''The Land Before Time'' is an American

animated film Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

series and media franchise created by Judy Freudberg and

Tony Geiss Nicholas Anthony "Tony" Geiss (November 16, 1924 – January 21, 2011) was an American producer, screenwriter, songwriter and author, known principally for his children's work. Biography Geiss was born in The Bronx to Alexander Geiss and Ma ...

, distributed by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

and centered on

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s. The series began in 1988 with the eponymous ''

The Land Before Time ''The Land Before Time'' is an American animated film series and media franchise created by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss, distributed by Universal Pictures and centered on dinosaurs. The series began in 1988 with the eponymous '' The Land Bef ...

'', directed and produced by

Don Bluth Donald Virgil Bluth (; born September 13, 1937) is an American film director, animator, production designer, and animation instructor, best known for his animated films, including ''The Secret of NIMH'' (1982), ''An American Tail'' (1986), ''Th ...

and executive produced by

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairm ...

and

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

. It was followed by 13

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

sequels, a TV series, video games, soundtracks, and related merchandising. Neither the sequels nor the series involve the participation of Bluth, Lucas, or Spielberg. All 14 films were released as a Complete Collection DVD set on June 14, 2016.

Plot

The films follow a friendship of a group of young ornithodirans (four dinosaurs and a pterosaur) named Littlefoot (''

Apatosaurus ''Apatosaurus'' (; meaning "deceptive lizard") is a genus of herbivorous sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period. Othniel Charles Marsh described and named the first-known species, ''A. ajax'', in 1877, an ...

''), Cera (''

Triceratops ''Triceratops'' ( ; ) is a genus of herbivore, herbivorous Chasmosaurinae, chasmosaurine Ceratopsidae, ceratopsid dinosaur that first appeared during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period (geology), period, about 68 m ...

''), Ducky (''

Saurolophus ''Saurolophus'' (; meaning "lizard crest") is a genus of large hadrosaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous period of Asia and North America, that lived in what is now the Horseshoe Canyon and Nemegt formations about 70 million to 68 million ...

''), Petrie (''

Pteranodon ''Pteranodon'' (); from Ancient Greek (''pteron'', "wing") and (''anodon'', "toothless") is a genus of pterosaur that included some of the largest known flying reptiles, with ''P. longiceps'' having a wingspan of . They lived during the late Cr ...

''), and Spike (''

Stegosaurus ''Stegosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been foun ...

''). After finding the Great Valley, they raise a carnivorous baby, (a ''

Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosa ...

'', whom they name Chomper), survive a

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

and a

cold snap A cold wave (known in some regions as a cold snap, cold spell or Arctic Snap) is a weather phenomenon that is distinguished by a cooling of the air. Specifically, as used by the U.S. National Weather Service, a cold wave is a rapid fall in tem ...

, and witness a

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

. Throughout all the films, they embark upon adventures, learning lessons about life and friendship along the way.

List of titles

Films

The following is a list of the 14 films in the series.

Albums

* ''The Land Before Time'' (1990) ''Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' * ''The Land Before Time: Sing-Along Songs'' (1997) Songs from ''The Land Before Time, II, III & IV'' * ''The Songs from The Land Before Time'' (1997) Songs from ''The Land Before Time, II, III & IV'' * ''The Land Before Time: More Sing-Along Songs'' (1999) Songs from ''The Land Before Time V & VI'' and ''

An American Tail ''An American Tail'' is a 1986 American Animated film, animated musical film, musical adventure film directed by Don Bluth from a screenplay by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss and a story by David Kirschner, Freudberg and Geiss. The film features t ...

III & IV'' * ''The Best Songs from The Land Before Time'' (2016) Songs from ''The Land Before Time, VI, VIII, IX, X, XI & XIV''

Television series

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

based on the films began airing on YTV in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

on January 5, 2007. It consisted of one season of 26 episodes, and officially premiered on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

in the United States on March 5, 2007, after the

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

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.

Games

The series has spawned 14 spin-off games, eight for PC, one for the

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

, two for the

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

and three for the original

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

. The PC games are usually educational games aimed for preschool and kindergarten. Games for the Game Boy Color and Advance include ''

'' 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 Lani Jean Minella (born July 28, 1950) is an American voice actress, voice director, and producer mostly working in the games industry. She is also the founder and owner of the voice-acting agency, AudioGodz. Career After college, Minella starte ...

Cast and characters

* *

References

External links

Official ''The Land Before Time'' YouTube account
{{DEFAULTSORT:Land Before Time (Series), The Film series introduced in 1988 Fiction about dinosaurs Animated film series Universal Pictures franchises Adventure film series Films adapted into television shows 1980s English-language films 1990s English-language films 2000s English-language films 2010s English-language films