The Land Before Time is a franchise consisting of American animated adventure family films centered around dinosaurs, including a theatrical movie, various straight-to-home video sequels, and a spin-off TV series. Based on an original story by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss and distributed by Universal Pictures, the franchise began in 1988 with the eponymous film, directed and produced by Don Bluth and executive produced by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Its success spawned an additional thirteen direct-to-video musical sequels before expanding into other media including video games, soundtracks, and related merchandising. Notably, the additional movies and TV show did not include the collaborative participation of Bluth, Lucas, nor Spielberg.
| The Land Before Time | |
|---|---|
 Official franchise logo, as originally released by Universal Pictures in 1988. | |
| Created by | |
| Original work | The Land Before Time (1988) |
| Owner | Universal Pictures |
| Years | 1988–present |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | See details |
| Animated series | See details |
| Games | |
| Video game(s) | See details |
| Audio | |
| Soundtrack(s) | See details |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Toy(s) | Merchandise |
| Official website | |
| landbeforetime.com | |
The 14 films were released as a Complete Collection DVD set later on June 14, 2016.[1]
Plot
editThe films follow the friendship of a group of young ornithodirans (four dinosaurs and a pterosaur) named Littlefoot (a male Apatosaurus), Cera (a female Triceratops), Ducky (a female Saurolophus), Petrie (a male Pteranodon), and Spike (a male Stegosaurus). After finding the Great Valley, they raise a carnivorous baby (a male Tyrannosaurus whom they name Chomper), survive a drought, a cold snap, and witness a solar eclipse. Throughout the films they embark on adventures, learning lessons about life, teamwork, and friendship along the way.
Films
editTelevision
edit| Series | Season(s) | Episodes | Originally released | Showrunner | Executive producers | Status | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | Network | ||||||
| The Land Before Time | 1 | 26 | March 5, 2007 | January 21, 2008 | Cartoon Network | Charles Grosvenor | Charles Grosvenor, and Diane A. Crea | Ended |
A spin-off television series based on the films began airing on YTV in Canada on January 5, 2007. It consisted of one season of 26 episodes, and officially premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on March 5, 2007, after the DVD release of The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers.[2] The TV series takes place after the events of The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends. It has since been collected and released on 6 DVDs, each containing 4 episodes, in the United States and the UK. The complete series was released on DVD in 2022.
Cast and characters
editThis section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in more than two films in the series.
- An empty, dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.
- D indicates an appearance as a character's disguised voice.
- S indicates an appearance as a character's singing voice.
| Characters | Films | Television | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Land Before Time | The Great Valley Adventure | The Time of the Great Giving | Journey Through the Mists | The Mysterious Island | The Secret of Saurus Rock | The Stone of Cold Fire | The Big Freeze | Journey to Big Water | The Great Longneck Migration | Invasion of the Tinysauruses | The Great Day of the Flyers | The Wisdom of Friends | Journey of the Brave | The Land Before Time (The Series) | |
| 1988 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2016 | 2007–2008 | |
| Littlefoot | Gabriel Damon | Scott McAfee | Brandon LaCroix Thomas DekkerS |
Thomas Dekker | Alec Medlock | Aaron Spann | Nick Price | Cody Arens Logan ArensD Anthony SkillmanS |
Felix Avitia | Cody Arens Anthony SkillmanS | |||||
| Cera | Candace Hutson | Anndi McAfee | |||||||||||||
| Ducky | Judith Barsi | Heather Hogan | Aria Noelle Curzon | ||||||||||||
| Petrie | Will Ryan | Jeff Bennett | |||||||||||||
| Spike | N/A | Rob Paulsen | Jeff Bennett | Rob Paulsen | |||||||||||
| Chomper | Rob Paulsen | Cannon Young | Issac Brown | Max Burkholder | |||||||||||
| Ruby | Meghan Strange | ||||||||||||||
| Grandpa Longneck | Bill Erwin (deleted role) | Kenneth Mars | Does not speak | Barry Bostwick | Kenneth Mars | ||||||||||
| Grandma Longneck | Does not speak | Linda Gary | Miriam Flynn | Does not speak | Miriam Flynn | ||||||||||
| Daddy Topps | Burke Byrnes | John Ingle | George Ball | John Ingle | |||||||||||
| Ducky's Mother | Does not speak | Tress MacNeille | Tress MacNeille | Tress MacNeille | Tress MacNeille | Does not speak | Meghan Strange | Tress MacNeille | |||||||
| Petrie's Mother | Does not speak | Tress MacNeille | Tress MacNeille | Tress MacNeille | Tress MacNeille | Does not speak | Anndi McAfee | Tress MacNeille | |||||||
| Kosh | Rob Paulsen | Jeff Bennett | Rob Paulsen | Pete Sepenuk Jeff Bennett | |||||||||||
| Littlefoot's Mother | Helen Shaver | Flashback | Flashback | ||||||||||||
| Chomper's parents | N/A | N/A | |||||||||||||
| Hyp | Whit Hertford | Mikey Kelley | |||||||||||||
| Nod | Scott Menville | Scott Menville | |||||||||||||
| Mutt | Jeff Bennett | Jeff Bennett | |||||||||||||
| Ali | Juliana Hansen | Nika Futterman | |||||||||||||
| Old One | Carol Bruce | Jessica Walter | |||||||||||||
| Doc | Kris Kristofferson | Jeff Bennett | |||||||||||||
| Mr. Thicknose | Robert Guillaume | Dorian Harewood | |||||||||||||
| Tippy | Jeremy Suarez | Cree Summer | |||||||||||||
| Tippy's Mother | Susan Krebs | Susan Krebs | |||||||||||||
| Stegosaurus Leader | Rob Paulsen | Rob Paulsen | |||||||||||||
| Mo | Rob Paulsen | Does not speak | Rob Paulsen | Rob Paulsen | |||||||||||
| Shorty | Brandon Michael DePaul | Elizabeth Daily | |||||||||||||
| Bron | Kiefer Sutherland | Scott Whyte | Cam Clarke | ||||||||||||
| Tria | Camryn Manheim | Jessica Gee | Jessica Gee | ||||||||||||
| Guido | Rob Paulsen | Rob Paulsen | |||||||||||||
| Tricia | Nika Futterman | Meghan Strange | |||||||||||||
Additional crew and production details
editIn other media
editAlbums
edit- The Land Before Time (1988) Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- The Land Before Time: Sing-Along Songs (1997): Songs from the first four movies (movies I, II, III, and IV). The album was later released in a VHS format which included facts about the dinosaurs featured in the franchise.
- The Songs from The Land Before Time (1997): Songs from the first four movies (movies I-IV)
- The Land Before Time: More Sing-Along Songs (1999) Songs from movies V and VI (the last two of the first 6 movies) and An American Tail film series (movies III and IV).
- The Best Songs from The Land Before Time (2016) Songs from movies I, VI, VIII, IX, X, XI, and XIV.
Video games
editThe series has spawned 14 spin-off games, eight for PC, one for the Game Boy Color, two for the Game Boy Advance and three for the original PlayStation. The PC games are usually educational games aimed for preschool and kindergarten. Games for the Game Boy Color and Advance include The Land Before Time and The Land Before Time: Into the Mysterious Beyond, in which the original six characters must search for Chomper. Games for the PlayStation include The Land Before Time: Big Water Adventure, a spin-off of Journey to Big Water, The Land Before Time: Great Valley Racing Adventure and The Land Before Time: Return to the Great Valley. All characters in these games are voiced by Lani Minella.
References
edit- ^ Grosvenor, Charles; Bluth, Don; Smith, Roy Allen; Mitchell, Jamie; Doi, Davis (June 14, 2016), The Land Before Time: The Complete Collection, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, retrieved October 4, 2016
- ^ The Land Before Time, March 5, 2007, retrieved July 26, 2016
