Disney Does Dinosaurs! Part 1: The Land Before Time (1987)
Nostalgia was Way Better when I was a Kid Netsite, August 17th, 2000
In 1986 Jim Henson and associate directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, along with Amblin producer and Henson daughter Lisa, were discussing ideas for a new animatronic-based film as a follow up to the hit
Labyrinth. Reportedly, Henson and Spielberg said the words “Dinosaurs” at the exact same time.
Spielberg and Lucas were both big fans of the “Rite of Spring” sequence from
Fantasia. Spielberg had wanted to do something involving dinosaurs for a while and had considered pitching the idea as an animated feature. But the sheer realism of the animatronic effects coming out of the Disney Creatureworks, which many in the industry still called the
Henson Creatureworks, made the idea of an animatronic film a natural. “The Natural History Project” was born[1].
Not this…
At first, they planned to make it silent, without dialog, like an extended nature documentary. However, that idea was quickly scrapped in favor of an original story that would appeal to children. Lucas suggested the name “The Land Before Time Began.” This was shortened to
The Land Before Time and a classic film (and a blessing to antipsychotic pharmaceutical manufacturers everywhere) was born.
Frank Oz was called in to direct and screenwriter William Stout was ultimately selected to write the screenplay with some script doctoring by Judy Freiberg. What emerged was the story of a grizzled old Parasaurolophus who leads a group of young herbivores on a quest to find a mythic green valley, all the while stalked by various villainous carnivores. “Rolo” the old Parasaurolophus leads and teaches young Corythosaurus “Cory”, a pair of dim-witted “Tweddle Dee and Tweddle Dum” inspired Pachycephalosaurs named “Seth” and “Packer”, a “woeful” ankylosaur named “Kyle”, and a “haughty” Styracosaur named “Stryker”[2].
They are pursued by comic relief/your worst nightmares come true Ovi, Velo, and Dromeo, a pack of “raptors” determined to catch and eat our protagonists (Oviraptor, Velociraptor, and Dromaeosaur, respectively). Prior to this film, your average viewer had no idea what a “raptor” was, surprisingly enough, and this feature is credited with making Dromaeosaurs and Velociraptors as famous as Tyrannosaurs and Ceratopsians[3]. And they were at once scary AF and rather amusing in a “Shakespearian Clowns” crossed with
Three Stooges kind of way. Interestingly, it was the three raptors that would cause the biggest fan controversy, as all three were adorned with feathers! Today it’s “common knowledge” that dinosaurs had feathers, but really only paleontologists and “dino nerds” knew or accepted this in 1987. Spielberg even hesitated about adding the feathers, knowing that audiences would have a hard time accepting them, but Henson won out, and posterity has celebrated the fact that Disney did Dino-feathers two decades before anyone else.
Looming over all of this was the Tyrannosaurus, nicknamed “Sharptooth” by the protagonists, who never spoke or had any overt personality. Rather, he (she?) was a sort of looming menace and symbol of mortality rather than antagonist with any overt goals. Sharptooth and the Raptors (hey, did I just come up with an awesome band name?) stalk our protagonists as they make their way to the fabled green valley, the heroes learning important lessons like teamwork, getting along, and celebrating each other’s differences and talents. The story was largely character driven with the overall plot there to serve as a vehicle for the life’s lessons and fabulous immersive practical effects that drove the story.
Henson’s Creatureworks knocked one out of the park here, making
The Dark Crystal and
Labyrinth looks quaint by comparison. For the distance shots, particularly with herds of dinosaurs, they enlisted ILM, specifically Phil Tippett, to develop “Go Motion” effects. Paleontologists Jack Horner, Robert T. Bakker, and Phil Currie provided technical consultation on how the dinosaurs should move and act. All of the effects required a staggering for the time $32 million, mostly funded through Silver Screen Tax Shelter Partners XVIII or whatever (I’m sure Dow Pharmaceutical must be one of the “partners” given how many SSRIs these ‘80s Disney movies have sold). Naturally, being about dinosaurs, the International Unit off Obsession in children, it made over $105 million at the box office and was a certified hit[4]. It spawned two sequels that didn’t perform as well but still made a worthwhile profit (1990’s
TLBT 2: Cera’s Troop and 1995’s
TLBT 3: The Reign of Sharptooth, both of which integrated computer effects in with the animatronics) as well as a few “Shorts” and a four-season TV series using the old animatronics and sets. A spin-off film, 1994’s
The Frost Giants, followed a team of animatronic Mammoths, Wooly Rhinos, and other Ice Age critters, this time pursued by predators like “Smiley” the Smilodon.
TLBT would also spawn a dark ride at the Adventure Lands at various Disney parks.
The Land Before Time is considered a watershed moment in animatronic effects. It would win the Oscar and Golden Globe alike for the effects. Although not a musical, the soundtrack, including “We All Stand Together” by Diana Ross, was popular and sold gold. All four films remain good sellers on home media and the original is considered a Disney Classic and can amaze viewers even today when immersive, breathtaking effects are becoming so common as to be blasé. And while I for one wasn’t young enough at that point to see my childhood traumas reinforced, the lifelike effects and frightening visuals with the villainous raptors and Sharptooth did their part to keep the SSRI industry afloat through the next generation of kids.
And yes, since you asked, it sold a gross metric fuk-ton of toys, merch, and tie-in video games, including the classic Nintendo, Atari, and Sega games, and still sells merch both to new generations of young fans and nostalgic twenty-somethings trying to deal with the stress of life as a cubicle drone.
The Land Before Time remains one of the signature triumphs of the Creatureworks and ILM and a classic film. Paleontologists, dino nerds, and average audiences alike marveled at it then and still marvel today.
The Xanax is optional.
[1] In this timeline Spielberg’s idea for an animated dinosaur feature merges with Jim Henson and William Stout’s
The Natural History Project (follow link for art that I couldn't post here) to become a Disney Creatureworks animatronic creation here rather than a Bluth-made movie turned series of movies turned franchise zombie (I personally can’t wait to see
The Land Before Time LXIX: The Fun Goes Extinct). In our timeline, Henson abandoned the project when Bluth/Amblin announced the release of
The Land Before Time. And a Parasaurolophus crest-tip to
@Plateosaurus and
@Nathanoraptor for reminding me of this project.
[2] Voiced by Judith Barsi. More on her later.
[3] While us “dinosaur nerds” were fully aware of how undeniably awesome raptors were in the 1980s (I “retired” Tyrannosaurus Rex as my favorite dinosaur in the mid ‘80s in favor of Deinonychus) most wouldn’t come to learn about them in our timeline until
Jurassic Park.
[4] Compare to $85 million for the Bluth film of the same name. Here the sheer awe of the for the time revolutionary special effects has driven a larger “novelty” attendance there to see the eye candy, much as
Jurassic Park did in our timeline. Otherwise, the same audience that flocked to the Bluth feature in our timeline has flocked to this one for pretty much the same reasons.
Amazing.
