Real Time between the original and the last sequel

[NewOrder]

Most of us have probably thought about this issue one time or another.

How much time do you think has passed between the first movie and XIII or XIV?

I'm not talking about production years, but about the real time in the Land Before Time Universe. Most sequels timelines are spread out over a few days, but others, like III or V clearly show the Great Valley regrow its plants over at least a few months.

We can't be trully scientific about this, since, if years have trully passed most of the gang would already be grown up or at least a teenager. So how much time, counting all the movies, has it passed since they first arrived in the Great Valley?

[Kor]

It does make sense it would, but they may just ignore that like they have in previous sequels since the gang hasn't really aged any.

[NewOrder]

Of course, I'm not expecting them to stick to the timeline in the next sequel. The Land Before Time, like many cartoons is a lot like the Simpsons, the characters never age and the passing of time is irrelevant.

However, it would be an interesting exercise to try and calculate how many years have passed throughout the movies, and even counting the TV series if you so wish.

[Sneak]

All we know is Cera was 5 years old in original movie.

Chomper was born not long after original movie, but in TV series he looks like he has the same age Gang except Spike had in original movie (~5 years). Me think

The Land Before Time, like many cartoons is a lot like the Simpsons, the characters never age and the passing of time is irrelevant.

I think that's a bit wrong. Compare Gang from original movie and early sequels with TV series.
They all definitely grew up.

[Dr. Rex]

When I was a kid, I've always thought a year would pass between each movie.

Right now, I will have to say that realistically, two, maybe three years have passed between the first movie and the thirteenth movie.

[NewOrder]

That's probably the most accurate guess. I believe that between the first and third movie only a few days/weeks have passed. Between the third and the fourth it's clear that at least year passed for the Valley to be green again and with no traces of the fire, maybe longer if you take into account the natural growth rate of the trees in the Great Valley. Same goes for the gap between the 5th and the 6th movie.

[Ducky123]

All we know is Cera was 5 years old in original movie.

Do we? As far as I know there is no such confirmation of the age of any LBT character...

[Sneak]

All we know is Cera was 5 years old in original movie.

Do we? As far as I know there is no such confirmation of the age of any LBT character...

[Ducky123]

Alright, now I believe you. There was another member here also claimimg that Cera was 5 years old but never proving it which is why I was doubting your statement

[Dr. Rex]

Yeah, but we never know if the people working on the sequels disregarded that sheet. They may have designed Cera with ten years in mind for all we know.

[Petrie157578641]

if you compre the first couple movies and the last ones, yes, they definitely grew, Not much, but yeah I think something like 3-4 years passed overall

[landbeforetimelover]

Not a long time.  I'd guess 2-4 years.

[NewOrder]

I’m going to try and use somewhat of a scientific approach to this

From the original film to LBT II, one could assume little to no time has passed. We can base the time spent between the original film and the first sequel on the time that it takes for a dinosaur egg to hatch. I found this source Dino Eggs Hatching that states that a dinosaur egg could’ve taken 45 to 80 days to hatch, depending on the species, let’s round it up in the middle, and give them about 60 days (two months), between The Great Valley Adventure and The land Before Time.

The events in The Time of the Great Giving, could’ve taken part right after LBT II, and may have taken about a month to take place, from the time the sky rocks fell to the fire. From LBT III to Journey Through the Mists, we need some time for the trees to regrow. In the real world this would take years, if not decades, but, for the sake of the plot, let’s say a year has passed. So, we’re up to 15 months. LBT V, could also have happened straight after LBT IV. If we give a two month interval for the events of LBT IV to take place, and for Ali’s herd to leave, that takes us up to 17 months, plus an additional 6 months for the leaves to grow and for the actions of The Mysterious Island to take place.

It’s LBT VI’s turn and 23 months have passed. The actions in VI and VII are very contained and don’t show many great disasters, we can give two months for each of them, taking us to 27 months and lending us in the heart of Winter. The Big Freeze needs about three months for the snow to melt, so an additional five is added, making it 32 months (2 years and 8 months) by the time Journey to the Big Water comes around.

The next sequels can also be sequential since they don’t have any major time jump. So, giving two months per sequel takes us to 3 years, before LBT XI. Because the tree sweets tree grows back its flowers, one can argue at least a year has passed, taking us about 4 years between the original film and The Wisdom of Friends.

To recap:

LBT – LBT II: 2 months

LBT II – LBT III – 1 month

LBT III – LBT IV – 12 months

LBT IV – LBT V – 2 months

LBT V – LBT VI – 6 months

LBT VI – LBT VII – 2 months  

LBT VII – LBT VIII – 2 months  

LBT VII – LBT IX – 5 months  

LBT IX – LBT X – 2 months  

LBT X – LBT XI – 2 months  

LBT XI – LBT XII – 12 months  

LBT XII – LBT XIII – 2 months

LBT XIII - LBT XIV - ?

Total: 4 years and 2 months

What do you guys think?

[Petrie157578641]

NewOrder great analysis! I only don't agree that it would take at least 3 months for snow to melt. There are many regions or Earth where Snow falls for a few weeks and quickly melts away, we have no idea how long it lasted. I think it was a few weeks. Other than that I agree, it should be AT LEAST 4 years, and judging by the age of the characters it doesn't seem that so much time had passed

[Sneak]

awesome research here


yeah, some disasters makes earth to take years to be recovered, but sequels plot doesn't give a time for that.

at this question, I continue to consider only Chomper's age. So, I keep saying ~5 years have passed since events of original movie

[Sovereign]

That's a very good analysis on this vague subject. Even with quite ambiguous hints, I'd say NewOrder's post goes quite a long way in trying to come up with some way to determine the Gang's current age. The Gang we've seen in recent films are by no means five years old (if they ever were, I've got hard time to believe that Cera's five in the original, but if Don says so, I have believe ) However, I don't really see a clear, consistent growth in the Gang since the second film, their behavior ranges from quite mature (like in fifth film) to another extreme (eleventh film).

In any case, I'm quite sure Universal never gave this a thought. It wouldn't be the first time: Redwall and Naruto, for example, are very vague about their timelines and it's pretty much left up to viewer to decide how much time has passed between the events. The biggest jump in the Gang's apparent age was between the first and the second film for clear reasons. Of course, the Gang's experiences and their internal bond has deepened ever since then but I haven't noticed any obvious change in their age. If I would have to guess, I would put them into the age bracket of 8-9 so they would be 3-4 years older than in the original. I don't even want to think about Chomper in this regard: he has aged at least five years while the rest of the Gang has aged close to none.   :blink:

[Coyote_A]

From the original film to LBT II, one could assume little to no time has passed.

I'm not sure I agree with this statement. In LBT II the gang definitely spent enough time in the Valley for them to start quarreling with their parents ("those grownups, never let us do what we want", etc.) and I just don't see that happening right away after what Littlefoot and his friends had to go through in the original movie. That's just too casual a behavior for kids who only recently returned from a lifethreatening adventure full of mortal dangers. Sure, maybe in our time it would make sense, but in the films' universe where family ties are sacred and sapient dinosaurs have to stick to their own or live in constant fear of being devoured... It seems unlikely. :unsure:
Plus, according to your timescale Chomper has to be less than 2 years old in the fifth movie. Sure, prehistoric animals probably aged faster than modern humans do, but still. The friendly sharptooth acts only a little bit less mature than 5 years old Cera did in LBT1.

[DaveTheAnalyzer]

At this point, I’ve kind of gone “Screw it” and accepted that The Land Before Time operates on comic book time. Past events are acknowledged but the most of the gang remains mostly the same age while Chomper grows to be voiced by a nine year old child actor in the TV series (I can’t get the age of his other child actors). And then he and Ruby too seem to stop aging. Meanwhile, Bron’s visits to the valley in the TV series and movie 14 are anticipated in the manner of being a frequent, now normal occurrence. Trying to make sense of it in my head now only tempts me to post the Math Lady/Confused Lady meme image (Which there should totally be a LBT version of at this point).

[Coyote_A]

Meanwhile, Bron’s visits to the valley in the TV series and movie 14 are anticipated in the manner of being a frequent, now normal occurrence.

Oh yeah, everything I know about animal migration patterns suggests that Bron would only lead his herd through the Great Valley once or twice a year. Yet even though his father already visited him during the TV series, Littlefoot doesn't look any older in the 14th movie. :blink:

[Sneak]

So, today, when I was in subway, I decided to build LBT chronology.
Considering some facts I remember(hatchlings times, cold times, Chommper's age, disasters, etc.) I build that:

---------------

(year starts from "spring")

YEAR 0 SPRING: Beginnig of LBT1. Littlefoot, Cera and Ducky are born.

YEAR 1 SPRING: Petrie is born.

YEAR 5 SPRING: Ending of LBT1. Spike is born.

YEAR 6 SPRING: Events of LBT2. Chomper is born.

YEAR 6 SUMMER: Events of LBT3.

YEAR 7 SUMMER: Events of LBT4.

YEAR 8 AUTUMN: Events of LBT5.

YEAR 9 SPRING: Ending scene of LBT5.

YEAR 9 SUMMER: Events of LBT6.

YEAR 9 AUTUMN: Events of LBT7.

YEAR 9 WINTER: Events of LBT8.

YEAR 10 SPRING: Events of LBT9. Chomper and Ruby meet each other.

YEAR 10 SUMMER: Events of LBT10.

YEAR 10 AUTUMN: Events of LBT11. Ruby celebrates her starday with family and Chomper.

YEAR 11 SPRING: Events of LBT12. Bron's first visit.

YEAR 11 SUMMER: Events of LBT13.

YEAR 11 AUTUMN: Beginning of LBT Series. Chomper and Ruby leave Mysterious Beyond in Ruby's starday and come to Valley.

YEAR 11 WINTER: Events of "The Bright Circle Celebration".

YEAR 12 SPRING: Events of "Forbidden Friendship" episode. Bron's second visit and meeting with Chomper.

YEAR 12 SUMMER: Great Giving Celebration and events of "The Lonely Journey" episode.

YEAR 12 AUTUMN: Ruby's starday and events of "The Star Day Celebration" episode. Bron's third visit and events of "The Big Longneck Test" episode.

YEAR 12 WINTER: Events of "Through Eyes of Spiketail" episode.

YEAR 13 SPRING: Events of LBT14. Bron's fourth visit.

----------------

What do you think?


---
Edit:

So, our gang members has next ages:

Littlefoot: 13 years
Cera: 13 years
Ducky: 13 years
Petrie: 12 years
Spike: 8 years
Chomper: 7 years

Ruby: ... Hmm. Actually, I don't know. At first I considered her as the same age as Littlefoot. But later I started to think she is much younger than Littlefoot&Co and elder than Chomper.
Hmm... What do you think?