The Land Before Time > Episode Discussion

Discuss: The brave longneck sheme

(1/7) > >>

Malte279:
Meanwhile scribbled notes on TV episodes I watched are piling up over here, but it has been a while since I last typed a review based on those scribbled notes.
I really had to rub my eyes and look again when I found that there hasn't been a thread on this episode so far. My guess is that discussion of it must have drifted into the character discussion section and into other Ali threads.

This review is perhaps on an episode which got special attention as it fulfilled that prophecy which kept up hopes of LBT fans for another LBT movie in times when it looked like there might not be another one. The return of Ali (though I seriously doubt the closing lines of LBT 4 were ever understood as a “promise” on the part of the producers) was always something at the back of the minds of many LBT fans. Almost everyone had some idea of what such a reunion might look like and the different concepts ranged from a Littlefoot Ali relationship very similar to what we saw of it in LBT 4 already to concepts which I doubt anyone seriously expected to see in a movie made for a young audience. I don’t think any of the concepts anyone had in mind was without at least some air of romance to it. By not serving that expectation on the part of the fans the producers of “The Brave Longneck Sheme” did not fulfill the expectations of the fans and this time the unexpected twist was not regarded as something positive by any fan whom I had heard (or rather read) talking about “The Brave Longneck Sheme”.
Make no mistake, my expectations certainly were totally different as well. Like most of you I too was disappointed to some degree, and of course I too regarded Ali worthy of another sequel rather than a TV episode. But looking at “The Brave Longneck Sheme” objectively I don’t find it to be the world shattering experience which I had half expected and which certainly played a role in my dodging the TV series for such a long time (I had watched some of those episodes which had been aired before this one, but stopped short at this one).
After this introduction I’m switching to refering to the notes I took while watching the episode which might make the following text a little random (same as the other reviews). I appologize for that.
Even for a character like her Cera seemed surprisingly “brutal” in the beginning. That push she gave Littlefoot must have hurt, but Littlefoot didn’t seem to mind much. Rough as she was towards Littlefoot Cera was quite welcoming towards Ali (“You name it we’ll play it!”) having obviously learned her lesson from LBT 4 (more so perhaps than Ali did though Ali’s very first initial reaction was happy too, though perhaps not quite as hearty as we might have expected).

[On a side note about Cera’s behavior towards Ali, there has been one “official” story about a return of Ali before. But that one appeared in an issue of a land before time magazine published only in Germany and in spite of that “official” status they sure weren’t too attentive to keeping their stories in accordance with the movies. Anyway, that story was primarily about Cera redeveloping her jealousy of Ali when Littlefoot is spending to much time with her in Cera’s opinion].

Ali apparently never thought about the possibility that Rhett might play along with Littlefoot and the others too. Before he ever met them she already didn’t expect there could be anything like friendship between Rhett and her Great Valley friends. Obviously she had learned a bit about how Rhett’s mind worked and was very ready to submit her own interests to his will. What to make of this?
I have already in another thread mentioned my theory. I don’t think that because of Rhett Ali had lost any personal interest in playing with Littlefoot and the others. She knew however, that playing with them would disturb her friendship with Rhett. It may not reflect well on Ali’s personality either but rather than actually forgetting about her friendship with Littlefoot and the others I suppose that a simple opportune calculation may have made up Ali’s mind. She could try to keep her friendship with Rhett as intact as possible at the possible expense of loosing the friendship of Littlefoot and the others and maybe having a guilty conscience later on; or she could stick to her friends at the risk of fracturing the friendship with Rhett. I will not for a moment try to defend Ali’s decision. I was disappointed by it and if indeed by just having some other friends she could have permanently fractured the friendship with Rhett (rather than have him hold his grudge for a few days and then forgetting about it) this does not reflect well on Ali’s choice of friends either. Still I try to understand (not approve of) her decision. How many of you have made some holiday friendship? People whom you knew and liked during your holidays but people whom you knew you would see never again, or only very rarely (assume for the sake of comparison that you would see them for four or five days each year but be unable to hold contact in the time in between). If you had to choose between such friends who had never failed you but whom you almost never see and between a friend who has failures but who is around in your life all the time, whom would you choose?
Once again the answer seems very easy and it would not be the choice Ali made. If that other friend is unable to stand the idea of me having a couple of other friends this would be the problem of that over-jealous individual. If I see that other friend every day anyway the good friends I see so rarely are much more precious for me.
But now add another important element to the calculation. Let that overjealous friend be the only one of your age you know. Let that friend be the only friend you have while moving around all the time (thereby limiting your chances to find other friends). This makes the decision a bit more tricky I think. It has never been established as a fact, but from all we saw Ali was really the only young longneck in the herd. It sure seems unlikely, but for all we know it is a fact. Can you imagine how precious a friend of your age would be if you had to live in a world of grownups with nobody else around all the time? Many of you said in other threads that they wished to have at least one person around who shared their LBT enthusiasm and truly understood them. If you had such a friend (and no other friend), would you be ready to give up a few days a year friendship to maintain the friendship that means so much to you? I still don’t expect answers to these questions to be unanimous. From a moral point of view Ali’s behaviour is just wrong. From an oportunist point of view, with the prospect of loosing the only permanent friend you have, we may not approve of, but perhaps understand Ali’s decision.
There is something else we must take into account when “judging” Ali, but it is something we can only speculate about. We know very little about Rhett’s personality and we don’t know anything about his way of acting when he is alone with Ali, without the need to stand up against anyone else. I guess it is save enough to assume that he is bragging even when others are not around. Ali’s foreseeing Rhett’s reaction suggests this. Had Rhetts behaviour in the Great Valley been “out of character” Ali would have certainly been more surprised and probably more willing to argue with Rhett. Nevertheless it doesn’t seem very likely that Rhett does nothing but bragging all of the time. Of course this is just my interpretation, but even with the lack of alternative friends I trust Ali to be not so ready to accept a friendship when it consists of nothing but her friend telling her how great he is all the time. Rhett may be (perhaps because like Ali he seems to have been the only child in his herd) extremely eager to establish himself, either for feeling that he is kind of alone at the only one of his age in his original herd, or for being pampered just because of this. We don’t know for sure. But once he has one the admiration of somebody (Ali) or thinks that he has bragging may not be the only thing he does all the time.
We don’t know for sure if Ali buys everything Rhett says. Chances are that she is buying most of it (this at least is suggested by what she says or does). Maybe she thinks that there is some basic truth in what he tells with a little exaggeration in it. If it is naive from Ali to believe his stories, then at least she is not alone with her naivity as was impressively demonstrated in “The Brave Threehorn girl”. But is it so naiv at all to believe that there may be some substance to Rhett’s tales? Looking at what a nemesis Littlefoot (and the others) have been on sharpteeth ever since the original movie his tales may not be so very unheard of and not as implausible as they seem to us. If we assume sharpteeth as presented in LBT 8, 10, 11, and 12 (something I am very reluctant to do though) it seems to be not impossible for them to be fooled by a kid. The episode does not seem to refer to those harmless sharpteeth however with Littlefoot telling that the sharpteeth he had met were not scared of flying rocks, earthshakes or smoking mountains. However that may be, exaggerating heroics such as those repeatedly committed by Littlefoot and the others may be almost a matter of course from what dinosaur tales we have heard so far. So it may not be naive to believe Rhett’s tales for the grain of truth which they might hold. Petrie didn’t even need Rhett to tell the story. Even after Cera and Littlefoot told it (presumably not the way Rhett would have) he was beliving it, but we all know that “me believe anything”.
Of course Ali came across as extremely naive when justifying Rhett’s tells almost to the point of making excuses for him. Her calling for Rhett in the moment of alleged danger also suggest that she seriously believed a good deal of Rhett’s stories. I must also admit that Rhett’s suggestion to play “rescue” with Ali and her readiness to accept this (with her presumably doing the “Damsel in Distress” part) may reflect upon the times when they are among themselves (which I refered to earlier). Later on she protests against playing rescue again and Rhett is very bossy in orderinger her “Rescue it is!”
So my theory of him being not quite as bad a bragger when there is no real need to convince anyone of anything is far from being based on solid footing. It comes down to the fact that, though some of Ali’s actions may be understood to some degree, she certainly did not act the way anyone would have expected her to. But did LBT 4 made any suggestion that Ali would be more forceful towards Rhett?
I don’t think so. The term “shy” that has been used in several official descriptions of Ali has been questioned before and for some good reasons. But in any case I don’t see anything in LBT 4 that would support us in expecting Ali to act in a self-confident, Ceraish manner in the presence of Rhett. Her conduct towards Rhett is similar to her conduct towards Littlefoot with the difference that Littlefoot was a character she could “work with” so to speak (talking him into leaving the others behind in the Great Valley is the best example) while a self-righteous character like Rhett cannot be stirred like that.
I like the idea of Chomper as a tester of Rhett’s bravery.
Everyone took a long time to get what Cera was getting at when she suggested Chomper to do that job. In the flash in which Cera invisioned that plan we saw Ali at the verge of tears about Rhett’s cowardice. I wonder to what degree they expected Ali’s reacation to be like that. As we see her reaction is much more relaxed, but perhaps it is one of the things Littlefoot may have had in mind when he voiced his doubts about the plan. Another idea that might be in the picture of Ali crying as a consequence of Rhett’s cowardice may be an allusion to the idea that there may be a bit more than the normal everyday kind of friendship between Rhett and Ali (same as between Littlefoot and Ali). A loved ones cowardice may be more suited to make someone cry than cowardice of a friend.
I also loved the scenes of Chomper fleeing from the longnecks. Two points are addressed with those scenes. First of all that, no matter what, Chomper is still a sharptooth and a perceived threat for those who are not let in on his character. The second point is one which I think is stressed in quite a few TV episodes (and much more prominent in some of them than in this episode). Chomper is still very young, certainly the youngest of the group. The moment he was at bay he sounded so much like the scared little kid that he was in that moment that I felt almost painfully sorry for him.
Both of the points I named are also supported by Chomper’s offer to eat Rhett. I really wonder what would have happened in case Rhett had not run. Apart from the situation becoming embarassing for Littlefoot and the others rather than Rhett I wonder if Chomper would have attacked Rhett if Rhett had taken a stand or attacked Chomper himself. But this is a speculative question (same as so much in this post).
Another speculative point is what the longnecks would have done to Chomper if they had caught him without any “explanation” for him at hand. Would they have made any difference between a grownup sharptooth and the kid? Probably not. The Old One was rather explicit. “Let’s get rid of him!” “I suppose we must!” (even after the revelation that he could talk).
The scene is another example for the TV series not clinging to the “kid friendly regulations” the last few sequels (can’t say anything about LBT 13 yet though) were submitted to.
The reaction of the Old One was to some degree surprising. One might have expected her to be more conservative, but it seems like she really posesses some of the wisdom which Littlefoot denied in LBT 4 (“Well, don’t think she’s so smart!”).

There is an interesting translation case in this movie. Rhett calls Littlefoot “Littleneck” (sure not a nice thing to call a longneck). That joke couldn’t possibly work out in the German translation as the name Littlefoot is not translated in the German version and the younger audience would not be aware of the meaning (something they had to struggle with in the translation of LBT 11 already). The German version has Rhet call Littlefoot “Lilliput”, the land of the tiny Lilliputians in Jonathan Swift’s famous book “Gulliver’s travells”. The term Lilliputans has sometimes been aplied to small people but is regarded offensive (same as the English word midget). So the translation brought the message across really well while it may be questionable from the point of political correctness.

On a final note, Rhett strongly reminded me of Shorty. A Shorty who has found a friend. Looking at how well Shorty and Cera seemed to understand each other at the end of LBT 10 a more Ceraish, female longneck would probably be a better “choice” for him.

Kor:
Ali may have said what she said about Rhett not playing with folks he doesn't know since she may have encountered other kids during the places her herd stopped.  Doc did say there are other places as nice as the great valley as I recall and Ali's herd may visit 1 or more of those places.  Also in places where Ali's herd stops there may have been some resident kids nearby so she may know from experience how Rhett reacts towards the suggestion or offer of playing with strangers.

As for the old one's being wise, wisdom and having knowledge gained from just being old are 2 different things.  

I find it interesting that she never thought to warn the great valley residents about a sharptooth around.  Where there is 1 sharptooth there may be others so the logical thing to do would be to send 1 of the longnecks to tell one of the residents so they can have a search started to be sure no other sharpteeth are in the valley while they deal with this one themselves.  

Rhett may have also started saying his stories since maybe Ali told him stories about Littlefoot and the adventure they had and felt he didn't measure up in Ali's eyes.  Or maybe he is the type who use to tell stories like he did.  That wasn't gone into, but would have been interesting if they had.

Nick22:
i admit, that over the years, romance has come to shape and color my thoughts on any relaqtionship between Littlefoot and Ali. I had high hopes for this episode, indeed it was the episode i most looked forward to viewing out of all the episodes. because I had started to wonder whether Ali would ever reappear in any form. this episode was a great disappointment. this Ali was much more submisive and realy bland, than the Ali I had first met in LBT 4. Now granted that sequel was the only story on Ali for many years, so perhaps I'm viewing her, through a crafted idealized lense. there was no instant reconnection to her friends, and the first meeting of Ali and Chomper, which Imo deserved its own episode or pair oof episodes, was brushed off in a few seconds.. rhette after a couple of reviewings, is little more than a plot device, somone who causes jealousy in littlefoot,and is an ostentatoius braggart. The jealousy doesn't have to be of a romantic nature, but those who have created a romatic tinge to thier stories they would certainly see things in that light..

Kor:
Overall not a very good episode to have as Ali's second appearance.

Malte279:
I must stress that basically I agree with what you say. There ought to have been much more to the return of Ali and I was also disappointed by her acting the way she did. My main point is that though we may not like the story it is not an outright breach with LBT 4
of course we would have wanted a "better" return of Ali (I guess it would be hard to find anyone who disagreed with that one) but I don't think she was really so out of character as you think.
Ali was to some degree submissive in LBT 4, though much less so towards Littefoot than she was towards Rhett. She was definitely NOT submissive in leaving her herd and talking Littlefoot into not taking the others along. But in both cases she met very little resistance. The herd was asleep and Littlefoot was not ready or willing to argue with her. The only case in which we see Ali really stand up to someone is when Cera accuses her of making up stories about Littlefoot being trapped in that cave (and here Ali had almost no alternative to standing up against Cera).
And being bland to someone was not unknown to Ali in LBT 4 either. More than once she sports some rather seductive looks at Littlefoot which I suppose may have done their part to create images for some fans which go beyond anything shown in the movie (the most notable example for such a look can be found in the scene before she cuts the faces). She is complimenting Littlefoot too in a manner which one might interpret as bland. There is no need to be as bland in case of Littlefoot as in case of Rhett, but how far would she have gone if Littlefoot had not been Littlefoot?
We don't know.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page