The Land Before Time

This article is about the media franchise. For the first film in the series, see The Land Before Time (film). For the video game, see The Land Before Time (2001 video game). For the television series, see The Land Before Time (TV series). For other uses, see The Land Before Time (disambiguation).

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 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	1988–2016
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 14 films were released as a Complete Collection DVD set later on June 14, 2016.^[1]

Plot

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

Theatrical

Film	Year	Director	Screenwriter	Story by	Producer(s)
The Land Before Time	1988	Don Bluth	Stu Krieger	Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss	Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy

Direct-to-video

Film	Year	Director	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)
The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure	1994[2]	Roy Allen Smith	John Loy, John Ludin and Dev Ross	Roy Allen Smith
The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving	1995	Roy Allen Smith	Dev Ross	Roy Allen Smith and Zahra Dowlatabadi
The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists	1996	Roy Allen Smith	Dev Ross	Roy Allen Smith
The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island	1997	Charles Grosvenor	John Loy	Charles Grosvenor
The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock	1998	Charles Grosvenor	Libby Hinson and John Loy	Charles Grosvenor
The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire	2000	Charles Grosvenor	Len Uhley	Charles Grosvenor
The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze	2001	Charles Grosvenor	John Loy	Charles Grosvenor
The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water	2002	Charles Grosvenor	Dev Ross	Charles Grosvenor
The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration	2003	Charles Grosvenor	John Loy	Charles Grosvenor
The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses	2005	Charles Grosvenor	John Loy	Charles Grosvenor
The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers	2006	Charles Grosvenor	John Loy	Charles Grosvenor
The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends	2007	Jamie Mitchell	John Loy	Charles Grosvenor
The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave	2016	Davis Doi	Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser	Lisa Melbye and Deidre Brenner

Television series

Main article: The Land Before Time (TV series)

Series	Season(s)	Episodes	Originally released			Showrunner	Executive producers	Status
			First released	Last released	Network
The Land Before Time	1	26	March 5, 2007	January 21, 2008	Cartoon Network	Charles Grosvenor	Charles Grosvenor and Diane A. Crea	Ended

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.^[3] 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

Main article: List of The Land Before Time characters

List indicator

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.

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

Characters	Films														Television
	The Land Before Time	The Great Valley Adventure	The Time of the Great Giving	Journey Through the Mists	The Mysterious Island	The Secret of Saurus Rock	The Stone of Cold Fire	The Big Freeze	Journey to Big Water	The Great Longneck Migration	Invasion of the Tinysauruses	The Great Day of the Flyers	The Wisdom of Friends	Journey of the Brave	The Land Before Time (The Series)
	1988	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	2000	2001	2002	2003	2005	2006	2007	2016	2007–2008
Littlefoot	Gabriel Damon	Scott McAfee			Brandon LaCroix Thomas DekkerS	Thomas Dekker				Alec Medlock	Aaron Spann	Nick Price	Cody Arens Logan ArensD Anthony SkillmanS	Felix Avitia	Cody Arens Anthony SkillmanS
Cera	Candace Hutson				Anndi McAfee
Ducky	Judith Barsi	Heather Hogan			Aria Noelle Curzon
Petrie	Will Ryan	Jeff Bennett
Spike	N/A	Rob Paulsen				Jeff Bennett	Rob Paulsen
Chomper		Rob Paulsen			Cannon Young									Issac Brown	Max Burkholder
Ruby														Meghan Strange
Grandpa Longneck	Bill Erwin (deleted role)	Kenneth Mars											Does not speak	Barry Bostwick	Kenneth Mars
Grandma Longneck	Does not speak	Linda Gary			Miriam Flynn							Does not speak	Miriam Flynn
Daddy Topps	Burke Byrnes	John Ingle												George Ball	John Ingle
Ducky's Mother	Does not speak	Tress MacNeille			Tress MacNeille		Tress MacNeille				Tress MacNeille		Does not speak	Meghan Strange	Tress MacNeille
Petrie's Mother	Does not speak	Tress MacNeille			Tress MacNeille		Tress MacNeille				Tress MacNeille		Does not speak	Anndi McAfee	Tress MacNeille
Kosh			Rob Paulsen		Jeff Bennett						Rob Paulsen				Pete Sepenuk Jeff Bennett
Littlefoot's Mother	Helen Shaver									Flashback					Flashback
Chomper's parents		N/A			N/A
Hyp			Whit Hertford												Mikey Kelley
Nod			Scott Menville												Scott Menville
Mutt			Jeff Bennett												Jeff Bennett
Ali				Juliana Hansen											Nika Futterman
Old One				Carol Bruce											Jessica Walter
Doc						Kris Kristofferson									Jeff Bennett
Mr. Thicknose								Robert Guillaume							Dorian Harewood
Tippy								Jeremy Suarez							Cree Summer
Tippy's Mother								Susan Krebs							Susan Krebs
Stegosaurus Leader								Rob Paulsen							Rob Paulsen
Mo									Rob Paulsen	Does not speak		Rob Paulsen			Rob Paulsen
Shorty										Brandon Michael DePaul					Elizabeth Daily
Bron										Kiefer Sutherland				Scott Whyte	Cam Clarke
Tria											Camryn Manheim		Jessica Gee		Jessica Gee
Guido												Rob Paulsen			Rob Paulsen
Tricia												Nika Futterman			Meghan Strange

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

Main article: List of The Land Before Time 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.