History Trivia / TheLandBeforeTime

* ExecutiveMeddling: The film was originally DarkerAndEdgier, with a lot more blood, and darker imagery (for a little perspective, that shadow scene of Sharptooth mauling Littlefoot's mother was originally going to be plain view), but Spielberg and Lucas both made him cut a lot of those scenes, insisting that this imagery was too scary. Bluth was said to have fought for these scenes, but Spielberg eventually pointed out to him that the current version would leave the theater lobbies filled with crying kids, and angry parents. This explains the film's very short running time, clocking in at only 69 minutes. In all fairness, Bluth would later admit that these edits helped the film in the end.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The film was originally DarkerAndEdgier, but many scenes were deleted because they were [[AnimationAgeGhetto "too scary for kids"]]. This explains the film's very short running time, clocking in at only 69 minutes.

** Pterosaurs with a fluffy covering can be seen attending Littlefoot's hatching, nearly 20 years before the existence of pycnofibers was first identified. However, most other pterosaurs in the film don't seem to have any covering.

* AccidentallyCorrectWriting: The ravenous herd of ''Diplodocus'' are depicted with mouths shaped like beaks. In those days it would have been deemed inaccurate, but recent studies have shown beaks are possible in sauropods after all.

** There is also a deleted scene where the group finds an oasis, but the two groups of dinosaurs who are already there (gray-noses and crown-heads[[note]]the latter species who also appear in the film proper, attacking Cera in the cave[[/note]]) get discriminatory and say that only Ducky can drink. Unlike some of the other removed scenes, this one was never animated, although it does appear in the [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/landbeforetime/images/0/0c/SCRIPT_Land_Before_Time%2C_The_%281988%29.pdf May 1987 script]], as well as in a couple of children's books released alongside the film, "Friends in Need" and "The Land Before Time: The Illustrated Story".

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: Reportedly the full, uncut version with the {{Deleted Scene}}s intact aired in several other markets around the world, but no actual cuts of this have been located. The full uncut version did get sent to critics by mistake; Hal Hilson said in his review that the movie was "only 80 minutes long" (which matches up with the film's pre-edits length).

* TheMerch: Needless to say, this is part of how the movie made as much money as it did, as Bluth & co.'s designs for our heroes were highly marketable. Merch of particular note, though, were the puppet toys that Pizza Hut offered for a dollar alongside a pizza order in their sit-down restaurants. These were tremendously popular and were both a major boost for Pizza Hut and helped boost sales of the film; they were so popular that, when the movie came to home video in '89, the toys came back (for a ''home video promotion'') and two more puppets (Petrie and Sharptooth) even got added to the line.

*** Creator/KennethMars replaces Bill Erwin as Littlefoot's grandpa;

!!General trivia:
* TheWikiRule: The series has one [[https://landbeforetime.fandom.com/wiki/Land_Before_Time_Wiki here]].

*** Creator/JessicaWalter replaced Carol Bruce as the Old One;

* KidsMealToy: As mentioned below, Pizza Hut gave out puppet toys of the movie. There were also toys at Burger King.

* ExecutiveMeddling: The film was originally DarkerAndEdgier, but many scenes were deleted because they were [[AnimationAgeGhetto "too scary for kids"]]. This explains the film's very short running time. Speaking of the short running time, it is the shortest Amblin Entertainment movie, clocking in at 69 minutes.

** Littlefoot was originally named "Thunderfoot" until it was discovered that an earlier, unrelated children's book had used that name for a triceratops. Speaking of which, Cera was originally named "Bambo" and was ''male'' until Creator/GeorgeLucas suggested they make her a girl.

* TheMerch: Needless to say, this is part of how the movie made as much money as it did, as Bluth & co.'s designs for our heroes were highly marketable. Merch of particular note, though, were the puppet toys that Pizza Hut offered for a dollar alongside a pizza order in their sit-down restaurants. These were tremendously popular and were both a major boost for Pizza Hut and helped boost sales of the film; they were so popular that, when the movie came to home video in '89, the toys came back (for a ''home video promotion'') and two more puppets even got added to the line, those being Petrie and Sharptooth.

* ActingForTwo: Pat Hingle, the film's narrator, also performed the voice for Rooter. This may have been to underscore the fact that both characters were very wise and insightful.

* TheMerch: Needless to say, this is part of how the movie made as much money as it did, as Bluth & co.'s designs for our heroes were highly marketable. Merch of particular note, though, were the puppet toys that Pizza Hut offered for a dollar alongside a pizza order in their sit-down restaurants. (Yes, [[AluminumChristmasTrees Pizza Hut used to do things like movie tie-in toys]].) These were tremendously popular and were both a major boost for Pizza Hut and helped boost sales of the film; they were so popular that, when the movie came to home video in '89, the toys came back (for a ''home video promotion'') and two more puppets even got added to the line, those being Petrie and Sharptooth.

** Creator/KennethMars as Grandpa Longneck in II-XIII. Creator/BarryBostwick took over the role for XIV. In addition, most of the films included a special guest star:

** XIV: Music/RebaMcEntire as Etta and Damon Wayans Jr as Wild Arms.

** The fourteenth film, produced long after the TV series ended, had to make some replacements as well:
*** Littlefoot was now played by Felix Avitia, Chomper by Isaac Brown.
*** With the deaths of Creator/KennethMars and John Ingle, Littlefoot's grandpa was taken over by Creator/BarryBostwick, and Cera's dad and the narrator by George Ball.
*** Creator/TressMacNeille, who had voiced Petrie's mother and Ducky's mother since the second film, sat out the fourteenth film; Creator/AnndiMcAfee took over as Petrie's mom and Creator/MeghanStrange as Ducky's.
*** Bron was now played by Scott Whyte.

* SequelGap:
** The second film, ''The Great Valley Adventure'' (1994), came out six years after the first.
** After the thirteenth film, ''The Wisdom of Friends'' (2007), it would be nine years before the fourteenth film, ''Journey of the Brave'' (2016), would be released.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: According to an interview with a storyboard artist, the ''Yutyrannus'' in the fourteenth film were planned to be ''Allosaurus'' early on in the movie's production.
* WorkingTitle: The fourteenth film was originally titled ''Journey of the Heart''. However when the trailer debuted, it had been renamed to ''Journey of the Brave''.

** XIII: Creator/CubaGoodingJr and Creator/SandraOh as Loofah and Doofah.

* ScienceMarchesOn: The Yellow Bellies don't bear even a remote resemblance to what Beipeiaosaurus actually looked like, although they do resemble generic therizinosaurs. Very, ''very'' cartooninised therizinosaurs. When they were concepted, there wasn't a lot of Beipiaosaurus material to go by, so their appearance wasn't so offensively backwards.

* CompletelyDifferentTitle: The Dutch dub was titled ''Platvoet en zijn vriendjes'' (''Littlefoot and friends''). The people in charge of the dub [[AnimationAgeGhetto probably didn't anticipate anyone above the age of 5]] to be interested in the film.

** XI: Creator/MichaelClarkeDuncan as Big Daddy and Creator/CamrynManheim as Tria (also in XII).

** X: Creator/KieferSutherland as Bron, Creator/JamesGarner as Pat, and Creator/BernadettePeters as Sue.

* ScienceMarchesOn:
** A doubly amusing example in ''The Great Longneck Migration'': Sue, a ''Supersaurus'', is smitten when she meets an ''Ultrasauros'' who's even larger than she is. Not only has much of the original "Ultrasauros" material turned out to be from a ''Supersaurus'' (with the rest being from a larger-than-average ''Brachiosaurus''), but a recent find indicates that ''Supersaurus'' could get ''significantly'' larger than the "Ultrasauros" specimen.
** The Yellow Bellies don't bear even a remote resemblance to what Beipeiaosaurus actually looked like, although they do resemble generic therizinosaurs. Very, ''very'' cartooninised therizinosaurs. When they were concepted, there wasn't a lot of Beipiaosaurus material to go by, so their appearance wasn't so offensively backwards.

* CastingGag: The song "No One Has to Be Alone" from ''Journey to Big Water'' is sung by Littlefoot (Creator/ThomasDekker) and his friends during the movie, while the end credits version is sung by Music/DonnyOsmond. Funnily enough, Dekker played a young Donny Osmond on the 2001 live-action TV movie ''Inside the Osmonds''.

** VIII: Creator/RobertGuillaume as Mr. Thicknose.

** VII: Creator/MichaelYork as Pterano.

* SequelGap: After the thirteenth film, ''The Wisdom of Friends'' (2007), it would be nine years before the fourteenth film, ''Journey of the Brave'' (2016), would be released.

** VI: Creator/KrisKristofferson as Doc.

* TalkingToHimself: Not only did John Ingle provide the voice of Cera's father in the sequels and the TV series, he was also the narrator for the sequels as well.

* PosthumousCredit: Creator/JudithBarsi, who voiced Ducky in the original film, was murdered on July 28, 1988. The film was released nearly four months after her death.

* TroubledProduction: It's a wonder ''Land Before Time'' not only exists but is a wonderful children's film, considering the development '''was an utter mess'''. With so many consultants, writers and directors working on-board, ExecutiveMeddling was inevitable. Upon closer analysis and the weird pacing/transitioning of scenes you appreciate the film's story was trying to pull in three directions.

** The second, third, and fourth films feature a notable RoleReprise from Candace Hutson, the original voice of Cera, but every other character voiced in the first film was replaced in the second:

*** Creator/AnndiMcAfee, Scott's older sister, replaces Candace Hutson as Cera;
*** Aria Curzon replaces Heather Hogan as Ducky;
*** Miriam Flynn replaces Linda Gary as Littlefoot's grandma;

*** Creator/TressMacNeille, who had voiced Petrie's mother and Ducky's mother since the second film, sat out the fourteenth film; Creator/AnndiMcAfee took over as Petrie's mom and Meghan Strange as Ducky's.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: Creator/CartoonNetwork didn't treat this show very well when it first premiered. First, it aired during a timeslot when most children would be at school. After the premiere of "The Spooky Nighttime Adventure", the show was yanked from the schedule and replaced by an additional re-run of ''WesternAnimation/BabyLooneyTunes'', which on some days would be pre-empted by a movie (which would often be ''from the Land Before Time franchise itself''). They tried again in January 2008, and the same thing happened, except it was done to make room for ''WesternAnimation/TheMrMenShow''.