Land Before Time Retrospective #35
Episode 19: The Amazing Threehorn Girl
Before I saw this episode, I’d heard that it was apparently supposed to be dreadful. But I was skeptical of that. How bad could it be, really? Besides, it’s a Cera-centric episode. That’s always a plus. Needless to say, I was looking forward to this one.
…
…
…
Well… now that I have seen it, I can see why it has that reputation…
I thought it was going to be a solid episode at first. We have a great opening chase scene with the belly draggers, and then Cera getting separated from her friends and getting trapped. I’d even go so far as to say that this is one of the best opening scenes out of all the episodes.
And then it all fell apart from there…
As soon as Cera’s story began to take off, it became painfully obvious what the episode’s moral was going to be. I could see it coming a mile away. Not that “lying is bad” is a bad lesson in itself. But it is often a predictable and overused lesson in fiction and entertainment. And it tends to fall victim to the “liar revealed” trope, which I am generally not a fan of as it is. However, that alone isn’t where my issue lies.
What really bugged me was the way they handled the lesson here. Because Cera actually was being honest and humble about the whole thing at first. It was her friends and the rest of the Great Valley residents who blew things out of proportion and went out of their way to gush over her and heap endless praise upon her, even before Cera herself began to exaggerate any of the details.
And then of course once the inevitable reveal happens, everyone gets all mad at her, even though they themselves were just as responsible for the story getting so out of hand. At the very least, Topsy eventually owned up to his part in it. But it still bothered me how Cera got so badly punished for something that wasn’t even really her fault, and nobody else ever got called out for how ridiculous they were being. And then the episode abruptly ends, and it didn’t feel like there was any sort of proper resolution either. Why did Cera have to single-handedly take the blame for all of that? It doesn’t make sense to get so mad at someone for being egocentric if you were the one responsible for building up their ego to that level in the first place. Yeesh!
And even if Cera really had done all those amazing things, why on Earth did everyone else react with such over-the-top awe? I mean, sure, scaring off those predators and protecting the Great Valley is a heroic thing to do. But Cera would hardly have been the first. We’ve seen countless examples in the series of characters fighting off sharpteeth and saving the day. Why does everyone suddenly decide to start treating Cera like she’s some sort of god? No-one ever reacted like that in the past, even when a character did do something heroic. So why now? It kinda made the Great Valley residents look like a bunch of idiots. Ironic that it was really Cera who was the most level-headed character in this episode.
So, with all that said, was there anything I did enjoy? Actually, yes, there were a few positives. I liked the “Amazing Threehorn Girl” song. As ridiculous of a plot as this was, we at least got a catchy song out of it. We also get a pretty good fight scene at the end when Topsy charges in to save Cera from the belly draggers. Lastly, the final scene between Cera and Topsy was touching, when he tells her that she’ll always be amazing to him no matter what. If nothing else, it’s little moments like these that have made Topsy grow on me.
But alas, none of that was enough to save the rest of the episode. This one was a complete dud.
2 out of 8 tree stars
Episode 20: The Big Longneck Test (re-review)
You know, after seeing this episode, another thing that bugs me about “The Amazing Threehorn Girl” in hindsight is that everyone got all mad at Cera for lying. But here, Shorty is discovered to be a liar and everyone just laughs it off? What gives?
But thankfully, this episode is otherwise pretty good.
Quote from pokeplayer984: I think you guys can guess what my opinion is on the songs, considering they’re remakes and all.
I can hardly blame ya. The repeated songs has been a gripe of mine as well. Although I do really like “Big Longneck Test” at least. “Adventuring” not so much.
Quote from rhombus: For one, there should have been some elaboration on the exact function of the Big Longneck Test. Is it the only test of leadership that a longneck has? If so, then I would have to agree with many of the previous comments in that the three tests were unsatisfactory for actually testing leadership skills for leading a longneck herd.
I really like the idea of the tests in themselves. I think the concept was just underdeveloped more than anything. There is definitely more they could have done with it if they’d been able to give it some more focus.
Quote from NewOrder: It’s funny to see you saying “when I was a kid”. I was already in my twenty/twenty one when I watched LBT X 😛
And I was twenty-nine when I saw it for the first time. 😛
Quote from NewOrder: Bestest Friends is one of my favourite LBT songs of all time, I love its emotional weight. It’s not out of character for Bron, or any other parent to want their long lost son to come live with them, however, Littlefoot ended up making the right choice. His place was in the Great Valley, that was his home. I still believe that LBT X was a great wasted opportunity to bring back Ali in a proper way. You could’ve had both story lines, Ali and Bron, without making too much damage to the plot. Still, it’s one of the best sequels.
I agree with all of this. ^^
One of the stronger episodes for sure. I give it 6 out of 8 tree stars.
Episode 21: The Hermit of Blackrock
Guido!! Simply knowing that he was going to reappear was enough to get me excited for this one.
Other assorted thoughts:
That opening. No major tease or cliffhanger this time. Just Spike eating treestars and burping, hehe.
Quote from Sky: When I saw Swooper the first time, I thought it was a zombie.
Lol!
Quote from novaflare: At any rate this was a nice ep other than guido and petrie singing heh.
Quote from Ratiasu: I really liked this episode. There were injuries and disabilities, interesting characters (I haven’t seen the movie with Guido in it yet, so for me he was new, and Swooper had a couple interesting quicks), pretty good music, and a little interesting dynamic between Petrie and Guido. The songs were pretty bad.
Quote from novaflare: Hmm I see a consensus forming here petrie and guido just don’t work too well when comes to songs heheh.
Also lol.
Quote from landbeforetimelover: What would possess them to take the two worst singers and make them sing a duet?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Beats me. Your guess is as good as mine. 😛
Quote from novaflare: The sequels in general were just a tad better but in some ways the series is better.
I’d probably agree with this. I think overall I like the sequels a bit better, but I’ve ended up enjoying the series more than I thought I would. There is something about the more bite-size format of the episodes that occasionally works out for the better with LBT.
Quote from somerandomfangirl: and by now I was just getting sick of hearing two songs every 20 minutes or so! Was it really necessary to have that amount of songs in each episode?
At this point I’ve largely gotten used to all the singing… but otherwise yeah, I agree. I really think it would’ve been better if they’d just done one song per episode, especially since they’ve had to use so many repeated and remixed songs just to fill the quota. At least the films all had new songs each time.
Anyway, the initial setup for this episode was great, but then it kinda started to peter out once they met Swooper. Not a bad character by any means; as others mentioned, having a blind character whom Petrie and Guido have to guide to safety is an interesting concept. I just wish the episode had continued along with Petrie and Guido getting themselves into a weird, spooky adventure instead. I was digging the atmosphere when the two of them were lost out on their own and then they fell down into the creepy cave. But then the episode lost some of its tension and mystery once Swooper showed up. Not for the first time, I feel that there’s enough potential material here that they could’ve made two episodes out of it. The character of Swooper, and Petrie & Guido’s adventure, each could’ve been their own episode, imo.
Oh well. Aside from that, this one was pretty good. 5 & 2/3 out of 8 tree stars
Episode 22: Return to Hanging Rock
For all the other missteps the TV series has had, it does tend to have pretty consistently good opening scenes that get you interested for the rest of the episode (regardless of what ends up happening in the episode itself). I like the opening here where it ends with Ruby going “Hmm,” but you don’t know what she’s thinking yet.
Other assorted thoughts:
I got a kick out of “Up in the Sky” being a cheap knock-off of “The Legend of the Lone Dinosaur”. And then I laughed out loud when it showed them up on that platform traveling through space.
Speaking of songs, when Red Claw’s roar interrupted “I Feel So Happy”, I had the thought that even he was getting sick of that one, haha.
Quote from KingdomKey23: I think I actually like Redclaw now because he stopped them from singing. Why doesn’t he do it more often? XD
Hehehe, yeah. My thoughts exactly.
Quote from Kor: One thing I wonder is why didn’t Ruby’s family go to the great valley with her? It’d be a safer place to raise their kids.
I didn’t think of that before… but that is a very good point.
Regardless, it was nice to see that Ruby’s family is alive and well. I’ve wanted to know more about them ever since they first appeared in the flashbacks of “The Star Day Celebration”.
I wanted to point out Ruby’s line to her parents, when she says, “I still need to help Chomper find out how to help save the Mysterious Beyond from Red Claw.”
…
Okay, now that is interesting. This is the most of an explanation we’ve ever gotten as to why Ruby separated from her family to take care of Chomper.
It’s still not 100% clear what Ruby meant when she said that. But it makes me wonder if she’s going to try and train Chomper, himself a sharptooth, to be able to fight off Red Claw someday? I’m struggling to imagine how that would work out in the series, but it’s a really interesting idea, if that is indeed what the writers were going for.
I lamented about Ruby & Chomper’s relative lack of backstories in the past. But this part here, along with the general reappearance of Ruby’s family, is enough to convince me that the writers probably would have further fleshed out Ruby & Chomper & Red Claw if only we’d gotten that second season…
Good episode. 6 & 1/3 out of 8 tree stars
Episode 23: March of the Sand Creepers
This was a pretty cute episode. Nothing amazing happened or anything, but it was nice, harmless fun.
Other assorted thoughts:
We get another remixed song here, this time with “Please Be Careful” using the tune of “Good Times, Good Friends”. Although this rendition I thought was pretty clever. In fact, in this case I like “Please Be Careful” quite a bit better than “Good Times, Good Friends”.
It turns out that Ducky makes for a really good momma. It was also endearing how she came up with different names for each of the sand creepers.
My favourite part of the episode was actually a pretty minor moment. But I love the way Littlefoot suddenly glares at Scuttle after he asks for one more “small favour.” Littlefoot so rarely gets angry that I love seeing it happen when it does.
5 & 1/3 out of 8 tree stars
Episode 24: Search for the Sky Color Stones
Even before I saw this one, I knew of it from the community as the infamous evil Ducky episode. Well, let’s dive right in, shall we?
Other assorted thoughts:
First of all, the “Sky Color Stones” song. This is the fifth time they’ve used that darned melody now. 😛 Although at least it’s pleasant to listen to. It doesn’t make my ears bleed like some of the other repeated songs do. 😛
The sky color stones in themselves are a really cool concept. Speaking of which…
Quote from landbeforetimelover: I wonder how it was the Littlefoot and Cera were the only ones who knew about the sky colored stones? Something tells me there’s a story behind that that we don’t know.
Interesting. I didn’t think of that before. But after reading your comment, now I want to know more about the stones and how Littlefoot and Cera knew about them.
Aww, poor Spike. The previous episode had that sand creeper that kept pinching him, and now he gets stuck inside a cave opening and Ducky just ditches him. I felt bad for him.
Needless to say, this was a pretty entertaining episode. It was pretty jarring to see Ducky act like this, but I enjoyed seeing her rarely-shown darker side. Even if the execution was a bit flawed, it was still a good idea and made for an interesting story. The B-plot here was entertaining as well; Littlefoot, Petrie, and Chomper had some funny scenes together.
Hmmm… do the sky color stones have sinister powers? It reminded me of the One Ring from Lord of the Rings. As in, were Ducky, Cera, and Ruby acting of their own accord when they began to get aggressive and competitive and possessive in finding the stones? Or were the stones actually influencing their behaviour in a negative way? Ultimately I suspect the former, in that the stones weren’t meant to be supernatural, but it did make me wonder. And speaking of that…
Quote from TheNumberOneShmuck: Did anyone else, upon seeing Ducky fall over the edge of the cliff, immediately think “MY PRECIOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUSSS!!!!!!”?
Hahaha, nice to know I’m not the only one who thought of LotR.
5 & 2/3 out of 8 tree stars
Episode 25: Through the Eyes of a Spiketail
Now here’s a great, unique concept for an episode.
Other assorted thoughts:
Looks like we found someone with a worse singing voice than Petrie and Guido.
Cera seemed especially grouchy in this episode, even moreso than usual.
Quote from Tropicalia: I found it funny when he hears the others through incoherent babble x3
I thought that part was a bit strange. So Spike can’t truly hear his friends’ words? Despite his own lack of speech, I was always under the impression that he could hear them just fine. Interesting.
Quote from Bruton the Iguanodon: One question: why does Spike see everything purple? Was he born this way or did something happen to him to cause it and if so, when? And does this mean other members of the cast might see things in strange colors?
I thought that was odd too, but my interpretation of it isn’t that it means Spike literally sees everything in purple. Rather, I think it was just a narrative technique to indicate to us that those particular shots were what Spike was seeing.
The cool thing about this episode though is that it sure makes you look at Spike’s other appearances in a brand new light. I give it 6 out of 8 tree stars.
Episode 25: Through the Eyes of a Spiketail (re-review) / Spike Showcase
[Follow-up to my previous post regarding Spike.]
Quote from rhombus: 1) In the first film Spike is a hatching so it is obvious why he is not speaking during that movie. In your personal head-canon does he still not speak due to the fact he is too young to do so, or do you think there is another reason for his lack of speech?
Belated response here. But I just watched “Through the Eyes of a Spiketail” yesterday and so I wanted to chime in with some new thoughts regarding this question. I was hoping that this particular episode might help better clarify things… but instead I feel more confused than before.
I speculated last time that Spike’s lack of speech was due to him being too young and not fluent enough yet, but as he got older he’d be able to speak properly. But the TV episode shows that he thinks in perfectly coherent thoughts. In itself, this would cause me to speculate that either Spike has a physical inability to speak properly despite still thinking intelligently, or else he simply chooses to remain silent for whatever reason.
… … except that the episode also shows that he apparently can’t understand his friends’ words. From his POV shots, he hears the rest of the Gang speaking unintelligible garble. Now this in itself would make me think that he speaks an altogether different language from everyone else. But then that theory doesn’t really make sense because all the other spiketails can speak normally. And, as mentioned earlier, Spike himself has spoken the very occasional word in the same language as the others (“Ducky!” “Mother!”). So then why does he hear his friends speaking garble?
…
Yeah, I no longer have a clear answer to this question. Now I just get confused the more I think about it.
I thought it was a solid episode in itself. I certainly liked the core concept. It was unique and refreshing. I just think certain aspects of it could’ve been explained a bit better. It seemed like the writers hadn’t watched LBT 4 & 8 in a while, and/or just forgot that Spike had brief speaking roles in those.
Episode 26: The Great Egg Adventure
Funny moment:
Littlefoot: “Wait, Hyp might be onto something.”
*Hyp nods triumphantly, then stares in confusion* “I am?”
Quote from Chikara: Another “movie character” episode.
These are among the episodes I’ve enjoyed the most. I like when they bring back past guest characters.
Quote from Chikara: No Cera, Spike or Ruby in this episode.
I noticed that too. Is this the only episode to omit some of the core Gang members?
Quote from Littlefoot1616: Littlefoot actually kinda loses his rag with Hyp on a few occasions but, as per usual, the gang sort out their differences and come through in the end
Again, I just love seeing Littlefoot get angry because it rarely happens and I find it refreshing when it does.
Quote from Manny Cav: Note the substitution of “The Return of the Egg Stealers,” the episode just recently fabricated put into the LBT TV article for “The Big Longneck Test.”
That sounds like it would feature the return of Ozzy & Strut. I used to be more ambivalent about them. But I gotta admit, they’d fit in great for a “movie character” episode.
Quote from Dinonut: I noticed a goof in this episode. The eggs were blue at first, but then they were yellow for the rest of it.
Oh, haha, I didn’t realize that when I first watched the episode. Although Chikara and Ratiasu raise a good point in that it might’ve just been because the eggs were moved out of the cave and into daylight.
Quote from Noname: Does anyone find it ironic that chomper is taking part in “egg theft” when his egg itself was moved before he hatched?
Heh, I didn’t think of that, but that is indeed pretty ironic.
I give this episode 5 & 1/3 out of 8 tree stars.
…
…
…
And with that, I have now seen all of the films and all of the episodes!!!!
It was a fun journey.
Episode 26: The Great Egg Adventure (re-review) / Hyp, Mutt, & Nod Showcase
[Follow-up to my previous post regarding Hyp, Mutt, & Nod. As with the previous post, this section here was also done for the November character showcase and was added in later.]
Quote from rhombus: 1. What do you think about the characterization of Hyp, Nod, and Mutt in the third film?
Taking this a step further today to talk about their characterization in the TV episode as well. It’s interesting that this, of all episodes, is what ended up being the series finale. Even though it clearly wasn’t intended as such, it still makes for a fun final episode.
As I expressed before, I enjoy the “movie character” episodes, so I was pleased to have this terrible trio back. The potential for more returning guest characters is probably the biggest reason I wish we’d gotten a second season, even more than my desire to see the Red Claw arc continued and expanded on.
Despite reforming at the end of the third movie, we see here that the bullies are still, well, bullies. I guess the writers wanted to retain some of their original characterization so that they still seemed familiar. On one hand, it does seem like a bit of a regression of their character development from the third film. But on the other hand, we see that they’re not as mean as before. Hyp in particular comes off rather aggressive at first, but quickly becomes more cooperative once they hatch (har, har) their plan to move the egg.
