The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock
Encyclopedia
The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock, is a 1998 and the sixth film in the series of animated adventure films called The Land Before Time
about five dinosaur
s who live in the Great Valley. This film was originally scheduled to be the last in the series. It is the first film in which Thomas Dekker
is the singing and speaking voice of Littlefoot.
", a legendary longneck who once protected the Great Valley from the most ferocious sharptooth ever to live. A fight ensued, which led to the Sharptooth's death. However, the sharptooth left "The Lone Dinosaur" with a scar slashed across his right eye. Soon after the battle, a huge monolith
that resembled a proud sauropod, having life-sized tyrannosaur teeth arranged around his neck, came out of the ground during an earthquake
. The dinosaurs called it "Saurus Rock". The legend also states that if anyone damages the monolith, bad luck would descend upon the valley.
A few days later when the kids are playing, Littlefoot accidentally falls off a cliff. Just before he hits the ground, a strange longneck dinosaur
rescues him. This longneck introduces himself only as "Doc" and gives no knowledge of his history. Littlefoot is intrigued by this newcomer, who is scarred across one eye and displays prior knowledge of the Great Valley's topography
.
For the preceding reasons, Littlefoot assumes that Doc is the Lone Dinosaur. He tells his friends this, narrating an apparently extemporaneous legend to support his assumption. Inspired, Cera's infant nieces, the twins Dinah and Dana, go to Saurus Rock without anyone noticing. Later when the friends are playing, they notice that Dinah and Dana are missing. Recalling their talk of the day before, they go to Saurus Rock to find them.
When they finally reach Saurus Rock, they see Dinah and Dana on the top. As they climb up to rescue them, Dinah and Dana fall off the top and land on Cera, causing the life-sized stone tooth on which she is standing to break off.
As they walk home, an Allosaurus
chases them. As they are being pursued, they cross a gorge via a suspended log, and as the Allosaurus follows them, he throws the log over the ravine. They start to get out, with no sign of the Allosaurus yet, until Spike gets stuck in a gap in the log. When he gets out, the Allosaurus breaks the log and falls into the ravine below.
When they get home, Cera is confronted by her father, who scolds her for losing the twins. Over the next few days, ill fortunes plague the valley. First Ducky and Spike are attacked and stung by wasps. Then the watering hole drys up. Then a tornado hits the valley. The adults blame Doc, in whose wake the misfortunes have apparently come, while Littlefoot blames himself and his friends, recalling the breaking of Saurus Rock.
Eager to prove himself a solitary hero so Doc can stay, Littlefoot attempts alone to take one of the Sharptooth's teeth to replace the broken stone. He discovers, as he attempts to extract the tooth, that the Allosaurus is still alive. While he is running, he crawls between a large boulder that the Allosaurus is trying to break through, and Littlefoot is confronted by a ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex resembling the one from the story, and the Tyrannosaurus Rex almost has him.
Just as the Tyrannosaurus Rex is near to him, he is rescued by his grandfather, who tells him to run as he finds his friends who lead his grandfather there. The Tyrannosaurus Rex is then joined by the Allosaurus
who broke through the boulder and are working together to take down his grandfather. The Allosauruss leg is suddenly grabbed and pulled down by Doc's tail, who helps his grandfather. The two sharpteeth try to make a clear shot together, but hit the rock tower instead. The two elders then combine their efforts and imprison the Sharpteeth by tearing down the rock tower. The children cheer as the sharpteeth have been defeated and have a tooth for Saurus Rock.
Littlefoot and his friends then complete Littlefoot's self-assigned mission. Doc departs, remarking as he goes that Littlefoot already has a hero on whom to depend, referring to Littlefoot's grandfather, as Littlefoot glances back at his grandfather carrying his friends to the neck of Saurus Rock. He then glances back at Doc, who is already almost out of sight, and then runs back to his grandfather. He asks his grandfather how the new tooth looked, His grandfather replies positively and Littlefoot wonders if the bad luck will finally be over. His grandfather starts to remind him, and Littlefoot finishes it for him that there is no such thing as bad luck, but that there'ss no harm in making sure. Littlefoot and Cera later build a legend of their own based on this new paradigm
, portraying Grandpa Longneck as a savior.
and Amanda McBroom
.
The Land Before Time (series)
The Land Before Time is a series of animated films centered on dinosaurs. The series began in 1988 with The Land Before Time, directed and produced by Don Bluth and executive produced by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. It was followed by a total of 12 direct-to-video sequels, though none...
about five dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s who live in the Great Valley. This film was originally scheduled to be the last in the series. It is the first film in which Thomas Dekker
Thomas Dekker (actor)
Thomas Alexander Dekker is an American film and television actor and a musician. He is also a singer and has written and produced two albums. He is best known for his roles as John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Nick Szalinski on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, and Zach...
is the singing and speaking voice of Littlefoot.
Plot
Littlefoot's grandfather one night tells the children a story about "The Lone DinosaurThe Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture....
", a legendary longneck who once protected the Great Valley from the most ferocious sharptooth ever to live. A fight ensued, which led to the Sharptooth's death. However, the sharptooth left "The Lone Dinosaur" with a scar slashed across his right eye. Soon after the battle, a huge monolith
Monolith
A monolith is a geological feature such as a mountain, consisting of a single massive stone or rock, or a single piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument...
that resembled a proud sauropod, having life-sized tyrannosaur teeth arranged around his neck, came out of the ground during an earthquake
Earthquake
An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...
. The dinosaurs called it "Saurus Rock". The legend also states that if anyone damages the monolith, bad luck would descend upon the valley.
A few days later when the kids are playing, Littlefoot accidentally falls off a cliff. Just before he hits the ground, a strange longneck dinosaur
Diplodocus
Diplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones...
rescues him. This longneck introduces himself only as "Doc" and gives no knowledge of his history. Littlefoot is intrigued by this newcomer, who is scarred across one eye and displays prior knowledge of the Great Valley's topography
Topography
Topography is the study of Earth's surface shape and features or those ofplanets, moons, and asteroids...
.
For the preceding reasons, Littlefoot assumes that Doc is the Lone Dinosaur. He tells his friends this, narrating an apparently extemporaneous legend to support his assumption. Inspired, Cera's infant nieces, the twins Dinah and Dana, go to Saurus Rock without anyone noticing. Later when the friends are playing, they notice that Dinah and Dana are missing. Recalling their talk of the day before, they go to Saurus Rock to find them.
When they finally reach Saurus Rock, they see Dinah and Dana on the top. As they climb up to rescue them, Dinah and Dana fall off the top and land on Cera, causing the life-sized stone tooth on which she is standing to break off.
As they walk home, an Allosaurus
Allosaurus
Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...
chases them. As they are being pursued, they cross a gorge via a suspended log, and as the Allosaurus follows them, he throws the log over the ravine. They start to get out, with no sign of the Allosaurus yet, until Spike gets stuck in a gap in the log. When he gets out, the Allosaurus breaks the log and falls into the ravine below.
When they get home, Cera is confronted by her father, who scolds her for losing the twins. Over the next few days, ill fortunes plague the valley. First Ducky and Spike are attacked and stung by wasps. Then the watering hole drys up. Then a tornado hits the valley. The adults blame Doc, in whose wake the misfortunes have apparently come, while Littlefoot blames himself and his friends, recalling the breaking of Saurus Rock.
Eager to prove himself a solitary hero so Doc can stay, Littlefoot attempts alone to take one of the Sharptooth's teeth to replace the broken stone. He discovers, as he attempts to extract the tooth, that the Allosaurus is still alive. While he is running, he crawls between a large boulder that the Allosaurus is trying to break through, and Littlefoot is confronted by a ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex resembling the one from the story, and the Tyrannosaurus Rex almost has him.
Just as the Tyrannosaurus Rex is near to him, he is rescued by his grandfather, who tells him to run as he finds his friends who lead his grandfather there. The Tyrannosaurus Rex is then joined by the Allosaurus
Allosaurus
Allosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros...
who broke through the boulder and are working together to take down his grandfather. The Allosauruss leg is suddenly grabbed and pulled down by Doc's tail, who helps his grandfather. The two sharpteeth try to make a clear shot together, but hit the rock tower instead. The two elders then combine their efforts and imprison the Sharpteeth by tearing down the rock tower. The children cheer as the sharpteeth have been defeated and have a tooth for Saurus Rock.
Littlefoot and his friends then complete Littlefoot's self-assigned mission. Doc departs, remarking as he goes that Littlefoot already has a hero on whom to depend, referring to Littlefoot's grandfather, as Littlefoot glances back at his grandfather carrying his friends to the neck of Saurus Rock. He then glances back at Doc, who is already almost out of sight, and then runs back to his grandfather. He asks his grandfather how the new tooth looked, His grandfather replies positively and Littlefoot wonders if the bad luck will finally be over. His grandfather starts to remind him, and Littlefoot finishes it for him that there is no such thing as bad luck, but that there'ss no harm in making sure. Littlefoot and Cera later build a legend of their own based on this new paradigm
Paradigm
The word paradigm has been used in science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek "παράδειγμα" , "pattern, example, sample" from the verb "παραδείκνυμι" , "exhibit, represent, expose" and that from "παρά" , "beside, beyond" + "δείκνυμι" , "to show, to point out".The original Greek...
, portraying Grandpa Longneck as a savior.
Cast
- Thomas DekkerThomas Dekker (actor)Thomas Alexander Dekker is an American film and television actor and a musician. He is also a singer and has written and produced two albums. He is best known for his roles as John Connor in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Nick Szalinski on Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, and Zach...
.... Littlefoot - Anndi McAfeeAnndi McAfeeAnndi Lynn McAfee is an American actress, voice actress and the older sister of Scott McAfee.-Biography/Career:McAfee was born in Los Angeles, California. She started performing on stage when she was 7 years old and began working on film projects a year later...
.... Cera - Aria CurzonAria CurzonAria Noelle Curzon is an American actress and singer. Her most famous voice roles are Ducky in The Land Before Time video series, Theresa in Recess, and Mandy Straussberg in the radio drama Adventures in Odyssey...
... Ducky - Jeff BennettJeff BennettJeffrey Glenn "Jeff" Bennett is an American voice actor and musician, listed "among the top names in the voice-over field", best known as the voice of Johnny Bravo in the series of the same name...
.... Petrie - Rob PaulsenRob PaulsenRobert Fredrick "Rob" Paulsen III , sometimes credited as Rob Paulson, is an American voice actor, best known as the voice behind Raphael from the 1987 cartoon of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Yakko Warner and Dr...
... Spike - Nancy CartwrightNancy CartwrightNancy Campbell Cartwright is an American film and television actress, comedian and voice artist. She is best known for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons...
.... Dana - Sandy FoxSandy FoxSandra Marie "Sandy" Fox is an American voice actress who has had numerous roles in various animated cartoon and Japanese anime series, and video games....
.... Dinah - Kris KristoffersonKris KristoffersonKristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson is an American musician, actor, and writer. He is known for hits such as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night"...
.... Doc - Kenneth MarsKenneth MarsKenneth Mars was an American television, movie, and voice actor. He may be best-remembered for his roles in several Mel Brooks films: the insane Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in 1968's The Producers, and the relentless Police Inspector Hans Wilhelm Fredrich Kemp in 1974's Young Frankenstein...
.... Grandpa Longneck - Miriam FlynnMiriam FlynnMiriam Flynn is an American voice actress and character actress. She is best known as Cousin Catherine in the National Lampoon's Vacation franchise. As a voice artist, she has been featured in The Land Before Time series, Taz-Mania as the title character's mother, Jean, Poil in The Spooktacular...
.... Grandma Longneck - John IngleJohn IngleJohn Ingle is an American actor known for his role as scheming patriarch Edward Quartermaine on the ABC daytime drama, General Hospital.-Career:...
.... Cera's Dad - Nick Barcelona .... Young BranchiosaurusBranchiosaurusBranchiosaurus is a genus of small, lightly built early prehistoric amphibians. Fossils have been discovered in strata dating from the late Pennsylvanian Epoch to the Permian Period...
- Danny MannDanny MannDaniel "Danny" Mann is an American voice actor, writer, singer, musician, and production manager. He is best known for his voice of Hector from Heathcliff and the Catillac Cats, Freeway, Cloudraker and Lightspeed in Transformers, Backwoods Beagle in DuckTales, Kaltag in Balto, Ferdinand from Babe,...
.... AllosaurusAllosaurusAllosaurus is a genus of large theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 150 million years ago during the late Jurassic period . The name Allosaurus means "different lizard". It is derived from the Greek /allos and /sauros... - Frank WelkerFrank WelkerFranklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
.... Tyrannosaurus Rex
Songs
The songs are written by Michele BrourmanMichele Brourman
Michele Brourman is an American songwriter who is well known for writing the songs to most of the films in Land Before Time series , as well as the accompanying television series . She has also written the songs for sequels Balto II: Wolf Quest and Balto III: Wings of Change and one song for the...
and Amanda McBroom
Amanda McBroom
Amanda McBroom is an American singer, songwriter and cabaret performer. One of the songs she has written is "The Rose", which Bette Midler sang in the film of the same name...
.
- The Legend of the Lone Dinosaur
- Bad Luck
- On Your Own
Home video release history
- December 1, 1998 (VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and laserdiscLaserdiscLaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
- Universal Family Features) - December 4, 2001 (VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
) - April 1, 2003 (DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
) - December 2, 2003 (VHSVHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
- 4 Movie Dino Pack (Volume 2) and 9 Movie Dino Pack) - November 29, 2005 (DVDDVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
- 2 Mysteries Beyond the Great Valley)
Cultural references
- Beethoven's 3rdBeethoven's 3rdBeethoven's 3rd is the second sequel to the 1992 film, Beethoven. Additionally, this is the third installment in the Beethoven film series...
shows some scenes from this film. - "The Lone Dinosaur" is a parody of The Lone RangerThe Lone RangerThe Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture....
. Doc also contains similar traits to characters played by John WayneJohn WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
, Doc's name even sounding similar to Wayne's nickname, "Duke".