly) in the opening of the film, the camera pans over sea before reaching a land which becomes a (possibly THE) land of mists.
In some of my older maps, I placed the Land Of Mists in the S (In fact, more SSW), but with the forest ultimately giving way to sea in the west. I based this off that when they first look out over the LOM when they arrive, it just appears to be endless forest. So it could reach sea eventually.
-
While watching the first LBT a few nights ago (for fun, not for purposes of research :p), I noticed that the pointy rocks in the lower left-hand corner of this shot (http://s556.photobucket.com/albums/ss2/Pangaean/LittlefootsMothersGhost.png) (a location I will refer to by its central landmark, "The Pond",) are quite similar to the peaks of “Spire Valley (http://s556.photobucket.com/albums/ss2/Pangaean/SpireValley.png)”. This would mean that the rock precipice from which Littlefoot sees the cloud/ghost of his mother is at the top of the stony “ramp” he used to climb out of “Spire Valley”. (This is probably a reflection of how the movie was originally supposed to run, with Littlefoot finding the Great Valley almost immediately after parting with the others.) However, this implies that, in order to get the rest of the gang back on track, Littlefoot would have had to lead Ducky, Spike, and Petrie back the way they came with Cera, which, considering their near-fatal experiences with the tar pit and lava river, I’m guessing they would all be reluctant to do. In light of this, I have come up with a new theory: the caves in which Cera encounters the domeheads run northeast-southwest, connecting the area immediately beyond the tar pits with the vicinity of "The Pond". Perhaps by accident, the gang found an exit from the caves that led them straight back onto their original westbound route, with the additional bonus of a handy source of water for washing off any tar that was still stuck to them.
I also came to the realization that whenever the sun is visible in the first movie, it always seems to be in the process of setting. I base that observation on the fact that the characters are usually in the process of traveling to the Great Valley in these scenes, and are “walking away” from their shadows (which, under a setting sun, are cast eastward). As I said previously, I think the first film is the only one in which the sun’s position (if not the timing of its position) can be trusted as accurate more or less all of the time, because it is established early on as a compass to the Great Valley. Not that the movie is completely free of solar inconsistencies. For instance, when Littlefoot in his family are searching for food, their shadows are directly beneath them. Then, when they are shown walking towards the sun, it is low in the sky and elongating their shows. Then, when Littlefoot asks his mother if she has ever seen the Great Valley, their shadows are beneath them again. (However, such incongruities can probably be blamed on the way the scenes are sequenced, as much or more than carelessness on the part of the animators.)
A few other minor observations I made on the first LBT:
ï The Great Divide (at least the section of it visible in the film) runs north to south.
ï The “head” of the Rock That Looks Like A Longneck points south. (The RTLLAL, by the way, is visible in the shot when the gang is climbing the rocks, and Littlefoot suggests that the Great Valley may be at the top.)
ï The Mountains That Burn consist of at least a dozen volcanic peaks of varying shape and height (but whose sizes relative to the dinosaurs are uncertain) positioned close together, plus one extremely large standalone volcano that Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike are shown passing. Another (non-erupting) volcano is visible in the background as Cera approaches the tar pits, which may represent a fourteenth peak, or one of the first twelve seen.
ï Not actually an observation, but a hypothesis: perhaps the waterfall Cera stops to cry in front of is connected with the reservoir that feeds the Thundering Falls.
-
While watching the first LBT a few nights ago (for fun, not for purposes of research ), I noticed that the pointy rocks in the lower left-hand corner of this shot (a location I will refer to by its central landmark, "The Pond",) are quite similar to the peaks of “Spire Valley”. This would mean that the rock precipice from which Littlefoot sees the cloud/ghost of his mother is at the top of the stony “ramp” he used to climb out of “Spire Valley”. (This is probably a reflection of how the movie was originally supposed to run, with Littlefoot finding the Great Valley almost immediately after parting with the others.) However, this implies that, in order to get the rest of the gang back on track, Littlefoot would have had to lead Ducky, Spike, and Petrie back the way they came with Cera, which, considering their near-fatal experiences with the tar pit and lava river, I’m guessing they would all be reluctant to do. In light of this, I have come up with a new theory: the caves in which Cera encounters the domeheads run northeast-southwest, connecting the area immediately beyond the tar pits with the vicinity of "The Pond". Perhaps by accident, the gang found an exit from the caves that led them straight back onto their original westbound route, with the additional bonus of a handy source of water for washing off any tar that was still stuck to them.
Totally agree with you there.
By the way, I'm glad you posted those pictures. In the second one, look under the head of the longneck ghost; the rock that they push onto Sharptooth's head is sitting there on its ramp. Further evidence of the original film order.
ï The Great Divide (at least the section of it visible in the film) runs north to south.
I'd say more NW-SE. It can't go due N-S, otherwise the GOF would have met up with their parents at some point along the journey, or they would have attempted to cross into the other lands. There are different camera shots which show the mountains and ridge in different places. I don't know if this is as helpful, but in 13, you can see that the divide reaches the mountains (Which would make sense).
-
Maybe taking into account some screen shots from the movies and tv series may help in some cases. Not sure if many have taken screen shots or not.
1 place close to the Great Valley likely is an area of geysers that the inhabitants, or at least Ruby and I think Chomper, called jumping water.
-
By the way, I'm glad you posted those pictures. In the second one, look under the head of the longneck ghost; the rock that they push onto Sharptooth's head is sitting there on its ramp. Further evidence of the original film order.
Yup. Saw that. You pointed that out before. ;) I'm glad you did, because that's what made me think to compare that shot with the one of "Spire Valley".
ï The Great Divide (at least the section of it visible in the film) runs north to south.
I'd say more NW-SE. It can't go due N-S, otherwise the GOF would have met up with their parents at some point along the journey, or they would have attempted to cross into the other lands.
You're probably right; in addition, if the adults were cut off on the eastern side of the Divide, then the gang should have made it to the Great Valley before them (except for maybe Petrie's family :p). As it is, I'm guessing that the reason the gang's families reached the Great Valley first is that, none of the gang, apart from Littlefoot, knew how to get there, and he spent an unspecified amount of time (possibly days) wandering around in a depressed state following his mother's death. The adults, forced to move on or risk starvation, would meanwhile have found another path to the west, and gained a head start.
There are different camera shots which show the mountains and ridge in different places. I don't know if this is as helpful, but in 13, you can see that the divide reaches the mountains (Which would make sense).
I may be misinterpreting you here, but are you suggesting that the Divide reaches all the way to the Great Valley? I'm not sure I believe that (though if you have any evidence or hypotheses to offer, I’m open to being convinced :p). Which scene in XIII are you talking about?
-
I originally didn't think that the divide did reach to the mountains around the valley, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence that it stops. Think about it. Littlefoot and the others may have gone westsouthwest, to a greener area. They might have missed the end of it. Plus, Littlefoot says that there doesn't appear to be an area where anyone can cross. Of course, he may just mean the general area, but it might have looked impassable.
As for the scene in 13, when the GOF follow Loofah and Doofah out of the valley and onto the ledge, a large barren land is visible, as well as a huge divide that splits the land in two. This barren land looks quite a bit like the lands from the first film, hence the large crevasse could be the great divide.
-
This is very well thought out. :) Has anyone actually posted a map of the lands yet, or is it all words for now?
-
There's my old map on Deviantart, which I think is still mostly accurate, except for the placement of the Saurus Rock valley and the route from 8, which after reading the notes of others, I think should be the other way around (Saurus Rock to the NW, 8 Route to the North). There's also other maps drawn by other people that have been posted or linked to earlier on on this page (As well as a historically accurate map of the world during the cretaceous). Most are on the first page, but I'll post a picture of my old map here as well.
(http://fc06.deviantart.com/fs50/f/2009/255/e/1/Possible_Great_Valley_Map_by_AMCAlmaron.jpg)
-
Does this map incorporate locations and clues from the television series?
-
Nope, I haven't seen the Tv series, so I wouldn't know where to place them. Feel free to use this as a base, if you want to add them in. (BTW, the scale on my map is VERY wrong)
I think Malte had a map of locations that he posted earlier, that might help.
-
The television series is available on landbeforetimelover's website if you want to see them. Just click on the link in his signature from any of his posts. That's where I saw them.
-
As for the scene in 13, when the GOF follow Loofah and Doofah out of the valley and onto the ledge, a large barren land is visible, as well as a huge divide that splits the land in two. This barren land looks quite a bit like the lands from the first film, hence the large crevasse could be the great divide.
The problem I have with that is that there appear to be many large canyons and crevasses in the Mysterious Beyond, particularly to the north of the Great Valley. We have the Big Ditch from LBT VI, the deep, narrow, relatively smooth-sided trench the gang tried to stop Guido from falling into in XII, and the wider canyon with the rapids at the bottom in LBT VII in which they pioneered the art of water-skiing. :p (It’s possible that some of these may be connected with one another.)
I think it’s more likely that the Divide extends northward and/or southward to a mountain chain or other impassable geological obstruction that runs east to west, thereby separating the gang’s route westwards from their families’. It is unclear just how far away the effects of the Great Earthshake were felt, but if the Divide reached all the way to the Great Valley, then presumably the tremors themselves also extended that far. In that scenario, wouldn’t many of the relatively delicate-looking rock formations near the Great Valley (and along the way to it) been demolished by such a tremendous seismological event? (Imagine how much more difficulty Littlefoot and his friends might have had finding the Great Valley if the Rock That Looks Like A Longneck had been destroyed.)
Another thing I realized is that there is still some question as to how the gang’s families and other adult dinosaurs actually entered the Great Valley. The gang, presumably, climbed down into the valley from the precipice they first saw it from, but I can’t imagine a herd of fully grown dinosaurs (especially quadrupedal ones) using the same route. This would necessitate a fairly large and level entryway in the eastern or northeastern wall of the Great Valley (perhaps the same as the walled-up gap in LBT II?).
By the way, this is a bit outside the subject of this thread, but I was doing a bit of research on earthquakes, and thought to find out what type of earthquake the Great Earthshake of the first movie was most similar to. I am convinced that it was most probably a megathrust earthquake, the largest and most destructive type (the only variety of earthquake known to attain a moment magnitude of 9.0 or higher). A megathrust earthquake occurs where two tectonic plates converge, pushing up against each other. Eventually, one plate subducts, or slides beneath the other, and in the process the other plate is thrust upwards. Likewise, the original LBT earthshake was attributed to “the clash of continents”, and one side of the resulting chasm was elevated high above the other. The only problem is that megathrust quakes typically involve an oceanic plate (made denser and heavier by water) subducting beneath a continental plate, because when two continental plates meet, both are of equal weight, and cannot subduct. Such collisions result in mountain ranges, not megathrust quakes. But then again, LBT is not particularly adherent to the laws of nature, so we can probably disregard this little detail. :p
-
Another thing I realized is that there is still some question as to how the gang’s families and other adult dinosaurs actually entered the Great Valley. The gang, presumably, climbed down into the valley from the precipice they first saw it from, but I can’t imagine a herd of fully grown dinosaurs (especially quadrupedal ones) using the same route. This would necessitate a fairly large and level entryway in the eastern or northeastern wall of the Great Valley (perhaps the same as the walled-up gap in LBT II?).
(Was reading through all this again, and I thought of something else) Something that always struck me as odd was that in LBT 6, Grandpa Longneck's story of the Lone Dinosaur takes place in the Great Valley, and Saurus Rock soon emerges from the ground at the same place. Yet, Saurus Rock exists outside of the valley in a forested area that is clearly not safe, as several Sharpteeth inhabit it. I think that this region was once a part of the Great Valley, but the earthquake that created the statue may have also created a route into the area (alternatively, it could just be that the area was never safe to begin with, and was later abandoned. I mean, a Sharptooth did just enter it with no real hassle).
Grandpa Longneck does manage to follow the GOF over the mountains and into the valley that Saurus Rock is in. Presumably, the migrating herds used this route to enter the valley (who knows, Grandpa and Grandma Longneck could have mistaken "Saurus Rock" for "The Rock That Looks Like A Longneck", and headed inwards from there).
-
I'm not sure if this will help, but... this (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=7703)
I tried to address this question of the Great Divide while writing my FF. For some reason, I've always believed that the Great Divide is currently the Huerfano River in Colorado. The canyon runs mainly north-south. If the adults were trapped on the west side, all they'd have to do is to go west. Although there are mountains in their path, I have found paths around the mountains. The GOF was trapped on the eastern side. They can not walk north, as the Mowry Sea would be in their way; their only option is to go south. The divide slowly turns into a more diagonal divide running southwest to northeast. After going southwest to the end of the divide, they find a big mountain range, one including Barbra Peak, McGaffey Ridge, the Carson National Forest, and Santa Fe National Forest. They can not climb these mountains, so they go further south, around Starvation Peak, before continuing West.
This path would take them a lot longer, but after they have made their way around the mountains, they can go northwest and follow the trail made by the adults. At this point however, they are all the way in Northern New Mexico. The rock that looks like a long-neck is the crossing point of the two trails. The Great Valley is in Northern Utah. They continue Northwest before reaching the Great Valley. Their route, today, is largely I-70, US-285, and Co-64.
(really don't know if this helped, but at least it's a theory)
-
I was just reading some things on Wikipedia, and I found this image of what North America may have looked like in the Late Cretaceous. I figured that the Great Valley must be there, as most of the dinosaurs seen in the series are from there.
Picture (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Paleogeography_of_North_America_during_the_late_Campanian_Stage_of_the_Late_Cretaceous.png)
NA as depicted here would surely be large enough to accomodate all the locations of the LBT series easily. You could even explain the odd placement of some dinosaurs normally found in other areas as being stranded there after the disappearance of land bridges. For instance, it's generally assumed that Ducky's a Saurolophus from Asia, and at some point Asia was connected to America via Beringia, so that explains that. Thoughts?
-
Whoa! I just realized this thread is over a year old now! :o (Just felt like mentioning that. *shrugs*)
If you want to think about this scientifically (as far as the dinosaurs’ ranges are concerned), then it would make the most sense for the Great Valley to be located in either Laramidia or the northwestern part of Appalachia (in what is now central Canada), as the vast majorityóif not the entiretyóof the North American dinosaurs in the series are only known from fossils found west of the Mississippi.
One potential problem is that, judging by the map, northwestern Appalachia is not very mountainous, and mountains are a prominent geographical feature in LBT. Laramidia, meanwhile, looks almost TOO mountainous. Also, since the climate was much warmer then, the Great Valley would have to be located quite far north if it were to receive snow, and northern Laramidia looks a little too narrow to me.
Personally, I think it would be more realistic for the LBT series to take place either before or after the period to which this map dates, perhaps when the Western Interior Seaway was less extensive.
-
Maybe i have all wrong, but...
On the back of the first movie pocket, it say 150 million years ago.
-150M years is the jurassic period (-199 to -145 Mya) not the Cretaceous (-145 to -65 Mya).
So the exact map should be this:
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/LateJurassicGlobal.jpg)
I see very well the Great Valley located at the bottom right of the interior sea, and this sea could be the Big Water.
-
150 Million Years? I missed that on the DVD case; I'd best take another look at it.
Personally, I thought that the LBT series would need to take place in a fictional Mid-Cretaceous time. Too many Late Cretaceous dinosaurs have been shown for it to be Jurassic times. The good thing about the dinosaur fossil record, however, is that it's impossible to tell exactly when a species first arrived or died out (since fossils only form when the animal falls into something that quickly buries and preserves the body, such as river mud or desert sandstorms). So odd dinosaurs in the LBT series could be handwaved as being the last survivors of their species.
I also wondered for a while if the changing species could be the source of Longneck-Threehorn antagonism, because if you simplify things, Sauropods and Stegosaurs were the dominant Herbivores in the Jurassic, before being replaced by Hadrosaurs(I think) and Ceratopsians in the Cretaceous.
-
Hum, now i really dont know... I was watching The Stone of Cold Fire during the song Beyond the Mysterious Beyond. A scene do a zoom out from the Gang, then the Great Valley, then the planet... And i think i see the actual asian continent.
(http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/2342/screenshotze.png) (http://img441.imageshack.us/i/screenshotze.png/)
I see Japan, Corea, India, Philippines, Alaska and Australia.
The zoom out came from the green zone, in Mongolia/Russia.