Land Before Time Retrospective #40
And now for the second half of my Land Before Time fanfic novelization changes, following up on the first half, as well as my notes on the original film. Well this is several months later than I’d originally planned. But hey, better late than never.
Just as this was originally started in celebration of my 3,000th post, I decided I’d do up the remaining sequels in celebration of my 3,250th post.
VIII – The Big Freeze
• As with The Mysterious Island, this would be expanded and adapted into two separate books. Since, as with the former film, I felt certain parts of Big Freeze could’ve been longer. “The Big Freeze – Part 1” would cover everything up to the point where Spike leaves the Great Valley with the Spiketail herd. Which would in fact be the very closing scene, of Ducky getting mad at Spike and telling him to leave, and then he departs with the rest of the herd. The others all somberly watch him leave…
• “Part 2” would begin with the Gang building the Spike snowman. Then the scene of Mama Swimmer giving Ducky the pep talk would come after that, instead of before. Likewise, in the book it would take Ducky longer before she really starts to miss Spike and then heads out after him, whereas in the film it happens much quicker. (Although Ducky taking longer to venture out after Spike would also mean that he’d have covered more distance by then, and Ducky knows this, but still goes after him anyway.)
• The Sharptooth would be removed. The main tension and dangers would come from the ever-increasing blizzard, other environmental hazards, and potential food starvation, the threat of which would be played up. Thus, Part 1 would mostly be a character drama, whereas Part 2 would be more actionized. Although both parts would break from the tradition of previous LBT entries in that there wouldn’t really be a distinct villain.
• Despite the seriousness of the winter setting, the part with the Spiketails sliding around and crashing into each other would still be appropriately silly.
• Most of the rest of the story would play out fairly similar, but the ending would be changed, having a much more bittersweet air. Spike would ultimately end up leaving the Great Valley for good with the rest of the Spiketails, but he and Ducky would have a chance to reconcile before he does. His friends would say one final goodbye to him, before he leaves for good, although still with the promise that they’ll all see each other again one day…
• This would mean that Spike would be absent from most of the future installments, and the Gang’s adventures from here on would simply consist of Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, and Petrie.
IX – Journey to Big Water
• The beginning of the story would focus on the characters in a somber mood (instead of simply being bored), as they feel a sense of emptiness now that Spike is no longer with them. This is something that would come up again a few times later on in the story. The Gang is shown trying to cope with the aftermath of him being gone and adjusting to the new status quo. Ducky misses him the most of all.
• This would also alter Mo’s role a bit, or at least the impact he has on the others. His cheerfulness and energy would help liven up the Gang’s spirits.
• Meeting Mo and the initial set-up of helping guide him back to his home would be the same, but then the journey to the Big Water would be shortened considerably. Namely, they’d arrive at the ocean a little before the halfway point. From there on, the rest of the story would be a full-on ocean adventure that never happened in the film.
• Although a few general details would remain, such as the Swimming Sharptooth, and Mrs. Mama and her hatchlings.
• Mo’s family would also have a larger role. Instead of Mo reuniting with them at the very end, he’d reunite with them sooner and they too would come along for the ocean adventure.
• The ending would be a bit more bittersweet. Not as much as in The Big Freeze, but ultimately the Gang would have to part ways with Mo too.
As of this writing, #10-12 are the only films I’ve seen exactly one time (all the others I’ve watched at least twice), and it was a while ago at that. Thus, I don’t have as many ideas for these since they’re not as fresh in my mind. I may need to watch them again sometime to come up with some more thoughts. Still, there were a few things I thought of:
X – The Great Longneck Migration
• Another two-parter. The cliffhanger ending for “Part 1” would be when they discover Bron and Grandpa says, “Littlefoot, this is your father,” and then Littlefoot gets upset and runs off.
• As mentioned previously, Ali would finally be reintroduced here, reuniting with Littlefoot at the Longneck gathering area, and she would have a prominent supporting role for the rest of the story.
• Although I am torn about what she would do at the very end, whether she would head off with Littlefoot and his friends back to the Great Valley, or if she’d be like Bron and would go her separate way. The former would mean she could be a more prominent character in the series from this point on, which I like the idea of. But I also feel that, narrative-wise, it kinda makes more sense for her character to head off again with her own migrating herd. Although at the very least with the latter, we’d still get to see her again eventually come “The Brave Longneck Scheme”.
XI – Invasion of the Tinysauruses
As ridiculous as the plot is, I’d probably keep it. Maybe with some tweaks here and there, but most of the story would stay the same. Rather, it’s the tone I’d change. Unlike all the rest of my novelizations which would be mostly serious, this one would be deliberately written as an absurd and wacky comedy.
XII – The Great Day of the Flyers
This installment, meanwhile, would be reimagined as a character drama with little to no action. Since I always found the action scenes kinda forced in this one, and a part of me feels it would’ve been better if they’d taken out the action scenes entirely and made it just about the character interactions.
Although that said, I like the concept of Guido’s sleepwalking. There’s something kinda mystical about it, and perhaps if it’d been more fleshed-out, it could’ve led somewhere interesting. Related to that, Guido’s backstory would be more elaborated on in my novel.
XIII – The Wisdom of Friends
Now for this installment, hehe…
Well, as it happens, I’ve always really liked the basic premise: The Gang of Five being forced into a leadership position and having to guide another group of lost dinosaurs through the dangerous wilderness, to the safe haven that lies at the end of it all. I like it because it mirrors what the Gang themselves went through in the very first film, and I also like that Wisdom of Friends has other similarities to the original film as well. It’s just a shame that while the original was so heartfelt and serious, this one is all wacky and ridiculous.
Thus, my novelization idea for #13 was to rewrite it as a much darker story that resembled the first film’s journey even more closely, but with the Gang as older and wiser mentors to the younger group of Yellowbellies. The Yellowbellies themselves would still have somewhat goofy and fun-loving personalities, but it’d be toned down from what it was in the film. The Sharptooth quartet would remain as the main antagonists, but they’d likewise be played much more seriously. As in, while the first installment had one terrifying Sharptooth for the heroes to contend with, this story would have four terrifying Sharpteeth for them to contend with.
The TV series
This would have been done as a series of short story collections, with the short stories inside being adaptations of the TV series episodes. The stories would be spread out across four books total. There’d have been at least 32 stories (possibly even more); the 26 episodes of the show, plus six new episode ideas I had, largely to help fill in the missing gaps that the TV series itself never covered. Namely:
1-3. Two new episodes/stories dedicated to Ruby and Chomper’s origin (without the rest of the Gang appearing), explaining how Chomper got separated from his parents and ended up in Ruby’s care, and fleshing out their respective backstories more in general. For that matter, a third new story to give Red Claw a more elaborate backstory too, and possibly Screech and Thud as well.
• ^By extension, Ruby and Chomper wouldn’t appear in the first few stories/episodes of the series, which would be rewritten to mostly just focus on Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, and Petrie.
4. Since Ruby and Chomper would be introduced partway into the series, there would be another new episode dedicated to Chomper reuniting with his friends in the Great Valley, and introducing them to his new friend, Ruby.
5 & 6. A couple of the episodes that I originally felt could’ve been expanded on and fleshed out into a two-parter (namely “The Brave Longneck Scheme” and “The Big Longneck Test”) would indeed be expanded into two stories each here (for a total of four), or at least one longer story each.
Other ideas/changes:
• For the overall timeline, it would be more clearly established that the TV series takes place between the 13th and 14th films (which was implied in the official canon but not outright stated).
• After a long absence, Spike would return to the Great Valley in “The Forbidden Friendship” with the rest of the wandering Spiketail herd, leading to a very happy reunion with him and the rest of the Gang. Spike would then remain with them for the remainder of the series.
XIV – Journey of the Brave
This would be written as the grand finale of the series. It would also be expanded into three books; the basic story of the film would remain, but with some additions.
Part 1:
• Would focus solely on the Gang of Five’s initial adventure. Up to the point where Littlefoot and Cera have their fight, Littlefoot separates from the others, and then the sandstorm approaches, ending on a cliffhanger.
• The fight itself would be more vicious, and more reminiscent of the fight they had all the way back in the first movie.
• The order of events would be altered slightly. After Ruby and Chomper are seen having their initial hide and seek game, they wouldn’t appear again until Part 2…
Part 2:
• …which would then open with the scene of Chomper and Ruby going to Littlefoot’s grandparents, concerned about the Gang’s disappearance. Which would then lead to Chomper, Ruby, Wild Arms, Mr. Threehorn, and Grandpa Longneck heading out in search of the Gang. Unlike in the film, Grandma Longneck would also come along for the adventure, and possibly a few other characters as well. Part 2 would thus put more focus on the adventure that these guys have, as much of an adventure as the Gang of Five already had, encountering their own dangers and obstacles too.
• ^The GoF themselves would still appear, but would have much less focus in Part 2. At the very least, the narrative would cover their escape from the sandstorm and Littlefoot meeting Etta.
• The Horned Sharptooth would still appear (and the Featherhead Sharpteeth in Part 1), but they wouldn’t be the main antagonists. Instead… *drumroll*… Red Claw would make his grand comeback here, along with Screech and Thud. Since the conflict with them never got a proper resolution in the TV series, Journey of the Brave would be rewritten to make them the “final boss” of The Land Before Time and give their story arc closure.
• ^It would also make sense for Ruby and Chomper’s gang to be the first to encounter Red Claw, since Ruby and Chomper have a deeper connection with Red Claw than the other characters.
Part 3:
• The Gang of Five would reunite with Ruby and Chomper and the others before rescuing Bron here. The journey through the volcano would be fleshed out into its own mini-adventure, and would be reminiscent of the trek through the volcanic area in the first film.
• An expanded climax, not just the characters rescuing Bron, but Red Claw and his minions would appear for one final showdown…
• Way back in my Sequels Personal Ranking, I stated that I thought Bron should’ve died, but now I’m not so sure. On one hand, it could’ve made the final battle and ending more emotional and gut-wrenching. But on the other hand, it seems perhaps a bit too harsh for Littlefoot to end up losing both his parents. That, and I think I would’ve wanted the final installment to end on an overall happier note. Regardless, the danger of Bron possibly dying would be played up.
In general, with this being the finale of the series, a majority of the guest characters throughout the films/TV series would reappear here. Especially Ali and Shorty.
Also, it dawned on me just now that, had I actually gotten around to writing all of these, there would’ve been 23 books total! XD (the 14 films, plus three for the LBT 5, 8, & 10 two-parters, plus another two for LBT 14 being expanded into a trilogy, and then four books for the TV series) Which would have been a big commitment indeed, even bigger than when I originally conceived this project back in 2019. Hence why this almost certainly would have been too massive a project for me to actually finish. But still, it was a fun thought exercise.
