Petrie

Petrie (a.k.a. "Panicky Petrie", as he is called on the official website, and by fans ), originally voiced by Will Ryan and later by Jeff Bennett, is one of the original main characters in the animated The Land Before Time films and television series. He is also one of only three characters to appear in every movie and TV episode. He is a type of Pterosaur known as a Pteranodon, which is one of many creatures called a "flyer" by the characters in the series. When the main characters are listed in order, Petrie is usually listed between Ducky and Spike, but if Spike is listed immediately following Littlefoot and Cera, Petrie is listed last after Ducky.

Petrie is raised by his mother, together with his brothers and sisters, and has an uncle named Pterano, who appeared in The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire. Petrie is very timid and nervous most of the time, and was afraid to learn how to fly in the original film until the very end. The character's most notable aspect is his improper grammar usage. He was at first intended to be the comic relief for the original film, but the critical reviews on the character's comedy were relatively negative. They have since improved, although concerns over Petrie's broken English and the way it could affect children have persisted. Though with a minor cultural impact, Petrie is popular with fans of the series, and his relationship with both the main character Ducky, and his uncle serve as inspiration for many fanfiction stories on The Land Before Time.

Personality
Petrie is portrayed as an amiable but naive and nervous character. He panics easily, and fears doing anything new or dangerous; thus he is often dependant on his friends for support and encouragement. He is constantly shown trying to find ways to exercise his bravery, though often to no avail. He therefore tends to idolize or admire people whom he thinks are very strong and brave, a particular example being his uncle Pterano up until the end of the seventh movie. Another example is in the TV episode "The Brave Longneck Scheme", when he expresses interest in Rhett upon hearing of his supposed defeats of multiple Sharpteeth. Despite his reluctance, he always pulls through when his friends need his help.

It is also shown on several occasions that Petrie is superstitious. In "The Canyon of Shiny Stones", Petrie is reluctant to go past the smoking mountain which lies next to the Canyon of Shiny Stones, because he believes it "does not like flyers". Later, when he tries to fly over it to prove his bravery, and the mountain begins to spew, he cries "Me never should have tried it, me make the mountain mad!" In "The Meadow of Jumping Waters", he frets over the red tickly treestars which Spike devoured, claiming that his Uncle Pterano told him he heard of someone having bad luck when they had eaten treestars of that sort. Petrie then blames every misfortune which befalls the children during their search for the the Meadow of Jumping Waters on the treestars.

In the TV episode "The Days of Rising Water", Petrie reveals that he's had what he calls a "snuggling stick" ever since he and the other original main characters first arrived in the Great Valley. He uses it to comfort himself when nervous, or when sleeping.

Petrie has a fear of clouds (referred to as "Sky Puffies", by the characters), as seen in The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers. This is referenced again in the TV episode "The Mysterious Tooth Crisis", when Chomper's tooth falls off a cliff and Petrie flies down to catch it. When he returns, Ducky and Littlefoot remark that he just flew through the clouds, to Petrie's shock.

Petrie's naivete has been noticeable on multiple occasions. He is often manipulated to do or believe something by the other characters; most notably in The Stone of Cold Fire, when his uncle convinced him of his bravery and wisdom, and later got him to inquire Littlefoot on the estimated whereabouts of the stone. Petrie also tends to trust others very easily.

Flying
Petrie was afraid of flying in the original movie, and though it embarassed him, he still refused to try, although he would eagerly inquire if he had flown upon having fallen to the ground. However, when the Sharptooth attacked them for the final time, he managed to summon the courage and breath to start flying.

He becomes, more or less, the central character in The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers, when he and his siblings have to complete a flight ordeal to show that they have become adults. He prefers flying by himself, however, and thusly has trouble flying in group formation and staying so. His uniqueness ends up being the "key" to completing the day, changing the Great Day of the Flyers forever.

Linguistics
Petrie speaks in a sort of broken English. For instance, he tends to use "me" when "I" would be grammatically correct (ex. "Me hungry" rather than "I'm hungry"). This, however, only began happening after his final encounter with the original sharptooth. Also, he usually omits linking verbs, and may say things such as "He so nice" instead of "He is so nice". Petrie has also been known to refer to himself in a third person, meaning that he calls himself by his own name. It is uncertain why he speaks in this manner, as all of his siblings appear to speak normally.

Family
Petrie's family consists of a mother, several brothers and sisters, and an uncle named Pterano. His father has never been seen, even in the original film. Petrie's mother is very attentative to her children, and Petrie seems to have a good mother-son relationship with her. His relationship with his brothers and sisters is settled for the most part, although they get flustered with him at times, such as in The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers, when he keeps falling out of line with the group. Another instance is in the TV episode "The Cave of Many Voices", when he tries to use a leaf as an umbrella for himself and his siblings, but accidentally spills the water that had gathered on the leaf all over them.

Petrie at first looked up to his Pterano, thinking he could do no wrong, and found it hard to accept his uncle's behaviour in The Stone of Cold Fire. He is also very defensive of him, and when Cera told him of bad things her father had said about Pterano, and expressed agreement on them, Petrie made nasty remarks about her. At the end of the film, however, Petrie accepted that Pterano was not as smart and brave as he had originally thought.

Main characters
Petrie seems to have a strong relationship with Ducky; he is seen with her more often than with the other main characters, and Ducky continually offers him comfort and consolement when he is unhappy. Petrie has described Littlefoot as "his best friend", on a few occasions, specifically in The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses. After speaking very harshly to Littlefoot the day after finding out it was his fault that the Tinysauruses ate all of the tree sweets, Petrie, Ducky and Spike feel very regretful of their own actions, and Petrie states that he does not like making Littlefoot feel sad, as he is his best friend.

Petrie has a much more strained friendship with Cera, which is most noticeable in The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire. In the first scene, Petrie at first gets frustrated when Cera expresses skepticism in his story about flyers being the first creatures to inhabit the earth. When he tells her that his Uncle Pterano told him the story, the two get into an argument about why he had left the herd.Later, when Pterano had sent Petrie off to gather information from Littlefoot on where the Stone of Cold Fire had landed, Cera suspected his intentions were so (although he had said he was interested in the stone himself) and openly called him a liar, upon which he flew away in tears. However, Cera saved Petrie from falling near the end of the film, after which their terms with each other began to improve.

In contrast, Petrie seems to get along very well with Spike, and usually tries to help or encourage him whenever he is in trouble or reluctant to do something. In The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock, when Spike is afraid to jump on the pillars in the canyon, Petrie urges him on, telling him it will be alright. Later, when Spike gets stuck in the hole in the hollow tree trunk over the same canyon, and the Allosaurus which had been pursuing the children begins to near them, Petrie and Littlefoot together try to help him get free in time.

Petrie appears to be on good terms with Ruby and Chomper. In The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure, when baby Chomper bit Cera's tail by instinct, Petrie tried to console him. In the TV episode "The Mysterious Tooth Crisis", Petrie flies after Chomper's fallen tooth when it goes over a cliff, and later watches over Chomper when Littlefoot and Ducky go off to find Ruby at Tria's secret mud pool. At the same time, in The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island, when Littlefoot confronts Cera over her paranoiac and bigoted behaviour towards Chomper, Petrie points out that while Chomper may be nice to them in the present, when they grow up he might change his mind about them.

Miscellaneous
In The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water, Petrie reveals in the song "Imaginary Friend" that he has an imaginary friend; a short, primarily green sharptooth. When Ducky imagines that he is scary, Petrie assures her that he is nice, and that he has no teeth. He also mentions that they play together everyday, and when he flies ahead of the gang later in the film, to check up on what awaits them further along, he imagines that the friend has wings and can fly with him, so as not to be alone. Despite this, the friend has not been mentioned in any of the later films, or in the television series.

Character development
Although one of the main characters, Petrie's role in the original The Land Before Time was not as large as had been originally intended, due to Don Bluth and the rest of the studio's fondness for Judith Barsi's performance as Ducky.

Voice acting
Petrie is the only one of the main characters who speaks with a cartoon voice, instead of a normal, child-like voice. This is because for the original The Land Before Time movie, the producers were uncertain of who should voice the character, until Steven Spielberg's son, Max, thought of the character Digit's (from An American Tail) voice, and decided it would be perfect for Petrie. Because Will Ryan had voiced Digit, he was called in to voice Petrie.

From the second film to present, the character has been voiced by Jeff Bennett.

Analysis
For the original The Land Before Time, the character Petrie received rather cold reviews. A critic for Animato magazine thought it predictable that the movie would feature a character meant to be one of the more lighthearted parts of the story, then have it seem that the character sacrifices themself to save the others, but survive in the end after all, as this scenario has been redone in numerous films. The reviewer is quoted as saying "At least in LAND, the comic relief deserves to go down." In the Hollywood Reporter's review, Petrie was considered not to be a first-rate comic relief, as the reviewer said that he "just isn't very funny". In his review on the original The Land Before Time movie, Washington Post critic Hal Hinson described Petrie as "neurasthenic"; effectively irritable. He also said that the character seemed disturbingly reminiscent of comedian and actor Charlie Callas.

The character has been received considerably better in the sequels. In James Plath's review on The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration, he describes Petrie as "funny", while Nancy Davis Kho on DisneyFamily.com argued in her review on The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers that his use of broken English would badly influence young children, particularly preschoolers. At the same time, she thought that the plot in which Petrie is struggling to cooperate with the other flyers, but finally summons the courage to fly his own way, would be a good influence on families.

Commendations
Voice actor Jeff Bennett received a nomination for the DVD Exclusive award for "Best Original Song", for his performance as Petrie singing the song "Imaginary Friend". The nomination was shared with Aria Noelle Curzon in the role of Ducky, Anndi McAfee as Cera, Thomas Dekker as Littlefoot, and the songwriters Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom. However, their nomination lost to Jennifer Love Hewitt and Chris Canute for the song "I'm Gonna Love You", from Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame II.

Cultural Influence
The character Petrie has not become as widely-known an icon for The Land Before Time franchise as characters such as Littlefoot, Ducky or Cera, but he has consistently remained a fan favourite together with the other main characters. Fans often refer to the character by the nickname he is given on the official website, "Panicky Petrie", in reflection of his nervous behaviour.

Merchandise
Handpuppets of Petrie and the other characters from the original film were issued at Pizza Hut, to help promote The Land Before Time. Since then, there have been various toys issued which resemble Petrie, including plush dolls, and others. Petrie is often included in other Land Before Time merchandise, such as video games, puzzles, books, and party favours.

Fanfiction
The character's largest cultural impact is in fanfiction. In many Land Before Time fanfiction stories, the characters Petrie and Ducky are often portrayed in a romantic involvement with each other; sometimes they get married in the stories. In fanfics depicting the characters in their older years, Petrie is often described as being an exact image of his uncle, Pterano.

References in media

 * The original main characters (Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike) are altogether referenced in question 43 of "Test 6: Animation", in Test-Prep Your IQ with the Essentials of Film, in which the question concerns which character is not a dinosaur.