The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time is an American animated film series and media franchise created by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss, distributed by Universal Pictures and centered on dinosaurs. The series began in 1988 with the eponymous The Land Before Time, directed and produced by Don Bluth and executive produced by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. It was followed by 13 direct-to-video musical sequels, a TV series, video games, soundtracks, and related merchandising. Neither the sequels nor the series involve the participation of Bluth, Lucas, or Spielberg. All 14 films were released as a Complete Collection DVD set on June 14, 2016.[1]
Plot
The films follow a friendship of a group of young ornithodirans (four dinosaurs and a pterosaur) named Littlefoot (Apatosaurus), Cera (Triceratops), Ducky (Saurolophus), Petrie (Pteranodon), and Spike (Stegosaurus). After finding the Great Valley, they raise a carnivorous baby, (a Tyrannosaurus, whom they name Chomper), survive a drought and a cold snap, and witness a solar eclipse. Throughout all the films, they embark upon adventures, learning lessons about life and friendship along the way.
List of titles
Films
The following is a list of the 14 films in the series.
# | Title | Release Date | Director(s) | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Editor(s) | Narrator(s) | Composer(s) | Production company(ies)/Distributor(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Land Before Time | November 18, 1988 | Don Bluth | Screenplay: Stu Krieger Story: Judy Freudberg Tony Geiss |
Don Bluth Gary Goldman John Pomeroy Executive producers: Steven Spielberg George Lucas Co-executive producers: Frank Marshall Kathleen Kennedy Associate producer: Deborah Jelin Newmyer |
John K. Carr Dan Molina |
Pat Hingle | James Horner | Amblin Entertainment Sullivan-Bluth Studios Lucasfilm Universal Pictures |
2 | The Great Valley Adventure | December 13, 1994 | Roy Allen Smith | John Loy John Ludin Dev Ross |
Roy Allen Smith Co-producer: Zahra Dowlatabadi Animation producer: Nelson Shin |
Jay Bixsen | John Ingle | Michael Tavera | Universal Cartoon Studios MCA Universal Home Video |
3 | The Time of the Great Giving | December 12, 1995 | Dev Ross | Roy Allen Smith Zahra Dowlatabadi Animation producer: Nelson Shin | |||||
4 | Journey Through the Mists | December 10, 1996 | Roy Allen Smith Co-producer: Zahra Dowlatabadi Animation producer: Nelson Shin |
Warren Taylor | |||||
5 | The Mysterious Island | December 9, 1997 | Charles Grosvenor | John Loy | Charles Grosvenor Associate producer: Rocky Solotoff |
Jay Bixsen | Universal Cartoon Studios Universal Studios Home Video | ||
6 | The Secret of Saurus Rock | December 1, 1998 | Libby Hinson John Loy |
Charles Grosvenor Associate producer: Melinda Rediger Rocky Solotoff |
Kenneth Mars | ||||
7 | The Stone of Cold Fire | December 5, 2000 | Len Uhley | Charles Grosvenor Associate producer: Daniel J. Wiley |
Danik Thomas | Jeff Bennett | |||
8 | The Big Freeze | December 4, 2001 | John Loy | John Ingle | |||||
9 | Journey to Big Water | December 10, 2002 | Dev Ross | Jay Bixsen | |||||
10 | The Great Longneck Migration | December 2, 2003 | John Loy | Charles Grosvenor Executive producer: James Wang Associate producer: Daniel J. Wiley | |||||
11 | Invasion of the Tinysauruses | January 11, 2005[2] | Charles Grosvenor Associate producer: Daniel J. Wiley | ||||||
12 | The Great Day of the Flyers | December 6, 2006 | Michael Tavera Kyle Kenneth Batter |
Universal Animation Studios Universal Studios Home Entertainment | |||||
13 | The Wisdom of Friends | November 27, 2007 | Jamie Mitchell Supervising director: Charles Grosvenor |
Daniel J. Wiley | Michael Tavera | ||||
14 | Journey of the Brave | February 2, 2016 | Davis Doi | Elana Lesser Cliff Ruby |
Lisa Melbye Deirdre Brenner |
Luke Guidici | Tony Amendola | Universal Animation Studios Universal 1440 Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment |
Albums
- The Land Before Time (1990) Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- The Land Before Time: Sing-Along Songs (1997) Songs from The Land Before Time, II, III & IV
- The Songs from The Land Before Time (1997) Songs from The Land Before Time, II, III & IV
- The Land Before Time: More Sing-Along Songs (1999) Songs from The Land Before Time V & VI and An American Tail III & IV
- The Best Songs from The Land Before Time (2016) Songs from The Land Before Time, VI, VIII, IX, X, XI & XIV
Television series
A 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.[3] 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.
Games
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.
Cast
Principal characters
Recurring characters
References
- ^ 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: Invasion of the Tinysauruses". Rotten Tomatoes.
- ^ The Land Before Time, 2007-03-05, retrieved 2016-07-26