The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire

The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire is the seventh movie in The Land Before Time series.

Plot
One night Littlefoot sees a "flying rock" (comet) falling from the sky and crashing into a mountain in the smoking mountain chains. The "flying rock's" appearance differs very much from any "flying rock" Littlefoot has seen so far, in that it is blue rather than yellow and flies almost parallell to the ground.

When Littlefoot tells about what he has seen the next morning most of the full grown dinosaurs in the Great Valley, none of whom has seen the flying rock, don't believe Littlefoot's story. However, two newcomers, the mysterious Rainbow Faces, step in all of a sudden and begin to speak eloquently of a "Stone of Cold Fire" and other wonders that might become known if the dinosaurs free themselves from limits and think "beyond the Mysterious Beyond". Littlefoot embraces it all, his imagination set to blazing. Unknown to anyone at first, Petrie's uncle Pterano has also heard. Being a highly ambitious and deceitful a character, he makes plans to take possession of the stone and its supposed powers. Pterono and two of his cronies named Rinkus and Sierra confront Littlefoot and Pterano and offer to help searching for the stone to prove its existence. Littlefoot refuses to search for the stone, feeling reluctance about Pterano whom he doesn't trust. Nor, in fact, does anyone trust Pterano, who once was expelled from the Herd on a charge of irresponsibility.

Following that, Pterano asks Petrie to get the information about the place where the "flying rock" landed from Littlefoot. This place is "Threehorn Peak", a volcano whose top bears a distinct resemblance to the head of a threehorn.

When Ducky is surprised by Sierra while eavesdroping on Pterano talking about his plans, she is abducted by Pterano who then sets out for Threehorn Peak, along with Rinkus and Sierra, to find the Stone of Cold Fire. In the aftermath of this, the full grown dinosaurs tell the baby dinosaurs about the original reason for Pterano's unpopularity. Having always considered himself higher in rank and abilities than all other dinosaurs Pterano convinced a group of dinosaurs to follow his leadership on the way to the Great Valley. Careless and over-confident, he led them right into an ambush of sharpteeth who attacked his group. Being able to escape by flying away Pterano was the only survivor of the group and expelled from the herd as a punishment for abandoning them.

The grownups however take their time to make up their mind on what to do about Pterano and the rescue of Ducky until Littlefoot and the others set out by themselves to save their friend.

After a long chase they manage to free Ducky who comforts Petrie, who is very distraught about his uncle's actions, stating that Pterano was the least wicked of the three flyers, and that the potential for "goodness" still lives in him. Littlefoot and the others continue to pursue the flyers hoping to reach the Stone of Cold Fire before them. With the help of the Rainbowfaces, whose sudden appearance came as quite a surprise to them, they manage to be on top of Threehorn Peak before the flyers arrival. In provision of the help, it is revealed that the Rainbow Faces have a more than saurian understanding of volcanism; they have the younglings stand on a slab of rock and allow the action of water flashing into steam to carry them. When they do arrive, however, the Stone ultimately turns out to be nothing more than an ordinary meteorite after all, save for its vivid blue color and metallic composition. Lamenting over this realization Pterano states that he had meant to create a paradise with the power of the stone, not seeing that this paradise already exists in the shape of the Great Valley. There is not much time for lamenting though as the volcano is coming to life. Just in the nick of time Petrie's mother arrives with a Quetzalcoatlus, to evacuate the baby dinosaurs from the errupting volcano. During this Pterano saves Ducky's life. For his wrongdoings Pterano is banished from the Great Valley into the Mysterious Beyond, though his saving of Ducky is held in his favor. Therefore his banishment is limited to the timespan of 5 cold times(years).

As night falls, Littlefoot finds the Rainbow Faces and asks them when they are leaving. A meteor flies overhead, and the female comments "Any moment now". Littlefoot, somewhat unnerved, puts the question to her and to her male companion; "There was never any such thing as the Stone of Cold Fire, was there?" The male Rainbow Face confirms this, adding that Littlefoot has an intellect remarkable for one of his species--strike that, his age. The Rainbow Faces go on to reiterate their claim that there is so much to be discovered-- so many unknowns!-- to be found "beyond the Mysterious Beyond". Before Littlefoot can react, he is suddenly distracted. When he looks again at the Rainbow Faces, they are gone. In their place is a crystalline pillar of light, which shimmers briefly and vanishes. As it goes, a meteor appears to rise away from the ground.

Behind Littlefoot, Cera, Spike, Ducky, and Petrie all come up. Littlefoot, inspired by the Rainbow Faces, reflects that there are so many unknowns, that such unknowns make life wonderful. His friends do not understand, but the statement is unharmed.

The disappearance of the Rainbow Faces has led to the speculation that they were extra-terrestrials who had visited Earth disguised as dinosaurs. Their knowledge of geology, astronomy, and their references to the intellect of species (the male is more voluble on such subjects) pseudo-supports this idea. Further speculation suggests that the so-called Stone of Cold Fire had some involvement with their arrival.

Voice Cast

 * Rob Paulsen .... Spike/Rinkus (voice)
 * Kenneth Mars .... Grandpa (voice)
 * Miriam Flynn .... Grandma (voice)
 * Jeff Bennett .... Petrie/Spokes Dinosaur (voice) (as Jeff Glenn Bennet)
 * Jim Cummings .... Sierra (voice)
 * Aria Curzon .... Ducky (voice)
 * Thomas Dekker .... Littlefoot (voice)
 * Patti Deutsch .... Rainbow Face #2 (voice)
 * John Ingle .... Cera's Dad (voice)
 * Charles Kimbrough .... Rainbow Face #1 (voice)
 * Tress MacNeille .... Ducky's Mom/Petrie's Mom (voice)
 * Anndi McAfee .... Cera (voice)
 * Michael York .... Pterano (voice)

Trivia

 * The first in the series to use digital ink and paint and computer techniques for the animation rather than transferring the characters to cels (I-VI).
 * The only whole thing about Rainbow Faces being extra-terrestrials indicates that they're aliens.
 * This was the second film in The Land Before Time film series without a narrator.