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The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock, directed by Charles Grosvenor, is the sixth installment in the Land Before Time film series. Originally released direct-to-video in 1998, it has subsequently been released on video and DVD many more times, as well as being periodically aired on several cartoon-based television channels.

The plot focuses on main character Littlefoot's admiration of a heroic but reclusive Diplodocus named Doc, whom he believes to be a legendary hero dubbed "The Lone Dinosaur". Despite being largely overlooked by the critics, and receiving mostly mixed reviews, the movie garnered a Young Artist Award for voice actress Aria Noelle Curzon (Ducky) in 2002.

Voice acting

The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock marked the first of four films in which Thomas Dekker provided the character Littlefoot's speaking and singing voice. He had previously provided Littlefoot's singing voice in The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island. This is the only film in the series in which Jeff Bennett provides the character Spike's voice in place of Rob Paulsen. It is also one of four films in which John Ingle does not serve as the narrator, however Grandpa Longneck (voiced by Kenneth Mars) provides the closing narration. In this film, Danny Mann voices the Allosaurus. The Tyrannosaurus in the movie are not voiced by a voice actor; they use stock sounds from real animals, though with altered pitches.

Plot

T-Rex2

The Lone Dinosaur, in combat with the Meanest Sharptooth.

The film begins with Grandpa Longneck telling the children a story theorizing on the creation of the world. This is followed by a legend involving the residents of the Great Valley, a number of generations before, and how one day, an extremely ferocious Sharptooth attacked them, but was ultimately defeated by the legendary Lone Dinosaur; a Longneck who was known to protect societies by disarming Sharpteeth with his whip-like tail, but who preferred to live in solitude. Grandpa Longneck continues that some time later, a large rock emerged from the ground, resembling a long neck and bearing life-sized Sharptooth teeth encircled around its neck, which supposedly came from the Sharptooth the Lone Dinosaur defeated. The monolith was named "Saurus Rock", and a legend was spread that bad luck would descend upon the valley if the monolith was ever damaged.

The next day, the children are playing, when Littlefoot accidentally slips off of a rotten log. Before he hits the ground, he is caught by a strange longneck (Diplodocus) who introduces himself only as "Doc" and gives no knowledge of his history. Littlefoot is intrigued by the newcomer, especially upon discovering that one of his eyes bears a scar similar to one the Lone Dinosaur was supposed to have received from the Meanest Sharptooth, and when he displays prior knowledge of the Great Valley's topography. Littlefoot is quick to assume that Doc is the Lone Dinosaur, and informs his friends of this theory, narrating an apparently extemporaneous legend to support his assumption. Though Cera is quick to point out that the legend takes place several generations before their time, and the Lone Dinosaur would have passed away long ago, Littlefoot insists that he is right, and goes on to say that Saurus Rock likely resembles Doc to a match.

Saurus Rock

Night-view of Saurus Rock, a monolith vaguely resembling the Lone Dinosaur, and said to bear the teeth of the sharptooth he defeated.

Cera's visiting niece and nephew, Dinah and Dana, two Threehorns who speak gibberish, in which Ducky translates for Cera, are intrigued by Littlefoot's theory and set off on their own to find Saurus Rock. Upon discovering their absence, and knowing that her father will be furious that she didn't watch them carefully, Cera urges the others to help her find the twins. After narrowly escaping a sharptooth along the way, they reach Saurus Rock and discover that the twins have climbed to the top of the monolith. In the process of retrieving them, one of the teeth on the neck of the monolith is knocked off, and they recall the bit of the legend involving the onset of bad luck. The Allosaurus then returns and gives chase. As it is pursuing them, they hide in a fallen log, which is thrown by the Sharptooth towards a gorge, where it becomes suspended between each side of the canyon. They carefully break out and creep to the other side, but the Sharptooth attempts to follow them across the gorge. The rotten log breaks under its weight after it foolishly bites a piece of it off, sending it plummeting into the ravine.

When they get home, Cera is confronted by her father, who sternly scolds her for not being watchful of the twins. Over the next few days, ill fortunes ranging from the water hole drying up to a vicious tornado begin to plague the valley. The adults blame Doc, in whose wake the misfortunes have apparently come. Littlefoot is convinced that the accident at Saurus Rock is responsible for the misfortunes, and eager to redeem himself and prevent Doc from being banished from the valley, he retraces his steps back to the canyon. He walks down protruding rocks on the cliffside and approaches the unconscious Sharptooth, but as he attempts to extract a tooth from inside its mouth, to replace the broken one, the Sharptooth wakes up and rises to its feet. Learning the predator is alive, Littlefoot jumps out of its mouth and flees. He escapes it, before he runs into a large T. rex that resembles the Meanest Sharptooth from the legend attacks him. Before he is eaten, his grandfather shows up and saves him. The Allosaurus then enters the fray, and the T. rex knocks down Grandpa Longneck, but then Doc arrives and saves him from the sharpteeth. The two Longnecks combine their efforts and imprison the sharpteeth in a landslide mound. As the gang celebrates, the selected tooth from the Allosaurus lands in front of the children, catching them offguard for a moment.

Littlefoot and his friends then retreive a tooth and repair the monolith, while Doc declares his departure, assuring Littlefoot that he already has a hero on whom to depend - his grandfather. Littlefoot later creates a legend of his own based on this new paradigm, portraying his grandfather as a savior, "The Great Dinosaur".

Production

SCRIPT Land Before Time VI The Secret of Saurus Rock, The (1998)

Title page for the script, dated April 29, 1996.

SCRIPT Land Before Time VI The Secret of Saurus Rock, The (1998)-Page 1

Page 1. The opening narration is completely different from the final film.

Not much is known about production; however, on June 1, 2019, the first draft script (dated April 29, 1996, two years before the film was released) was put up for sale on eBay. This means that the film was in production before The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island, and even The Land Before Time IV: Journey through the Mists (which had Roy Allen Smith as the director). All that is available is the preview, which only shows the title page as well as page 1. In page 1, the opening narration is nothing like it is in the film - this is the second time ever that evidence for a deleted scene in a The Land Before Time sequel had popped up, and both instances have happened in 2019.

Reception

Analysis

Brian Webster, on Apollo Guide, said he was tired of hearing the characters' catchphrases ("Yep, yep, yep!") and that he wished they would not portray the dinosaurs as living in nuclear families, sitting around campfires and listening to stories, as it makes them seem too human.[1] TheOnion.com, in its review for this film, mistook all of the Land Before Time movies to be associated with Don Bluth,[2] when only the first movie was.

Ratings

The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock has a current rating of 5.9 stars out of 10 at the Internet Movie Database, based on 564 votes.[3] It also has a rating of two and a half stars out of five at www.flixter.com, based on 624 user reviews.[4]

Awards and nominations

In 1999, The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock was nominated for an Annie award, for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Home Video Production, but lost to Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.[5] In 2002, voice actress Aria Noelle Curzon won a Young Artist Award for Outstanding Young Voice-Over, for her role as main character Ducky in The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock, as well as for voicing the character in The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island, The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire, and The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze.[6]

Music

Songs

The songs are written by Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom.

Soundtrack

  • 1: The Twins
  • 2: The Legend Of The Lone Dinosaur
  • 3: Saurus Rock Forms
  • 4: Littlefoot the Hero
  • 5: Thinking/Let's Play Lone Dinosaur
  • 6: Littlefoot talks to Doc
  • 7: The Great Migration (reused from the original film)
  • 8: The Twins and the Sharptooth
  • 9: The Rescue/Discovery of the Great Valley (reused from the original film)
  • 10: Saurus Rock
  • 11: Swimming Sharptooth (reused from the fifth film)
  • 12: Whispering Winds (reused from the original film)
  • 13: The Cave (reused from the second film)
  • 14: Littlefoot and The Lone Dinosaur/A Question Of Luck
  • 15: Tornado
  • 16: Sharptooth and the Earthquake (reused from the original film; the cut 19 seconds from it is used in the movie)
  • 17: Doc to the Rescue
  • 18: Littlefoot and Cera's Story

Cultural Influence

Merchandise

OriginalTLBT6videocover

The original VHS cover for The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock.

Universal Studios Home Video teamed up with Quaker Oats in a promotion for The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock. On January 3rd, 1999, Quaker Oats issued $1 off coupons on videos for the film; also including fifty cents off of a box of their "Dinosaur Eggs" cereal.[7]

The movie was originally released direct-to-video and laserdisc on May 18, 1999. It was released on VHS again on December 4th, 2001. On April 1st, 2003, it was released for the first time on DVD. On December 2nd that same year, it was released on DVD again, as well as being released on VHS for the final time, in the "4 Movie Dino Pack (Volume 2)" and the "9 Movie Dino Pack". The movie was released on DVD again in the "2 Mysteries Beyond the Great Valley" DVD, on November 29th, 2005. The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock was originally released on DVD on June 22, 1999.

TV Airings

The film aired on Cartoon Network throughout 2008.

United States

  • Disney Channel (1999-2004)
  • Toon Disney (1999-2004)
  • Cartoon Network (2000-2008)
  • STARZ (2017-present)

References in media

  • The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock is analyzed in the fifteenth episode of the twenty-first season of the Danish series Troldspejlet.
  • Beethoven's 3rd shows some scenes from this film.

References to media

  • "The Lone Dinosaur" seems to be a parody of The Lone Ranger. The character Doc also exhibits similar traits to characters played by John Wayne; his name even sounds similar to Wayne's nickname "The Duke".

Trivia/Goofs

  • This is the third film in which Cera cries, and the fourth film in which Littlefoot cries.
  • "Bad Luck" is Spike's second song.
  • This is the second film in which Grandpa Longneck got knocked over by a sharptooth when fighting with one. The first time happened in The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure when he was fighting Mama Sharptooth at a lake. In this film, the Canyon Sharptooth knocked him over by kicking him with his foot.
  • This is the last Land Before Time movie animated with traditional cel animation, which started with the original film. The following film onwards, plus the TV series are animated with digital ink and paint. For this reason later films are listed under "post-art shift" on this wiki.
  • This is the last Land Before Time film to be released in the 1990s, prior to the new millenium, starting in the year 2000.
  • In the scene where the gang are jumping in the bubbling mud pit, it seems to be very deep, an example of this being when Dinah & Dana push Cera in). However, while they are singing "The Legend of the Lone Dinosaur", the mud pit appears to be shallow enough for them to walk across it.
  • Some fans believe that Secret of Saurus Rock was originally supposed to be the final film in the Land Before Time series, due to a small gap between VI and VII. It is unknown whether or not this is the case.
  • If the Lone Dinosaur only comes when Sharpteeth enter the Great Valley, he should have come during The Great Valley Adventure, Invasion of the Tinysauruses, Journey of the Brave and the entire TV series. No Sharpteeth enter the Great Valley at any point in this film, however, so that part of the story is likely a myth.
  • When Grandpa Longneck states "Our life here is a sheltered one. Perhaps we've forgotten how to greet unexpected guests." his coloration is that of Grandma Longneck's.
  • When the Sharptooth drools on Cera, she mentions if it's gonna rain, this is actually the first time someone mentions the sky water by its real name "rain" even though they're always referring to it as sky water. However, Littlefoot calls it rain in The Legend of the Lone Dinosaur, he mentions it as ice rain.
  • This is the only film in which Spike is voiced by Jeff Bennett instead of Rob Paulsen.
  • This is the second The Land Before Time film to not be released the same year as one of the franchise's original creator Don Bluth's own films, the first being Journey Through the Mists.

Character Debuts

Recurring characters

One-off characters

Species debuts

Memorable quotes



Cera: And I can still remember the day when Dinah said her first words... or was it Dana? "Shiny peepeye no-no"; whatever that means.
Ducky: It is simple. That means "The bright circle is shining in my eyes and it hurts".
Cera: How do you know that?
Ducky: I am also a twin. Thirteen of us hatched at the same time. Thirteen twins.
Cera: So... what does "No-no Grampy three-dee grr" mean?
Ducky: That means "Do not make Grandpa Threehorn mad".
Cera: Are you sure about that one?
Ducky: No, but it is good advice just the same.


Littlefoot:' I just figured out who Doc is!
Cera: What's the big mystery? He's a squinty-eyed old Longneck with no friends.
Petrie: Me could have told you that!

Littlefoot: Who needs them, anyway? I'm a lone dinosaur; I don't need anyone! Gee, I wonder if all the other lone dinosaurs talk out loud to themselves like this? They must; it would be too quiet.

Littlefoot: (Inside the mouth of the Allosaurus) Good thing there's a breeze in here. Wait, a second. I'm. inside. a dead. Sharptooth. Why would there be a breeze? Unless...it's...breathing...but if it's breathing...then that means...IT'S ALIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!!!

Littlefoot: (Running into a Tyrannosaurus after escaping the Allosaurus) (panting) I think I lost........................HELP!!!!! I don't wanna be a Lone Dinosaur anymore!



Littlefoot: You came for me!
Cera: Don't we always?

Littlefoot: Doc! Doc! You don't have to leave. The time of bad luck's almost over.
Doc: It's about time I'd be goin' kid.
Littlefoot: Yeah, but....
Doc: This herd life's not for me. Too much talkin'.
Doc: Well, I'll be seeing you, kid.
Littlefoot: Oh, okay, Doc. And thanks!
Doc: Good luck, kid.
Littlefoot: Doc! Don't go too far! You'll never know when we might need a....a hero!
Doc (Turns toward Grandpa Longneck) You already got yourself a hero, kid.


'

(The gang mistake the foot of the Allosaurus for a tree trunk)
Littlefoot: One of these trees? I don't think so.
Cera: (Noticing the "tree trunk") Oh yeah? Watch this. (Rams the foot)
Littlefoot: Uh, nice one.
Cera: That sure didn't feel like a tree trunk.
Petrie: It no look like tree trunk either.
(The Allosaurus growls)
Ducky: And it does not sound like a tree trunk. No, no (They realize it's the Allosaurus), NOO!
(The Allosaurus begins to chase them)
Littlefoot: It is not a tree trunk!


'

Cera:  Then who is the Sharptooth?
Littlefoot:  Well, it should someone is pretty big and kinda pretty mean.
(After pondering for a bit, all look at Cera)
Cera: Me?

___________________________________

Gallery


References

  1. Brian Webster's review of The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock www.apolloguide.com Retrieved on April 26th, 2008.
  2. Hollywood California's The Onion.com review of The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock.[1] Retrieved on March 19th, 2008.
  3. The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock at the Internet Movie Database.
  4. The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock at www.flixter.com.
  5. The Annie Awards Ceremony of 1999, at theInternet Movie Database. Retrieved on August 28th, 2009.
  6. The 2002 Young Artist Awards Ceremony, at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on August 28th, 2009.
  7. Billboard magazine; 5 Dec 1998, page 107. ISSN 0006-2510 Published by Nielsen Business Media, Inc. [2]


External links

The Land Before Time
The Land Before Time films
The Land Before TimeThe Land Before Time II: The Great Valley AdventureThe Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great GivingThe Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the MistsThe Land Before Time V: The Mysterious IslandThe Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus RockThe Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold FireThe Land Before Time VIII: The Big FreezeThe Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big WaterThe Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck MigrationThe Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the TinysaurusesThe Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the FlyersThe Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of FriendsThe Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave
The Land Before Time television series
Season One
The Cave of Many VoicesThe Mysterious Tooth CrisisThe Star Day CelebrationThe Canyon of Shiny StonesThe Great Log Running GameThe Brave Longneck SchemeThe Meadow of Jumping WatersThe Days of Rising WatersEscape From The Mysterious BeyondThe Hidden CanyonThe Legend of the Story SpeakersThe Bright Circle CelebrationThe Lonely JourneyThe Missing Fast-Water AdventureThe Spooky Nighttime AdventureThe Lone Dinosaur ReturnsStranger From the Mysterious AboveThe Forbidden FriendshipThe Amazing Threehorn GirlThe Big Longneck TestThe Hermit of Black Rock • "Return to Hanging Rock" • March of the Sand CreepersSearch for the Sky Color StonesThrough the Eyes of a SpiketailThe Great Egg Adventure
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