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The Land Before Time

American animated media franchise

Summary

American animated media franchise

Field	Value
title	The Land Before Time
image	The Land Before Time (Amblin 1988 film) logo.svg
caption	Official franchise logo, as originally released by Universal Pictures in 1988.
creator	{{plainlist
owner	Universal Pictures
origin	The Land Before Time (1988)
years	1988–2016
films	List of films
atv	The Land Before Time (2007–08)
vgs	List of video games
soundtracks	The Land Before Time
attractions	The Land Before Time Adventure (1997–98)
website	landbeforetime.com
footnotes

Don Bluth
Judy Freudberg
Tony Geiss

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 on June 14, 2016.

Plot

The films follow the friendship of a group of young reptiles (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

Theatrical

Film	Year	Director	Screenwriter	Story by	Producer(s)
The Land Before Time	1988	Don Bluth	Stu Krieger	Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss	Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy

Direct-to-video

Film	Year	Director	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)
The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure	1994	Roy Allen Smith	John Loy, John Ludin and Dev Ross	Roy Allen Smith
The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving	1995	Roy Allen Smith	Dev Ross	Roy Allen Smith and Zahra Dowlatabadi
The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists	1996	Roy Allen Smith
The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island	1997	Charles Grosvenor	John Loy	Charles Grosvenor
The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock	1998	Libby Hinson and John Loy
The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire	2000	Len Uhley
The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze	2001	John Loy
The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water	2002	Dev Ross
The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration	2003	John Loy
The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses	2005
The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers	2006
The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends	2007	Jamie Mitchell
The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave	2016	Davis Doi	Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser	Lisa Melbye and Deidre Brenner

Television series

Main article: The Land Before Time (TV series)

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. 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

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
(The Series)	1988	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	2000	2001	2002	2003	2005	2006	2007	2016	2007–2008	Narrator	Littlefoot	Cera	Ducky	Petrie	Spike	Chomper	Ruby	Grandpa Longneck	Grandma Longneck	Daddy Topps	Ducky's Mother	Petrie's Mother	Kosh	Littlefoot's Mother	Chomper's parents	Hyp	Nod	Mutt	Ali	Old One	Doc	Mr. Thicknose	Tippy	Tippy's Mother	Stegosaurus Leader	Mo	Shorty	Bron	Tria	Guido	Tricia
Pat Hingle	John Ingle		John Ingle	Tony Amendola
Gabriel Damon	Scott McAfee	Brandon LaCroixThomas Dekker	Thomas Dekker	Alec Medlock	Aaron Spann	Nick Price	Cody ArensLogan ArensAnthony Skillman	Felix Avitia	Cody ArensAnthony Skillman
Candace Hutson	Anndi McAfee
Judith Barsi	Heather Hogan	Aria Noelle Curzon
Will Ryan	Jeff Bennett
	Rob Paulsen	Jeff Bennett	Rob Paulsen
	Rob Paulsen		Cannon Young		Issac Brown	Max Burkholder
	Meghan Strange
Bill Erwin (deleted role)	Kenneth Mars		Barry Bostwick	Kenneth Mars
	Linda Gary	Miriam Flynn		Miriam Flynn
Burke Byrnes	John Ingle		John Ingle	George Ball	John Ingle
	Tress MacNeille		Tress MacNeille		Tress MacNeille		Tress MacNeille			Meghan Strange	Tress MacNeille
	Tress MacNeille		Tress MacNeille		Tress MacNeille		Tress MacNeille		Anndi McAfee	Tress MacNeille
	Rob Paulsen		Jeff Bennett		Rob Paulsen		Pete SepenukJeff Bennett
Helen Shaver
	Whit Hertford		Mikey Kelley
	Scott Menville		Scott Menville
	Jeff Bennett		Jeff Bennett
	Juliana Hansen		Nika Futterman
	Carol Bruce		Jessica Walter
	Kris Kristofferson		Jeff Bennett
	Robert Guillaume		Dorian Harewood
	Jeremy Suarez		Cree Summer
	Susan Krebs		Susan Krebs
	Rob Paulsen		Rob Paulsen
	Rob Paulsen			Rob Paulsen		Rob Paulsen
	Brandon Michael DePaul		Elizabeth Daily
	Kiefer Sutherland		Scott Whyte	Cam Clarke
	Camryn Manheim	Jessica Gee		Jessica Gee
	Rob Paulsen		Rob Paulsen
	Nika Futterman		Meghan Strange

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

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.

Merchandise

By 2000, the franchise generated $1 billion in retail sales.

References

(June 14, 2016). "The Land Before Time: The Complete Collection". Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
(1994-10-29). "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc..
(2007-03-05). "The Land Before Time".
Hettrick, Scott. (June 23, 2000). "Video bows mint coin".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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