The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock

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.

Plot
The movie 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 were ever damaged.

The next day, the children are playing, when Littlefoot accidentally slips off a cliff edge. 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 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.

Cera's visiting niece and nephew, Dinah and Dana, 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 an 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. TheAllosaurus then returns and gives chase. As she 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 her weight, sending her 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 plaguing 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 her mouth, to replace the broken one, the Sharptooth wakes up and rises to her feet. Littlefoot jumps out of her mouth and flees. As the Sharptooth corners him, he is rescued by his grandfather. A large T-Rex then enters the fray, but is subdued by Doc. The two Longnecks combine their efforts and imprison the Sharptooth in a landslide mound.

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.

Cast

 * Thomas Dekker as Littlefoot
 * Anndi McAfee as Cera
 * Aria Noelle Curzon as Ducky
 * Jeff Bennett as Petrie/Spike
 * Kenneth Mars as Grandpa Longneck
 * Miriam Flynn as Grandma Longneck
 * John Ingle as Cera's Dad
 * Danny Mann as the female Allosaurus
 * Kris Kristofferson as Doc
 * Nancy Cartwright as Dana
 * Sandy Fox as Dinah
 * Nick Barcelona as the Brachiosaurus boy
 * Frank Welker as Meanest Sharptooth

Songs
The songs are written by Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom.
 * The Legend of the Lone Dinosaur
 * Bad Luck
 * On Your Own

Soundtrack

 * The Twins
 * Doc Vs The Meanest Sharptooth
 * Creation of Saurus Rock
 * Littlefoot the Hero
 * Let's Play Lone Dinosaur
 * Littlefoot talks to Doc
 * The Great Migration
 * The Twins and the Sharptooth
 * The Rescue
 * Saurus Rock
 * Swimming Sharptooth
 * Whispering Winds
 * The Cave
 * Littlefoot and The Lone Dinosaur
 * Tornado
 * Sharptooth and the Earthquake
 * Doc to the Rescue
 * Littlefoot and Cera's Story

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 Unidentified Sharptooth knocked him over by kicking him with his foot.
 * This is the last Land Before Time movie animated with traditional cel animation. The remaining films & the TV Series are animated with digital ink & paint.
 * In the scene where the gang are jumping in the bubbling mud pit it seems to be very deep (such as 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.
 * This was originally intended to be the last film in The Land Before Time series.
 * Plot hole: If The Lone Dinosaur only comes when Sharpteeth enter the Great Valley, where was he during Great Valley Adventure or Invasion of the Tinysauruses?
 * Goof: 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.

Character Debuts
Recurring characters One-off characters Species debuts
 * Doc
 * Dinah & Dana
 * The female Allosaurus
 * The T-Rex at the end of the film
 * The T-rex at the beginning of the film in the story
 * The unnamed Brachiosaurus kid in the story
 * Diplodocus
 * Allosaurus
 * Lambeosaurus
 * Yangchuanosaurus
 * Postosuchus