The Land Before Time (also known as The Land Before Time: The Series) is an American animated musical television series, based on The Land Before Time film series created by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss. It was developed for television by Ford Riley for Cartoon Network and was produced by Universal Animation Studios and Amblin Entertainment (Amblin Entertainment produced the first film with Sullivan Bluth Studios), and animated by Wang Film Productions in Taiwan and Toon City in the Philippines. It premiered on YTV in Canada for a test on January 5, 2007 and premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on March 5. It was made as traditionally animated with CGI backgrounds, which the past sequels from The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration onwards have used, with occasional cel-shaded computer-animated characters in wide shots. The main antagonists in the series are Red Claw, an evil villainous Tyrannosaurus, and Screech and Thud, a pair of henchmen Deinonychus. The TV series takes place after the events of The Wisdom of Friends and before the events of Journey of the Brave, due to Chomper and Ruby being absent in the former.

Voice cast

Main

Recurring

Guest appearances

Episodes

Season 1 (2007)

Season 2 (2008)

Broadcast

The show premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on March 5, 2007. It also aired on Boomerang in the United Kingdom on April 16 the same year. The show has never aired on either Cartoon Network in the United States or on YTV in Canada since March 2008. The show began airing in reruns on Sprout in January 2017. It aired on Spacetoon on January 1, 2011 after Spacetoon English closed and the Spacetoon Group was rebranded. It aired on TV Russia on May 2, 2009 after TV Russia Service Television (TV RSTV) closed. Reruns of the series began airing on Universal Kids upon the channel's launch on September 9, 2017.

Reception

Michael D. Schaffer of the Philadelphia Inquirer said that the animation in the series, although below that of the original 1988 film, was above-average for modern television. Although he praised the theme song, saying it had a "bouncy, almost calypso beat", he was less pleased with the songs "Adventuring" and "Talking Big". He finally described the series as "bland, inoffensive stuff", and appropriate viewing for very young audiences.

Merchandise

Universal Studios Consumer Products Group and Playmates Toys announced a domestic licensing agreement, whereby Playmates served as the master toy license for the then-upcoming animated television series, The Land Before Time. The 22-minute animated series aired on Cartoon Network beginning in spring 2007. The toy line launched in fall 2007 with the introduction of a full line of figures, vehicles, playsets and plush.

Home media

Twenty-four episodes of the series were released on DVD by Universal Studios Home Entertainment between 2007–2008 in North America (region 1) and 2010 in Australia (region 4) in the form of six four-episode volumes. A six-disc box set was later released in the UK (region 2) in 2012 containing the 24 episodes from the previous volumes. Two episodes were not included in those releases: "The Hidden Canyon" and "The Big Longneck Test". Only "The Hidden Canyon" was later released as a special feature on the stand-alone DVD release of The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends. In June 2022, a complete TV series DVD was released, not only marking the first time "The Big Longneck Test" has been released on home media but also the first time any episode has been released in widescreen format on a Region 1 DVD.

Music

The songs are written by Michele Brourman (music) and Ford Riley (lyrics). The theme song is performed by the South African choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The theme is written by Roc Gagliese, Steve D'Angelo, and Terry Tompkins of the eggplant. The music score is by Cory Lerios.