Sharptooth

Sharptooth is an evil Tyrannosaurus Rex from The Land Before Time.

His true name is never revealed; the name given by the characters, 'Sharptooth', refers to the name of his species, and in production art, he is simply labelled "Tyrannosaurus Rex". Sharptooth was also referred to as "the Rex" (and "that Rex" by Littlefoot at one point) in the May 1987 draft of the film's script, and by both Don Bluth and Gary Goldman. Sharptooth has sometimes been referenced in media.

Appearances

 * The Land Before Time (1988)

The Land Before Time
Sharptooth first appears when he approaches Littlefoot and Cera, who are playing together in a swamp. Sharptooth, who is probably hungry, chases them into a thicket of thorns. He plods through the thorns after them and leans down through the thorns to catch Littlefoot. The young Longneck tries to run but gets caught on a vine. As Sharptooth nears him, he escapes and the thorn-covered vines snap back at Sharptooth's face, injuring his right eye and causing him to bellow out in pain. Furious, Sharptooth stands up and resumes his pursuit of the two children, only for Littlefoot's Mother to intercept him. In the ensuing fight, Sharptooth is hit several times with her tail but eventually, succeeds in jumping onto the large Longneck's back and tears off some of her flesh. She manages to dislodge him and knock him back again, but as the herbivores attempt to escape, a massive earthquake strikes the area. Quickly recovering, Sharptooth charges in the direction of Littlefoot and Cera again, partially trying to dispose of the two youngsters and partly in an attempt to save his own life from the raging earthquake. In their panic, the children are flipped onto Sharptooth's foot, and at that moment the quake tears the ground beneath them apart, and Sharptooth slides down the slope with his would-be prey on his back. As the children yell for help, Littlefoot's mother comes to the rescue; she grabs the children and knocks Sharptooth off the edge, sending him falling into the chasm below. Littlefoot's mother dies later that night, probably due to severe infections from the wounds on her back inflicted by Sharptooth.

Later, after falling into the "Big Underground" herself, Cera finds Sharptooth's apparently dead body. Cera rams his head repeatedly until he suddenly awakes, having only been knocked out and was staring straight at her with his not completely damaged eye. The young dinosaur quickly flees in terror as the beast rises behind her. Shortly afterwards, she meets up with Littlefoot and his new friends; Ducky, a Bigmouth, and Petrie, a Flyer. Cera explains her encounter with Sharptooth, but exaggerates it, making it sound as if she bravely fought him. While Ducky and Petrie believe Cera immediately, Littlefoot is convinced that Sharptooth has been killed.

He holds this belief until, one morning, the fearsome beast himself ambushes the gang (by then including a Spiketail named Spike). The children barely manage to escape Sharptooth though a small hole in a rock wall, which he tries to squeeze through while snapping and clawing at the children, but, is too big to fit through and they escape.

The next day, a humiliated Cera has left them after they escaped a volcanic region she herself lead them into. Littlefoot, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike happen to see Sharptooth nearby while they are swimming in a deep lake. Tired of running and intent on avenging his mother, Littlefoot, guessing that Sharptooth can't swim, comes up with a plan to get rid of him for good. Baiting him with Ducky, they set their plan into motion. Sharptooth chases Ducky to the lake, while Petrie stands on a nearby ledge waiting to give a signal to Littlefoot and Spike, who are waiting to push a huge boulder off of a ledge onto Sharptooth. However, even after Sharptooth accidentally helps Petrie master his flight abilities, the plan is seemingly doomed to fail until Cera returns and helps push the boulder down onto Sharptooth.

In a final act of rage and desperation, Sharptooth takes Petrie down with him as he plunges into the lake sinking to the bottom which kills him, ending his terror and avenging Littlefoot's mother. After moments, the remaining children start to walk away, believing Petrie to be dead. However the Flyer manages to surface and fly back to his friends, and they all rejoice and then they go to The Great Valley. (Note: If you watch the scene where Sharptooth lands in the water in slow motion, you can see that Sharptooth had opened his mouth before the boulder crushed him. This could explain why Petrie was safe and wet.)

The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration
Sharptooth is mentioned briefly in that film, when Bron mentions to Littlefoot that he met someone who told him what happened to Littlefoot's mother.

Trivia

 * This Land Before Time character does not speak; he just roars.
 * Sharptooth appears in a 2000 Marshmallow Alpha-Bits commercial featuring The Land Before Time characters.
 * He is similar in appearance to Papa Sharptooth, The Biggest, Meanest, Most Ferocious Sharptooth Ever & The Canyon Sharptooth.

Voices

 * Frank Welker (1988, Vocal Effects, Original Film)