The Land Before Time | |
---|---|
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 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 14 films were released as a Complete Collection DVD set later on June 14, 2016. [1]
The 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.
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.
This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in more than two films in the series.
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 Dekker S | Thomas Dekker | Alec Medlock | Aaron Spann | Nick Price | Cody Arens Logan Arens D Anthony Skillman S | Felix Avitia | Cody Arens Anthony Skillman S | |||||
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 |
The 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.
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction action film directed by Steven Spielberg, produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen, and starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough. It is the first installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, and the first film in the original Jurassic Park trilogy, and is based on Michael Crichton's 1990 novel of the same name, with a screenplay by Crichton and David Koepp. The film is set on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, off Central America's Pacific Coast near Costa Rica, where a wealthy businessman John Hammond (Attenborough), and a team of genetic scientists have created a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs. When industrial sabotage leads to a catastrophic shutdown of the park's power facilities and security precautions, a small group of visitors, including Hammond's grandchildren, struggle to survive and escape the now perilous island.
The decade of the 1980s in Western cinema saw the return of studio-driven pictures, coming from the filmmaker-driven New Hollywood era of the 1970s. The period was when the "high concept" picture was established by producer Don Simpson, where films were expected to be easily marketable and understandable. Therefore, they had short cinematic plots that could be summarized in one or two sentences. Since its implementation, this method has become the most popular formula for modern Hollywood blockbusters. At the same time in Eastern cinema, the Hong Kong film industry entered a boom period that significantly elevated its prominence in the international market.
Modern animation in the United States from the late 1980s to 2004 is frequently referred to as the renaissance age of American animation. During this period, many large American entertainment companies reformed and reinvigorated their animation departments, following the dark age, and the United States had an influence on global and worldwide animation.
Donald Virgil Bluth is an American filmmaker, animator, video game designer and author. He is best known for directing the animated films The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, The Land Before Time, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Anastasia and Titan A.E., for his involvement in the LaserDisc games Dragon's Lair and Space Ace, and for competing with former employer Walt Disney Productions during the years leading up to the films that became the Disney Renaissance.
An American Tail is a 1986 American animated musical adventure comedy-drama film directed by Don Bluth and written by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss from a story by David Kirschner, Freudberg and Geiss. The film stars the voices of Phillip Glasser, John Finnegan, Amy Green, Nehemiah Persoff, Dom DeLuise, and Christopher Plummer. It is the story of Fievel Mousekewitz and his family as they emigrate from Russia to the United States for freedom, but Fievel gets lost and must find a way to reunite with them.
The Land Before Time is a 1988 animated adventure film directed and co-produced by Don Bluth from a screenplay by Stu Krieger and a story by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss. It is executive produced by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy, and Frank Marshall. The film stars the voices of Judith Barsi, Burke Byrnes, Gabriel Damon, Bill Erwin, Pat Hingle, Candace Hutson, Will Ryan and Helen Shaver. It is the first film in the Land Before Time franchise.
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West is a 1991 American animated Western musical adventure film directed by Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells, with producer Steven Spielberg for Amblin Entertainment and animated by his Amblimation animation studio and released by Universal Pictures. A sequel to 1986's An American Tail, the film follows the story of the Mousekewitzes, a family of Russian-Jewish mice who emigrate to the Wild West. In it, Fievel is separated from his family as the train approaches the American Old West; the film chronicles him and Sheriff Wylie Burp teaching Tiger how to act like a dog.
The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure is a 1994 American direct-to-video animated adventure musical film directed by Roy Allen Smith without any involvement, support and input from Don Bluth. It is the second installment and a sequel to the 1988 film The Land Before Time. It was released six years after the original and was the first in the series to be a direct-to-video production.
The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving is a 1995 direct-to-video animated adventure musical film directed by Roy Allen Smith. It is the second sequel to The Land Before Time and the third film in the film franchise.
The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists is a 1996 American direct-to-video animated adventure musical film produced by Universal Animation Studios and directed by Roy Allen Smith. It is the fourth installment in the Land Before Time series as well as the final installment to feature any cast members from the original film. The film was nominated for two Annie Awards. This was also the final film to feature Linda Gary as the voice of Grandma Longneck, as she died on October 5, 1995.
The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island is a 1997 direct-to-video animated adventure musical film produced and directed by Charles Grosvenor. This is the first film in the series to be directed by Grosvenor, as well as the first film in which Anndi McAfee voices Cera, Aria Noelle Curzon voices Ducky, and Miriam Flynn voices Grandma Longneck. It is also the only film in which Brandon LaCroix plays Littlefoot; it is the first in which Thomas Dekker provides the singing voice for Littlefoot. Three songs for the film were written by Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom, with music composed by Michael Tavera and the London Symphony Orchestra.
The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water is a 2002 direct-to-video animated adventure musical film and the ninth film in The Land Before Time series. It was produced and directed by Charles Grosvenor. This is also the last film to use the soundtrack composed by James Horner. During the year this was released, Universal brought back on DVD, for the first time, two of the previous The Land Before Time films: The Great Valley Adventure and The Time of the Great Giving.
The Land Before Time is an American animated musical television series, based on The Land Before Time film series created by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss. It was developed for television by Ford Riley for Cartoon Network and was produced by Universal Animation Studios and Amblin Entertainment, and animated by Wang Film Productions in Taiwan and Toon City in the Philippines. It premiered on YTV in Canada for a test on January 5, 2007 and premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on March 5.
Donald F. Glut is an American writer, motion picture film director, and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the novelization of the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980).
Jurassic Park, later also referred to as Jurassic World, is an American science fiction media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment bought the rights to Crichton's novel Jurassic Park before it was published. The book was successful, as was Steven Spielberg's 1993 film adaptation. The film received a theatrical 3D re-release in 2013, and was selected in 2018 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Crichton's 1995 sequel novel, The Lost World, was followed by a 1997 film adaptation, also directed by Spielberg. Crichton did not write any further sequels in the series, although Spielberg would return as executive producer for each subsequent film, starting with Jurassic Park III (2001).
Indiana Jones is an American media franchise consisting of five films and a prequel television series, along with games, comics, and tie-in novels, that depicts the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology.
The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave is a 2016 American direct-to-video animated feature film and the fourteenth installment in The Land Before Time series. Its 9-year gap from 2007's The Wisdom of Friends marked the longest between two films in the series. The film was directed by Davis Doi and written by Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser. It was made available on DVD and Digital HD on February 2, 2016, with the DVD version exclusive to Walmart stores in North America until May 10, when it became available in other stores. The film features the voices of Reba McEntire, who performs the song "Look for the Light", and Damon Wayans Jr. Like all other The Land Before Time films, it is traditionally-animated, As of 2024, it is the most recently-released The Land Before Time film.
An American Tail is a franchise based on the 1986 animated feature film of the same name directed by Don Bluth and produced by Sullivan Bluth Studios/Amblin Entertainment.