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The Land Before Time
Official franchise logo, as originally released by Universal Pictures in 1988.
Created by	Don Bluth Judy Freudberg Tony Geiss
Original work	The Land Before Time (1988)
Owner	Universal Pictures
Years	1988–present
Films and television
Film(s)	See details
Animated series	See details
Games
Video game(s)	See details
Audio
Soundtrack(s)	See details
Miscellaneous
Toy(s)	Merchandise
Theme park attraction(s)	The Land Before Time Adventure (1997-98)
Official website
landbeforetime.com

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 later on June 14, 2016.

Plot

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

Television

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

This section includes characters who will appear or have appeared in more than two films in the series.

• An empty grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's official presence has not yet been confirmed.

•   indicates an appearance as a character's disguised voice.
•   indicates an appearance as a character's singing voice.

Additional crew and production details

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

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.

Stage show attraction

The Land Before Time Adventure was a live show at Universal Hollywood Studios that ran from 1997 until 1998. It was replaced by Coke Soak in 1998, then again in 2014 by Super Silly Fun Land. A version was planned for Universal Studios Florida, but for unknown reasons, (possibly low attendance) it did not open.

References

1. Grosvenor, Charles; Bluth, Don; Smith, Roy Allen; Mitchell, Jamie; Doi, Davis (June 14, 2016), The Land Before Time: The Complete Collection, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, retrieved October 4, 2016
2. The Land Before Time, March 5, 2007, retrieved July 26, 2016

External links

• The Land Before Time's channel on YouTube

• The Land Before Time
• 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