The Land Before Time Explained

The Land Before Time
Creator:	Don Bluth Judy Freudberg Tony Geiss
Owner:	Universal Pictures
Origin:	The Land Before Time (1988)
Films:	See details
Atv:	See details
Vgs:	See details
Years:	1988–2016
Toys:	Merchandise
Soundtracks:	See details
Website:	[uphe.com/movies/the-land-before-time {{url\|landbeforetime.com}}]

The Land Before Time franchise consists of American animated adventure family installments 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.

Plot

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.

Films

Film	Director(s)	Screenwriter(s)	Story by	Producer(s)
The Land Before Time	Don Bluth	Stu Krieger	Judy Freudberg & Tony Geiss	Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy
	Roy Allen Smith	John Loy, John Ludin & Dev Ross		Roy Allen Smith
		Dev Ross		Roy Allen Smith and Zahra Dowlatabadi
		Dev Ross		Roy Allen Smith
	Charles Grosvenor	John Loy		Charles Grosvenor
		Libby Hinson & John Loy
		Len Uhley
		John Loy
		Dev Ross
		John Loy


	Jamie Mitchell
	Davis Doi	Cliff Ruby & Elana Lesser		Lisa Melbye and Deidre Brenner

Television

See main article: The Land Before Time (TV series).

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 TV series takes place after the events of . 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

See main article: List of The Land Before Time characters.

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
	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	Thomas Dekker				Alec Medlock	Aaron Spann	Nick Price	Cody Arens Logan Arens Anthony Skillman	Felix Avitia	Cody Arens Anthony Skillman
Cera	Candace Hutson				Anndi McAfee
Ducky	Judith Barsi	Heather Hogan			Aria Noelle Curzon
Petrie	Will Ryan	Jeff Bennett
Spike		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												Barry Bostwick	Kenneth Mars
Grandma Longneck		Linda Gary			Miriam Flynn								Miriam Flynn
Daddy Topps	Burke Byrnes	John Ingle												George Ball	John Ingle
Ducky's Mother		Tress MacNeille			Tress MacNeille		Tress MacNeille				Tress MacNeille			Anndi McAfee	Tress MacNeille
Littlefoot's Mother	Helen Shaver
Petrie's Mother		Tress MacNeille			Tress MacNeille		Tress MacNeille				Tress MacNeille			Meghan Strange	Tress MacNeille
Chomper's parents
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
Stegosaurus Mother								Susan Krebs							Susan Krebs
Stegosaurus Leader								Rob Paulsen							Rob Paulsen
Mo									Rob Paulsen			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
Kosh			Rob Paulsen		Jeff Bennett						Rob Paulsen				Pete Sepenuk Jeff Bennett

Additional crew and production details

Film	Crew
Film	Composer(s)	Editor(s)	Production companies	Distributing company	Running time
The Land Before Time	James Horner	John K. Carr & Dan Molina	Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, Sullivan Bluth Studios	Universal Pictures	1 hr 9 mins
The Land Before Time II:	Michael Tavera	Jay Bixsen	Universal Cartoon Studios	MCA/Universal Home Video	1 hr 15 mins
The Land Before Time III:		Jay Bixsen			1 hr 10 mins
The Land Before Time IV:		Warren Taylor			1 hr 14 mins
The Land Before Time V:		Jay Bixsen		Universal Studios Home Video	1 hr 14 mins
The Land Before Time VI:		Jay Bixsen			1 hr 16 mins
The Land Before Time VII:		Jay Bixsen & Danik Thomas			1 hr 15 mins
The Land Before Time VIII:		Jay Bixsen & Danik Thomas			1 hr 16 mins
The Land Before Time IX:		Jay Bixsen			1 hr 15 mins
The Land Before Time X:					1 hr 25 mins
The Land Before Time XI:					1 hr 21 mins
The Land Before Time XII:			Universal Animation Studios		1 hr 21 mins
The Land Before Time XIII:			Universal Animation Studios	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment	1 hr 16 mins
The Land Before Time	Cory Lerios		Universal Animation Studios, Amblin Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Entertainment Family Productions	Cartoon Network	8 hrs 40 mins
The Land Before Time XIV:	Michael Tavera	Luke Guidici	Universal Animation Studios, Universal 1440 Entertainment	Universal Pictures Home Entertainment	1 hr 22 mins

In other media

Albums

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

See main article: List of The Land Before Time video 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.