Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 17:18, 14 September 2007

For the Monkey Island character, see Sharptooth the Cannibal (Monkey Island).

Sharptooth is a term coined in The Land Before Time series. It is used to refer to predatory dinosaurs and other animals and also to one specific Tyrannosaurus.

Sharptooth

In the first entry of The Land Before Time series, a male Tyrannosaurus served as the antagonist of the story. This Sharptooth is particularly notable for having been the culprit which killed Littlefoot's mother, (and so far the only villain in the series to have been directly responsible for the death of a major character). This Sharptooth is consistently referred to as "Sharptooth" or "The Sharptooth", indicating that "Sharptooth" is his given name rather simply his species' name and marking him as a noted individual. Sharptooth was accidentally blinded by Littlefoot after being struck in his right eye by a thorny vine, and this eye is swollen shut throughout the remainder of the film.

Sharptooth was depicted possessing a near-supernatural level of strength, athleticism and durability for a Tyrannosaurus, shown by crawling through sharp thorns in pursuit of Littlefoot and Cera, from which he emerged nearly unharmed; withstanding multiple blows to the face from Littlefoot's mother's tail; slamming his head through solid rock with no apparent ill effects; and surviving a several-hundred-foot drop. He was also capable of massive leaps; even jumping several times his own height straight up into the air and onto a cliff at the film's climax. When viewed critically, as above, Sharptooth can be seen as the ultimate predator and enemy, though the protagonists eventually defeat him.

It was believed initially that Sharptooth had died in his fight with Littlefoot's Mother, after being pushed into a deep chasm during the great earthquake. However, Cera later crossed paths with him at the bottom of said chasm, where it was revealed that the fall merely sent him into a coma. Sharptooth thereafter followed Littlefoot and company, apparently for the purpose of devouring them to satisfy both his hunger and his wounded pride. He was finally vanquished when Littlefoot and his friends managed to set a trap for him. Using Ducky as bait, they lured him into the deep end of a pond, where they drowned him by means of tipping a boulder onto his chest. Sharptooth very nearly dragged Petrie down with him, though Petrie escaped by a narrow margin.

Chomper's Parents

Next to Sharptooth himself and the infant Sharptooth Chomper, Chomper's parents are the most prominent Sharptooth characters in the series. They appear in the films in which their son is featured. Chomper's parents are never given names.

Chomper's father has a darker shade of green hide and is more-or-less identical in appearance to the original Sharptooth, except that he does not always keep one eye closed. Chomper's mother, in contrast, is a much lighter shade of greenish brown. She is also the only explicitly female Sharptooth to have appeared in the entire series, (as opposed to Sharptooth, Redclaw and her Mate, which are specifically mentioned as males, and various anonymous Sharpteeth whose genders aren't made clear.)

Not much is known about Chomper's parents, though they have been shown to be very protective of their son; breaking into the Great Valley to search for him after his egg was accidentally taken into the valley by Littlefoot and the gang, and fighting to protect him from an aggressive foreign Sharptooth as well as Ozzy and Strut. Some humor is gleaned from Chomper's father's concern over some of his son's bizarre behavior, as well as from his slight sarcasm. There also is some humor from the pun expressed by his mate, who admonishes Chomper (who was then playing with Littlefoot) not to play with his food. Both of these are revealed in subtitles, due to the fact that Chomper's parents speak in a roar-based language intelligible only to other Sharpteeth. Although the two initially treat Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike only as prey, they later promise to maintain restraint as a reward for the herbivores' rescue of Chomper from an allosaur that had injured them.

Red Claw, Screech and Thud

They are the latest regularly occurring or recurring Sharpteeth and are the first Sharpteeth since Chomper to have been assigned names.

Red Claw is a Tyrannosaurus, with a long scar starting at his eye and extending down to the end of his arm. He is accompanied by Screech and Thud, a pair of Velociraptors who appear to function as his henchmen.

There seems to be a symbiotic relationship between Red Claw and the raptors; Ducky has once said "wherever Screech and Thud are, Red Claw is never far behind" and in at least one episode (The Hidden Canyon), the raptors actually led Red Claw to a breach in the wall protecting the Great Valley from predators. How or why they hunt together is currently unknown.

Similar to Littlefoot's being orphaned by Sharptooth, it is known that Red Claw and the raptors are responsible for the separation of Chomper and Ruby from their families.

Anonymous Sharpteeth

After the first movie, the term "Sharptooth" was extended to carnivores in general- Tyrannosaurs, Dromaeosaurids, and miscellaneous unidentified large theropods have been referred to as "Sharpteeth", and the term "Swimming Sharptooth" was coined for a shark and later extended to include a Liopleurodon.

Many Sharpteeth appear throughout the series, though they are portrayed more as random, wandering threats than as proper characters, none of them possessing the single-minded ferocity and seeming invincibility of the original. Although they are often perceived as mindless killers, being called "cowards" and "not very bright" by Littlefoot's father and grandfather respectively, The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure revealed that Sharpteeth are indeed sentient like the rest of the dinosaurs and that they even form loving families. (Chomper, however, does acknowledge the difficulty of friendship between herbivores and carnivores due to their differences.) Furthermore in The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island Sharpteeth are shown to be just as intelligent as other dinosaurs but simply speak a different language consisting of roaring and growling.

Chomper can speak in both the language of his parents and that of the other dinosaurs, making him (along with Mo) one of a very small number of bilingual dinosaurs in the series.

Voices of the Sharpteeth

Most of the Sharpteeth are voiced by Frank Welker, but Chomper is voiced by Rob Paulsen in The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure, Cannon Young in The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island, and Max Burkholder in The Land Before Time TV series. Danny Mann voiced an Allosaurus in The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock. In The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving, Frank Welker was credited for the Velociraptors. In The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses, when Lizzie and Skitter are tickling one of the Velociraptors on its back, it's heard laughing. It was Frank Welker who portrayed its laugh, but he was uncredited. Frank Welker (uncredited) also portrayed the laugh of the Spinosaurus in The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers, when it was heard laughing when it had its tonsils tickled by Guido. In the TV series, Red Claw and Screech are voiced by Pete Sepenuk; Thud is voiced by Rob Paulsen.

See also

• Theropods

• The Land Before Time
• The Land Before Time characters
• Film characters
• Fictional mass murderers
• Fictional thieves
• Fictional dinosaurs