The Gang of Five
The Land Before Time => LBT Fanfiction => Topic started by: Serris on May 03, 2008, 05:53:50 PM
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I looked at Malte's post on LBT fan fiction and my post ("What do you hate to find in fan fiction") and I was wondering, what is everyone's opinion on PG-13 and R rated LBT fan fiction?
I personally feel that LBT can work in an PG-13 or even R rated fan fic as long as it is done well.
By done well I mean that it has a good plot and it just engrosses the reader in it.
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I agree. If it is done well without involving slash, killing off of main characters, or deviation from normal behavior, I'm okay with it.
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Deviation from normal behavior.
Umm, there is are 2 scenes in Twilight Valley that might be a little...unusual to put it lightly.
1.) Ducky is about to be kidnapped by Sierra and she briefly fights him off by stabbing him through the wing with a sharp stick but she is knocked out with a blow to the back of the head by another enemy flyer and finally carried off by the injured Sierra and another flyer.
2.) Ducky throws a vine to help rescue Deimos (allied sharptooth <sickleclaw>).
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I to believe it can work..but it will take a very well developed plot...and absolutely NO killing off of main characters. However such fanfics can also contain a lot of unnecessary blood, gore and violence, but again if done properly it may be acceptable to a certain audience.
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I don't think an R-rated fic would be good, but PG-13 seems reasonable. In fact, that's the rating I'd give my fic.
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I think another thing to be kept in mind is that, the ratings that the authors give on FF.net my not be 100% accurate. I have seen a PG-13 fan fic War of the Worlds that seemed to be G or PG rated.
Also some authors will "uprate" their fic for a variety of reasons, but "for safety" (FF.net flat out states that underrating a fic is punishable by deletion of offending fic.) seems to the most common reason:
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I don't think an R-rated fic would be good, but PG-13 seems reasonable. In fact, that's the rating I'd give my fic.
Yeah, same with my fanfic.
And I agree that a Rated R LBT fanfic is way too risque and it the themes should be modified so it can at least have PG-13 rating.
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I personally don't believe that any fic rated over G can be good when it comes to LBT stories. Violence and sexuality are the only reasons why a LBT fic would be rated higher than G and I don't think either of them are necessary to create a good fic.
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I personally dislike such rating when it comes to LBT. The series revolves around friendship, morals and is generally decent entertainment :yes, not killings or sexuality. Some minor profanity is alright but no F-words(I hate that word :angry:).
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I'm all right with it. I've written an R-rated LBT fanfic, well 2 actually, although the second was never finished. It was supposed to be PG-13 rated, but a user on FF.Net complained of the low rating and I was forced to raise the rating.
I find it hard to write G-rated fanfics, and I've only succeeded once or twice. My comfort zone in writing is usually PG-13 and R, which is unusual considering I usually dislike watching movies of that rating.
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Hmm... I don't know personally... I mostly hold the same views as Cancerian Tiger and landbeforetimelover. (In fact, guys, I couldn't have said it better...) It just doesn't hold up very well... It's just not LBT... If it deviates too much, then, well...
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I'm only making a guess at what an "R" rating is (similar to our "15" rating I suppose) and I don't think I like the sound of anything LBT getting an "R". Still, I've never read any, so I won't make a final judgment.
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It is often tricky to decide what would "fit" into a land before time story and what would not. In most cases people would have very different opinions on whether or not a particular scene or action or whatever would be "fitting".
It should be noted that the land before time is far from being without violence. We have the killing of Littlefoot's mother in the original movie. We have landscapes full of death and decay in the original movie and LBT 2 and 3. We have two unconscious and defenseless sharpteeth being executed by being buried alive in LBT 6 while Littlefoot and the others were cheering (now that was a scene where I think the movie makers were rather thoughtless with special regards to the lesson Littlefoot and the others had learned in LBT 5 :angry:), we have a whole herd being killed in LBT 7 etc. etc.
Many fanfictions though project a very human way of thinking on the dinosaurs. There are so many fanfictions where the dinosaurs seem to enjoy violence and embrace it as a "solution for problems" very much the way humans do. Many people would love to see a full scale dinosaur war (preferably involving dinosaurs equipped with human weaponry). I don't think LBT dinosaurian minds would work like that. The kind of racism among different species is the only thing I can think of that might realistically get dinosaurs into a fight that might bear some resemblance to human warfare. I consider it very unlikely though that they would really pull this through to the very end. I guess human wars and battles with thousands and thousands of dead and maimed people many of whom are not even directly affected by the "cause" of the fighting is something LBT dinosaurs could never ever understand or conduct on that scale.
As for sexuality I think that all of the maincharacters are too young to think or even know about it. There are direct references in LBT movies to support this view. We have Littlefoot ask his grandparents about babies in LBT 2 (making them look visibly uneasy), we have Littlefoot being unaware that he even had a Dad in LBT 10, we have Littlefoot wonder if Tria is to be Cera's new Mum in LBT 11. There are a few other subtle hints in some LBT movies (e.g. Petrie's mum pointing out to Petrie that she would be the first to know if he was to have new sibling in LBT 12), but such hints are so subtle that most children wouldn't take any notice of them at all.
Of course there is sexuality in the world of LBT (or else we would have a new explanation on why the dinosaurs are extinct :lol), but it is not the topic of the stories and when it is referred to this is done very in a very inexplicit way.
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Well said, Malte. Except, I always interpreted Littlefoot saying that he didn't know he had a dad, as meaning that he thought that maybe he'd died (since Littlefoot is awfully smart), and not merely in the context that you posted...
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i totally agree with the donts of serris,
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Okay, let me go with something that can hopefully make what I want to say easier.
Did you all know that the very first well writen fanficiton (I'm talking well writen here. There were ones before this, but they weren't written in such a professional manner.) to grace the internet was actually M-rated and went out of proportion with the elements of the franchise? Hard to believe but true.
The very first well-writen one was called Pokemon Master: A Dark Pokemon Fanfiction. The fanfiction at hand went out of proportion with the world of Pokemon. It basically had a crap ton of graphic violence and swearing, two elements that, even though they are present in the original version, never went as high as they did here. It also had the unrealistic element of giving Humans the same powers as their Pokemon. (Fighting was understandable, but water? fire? electricity? that was a whole other story.) These elements were surprising, but very well written for the fanficiton. It executed them quite well, hardly making them a real point of it all, and still stuck to the original plot of the story.
Now to explain the sexuality factor, I will once again turn to Pokemon. The only things you'll get with this one are human mothers holding babies and the sudden finding of a Pokemon Egg. However, this hasn't stopped the website AGNPH, which has quite a number of sex fanfictions, from existing. They even go as far as Human and Pokemon having sex and having children of their own.
There are even more fanfictions with the unrealistic element of Pokemon having schools of their own. In most, they basically go through what every human would in school. Yet, this is an unrealistic element because Pokemon are part of the wild or they are trained by someone. They would normally not having a school and be able to survive through basic instinct. Yet, this information hasn't stopped such a thing from existing.
Now, let me be blunt for a second, but if you were into Pokemon, you would also not want to read alot of stuff and be hardly presented with an oppurtunity to do so.
The point of this is that the realm of fanfiction is NOT the area of the franchise, but of the mind of the one writing the story. Besides, what does the subnote on Fanficiton.net say? Answer: Unleash your imagination. So the realm of fanfiction pertains to a writer's imagination, which seems to hold quite a number of things in the end.
Of course fanfiction is going to have unrealistic elements that don't pertain to the franchise, but most people's imagination hold just that, which is the main idea of fanfiction in general.
With my understanding of this sort of thing, I can enjoy the area of well writen R rating. Those that aren't well writen, I suggest to the writer to try and make it better.
So for me, as long as it's well writen, I could care less.
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IMHO, PG-13 is okay, but R rating is just too much. I won't read anything LBT-related, that's been rated R. -_-
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the FanFic I'm currently working on is PG the next one would have to be PG-13.
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I'm only making a guess at what an "R" rating is (similar to our "15" rating I suppose) and I don't think I like the sound of anything LBT getting an "R". Still, I've never read any, so I won't make a final judgment.
To explain the ratings:
On FF.net the "R" rating is also known as "M" and it means: "not suitable for under 16".
The true "R" rating is usually used for movies and means: "not suitable for under 17".
On FF.net the "PG-13" rating is also known as "T" and it means: "not suitable for under 13".
The K+ rating of FF.net is about equivalent to a PG rating.
In the British rating system:
British:------------American:
U = G
PG = PG
12 = PG-13
15 = R
18 = NC-17
I got the rough patterning from http://www.bbfc.co.uk (http://www.bbfc.co.uk)
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*On a funny side note*: Malte's post:
dinosaurs equipped with human weaponry
That conjured a bizarre image of Ducky wielding a shotgun (not that she'd ever do that. I don't think she could even lift it, let alone fire it in her current size! :lol )
Remember, it is possible to make a good "LBT war fan fic" (Fan fiction where a dinosaur war is implied or actually occurs. I can cite 3 good ones: Land Before Time: War of the Worlds (By Falcon88) (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2151472/1/Land_Before_Time_War_of_the_Worlds), Land Before Time: Twilight Valley (By Serris/Jakayrta) (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4044080/1/Land_Before_Time_Twilight_Valley) and Innocents Lost (By Tony Dimera) (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2346312/1/Innocents_Lost). The last one implies war, the first 2 actually involve war.)
Even if you are writing a "LBT war fan fic", I did set some guidelines:
1.) Weapons are permissible but they must be primitive (basically only what would be found in nature: sticks, stones, poisonous plants, fire etc. <fire does appear in War of the Worlds and will appear in Twilight Valley for peaceful and military use.> I did make an exception for blowguns as they are simply hollow reeds).
2.) Military lingo is acceptable AS LONG as it is somewhat modifiable to fit in the LBT universe.
3.) No military ranks or titles.
4.) Humans and modern human weaponry are NEVER to appear in a dinosaur war.(That is not to say this can't work in LBT fan fictionTime Gate X (By Cyberlizard) (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2663682/1/Time_Gate_X)) provides a fairly good example of how it could work (there's even a scene where *Spoilers*).
But unless you age the LBT characters, sexuality DOES NOT belong in LBT.
*On a side note "links with #4" *:
An original "furry" SF/fantasy fiction I'm writing also features the "time travelling human researcher who finds that dinosaurs are sapient and capable of speech" motif that Cyberlizard's story has but the plot is totally original. The researcher in my fan fic is a civilian but he is familiar with small arms and heavier munitions like rocket launchers (might need to be if you are going into the Jurassic!). He does not have all that much military training other than familiarity with various ranged weapons .
During one of the space station chapters, Deimos (OC from my fan fiction -Deinonychus) will fight with a terrorist and he'll kill him by wresting his pistol away and shooting him in the head. Needless to say, the researcher is suprised (later revealed that Deimos learned to use firearms by imitation <he gets a brief lesson on firearms from the researcher during a little lull in the action and he learns REALLY fast>) I made Deimos a little more human-like (good problem solving skills and human-like dexterity). The Struthiomimus character will also use a weapon (a knife he takes off a terrorist the researcher shot and killed)
I aslo had somewhat inspiration from the plot of Jurassic Park IV (involves genetically modified Deinonychus as mercenaries)
*SPOILER FOR TIME GATE X*
Pterano seizes Tanner's pistol and shoots Sierra through the head with it, killing him. Earlier, Yu (OC from the story-Velociraptor) decapitates a velociraptor and stabs another one with a knife, that Tanner gave him.
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where can i read this because it seems very interesting
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My third fanfic that I have planned could be on the border line between PG-13 and R. and as I stated earlier my next one would be PG-13.
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where can i read this because it seems very interesting
Which ones?
All the listed fan fictions are on fanfiction.net
My original Furry SF/fantasy thriller (R.A.P.T.O.R. Project) is not available anywhere. See this thread (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=4510&hl=) for more info.
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Oh, I believe any fan fic can be Rated R or PG-13 as Long as you got good Story writing Skills, and Imagination.
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I to believe it can work..but it will take a very well developed plot...and absolutely NO killing off of main characters. However such fanfics can also contain a lot of unnecessary blood, gore and violence, but again if done properly it may be acceptable to a certain audience.
I not making fun of it or anything, but Out of the Shadows is probaly the only fanfiction I've read that has a main character die, which is normally what makes it better as long as it's not the principle characters (Littlefoot and Ali). It is the only good story or movie I've seen or read that has a main character die, and end good (beacause they come back to to life at the end). Sand Serpents is an example of this, the main character dies at the very end.
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I pretty much agree with Pokeplayer's thoughts.
My personal view is, with Fan Fiction, anything goes. It is the writer's choice as to what they put in their fic, as it's their creative material. On the same note, I believe that others do not have a right to tell writers what they should and shouldn't put into their fics - and whatever the subject matter of a story is, it doesn't matter whether it fully fits into the fandom or not. As long as a fanfic is well-written and has a degree of maturity when it comes to handling of the subject matter, I consider it a "proper" fan fiction... that includes PG and R-rated stories.
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This is a sensitive thing in my opinion. Because LBT was intended to be more family-friendly, when writing a PG-13 or rated-R fanfic, it is terribly easy to cross the line and write something that is totally outrageous. However, I must say that I can put up with such fanfics as long as they're not:
*Hatefics: "Littlefoot the Homicidal Maniac", anyone :x <_<?
*Insanely violent: Littlefoot flippin' out and overkill massacring everyone? Yeah, right :crazy!
*Overly profane: From same example hatefic, Ducky asking Petrie if he wants to
*censored* her :blink:?! Yeeech :x :x!
*Explicit in sexual content: "LittlefootXCera" takes the cake :x :x.
Oh! BTW, that disgusting Homcidal Maniac crap was removed from FF.net :celebrate!
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Oh! BTW, that disgusting Homcidal Maniac crap was removed from FF.net :celebrate!
You guys can thank me for that! I had sent an anonymous e-mail to the mods. I reminded them as to why it's called FANfiction. Simply, fiction stories made by the fans. In that sense, hatefics are not allowed.
That guy was in violation more than any of you know. (The Land Before Time wasn't the only franchise he made a hatefic for. You can just tell that he hates kid's shows.) If he got his account deleted, he deserved it. :)
Today is indeed a happy day. :^.^:
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Latias' Journey is a rather famous and very well written PokÈmon fan fic rightfully deserves its R rating.
The PokÈ Wars trilogy is another well written PokÈmon fan fic series. It is rated PG-13 and sometimes it skirts into the R territory.
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Both of these PokÈmon fan fictions are loaded with intense, graphic violence, disturbing scenes and blood/gore (and sex in the case of Latias' Journey). And they view the whole canon in an entirely different if darker light.
Yet, these are both very enjoyable reads.
The point is intense violence and sexuality can be used in any fandom so as long it is done maturely and respectfully.
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Oh! BTW, that disgusting Homcidal Maniac crap was removed from FF.net :celebrate!
Finally! That story was just creepy! The ending was stupid and rushed! I'm glad it was finally removed!
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Thanks pokeplayer984! But there is one other I think should be deleted, it is LBT: The Beginning of the End (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4943162/1/LBTThe_Beginning_of_the_End)
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It is not our job to do the censoring for fanfiction.net, but I think the best thing to do if those stories disturb you is not to read them and post the links to them in the GOF.
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Thanks pokeplayer984! But there is one other I think should be deleted, it is LBT: The Beginning of the End (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4943162/1/LBTThe_Beginning_of_the_End)
That one was deleted once. I had mentioned it in the "Things You hate to Find in Fanfiction" thread if I'm not mistaken, but then it was posted again on FF.net. This particular dreck about made my brain break when I read it :crazy.
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Some minor profanity is alright but no F-words(I hate that word :angry:).
Well, then don't read my story Twilight Valley: Blood Ruby. :lol
It says everything that is allowed the Twilight Valley dinos know.
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well guys. I always believe bloodshed and violence in any fanfic of a cartoon series or movie should only exist as long as it stays logicaly required. meaning, if somebody gets bit by a sharptooth or gets pierced by a sharp object they will bleed. as for violence, as long as the story is executed properly, violence would work.
take my fanfic for example, in The Bite Of Tornetar, the titular charactor Tornetar is the villian and is the only charactor that wants to kill. the Great Valley dinosaurs only fight back because 1. they have no choice to fight, or they will be killed. 2. they fight back because they are protecting both their home and their loved ones. and 3. if they do nuthing, they will lose their home and their lives. and, if nothing is done, other dinosaurs will suffer the same fate.
at best I always try to keep my fanfics on a PG to PG-13 rating. I also don't like to unsencily censore words that aren't bad words at all. heck, I get people telling me to replace 'Kill' with some other word. I always get angry whenever I read a fanfic where a charactor tells another charactor he is going to "Destroy them" or "Terminate Them" is it realy that hard to write 'Kill' or 'Murder' in the charactor's Dialog. I don't. especialy sence it makes no sence to use diffrent words. I know they mean the same thing, but still. I find it unnessicary. its like saying you went number one instead of saying you went to go pee.
uh, sorry for my rant.
Now I do agree that no movie charactor should be killed off.(injured is okay as long as they live ofcourse otherwise it makes no sence) and the charactors are met with respect to their Movie/cartoon counterparts.
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Wouldn't it be too predictable if there is no character death ever? Not saying some stories with no character death is bad. I wrote such a story that has no character death. But if no stories ever have character death, then it becomes predictable. Danger scenes hold no meaning if we know a character, regardless, will never die. So I feel character death scenes are important and should be used once in a while, depending on the story. Of course I'm not saying use them all the time.
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Wouldn't it be too predictable if there is no character death ever? Not saying some stories with no character death is bad. I wrote such a story that has no character death. But if no stories ever have character death, then it becomes predictable. Danger scenes hold no meaning if we know a character, regardless, will never die. So I feel character death scenes are important and should be used once in a while, depending on the story. Of course I'm not saying use them all the time.
I agree. Charactor death should only be used if it is relevent to the story. Charactor death is only usefull mainly on a new Fan-Created Charactor. but its more meaningfull if used correctly.
I'd only kill off a charactor if it made sence to kill that charactor off. but I don't like massacers.
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My newest fanfic will have the main characters wielding a flamethrower and there will be relationship between cera x littlefoot. The badguy will turn out to be that one guy from the movie titanic and rambo will be involved. HOWEVER everyone will hug in the end and live happily ever after. (I'm joking.)
No author should have their work of fiction aimed towards any rating, only how they want it.
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No author should have their work of fiction aimed towards any rating, only how they want it.
I also agree with this. an Aurthor's work shouldn't be stunted by ratings. nor should an Aurthor worry about ratings either. they are just trying to tell a story from their hearts (or in my case Spark).
I only give mine ratings because I want to. but I don't like putting myself in handcuffs so to say.
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There's a reason ratings exist, however. It is to let the reader know what kind of story they are about to read. I don't know about you, but I personally would like to know the rating of a story before I read it. I don't want to start reading a story, thinking it's PG, only to find it's R, or vice versa. I find ratings as a good thing to have around.
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yeah I know what you mean.
I got a story right now thats PG-13. so yeah
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I can put up with such fanfics as long as they're not:
*Hatefics: "Littlefoot the Homicidal Maniac", anyone :x <_<?
*Insanely violent: Littlefoot flippin' out and overkill massacring everyone? Yeah, right :crazy!
*Overly profane: From same example hatefic, Ducky asking Petrie if he wants to
*censored* her :blink:?! Yeeech :x :x!
*Explicit in sexual content: "LittlefootXCera" takes the cake :x :x.
Oh! BTW, that disgusting Homcidal Maniac crap was removed from FF.net :celebrate!
Pretty much what I was gonna say...
You know, some of those fics, including Littlefoot the Homicidal Maniac, were blocked by my computer filter. I have no idea what happened in that story, and it seems to be a good thing...
I'm still working on my fanfic, which is probably gonna be PG-13, but my point is that a story should be judged on its plot, descriptions, mastery of language, and whatever that makes up a good story. Remember that most fanfictions aren't written by professionals, and even the LBT movies contain a tad degree of violence (the sharptooth for example).
I like almost every story out there, including the T and M ones, although I don't watch any R-rated movies. I often treat the stories like they have nothing to do with the LBT series. Thus, like all boys my age, I'm okay with violence in stories.
One of my favorite things to do is to read a LBT fanfiction from my laptop while listening to music and sipping milk tea. Once you learn to appreciate these fanfictions, which are free, you'll learn to appreciate life. Appreciating life is appreciating God.
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I agree with Dima02. the rating of a fanfic should NOT determin how good it is. its how well the writer or writers wrote it and how well the dialog is used that makes a fic good or not.
and ofcourse, not everybody will agree the story is good or even be the type of story they prefer. but it doesn't mean thoughs storys evil or awful.
lets also remember, the writers of these fanfics have a full right to write these storys with any rating they want. so as Malte said. we don't have the right to censore these fics. that is only up to the writer. even if his/her work IS banned. the writer has every right to write these storys any way he/she chooses.
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With me, fanfics around that rating are generally okay unless they kill off the main characters. Then I don't like it. But they really have to have a good plot for them to be a good R-rated or PG-13 story and for it to work out.