Land Before Time Retrospective #36
TV series assessment / Red Claw, Screech, & Thud Showcase
Quote from rhombus: 1. In the series we do not see much about the internal thoughts or motivations of these characters, apart from Thud’s actions after Chomper helped him escape from a rockslide. In that episode Thud led the other two astray so that they did not find the gang. Do you think the other two members of the trio have a similar sense of “sharptooth honor” as Thud?
I suspect Screech does. He and Thud seemed more or less identical throughout the rest of the series, and it’s not hard to imagine Screech being in Thud’s place in that one episode.
Red Claw, however, I don’t think would have the same sense of honor. Largely because he’s the main villain of the three while Screech and Thud are simply his henchmen. I get the impression that the latter two are simply acting alongside Red Claw, and don’t quite have the same degree of malice themselves. Whereas for Red Claw, he gets outright referred to as the biggest and meanest sharptooth, so I feel as though he’s probably closer to the original Sharptooth in that regard, in that he’s vicious and irredeemable predator. Both Screech and Thud, on the other hand, I could see a redemption arc for.
Quote from rhombus: 2. Is the trio’s lack of success in catching the gang primarily due to incompetence on their part or the trickiness of the gang?
A bit of both, I think.
More generally, while I do agree that the execution with these three could’ve been better, fundamentally it’s a solid idea. Having recurring antagonists in the series was neat to see. And I did enjoy the tantalizing bits of backstory, even if they were scarce (although that’s probably something we would’ve gotten more of in the second season). As LittleDas75 said, nothing will ever be as scary as the original Sharptooth, but it’s these aspects which helped Red Claw, Screech, and Thud stand out from many of the other sequel film sharpteeth, at least.
TV series assessment (general)
(“StardustSoldier” is me)
Quote from Sneak: StardustSoldier AT LAST!!!
CONGRATULATIONS, Stardust!!!
With finishing watching all LBT video media.
Thank you very much, Sneak. *bows*
Quote from Sneak: And I see your favorite episode is still Escape from the Mysterious Beyond?
Yep, still my favourite episode.
Quote from Sneak: So, what’s your general opinion on TV series?
My biggest complaint was all the repeated songs. By and large the songs have grown on me since I first started watching LBT back in 2019. But with the TV series, the constant repeats really did not do a good job of justifying their decision to include two songs in every episode.
That aside, however, my overall assessment of the TV series would be “surprisingly good.” I’m pleased to say that I ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. In fact, I’d go so far as to say I enjoyed it about as much as the films.
Film ratings (out of 8):
– 8 tree stars: The Land Before Time
– 5 1/3 tree stars: The Great Valley Adventure – (Original rating: 5 tree stars)
– 6 tree stars: The Time of the Great Giving
– 6 2/3 tree stars: Journey Through the Mists – (Original rating: 6 1/3 tree stars)
– 6 2/3 tree stars: The Mysterious Island – (Original rating: 6 tree stars)
– 5 1/3 tree stars: The Secret of Saurus Rock
– 6 tree stars: The Stone of Cold Fire – (Original rating: 5 1/3 tree stars)
– 6 1/3 tree stars: The Big Freeze – (Original rating: 5 2/3 tree stars, then 6 tree stars)
– 3 tree stars: Journey to Big Water
– 7 tree stars: The Great Longneck Migration
– 3 tree stars: Invasion of the Tinysauruses
– 5 tree stars: The Great Day of the Flyers
– 3 tree stars: The Wisdom of Friends
– 4 tree stars: Journey of the Brave
Episode ratings (out of 8):
– 3 tree stars: The Cave of Many Voices
– 6 tree stars: The Mysterious Tooth Crisis
– 5 tree stars: The Star Day Celebration
– 5 1/3 tree stars: The Canyon of Shiny Stones
– 3 tree stars: The Great Log Running Game
– 6 tree stars: The Brave Longneck Scheme
– 6 tree stars: The Meadow of Jumping Waters
– 5 tree stars: The Days of Rising Waters
– 7 tree stars: Escape from the Mysterious Beyond
– 5 tree stars: The Hidden Canyon
– 6 tree stars: The Legend of the Story Speakers
– 6 tree stars: The Bright Circle Celebration
– 3 1/2 tree stars: The Lonely Journey
– 6 1/3 tree stars: The Missing Fast-Water Adventure – (Original rating: 6 tree stars)
– 6 1/3 tree stars: The Spooky Nighttime Adventure
– 6 tree stars: The Lone Dinosaur Returns – (Original rating: 5 2/3 tree stars)
– 5 1/3 tree stars: Strange from the Mysterious Above
– 5 tree stars: The Forbidden Friendship
– 2 tree stars: The Amazing Threehorn Girl
– 6 tree stars: The Big Longneck Test
– 5 2/3 tree stars: The Hermit of Blackrock
– 6 1/3 tree stars: Return to Hanging Rock
– 5 1/3 tree stars: March of the Sand Creepers
– 5 2/3 tree stars: Search for the Sky Color Stones
– 6 tree stars: Through the Eyes of a Spiketail
– 5 1/3 tree stars: The Great Egg Adventure
Not intended to be my all-time definitive scores. Journey of the Brave in particular I only saw once and I feel like it might grow on me if I gave it a second chance sometime. Some of the TV ratings might also change if I saw them more than once. Maybe I’ll do that a couple years down the road. But as of right now, that’s where it’s at for me.
