My guess is that the rainbow faces who were supposed to be in that scene had taken the day off (taking a joyride on Halley's Comet, I suppose ). They hadn't bothered to inform the cast and crew (that would be telling, wouldn't it? ), and with the entire populace of the Great Valley assembled for shooting, the filmmakers had to find replacements on short notice. It just so happened, though, that the two fast biters from the previous day's shooting were still hanging around, and in their infinite wisdom, the producers figured, "Oh, they're both medium-sized two-footed dinosaurs; we'll just have the folks in make-up give 'em a quick touch-up and nobody'll notice." Unfortunately, after shooting that scene, most of the dinosaurs, tired of waiting, just ate their tree sweets and left, forcing them to use those atrocious CGI stand-ins we see in the next scene of the finished film.
       
I really need to get out more...

This is a somewhat late submission to the pseudo-discussion on optimum temperatures:
Maybe it’s because I’m a native-born Minnesotan, but I don’t mind cold weather that much (though I can’t abide temperatures lower than 10? Fahrenheit). For that matter, I'm actually not too heavily affected by high temperatures either (contrary to popular belief, it can actually get quite hot in Minnesota during the summer :). It's high humidity that causes me problems. Provided I have a little bit of air circulation, I can tolerate 85? F or higher, but as soon as it gets humid, I become as lethargic as a three-toed sloth.

I'm nearsighted also, but I don't think it's too severe. Being the computer for many years is probably what worsened my nearsightedness. Nearsightedness runs in my mom's side, but I think being the computer a lot is making it worse...

Oh great... :blink: If spending time on the computer exacerbates nearsightedness, then I'm in big trouble...

Despite my poor eyesight, I am very visually oriented (I tend to think in pictures as much or more than I think in words). For this reason, I have always preferred books with illustrations or photographs, and watch a lot of movies and TV shows.

I am very nearsighted as well. Without my glasses, I can't even read the letters on my keyboard clearly from more than about six or eight inches away. :blink:

You know, pokeplayer, that’s actually a really good theory! :! I had always assumed that Red Claw had gotten his scar from another sharptooth, but somehow it had never occurred to me that he might have received it while young. It actually makes a lot of sense, though; how exactly does a full-grown T. rex receive a scar composed of a single long, uninterrupted slash from eyebrow to claw tip? One would expect such an injury to be more easily inflicted by a much larger assailant, which would require Red Claw to have been much younger at the time he received it.
Your hypothesis also opens a new perspective on Red Claw’s character. Maybe the reason he’s such an obstreperous bully who constantly terrorizes smaller dinosaurs (even if one argues his motive to be hunger, it seems to me that Red Claw goes out of his way to attack creatures that would provide relatively inconsequential meals) is because he himself suffered a traumatic childhood. (Holy coprolites, I think we may be on the verge of finding sympathy for Red Claw! :blink:)

I'll give you that last one; a more specific alternative might be "it had a brain the size of a walnut" (Stegosaurus's brain was actually over twice that size), but your submission will do. I read somewhere that Stegosaurus's intelligence was at least equal to that of a lizard, and reptiles are not as stupid as many people believe. (Personally, I don't like assigning intellectual watermarks to any species. ) At any rate, you're up.

Wow...those were some sad chapters... I actually felt really sorry for Thud there, having to watch his brother get eaten by the sharptooth he's "worked" for for so long...

Kosh: Hey! Anybody like sweet bubbles? I've got a whole stash of 'em in the Sheltering Grass, and they're free for anyone to take!

(For those who don't know, Kosh is the sweet-bubble-hoarding clubtail from "The Star Day Celebration.")

Something I thought I’d add to my earlier argument for Ducky’s species: it may be possible that Don Bluth and co. did intend for Ducky to be an Anatosaurus, but changed her to look more like a Saurolophus. (It would be very interesting to look at early conceptual artwork of the characters, so we could see how their designs changed from their initial conceptions to what we see in the movie.) Perhaps they added the crest because they thought it gave Ducky more character (I personally find that the crest greatly enhances Ducky’s cuteness ), which, of course, they could only do realistically if they made the adults of her species crested as well.

Obviously, we have no idea what sources Don Bluth used when he was researching dinosaurs for The Land Before Time, but when I compare the LBT dinos (the adults, mainly ) to the work of paleo-artists like Charles R. Knight and Zdenek Burian, I can't help but notice similarities. These artists set the standard for how dinosaurs were illustrated for much of the 20th century, and their work is prominently featured in older dinosaur books, so the possibility is high that Bluth used their paintings as the basis for many of his prehistoric characters. However, Saurolophus is one dinosaur that does not appear in the works of either of these artists, and indeed is not commonly seen in paleo-art at all. Its uncrested relatives, however, are virtual staples of prehistoric illustration, and depictions of them were far more likely to have been encountered by Bluth when he was doing his research. As a result, I don't believe it is impossible that the LBT hadrosaurs were based on species such as Anatosaurus and Trachodon, with a saurolophine crest added on for aesthetic appeal.

Of course, I could be completely wrong. The majority of this hypothesis is pure speculation, and maybe Ducky was based on a Saurolophus all along. But it’s an idea I thought I’d throw out there, just in case anyone was interested in hearing it. (Wishful thinking, maybe? )

The yellow bellies are based on Beipiaosaurus, a small therizinosaur from early Cretaceous China. (It says so on the back of the DVD case.) Of course, the real Beipiaosaurus was covered in primitive, hair-like feathers (not just tufts on the head and tail), and had three (not four)-fingered hands with long, scythe-like claws on them (in spite of this, it was a herbivore). I suppose the LBT people thought the claws would look too scary. <_<

The tinysauruses were probably based on Mussaurus ("mouse reptile"), a prosauropod (an early relative of longnecks) that is so far known only from fossils of hatchlings and juveniles. Adult Mussaurus were almost certainly much larger than Big Daddy, but I am more than willing to attribute this decision by the LBT filmmakers to artistic license.

For the record, I rather enjoyed LBT XI, though I think it could have been more interesting (or at least made more sense in terms of the dinosaurs' initial disgust towards the tinysauruses) if an altogether new kind of dinosaur was used, rather than simply a miniature version of a familiar type.