The Lion King Franchise

I don't know what to say, the monkeys won't do.

And I also don't know what to say about those

crazy producers from the GeekCast Radio Network.

They're driving me crazy! Hello and welcome to

the 90th episode of Tooncast, brought to you

by the GeekCast Radio Network. I am your host,

Dave Jones -Mike, and today I'm joined once again

by Kevin Odomasola -Thompson. Hello, sir. Hello.

Yes, no accents in my show, please. Thank you.

What? Yes, you heard me. No accents on my show,

dammit. And Tara, the rising star, hello, how

are you? I'm good, thank you, how are you? Very

good, very good. As today we are going to be

putting the Disney spotlight back in the vault

with the Lion King franchise. It took me all

of ten minutes to come up with that line. Crikeys.

Awesome. So Tara, what have you been up to? What

have I been up to? Well, just last week and a

half I spent doing a school film competition

and just had the award show Wednesday night and

guess what? You won second place. We got first

place. Oh, okay. Nice. Yeah, we won for best

scene. So I get to go on a tour of behind the

scenes at the NHL Network. Awesome. So yeah,

that'll be... I'll be very exciting. I'll be

sure to blog about that on the site. Why is the

Japanese guy from TMNT3 popping in my head, Haki,

Haki, Haki? Oh, geez. Yeah, that was my wake.

What have you been up to, Kevin? Oh, let's see.

I put a new blog up on GeekCast Radio about the...

10 worst sequels of all time. This week I'll

be putting another one up for the best 10 sequels

of all time. I've been adding dozens and dozens

and dozens of shows to BehindTheVoiceActors .com,

because I'm trying to get through every single

animated series that ever aired before 1989,

so it's all on the site. So that's kind of my

project right now. Other than that, just doing

podcasting here and there, and that's about it.

Yes, you are reaching your 10th episode of Telecast

here soon. Correct. Yes, Mr. Roger's episode

will be coming up on Telecast. Okay, and of course

still I forgot that we're still entering Lists

into the database for the top 100 animated series

of all time. We're still compiling our lists

Yes, we have what do we have nine lists submitted

now? I got eight so far and I'm supposed to be

getting another one or two today or tomorrow.

So yeah, I'm working online. Sorry But it's it's

looking really good so far I'm liking what's

going on there. Yes. Yes very much so and that's

actually I'm hoping That we can start launching

that the audio version probably will be doing

that maybe around March 15th. I would hope somewhere

in there like the second March. Yeah, like the

second or third week of March is when we'll start

doing that and that will take us. uh... from

march uh... five -episode and uh... it'll take

us from march into the second week of april if

we started in the second week of march so if

that makes any sense whatsoever stay tuned for

that yes exactly it's going to be epic epic list

is epic uh... and for me as people will be able

to see in the u stream i got my latest photo

former from cali which is optimal megatron uh...

very very cool uh... what else so i've been up

to uh... just the usual podcasting getting new

shows started have we talked about the i think

i mentioned it last episode coming up uh... in

february uh... scotty cash from the pop culture

network and i are going to be recording episode

zero of a from the command center And that will

be our Power Rangers podcast for GCRN and PCN

over there. It's the first full -on network collaboration

that GeekCast Radio Network and another podcasting

network is going to be doing as far as having

a show on both networks. So that'll be very cool.

We'll be covering each Power Rangers series.

And yes, even though I know Kevin doesn't like

it. He'll have to deal with it. Of course, he

just doesn't have to listen, that's all. I'm

sorry, I just blacked out for a couple minutes.

Oh, that's a first on this show. Wait, what am

I saying? Yeah, exactly. So, actually, I'm going

to do it a little differently. I think what we're

going to hear instead of trailers is we're going

to hear different scenes from the movies. And

I think... For the Lion King, we're going to

hear the opening scene before the title. So that

is next, and we'll come back with the discussion

for Lion King. planet and blinking step into

the Sun there's more to see than can ever be

seen more to do than can ever be done there's

far too much to take in here More to find than

can ever be found At the sun rolling high Through

the sapphire sky Heats great and small On the

endless round It's the sun So first up is The

Lion King. Kevin, take it away with the history

lesson. Yes, sir. The Lion King is a 1994 animated

American feature film, obviously produced by

Walt Disney. It was released to theaters on June

15th of that year. It is the 32nd film in the

Walt Disney animated classic series, the story

which was influenced by the Bible stories of

Joseph and Moses and Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

takes place in a kingdom of anthropomorphic animals

in Africa. This movie not only belongs to the

Walt Disney animated classic series, but it also

belongs to the era known as the Disney Renaissance.

So Mike, when did you first see The Lion King?

I think I saw this in theaters. I think. Don't

think too hard. I don't want you hurting yourself.

Kevin's not probably looking at the camera, but

for those of you in you stream. I'm flipping

Kevin off on camera, so Actually, I think I remember

seeing it in theaters, but the more The more

memorable memory is actually watching it in science

class the more memorable memory. That's right

in science class. Yeah How did they how did they

get away with that? I don't know if it was...

No, no, no. I know what it was. I know what it

was. It was right after science class. We had

had some sort of free period special thing. It

was probably right before a holiday thing or

something. It was after it got released on video.

So yeah, I saw it in school actually. Interesting.

I know for sure I saw it in theater. I actually

think I saw it in theater twice One was with

a youth group at my church, and I don't remember

who the other one was with it might have been

family members I'm not sure but this is one of

the first big animated movies I remember clearly

seen in the theater, and I just remember absolutely

loving this movie when it came out Yeah, this

movie is awesome. What about you, Tara? When

did you first see this? Definitely have to agree

with you. It's amazing. When I first saw it,

I saw it in theaters as well with my family,

and it was one of the earlier Disney movies that

I saw in cinemas. And oh my gosh, it was amazing.

I really enjoyed watching this film when I first

saw it, and it really stuck with me, and it still

stuck with me today. So I was pretty young when

I first saw it, but it was just amazing. Absolutely

amazing. And watching it back today, I completely

forgot that Ferris Bueller is the adult Simba.

Yep. Kind of shocking, isn't it? It's not shocking,

but it was like... Interesting to know that.

Yeah, I was like, wow. That's Rodrikus Simba.

Adult Simba. Yeah. I do have to say that I like

the young Simba better than the adult Simba though.

I like them both, but I like them both for different

reasons. I just felt more connected to the young

Simba. I like Jonathan Taylor Thomas' voice as

the young Simba a little bit better than I like

Matthew Broderick as the older Simba. Still a

great character, whether he's old or young. Speaking

of the characters and the voice actors. Let's

get into that. Where do we want to start with

this? Do we want to start with favorite characters

or the actual voice cast? Let's just go over

the voice cast real quick, just so everybody

knows before we start talking about them. We

just obviously said Matthew Braddock and JTT

for young and old Simba. As far as the rest of

the good characters, I guess you can call them,

Nala was Moira Kelly. I don't know how to say

her first name, but it's M -O -I -R -A Kelly,

as the adult, and Nikita Kalamé as the young

Nala. And then, of course, Timon and Pumbaa,

Nathan Lane, and Ernie Sabella. And let's see,

some other notable ones. Rafiki, Robert, I can

never say his last name either. Gulyam, I don't

know how to say it. Yeah, I don't know how to

say it either. And Zazu is Rowan Atkinson. And

then James Earl Jones is Mifasa. And Madge Sinclair

is Serabi, as far as the bad characters. Jim

Cummings is Scar. And then Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech

Marin, and Jim Cummings as Shinzi, Banzai, and

Ed. You got a problem there. You said Jim Cummings

as Scar. No, no, no, no. Jeremy Irons as Scar.

I'm sorry. Both of them did it. Both of them

were. Jeremy Irons and Jim Cummings as Scar.

Excuse me. Really? Yeah, Jim Cummings did one

of those singing Scar. Oh, okay. As far as voice

actors go, I can plug my site here because we

actually do have two voice compares for The Lion

King. You can go on BehindTheVoiceActors .com

and you can vote on your favorite version of

the adult Simba, and you can also vote on your

favorite version of the young Simba. And there's

three or four different actors that have done

those voices, so that's pretty cool. And I think

you can actually go and listen to the different

versions of Scar and Banzai and Shenzi. Besides

Roderick, who did Adult Simba? Well, we actually

have five different characters that have voice

compares. Is that for movies or is that for the

video games? It's including movies and TV shows.

Cam Clark did Adult Simba in the Timon and Pumbaa

cartoon, and there was another character that

did the singing voice of Adult Simba in The Lion

King. Right. I know that I knew the singing voice

was different, but it still sounded in the movie.

It sounded a lot like Broderick Yeah, it's not

but it does sound yeah quite a bit like him But

that's the I mean a pretty good voice cast I

mean you have a combination of celebrities and

of a few voice actors I don't know. I like the

voice cast in this one. I did too. Yeah What

about you? I mean, the voices of the hyenas are

all pretty distinct and pretty cool. I think

the voice work done by Rafiki is pretty cool,

too. Yeah. Well, with Ed, there really is no,

it's just Jim Cummings laughing and making noises,

but it's still, it's a good role compared with

the other two. What about you, Tara? Oh, you

know what? I love this voice cast. I have no

issues with the voice cast at all. Nathan Lane

as Timon is definitely one of my favorite voice

actors in this film. And I have to say, I really

do like Roderick as adult Simba. I felt he really

did fit the role. And also the younger voice

actor for Young Simba, he also really fit the

role. Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Yeah, Jonathan

Taylor Thomas. Yeah, it was just, you know what?

The cast for this movie was just so well done

and I think Disney did an amazing job with that.

And they interacted really well together too.

The chemistry really came out, like you could

tell. What are your favorite characters, Mike?

Probably... Young and adult Simba, young and

adult Nala. I like Timun and Pumbaa, but they're

not like favorites. I mean, they're really good.

I'm not saying anything bad about them, so I

don't want to get thrown under the bus here.

I do like them, but they're just, they're not,

they're good background characters to me, are

good, not really ancillary characters, but they're

good side characters to the main plot of the

actual movie. I like Mufasa, but I swear, half

the time I was waiting to hear the breathing.

You've got to get past your other characters,

Mike. I'm just kidding. Come on, Darth Vader

as Mufasa? I mean, come on. Honestly, outside

of Darth Vader, it surprises me a lot of the

times where James Earl Jones shows up in film

and television because two examples I can think

of are the Sandlot, and feel the dreams. I was

surprised to see him in both those movies. Well,

he loves baseball, so it doesn't surprise me.

Well, yeah, I know that, but I'm just saying

when I first saw those movies, I was surprised

to see him in them. Yeah. I actually feel the

exact same way that you do about Timon and Pumbaa.

I know everybody loves them, and I know they're

funny, and I think they're good characters, but

they've never been my favorite characters. They

have moments. They have their moments, like in...

Like the, you know, what do you want me to do,

dress and drag and do the hula? That was funny.

That was hilarious. For me though, it's the good

lines, just like you. Well, for me, it's the

young Simba, the young Nala, and Mufasa are my

favorites. I mean, I like the old ones too, but

I like the young versions of Simba and Nala,

and then I like Mufasa. What are your favorite

characters, Tara? Oh, definitely young Simba.

Adult Simba and Timon and Pumbaa and Scar I love

them. I have a friend who like is who's a huge

fan of Scar So I I love them How about least

favorite characters Mike? No, because I don't

know what kind of reaction I'm gonna get from

this but Honestly, at first my least favorite

character was Zazu. Simply because he has a banana

stuck up his butt. Oh, definitely. I mean, I

get that. I really don't want to do this. I really

don't, but it's Tooncast and I have to. Zazu

is the less whiny, less needy version of Snarf.

I thought you're gonna say like Iago or something.

No No, because the Iago was originally a villain

and he didn't get turned a good guy. But anyway,

that's whole other issue I liked That I like

when they broke into the I just can't wait to

be King song I like the interaction between young

Simba and Zazu but the whole morning report thing

and oh god and just Yeah Yeah, that's if you

have to I don't think I could pick out a least

favorite character But if I had to it would be

the other two so I'm gonna agree with you on

that one And if you guys have no idea what we're

talking about with the morning report That clip

is part of the voice compare on behind the voice

actor so you can hear the voice actor do the

morning report It's not the greatest I mean he

sounds nothing like the other young symbols just

for the record. Um, I don't I also didn't really

I'm trying to think I guess I can bring this

into... I probably should wait for... Other than

that, I really... I mean, Scar... I like Scar's

voice acting because it's majority of it's Jeremy

Irons. And Jeremy Irons, whether he's doing live

action or voiceover, he's just an amazing actor.

But... Scar's a dickhead. Scar's a dickhead.

Yeah, Scar's a dickhead. That's true. We're gonna

hate on Scar this podcast episode, gentlemen.

I don't hate Scar though. He's like one of those

bad guys, but he's not like, he doesn't annoy

me. He doesn't like necessarily scare me. He's

just an epic, like just bad character, but you

kinda... Don't hate him, I don't think. Don't

hate him, I love him. I don't outright hate him,

but at the same time, I just... He didn't po...

I mean, yes, he did kill Mufasa, and yes, he

was gonna kill Simba, but honestly, it wasn't...

It was basically your, you know, usual... Uh

-oh. Wow. I can't believe I just thought of this.

It's basically... King Richard and Prince John

in lion form. Yep. Or Hamlet. But we'll get into

that later. What about you, Tara, for least favorite?

Least favorite character is Zazu. I have to read

Zazu. I hate that. He's a bird. Simba calls him

in the film, bird brain. Or Dodo or whatever

he calls it. Oh yeah, I love Nala's line, so

how are we gonna ditch the Dodo? Are we gonna

ditch the Dodo? Yeah. So it fits him so well,

and I agree, he's got like, for lack of a better

word, he's got a stick up his ass, like, for

sure. That's why I have a dickhead and a guy

with a stick up his ass. He's like another Disney

character same personality. I'm trying to think

of the character Oh, yeah, I fucking pair him

a Zazu. I compare Zazu to Jafar from Aladdin

Because far has got a bit of a stick up his ass,

too But Jafar was way more villainous like if

Jafar and Maleficent had kids look out. Oh god

Well yeah, but maybe not too far, but there's

some Disney character that Zazu really reminds

me of who's just as annoying as he is. Iago?

Yeah, Iago, there we go. Iago doesn't have a

stick up his ass though. Yeah, yeah. Another

character that is like, maybe the Duke? The Duke

from Cinderella? Yeah, a little bit like that.

Yeah, I can see that. That's a good comparison.

That's my rant. Nice. Do we have a favorite,

I mean, do we do, I guess we've kind of covered

everything, but I mean, like, do you guys have

a favorite voice actor for the character? I mean,

I don't know why I liked Jonathan Taylor Thomas

so much as the young symbol, but I'm not going

to say him because he's not really doing anything

except for his regular voice. But I just loved

his voice and I connected to it a lot. But I

would say probably, even though I didn't necessarily

love his character, the voice acting for Rafiki,

I thought was really good. Yeah. Now does his,

does his voice actor change over the films? It's

this, like I said, it's Robert Gilliam. Yeah.

He does it for all three films. He's also the

voice of Rafiki in the Kingdom Hearts games.

Thank God. So he's done his voice in everything

that I believe that's ever been out. Awesome.

Awesome, awesome. Which surprised me, because

he's kind of older. Cool. Tara, let's get into

some behind the scenes with that story development

The Lion King, originally titled King of the

Jungle, which was inspired by Hamlet, was written

by Thomas Disch, author of The Little Brave Toaster,

as King of the Kalari in late 1988. Since his

treatment was written as work for hire, Disch

received no credit or royalties. Ultimately...

That sucks that you don't receive anything when

you write the original. I know. Ultimately, more

than 600 artists, animators, and technicians

contributed to The Lion King over the course

of its production schedule. The characters' animators

studied real -life animals for reference, as

was done for the 1942 Disney film Bambi. Jim

Fowler, a renowned wildlife expert, visited the

studios on several occasions with an assortment

of lions and other jungle inhabitants to discuss

behavior and help the animators give their drawings

an authentic feel. During pre -production in

1991, several of the lead crew members had taken

a trip to Hells Gate National Park in Kenya in

order to study and gain an appreciation of the

environment for the film. The Pride Lands are

modeled on the National Park. The use of computers

helped the filmmakers present their visions in

new ways. The most notable use of computer animation

is the Watt, the Wildebeest stampede sequence.

I have a real problem with that sequence. Yeah.

I have a real problem with that sequence because

of the fact that when you see Scar, and I know

this is more a long plot, but when you see Scar

and Simba in the valley and he tells Simba to

wait on the rock and then it rises up the canyon

wall there, I have a real problem with Wildebeest

being able to defy gravity and run down a mountainside

like that. Seriously. Yeah, I agree. There's

a real issue there. I mean, really? What do they

have? Like glue on their feet or something that

allows them to run down there really quickly?

Makes no sense. I didn't see that at all. It's

called Disney logic. True. But they used, I mean

they studied the animals, so I think whatever

was in there was probably somewhat accurate because

they did a lot of time studying the animals to

make sure. You know what? Yeah, just to go back

to that for a second. If you, I believe on one

of the VHS tapes, I'm not sure if it's on the

Lion King one from the 90s, but on one of them,

one film, they actually do show a little bit

of behind the scenes of the making of the Lion

King. And you see the lions like in studio. and

you see the artist sketching them and stuff.

So, it's pretty cool. A lot of detail really

did go into this film. The same thing was done

with Punchback in Notre Dame where they actually

went to Paris and Notre Dame Cathedral and did

real life drawings there. So, they do do their

research. Yeah, and especially for this one with

the wildlife experts coming in and them going

and studying the animals, I'm thinking whatever

is in there is probably realistic. I mean, I

don't know my will -to -be very well or my physics

very well, but I'm thinking if it's in there,

possible. I'm sure it is but if you just go back

Kevin you look at that scene when the stampede

first starts it's at the top of the valley it's

at the top of the canyon on grass and it shows

like when Simba first sees them and you see the

close -up on him and then shows them running

down the side of a mountain it just it doesn't

seem I just find it interesting because I've

seen them film a dozen times and I've never noticed

that or thought it was out of place, but I'll

have to watch it again. Just to you, it seems

like it's not real enough? It just doesn't seem

physically possible. I mean, if it was more sloped,

but this thing is really steep. If you just watch

that whole scene from the point where Scar leaves

Simba on the rock where the tree is, the camera

pans up to where the hyenas are going to ...

make the will to be stampede on that pan up you

see a clear that it's a clear very steep cliff

I don't know, it just, it doesn't look right

to me. I have to re -watch it, but I do find

it interesting that it says five specially trained

animators and technicians spent more than two

years creating that two and a half minute stampede

sequence. So that's the reason why I'm thinking

it must have been real. Well, right. I wouldn't

spend two years on something that's like... Yeah,

they wouldn't spend two years on one sequence

unless it wasn't real. It just, to me, just looking

at it when I watched it today, it just, it didn't,

I mean, because I was looking at it with my reviewer's

eye and like, okay, While I'm loving this movie,

that just doesn't look... correct. Do you, uh,

do you, like, put that in and take that out,

like, context or something? No. No, it hurt too

much. I'd poke myself in the eye. What the hell?

You'd poke your eyeball out and put it in your

viewer's eye? What I find really, really horrible

is at one time, factions of the Disney feature

animation staff felt the Lion King was less important

than Pocahontas. The hell is wrong with you,

fuckers? I didn't realize they were in production

at the same time. which was in production at

the studio at the same time. Most of the staff

preferred to work on Pocahontas, believing it

would be more prestigious and successful of the

two. The enthusiastic audience reception to an

early Lion King film trailer, which consisted

solely of the opening sequence with the song

Circle of Life, suggested that the film would

be very successful. As it turns out, while both

films were commercial successes, the Lion King

received more positive feedback and earned larger

grosses than Pocahontas did. when released a

year after Lion King. throw that into a burning

fiery pit. It's like Avatar, right? Let's teach

- no, well this one's worse because this one

actually blatantly teaches lies to kids about

history. I know, there's so much - I know, there's

- I did some research on Pocahontas and compared

it to the Disney film, I'm like, the fuck is

this? Make up marriages and whatnot, anyway.

Yeah, yeah. Anyways, Kevin, why don't you give

us that five -minute plot synopsis? Sweetness.

Basically, the film opens with the birth of Simba

to Mufasa and Sarabi, and we have the dynamic

of Scar, who wants to be the next leader, having

to deal with getting rid of Mufasa and Simba

as the heir to the throne, so to speak. So basically,

what happens is After a brief mishap out in the

open, you know, past the safety zone, Simba is

told never to go out there again, but at one

point he is obviously out in the gorge, like

the San Pete scene that we were just talking

about, in which Scar basically makes its manufacturers

and plots Mufasa's death and then blames it on

Simba, in which case Simba is basically overwritten

with guilt and runs away and leaves the Pride

Lands. When he's left the Pride Lands, he obviously

runs into Timon and Pumba. We have the whole

Hakuna Matata scene and we have the sequence

where Simba turns from a young cub into a lion.

Eventually he runs into Nala who is telling him

everything about what's going on with Scar's

leadership and how everything's terrible and

after some arguments and fights and whatnot eventually

convinces him to go back to face off with Scar.

You know, to kind of go through the end rather

quickly, we have a fight with Simba and Scar.

Scar falls, somewhat like Mufasa does, and he

survives the fall, but then is swarmed to death

by the hyenas. And with Scar gone, and the hyenas

banished, Pride Rock is restored to its previous

majesty, with Simba as the ruler. And then obviously,

the film closes as it opens, but this time it's

Simba and Nala who are getting the newborn cub

presented to them by Rafiki. They... Aw, I remember

that scene so well. I have to say that they set

this up perfectly for sequels. Oh yeah. The only

problem is the sequels have really, really bad

plot points. We'll get to that Tara, what are

your favorite and least favorite parts of the

film? Favorite part of the film Definitely is

the sequence the Hakuna Matata sequence when

they're on the Not the bridge per se but like

a tree. I guess it's like a fallen tree Yeah,

the waterfall and you see Simba growing up and

how that was really cool, and I really loved

that scene least favorite scene Definitely the

death scene of Mufasa. I cried. I really cried

during that. I was going to mention this earlier,

but is this one of the first Disney deaths since

Bambi's mom? Or was there other ones that I'm

forgetting? I think it's the first one since...

After the outrage of Bambi's mom getting killed...

I thought that they would maybe forever be afraid

to do something like that again but I very much

appreciated this and as someone who you know

lost their dad and at a similar age I connected

to this one right away and I thought this was

much better done than they did it in Bambi. To

me it wasn't as traumatic. It was traumatic but

and the scene still makes me cry every time but

I still like the scene for what it is because

it obviously goes towards the plot. The biggest

problem I have with the character animation interactions

in here, in the whole movie actually, not just

that scene, but... Kevin, remember when you said

that the Dalmatians were too human -like? Mm

-hmm. The lions and lionesses and all that, there's

too much human type of... Yeah. Movements to

these characters. These are animals for Christ's

sake. You think so? To me it still wasn't as

exaggerated as what we saw in a couple of the

different previous Disney movies with dogs and

cats. Maybe it's just because it's dogs and cats

in those other ones and these are lions which

I don't necessarily know as much about. As far

as like their natural behavior, but to me I could

some for some reason I didn't have as big of

a problem in this one I understand what you're

saying, but it didn't bother me like it did in

the like the couple of the sequels we watched

I mean, it's like the whole thing like with now

always pouncing Simba or always getting him his

one up It just that's Need to say this but that's

the damn missionary position Seriously, she pinned

him, that's the damn missionary position for

humans. It just seems so unnatural to me. I agree

with you there, that's not very lion -like, but

I'll be honest though. It works for what the

scene is, because obviously they did it when

they were kids, but just the whole thing with...

Like when Young Simba and Mufasa are interacting,

it doesn't seem animal -like to me. I understand

what you're saying, but like I said, to me it

doesn't bother me as much because I've kind of

come to accept it in Disney movies. Because in

all honesty, the only time that Disney has actually

gotten the animal behavior correct, in my opinion,

is the first 10 minutes of Lady and the Tramp.

When they're doing a scene with a lady, that's

about the only time where an animal actually

acts like an animal completely. I'm gonna have

to agree with Kevin. For this film, for me, the

way the characters act, to me, it's acceptable.

And for me, yes, it's not, you know, normal,

natural, lying behavior. But for this film and

for the story, I think it works. And as an audience

member, I bought it. It does, but just, like

I said before, when I was looking at this just

to review it, it just, you know, I try to pick

out, and I know it's a nitpick on my part, but

I just, I try to pick out things that we can

discuss here, and that was one where I was like,

it's almost like they're human for Christ's sake.

Yeah, nothing wrong with having, yeah, there's

nothing wrong with you having your opinion. Yeah.

I mean, I don't... I don't hold it against the

movie whatsoever. The movie is awesome. I don't

hold it against it. It was just something that

I noticed a lot within the film. Do you have

any other plot problems besides that in the Stampede?

No, the plot problems come later. What about

your favorite part? When I first, I do remember

when I first saw this, when I was in that classroom

special thing, when we had that little, I think

it was, like I said, some sort of partier, before

holiday break, was, I think it was the first

time since I had seen it in theaters, and I didn't

remember this part, but Rafiki doing karate.

That was awesome. That was sick. I want to see

that in real life. That would be awesome. My

favorite part is easily the entire movie when

Simba's young until he gets to the sequence where

he grows up. You know, all inside of Kung Fu

Panda, we should have Kung Fu Rafiki. There you

go. But all the scenes with young Simba are my

favorites. That's all there is to it. Especially

the I Just Can't Wait To Be King song. Was the

JTT singing that? It sounded like it was. No,

it's not. Really? Yeah, I thought it was too,

but it's not. Hmm, interesting. But yeah, I just

I love that song I love the the interactions

between Simba now as youngsters And I just kind

of love watching Simba as the young cub and as

he grows up I always remember being kind of upset

that that part of the movie was over But I don't

know if I have a least favorite part Probably

something to do with the hyenas or something

But I can't think of one off the head off the

top my head because I could basically like the

most like the entire movie Any other thoughts

on as far as like favorite parts least favorite

parts or plot problems or anything about the

actual like story for either of you No, I have

no issues with this movie No, because I mean

the plot moves forward and like I said they really

set this movie up for obviously for the sequel

but Or for a sequel, not the sequel, because

I'm sure at the time they didn't know what they

were going to do with it, but it had a natural

progression of beginning, middle, end, and there

were really no outward plot problems that I had

with it. Little contradictions, and it didn't

seem like any characters switched to their personalities

or anything, so. Yeah, no. I swear to God, at

the end of the film, it says to be continued.

No, it doesn't. It doesn't? No. I swear to God,

I saw that on the VHS. It says, like, to be continued.

It might on the old VHS, but I don't think so.

But the thing about this film is, and this is

something we should touch on before we move on,

this is at least comparative to the Little Mermaid

films and all the previous Disney films, like

all the old Disney films, like specifically Sword

in the Stone that opens with a book. You know,

something like that. This film had a very different

opening. True. And it had a very different closing.

Well, I mean, the closing was basically a reverse

of the opening. You have the opening scene, and

you have Dunt, where it says Lion King, and then

it goes into the actual movie. And in the end,

you see Simba and Nala and future Kiara. Then

it goes done and then it goes into the credits.

So that was very very interesting But it does

I was always kind of weird weirded out at the

end when it just it did the done again with the

line Can I was like the hell I didn't mind that

I didn't necessarily care for how long the opening

was I didn't mean I don't mind the length at

all. I just I thought that the at the end of

the you know putting in the title card again

I thought that was kind of weird because I did

it the same way that they did in the beginning

of the movie Yeah, it's coming anybody else think

that was a boy at the end. I did yeah, I definitely

did yeah, I'm like and then I find it's a girl

I'm like Assumes it's a boy because you've had

Mufasa to Simba and you expected to go to another

son. Oh get to that But there is some controversy

as far as this movie is concerned. Oh, yes. I

wanted to bring up the first one, because I know

Mike will go off on one of the other ones, even

though he's an idiot. I'm just kidding, Mike.

Shut up. But the first one is the Kimba the White

Lion controversy. And there are some scenes in

The Lion King that look absolutely... Like almost

perfectly like scenes from Kimba the White Lion,

which is an old cartoon It actually had two different

incarnations back in the way a long time ago,

but it was an anime and then it was redone in

the 80s But basically Obviously, they're claiming

it's from the Bible and a combination of Bible

stories and Hamlet but the 1960s Japanese anime

Kimba the White Lion I don't know, you have to

be able to see some of the things. One similarity

is the names Kimba and Simba. Many characters

in Kimba have an analog in the Lion King, so

there's a lot of characters that are... kind

of repeated. There's individual scenes that are

nearly identical even to the actual camera angle.

And Matthew Broderick, the voice of Simba himself,

believed at the beginning that he was in fact

working on a remake of Kimba the White Lion,

since he was familiar with that show. And early

production artwork on the film's Platinum Edition

DVD even includes a white lion. Now Disney says

this is all coincidental, but the creator of

Kimba the White Lion There's some words that

he was thinking about suing them But he basically

said it wouldn't be worth it because Disney's

lawyers are basically some of the most powerful

people in the world and It's been rumored that

he was paid hush money by Disney So I guess I'll

leave it up for this is the first time I've ever

heard of Kimber the white line. That's cuz you're

young. Yeah But but I can I can definitely see

it I'd never drew that connection when I was

actually watching the movie. I can see it in

retrospect, and would I be surprised if they

had actually paid this guy hush money? No, but

I'm not saying that it's, I don't know, it could

be completely a coincidence. What do you think

about the white lion part, Mike? I actually knew

nothing about Kimberley Lyon, I just knew the

Lion King, so... Huh, I'm not the only one who

didn't know. Another cartoon that only I've seen,

apparently. Exactly, there you go. And yes, there

is a sex frame. Oh, there's not? Yes, there is.

No, there's not. Yes, there is. It says special

effects. No, it doesn't. Mike's a pervert, so

he wants to believe that. In one of the scenes

in the film's original VHS and laserdisc releases,

it appears that the word sex might have been

embedded into the dust flying in the sky when

Simba flops down, which conservative activist

Donald Wildemann asserted was a subliminal message

intended to promote sexual promiscuity. The film's

animators have stated that the letters spell

SFX, a common abbreviation for special effects,

and was intended as an innocent signature created

by the effects animation team. I seriously doubt

that. It's not there. It doesn't say sex. It

can if you want it to, but it was not intended

to say that. It says SFX. It looks like sex to

me. It's SFX. There's no undercover agent trying

to promote sexual promiscuity through Disney

movies. Steve Carell. It's a conspiracy. Disney

wants to sell sex to your kids. No. Well, they

did with Little Mermaid. That was, again, not

intentional. Jeffrey Katzenberg intentionalized

it, yes he did. No, he didn't. Well on the cover

art that's because it was an artist who just

caught fire and he was pissed off. That's why

he drew that. Still. There's nobody trying to

promote sexual promiscuity. Yeah, it wasn't intended.

Disney doesn't go and say, okay, let's go put

sexual connotations in our films and see who's

gonna spot it and who's not gonna spot it. You

know, like, I don't buy it. The other controversy

involves both the Lion Sleeps Tonight song and

the original composer of that suing Disney because

of the royalties that he didn't receive for it

and apparently they settled for an undisclosed

amount of money. And then apparently a bunch

of people had a problem with the way they portrayed

hyenas in the film because apparently the hyenas

of the world are going to get offended. Oh, gee.

Yeah, like hyenas where you went, go watch this

movie. They didn't know what a movie is. They

didn't know what... No, they don't. Oh my god,

the resulting portrayal did not impress most

hyena biologists. First of all, who the hell

goes to school to be a hyena biologist, for heaven's

sake? Oh god. One hyena researcher actually sued

Disney Studios for defamation of character. You've

got to be kidding me. No, hold on, and in conclusion

to a spotted hyena fact sheet written for African

Geographic in May 2006, Dr. Frank included in

boycotting the Lion King as a way of helping

preserve hyenas in the wild. Hyena researcher

Stephen Glickman wrote, in both Hemingway and

The Lion King there is an emphasis on greed,

gluttony, and stupidity that is ultimately designed

to be comical. This reaches its pinnacle when

a hyena, Ed, feeds on its own body as described

in The Green Hills of Africa in the American

children's computer game based on the movie.

Well, first of all, Dumbass. The reason why Ed's

not on his own leg is because hyenas in the movie

were the lowest on the food chain at that point.

They didn't have anything to eat unless Scar

gave them scraps. And they also say the fact

that they gave them Latin American or African

American accents as opposed to the American and

British accents that the main characters got

was a racist way that Disney was trying to implant

in a new generation that Latin Americans and

African Americans are like under American and

British people. That's so stupid. You know what?

This lawsuit is just as stupid as the woman who's

suing McDonald's for happy meals now. When is

McDonald's not getting sued? Yeah, it's just

another stupid, pointless lawsuit that probably

went nowhere. There is quite a bit of trivia

for this one. Skip to the good ones. No, I've

already taken out all the bad ones. All the ones

left are the good ones. Oh, God. One of the bugs

that - One of the bugs that Timon pulls out of

a knot hole during the Hakuna Matata is actually

wearing Mickey Mouse ears. I did not see that,

but I gotta go back and find it now. The lion,

what do you want me to do? What do you want me

to do? Dress in drag and do the hula? Was not

in the script. That was improv by Nathan Lane.

That was funny. The movie was originally titled

King of the Jungle. It was supposed to be about

African lions living in the jungle until the

production team realized that lions don't live

in jungles. So the king of the king of the jungle

though is still used on certain t -shirts and

and stuff that you can get like memorabilia But

they had to change the title there. I have to

read this next one. I cannot believe this considering

that Mr. Elton John is a gay man Elton John and

Tim Rice were a little shocked when they saw

that the producers originally intended to have

their eventual Oscar -winning love ballad Can

you feel the love tonight as a duet between Tim

Moon and Pumbaa? See? Again, with the sexual

references. Oh, God. When writer Irene Mekki

came on board, she was told that the story pitch

was Bambi and Africa meets Hamlet. So she started

calling the movie BAM -let. Sorry. uh... nathan

lane and urn isabella were originally cast as

the hyenas banzai and senzi who eventually were

uh... played by will be going to each man the

crew of their performance is so much so that

they switch them to tomona and pumba so imagine

they can win any stability in the hyenas that

would not have worked as well no uh... mufasa

was supposed to have a song title to be king

but apparently it didn't suit james ralph jones'

singing voice so that got scrapped Here's one

for the perverts out there, or the immature people.

Pumbaa was the first character in a Disney film

to exhibit flatulence. Fart. When Mufasa tells

Simba about the great kings of the past, if you

look at the stars in the wide shot, you can see

another Mickey Mouse. So there's lots of Mickey

Mouses in this one. Originally... Banzai and

Shenzi were supposed to be Tommy Chong and Cheech

Mare and Cheech and Chong, but they couldn't

get a hold of Chong, so that's why Whoopi Goldberg

came in instead. That would have been cool if

they would have had Cheech and Chong in there

as much as I don't think. That would have been

so awesome, yeah. In the end scene where Mufasa

explains to Simba that the stars are old kings,

you can see a constellation of Leo or the lion

in the sky. One of the original villain groups

being considered instead of hyenas was a pair

of jackals. That would have been cool, I guess,

depends on how they do it. If only they could

get Larry Kenny as Jackal Man. There we go. The

last Disney movie to be supervised by Katzenberg

before he left to form DreamWorks. Thank God.

No wonder the Disney movies went downhill a little

bit after that. Because you had DreamWork now.

A few weeks before the film opened, Elton John

was given a special screening. Noticing that

the film's love song had been left out, he had

to lobby to have the song put back in. So can

you feel that Love Tonight was originally cut

out of the movie? Oh, jeez. Whoops. I would have

sucked. Yeah. How about some other people that

were considered for the role of Zazu? John Cleese,

Eric Idle, and Patrick Stewart were all considered

for the role of Zazu. But apparently they saw

a couple episodes of Mr. Bean and thought that

Rowan Atkinson would do the better job there.

Oh, wait a second. According to producer Don

Hahn, every English comedian, as well as Patrick

Stewart and... Oh, Simon Cowell. Oh, holy crap.

I thought it was Simon Cowell. I was like, what

the hell? Why not Simon Cowell? No. Yeah, that's

what I thought it said at first when I read the

name. I'm like, wait, what? And then a couple

of guys that were considered for the role of

Scar before Jeremy Irons got it, Tim Curry and

Malcolm McDowell. I think Curry would have been

too... Over -the -top villainous. Yeah, I mean

curry's awesome. Don't get me wrong, but just

his voice inflections For that type of character.

He's he's too evil Yeah, I mean irons does a

great job and irons is evil enough, but he's

not so over -the -top evil You know I find this

one interesting. Well, besides just one more

with Jeremy Irons performance that they worked

Irons features into Scar's face so that it would

somewhat look alike. This one's right to do with

the plot though. Originally Scar was supposed

to send adult Nala away from Pride Rock because

she ignored his sexual advances, which is why

she's out there and why she finds Simba. But

this idea was ultimately abandoned because they

thought sexual harassment was probably improper

in a family movie. Yeah, thank you. But that

part is in the stage musical adaptation because

they felt it expanded the female's character

a little bit. So kind of an interesting take

on that. I remember that. You can do it on stage

because it's a little bit more of an adult audience

probably. You're not going to be subjecting it

to as many kids. There was an extra song for

Timon and Pumbaa. The only reason I wanted to

read this was because of the name of it. It's

going to be called Warthog Rhapsody. That shit

probably would have been awesome. You know, it

would have been even more awesome. I know, hang

on. It would have been even more awesome if it

was written by Freddie Mercury. Yeah, but that's

like some type of cross between Bohemian Rhapsody

and Timon and Pumbaa, like Hakuna Matata. I don't

know, that would have been interesting. The Broadway

version of Lion King, which opened in 97, got

six Tony Awards. It is one of three Disney movies

to win a Golden Globe for Best Picture. The other

two are Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story 2,

and now Toy Story 3 as well. Or no, it didn't

get the Golden Globe for Best Picture, it got

it for Best Animated Something. So just those

three so far. Like I said, Jim Cummings had to

fill in for Jeremy Irons during Be Prepared because

Jeremy threw out his singing voice. Nala's mother,

if you ever wondered what her name was, apparently

it's Sarafina. The name is never used in the

film, but it appears in the credits and on some

merchandise. And my last one, this is the second

movie in which James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair,

Mufasa and Sarabi, perform together as an African

king and queen because they were both also African

kings and queens in Coming to America. Oh yeah.

So that's kind of a cool twist. Yeah, that is

kind of a cool twist. I know that was a lot,

but I found some of that trivia pretty interesting,

so hopefully everybody else does too. I am going

to actually send a shout out to the listeners

and the Ustream people. Maybe somebody can tell

me about this. I haven't researched it. I probably

should, but I'm not up on my zoo books at this

point in time. How the hell did Sarafina, whatever,

Nala's... How the hell did she get... Pregnated

with Nala seriously if there's only one lion

one male lion per pride and the rest are all

lionesses How the hell did I mean as far as like

I mean yes, there was I mean scar and Mufasa,

but She snuck off But you don't know about Mufasa

again we can say Disney logic No, I know but

I'm being serious though as far as they didn't

wear its prize and stuff. I slept around He didn't

want us to tarnish his image. See, back when

we were young and innocent and, you know, too

naive to notice these things, it was okay. But

now that we're, you know, all grown up and we

have to analyze this stuff, it's like, okay,

how did that happen? Oh my. So that's all the

trivia I got. If you guys want to move into the

music, I guess that's cool. Elton John and Tim

Wright. Royce? What the hell is a Royce? Fuck.

Elton John and Tim Rice wrote five original songs

for this film, with Elton John performing Can

You Feel the Love Tonight during the end credits.

The film's score was composed by Hans Zimmer

and supplemented with traditional African music

and choir elements arranged by Lebo M. The original

songs for the film are Circle of Life, I Just

Can't Wait to Be King, Be Prepared, Hakuna Matata,

and Can You Feel the Love Tonight. Tara, do you

have a favorite song? Oh, I actually have two

favorite songs, if that's okay. My first favorite

song is Hakuna Matata. I love it. It's so catchy

and it's got a great beat and rhythm to it. And

I just, just the one song I associate with this

film. And my second favorite song is definitely

Be Prepared by Mr. Scar. because it's just it's

so dark and it's got it's also got a really great

catchy rhythm beat to it and it's very memorable.

So those are my two favorite songs. What about

you, Kevin? I do like the very beginning of Can

You Feel the Love Tonight with Timon and Pumbaa.

I just love the way they introduced that song

in their first couple lines, but my favorite

song is Easily, I Just Can't Wait to Be King.

I love Jason Weaver's voice as, you know, kind

of sounds like JTT singing, and I don't know,

I just can't wait to be king is the one I could

always sing along with the best, so I love that

one. But they're all good. What about you? I'd

have to agree with you and the reason why I agree

is because I like the interaction in part of

the song between Zazu and the Cubs. I thought

that was really hilarious. This is very very

cool. I also like the beginning scene with Circle

of Life just having that play over all the animals

showing up for the birth or the presentation

and all that. which was really really cool. And

of course our worst least favorite song, at least

I'm guessing for all of us, is probably The Morning

Report, which is the cut song. Oh God. No, let's

not go there please. For those of you interested,

you can go to YouTube or if you have the Platinum

Edition DVD, type in The Extended Scene or The

Morning Report and you can hear a different young

Simba, Evan Saucedo, sing The Morning Report

with Zazu and Mufasa and it is just terrible.

Terrible's not the word I'd use, but... Yeah,

trying to be a little bit PG -13 here, but...

There's a red tag, it's okay. The soundtrack

and other albums, the film's original motion

picture soundtrack was released on July 13th,

1994. It was the fourth best -selling album of

the year on the Billboard 200, and the top -selling

soundtrack... And it's the only soundtrack for

animated film to be diamond certified ten times

platinum. I am impressed by that note. Damn.

Best soundtrack ever for an animated film basically.

Good job, Lion King. Yes, the compilation Disney

classic Disney 60 years of musical magic has

all of the major songs. Pretty much every single

song is on that one. And then Disney greatest

hits also include Circle of Life, Kuna Matata,

and Can You Feel the Love Tonight. Songs in the

film by Zazu, Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen.

It's a small world after all. For some strange

reason, I remember going on that ride at Disney

World, but for some strange reason that actually

blends in with my figment ride as well that I

went on. I never went on that ride. It's a small

world after all. Yeah, I haven't been on that

ride. Yeah, I was six back then. Me neither,

since I've never been to Disney World. I've been

to Disney World six times, I think, in my lifetime.

I went for the first time when I was 17. How

sad is that? I've never been, so it's not as

sad as that. Yeah, there you go And then I've

got a lovely bunch of coconuts was also sung

by by Zazu and then Timon and Pumbaa sung the

lion sleeps tonight and the Hawaiian war chant

whatever the hell that is I do think it's cool

that they throw those extra little songs in there

for the kind of background stuff rather than

all ballads or all power songs or whatever Well,

you know you mentioned with um, can you feel

the love tonight with you know Timon and Pumbaa

starting it off It's like I said before while

they're not my favorite characters I don't dislike

them but they're more side characters and we

will get to this more once we get to one and

a half but yes getting into the one last thing

I almost forgot about it but this one to me as

far as the overall music goes it's kind of like

Robin Hood for me the music that they transition

into the music seamlessly in this one Like, you

have the characters start talking and then they

kind of get into more of a singing thing and

I don't know, it just seems like it's not, to

me, like some of the other movies, like we've

said before, where you just stop and have a musical

number. It blends into the story and there's

interaction. I don't know. It definitely adds

the story, too. Yeah. It has nice flow to it.

Very much so. Getting into the legacy segments,

Kevin, you want to take some of that reception

there? Obviously, this is one of the most critically

acclaimed animated films of all time. The film

was the highest grossing animated film of all

time when it came out and it held on to that

until 2003 when Finding Nemo overtook it. It

is now the sixth highest grossing animated film

of all time but it is still at this point and

probably always will be the highest grossing

2D or traditionally hand -drawn animation film

in history. So I think that's pretty impressive

that the only stuff that's beat it has been CGI

computer animated stuff, which is obviously higher

ticket prices have gone into effect since the

Lion King came out and whatnot. So I'd like to

see the adjusted for inflation numbers because

I'm guessing Lion King still might be near the

top for animated movies. During its release in

94, the film grossed more than $783 million worldwide.

A lot of money. Yeah, becoming the most successful.

Especially in 1994. That is a ton of money. And

it was beaten in the US, I think, by Forrest

Gump, but over worldwide, it was the most successful

film that year. Take that, Avatar. Yeah, it is

currently the 32nd highest grossing feature film

of all time, which I think is still impressive

for... I mean, I know there's a lot of animated

films in there, including the Toy Stories and

the Shreks and whatnot now, but that's still

impressive. The musical... The Lion King obviously

has a lot of music and it won Academy Awards

and Golden Globes for the music. It garnered

critical acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 92%,

which tied at Aladdin for second highest rated

Disney's feature film of that era. It's only

behind Beauty and the Beast, which got a 93%.

So there's only a 1 % difference. So just proves

that those three films are epically awesome and

all that jazz. We've mentioned the AFI, America

Film Institute, a couple different times and

how they did their top ten and ten different

genres. For the animation genre, Lion King came

in at number four on their list. I do know one

of the films that beat it and we're not going

to mention it. No, you need to go ahead and say

it. I know Snow White got number one. Snow White.

Let's not talk about Snow White. Yeah, I'd have

to look up to see what got two and three. I'm

guessing Beauty and the Beast was one of them.

Oh, I love Beauty and the Beast. We're not going

to go over all the awards that won, but we're

going to... Yeah, it won a lot of awards. Academy

Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Annie Awards, Saturn

Awards, Grammy Awards, MTV Movie Awards, Kids'

Choice Awards. You can look them up if you want

to. It's like a half a page of awards. Yeah.

and uh... more than the film is on dvd it's been

on dvd on that there's controversy with the special

collectors gift sets and the uh... there's controversy

with the platinum edition because uh... it was

supposed to have the nineteen ninety -four theatrical

cut it had the in hand digitally enhanced by

max version instead uh... future release disney

announced in the beauty and the beast diamond

edition official site that the lion king will

be released in a diamond edition blu ray dvd

combo pack in fall 2011 and kevin yes that that

that uh that that amazing feat that you mentioned

earlier about the best animated film in 2d and

hand -drawn animation that's an amazing feat

but unfortunately a fucking 3d version is also

in the works though a release date has not been

announced Why the fuck are you fucking morons

gonna put the greatest 2D animated film on fucking

3D? No, what? Please don't. Fuck 3D. It's all

about the Benjamins. 3D sucks. I said it. I don't

like 3D TV. I don't like 3D... Some 3D movies

are fine, but no. Not Lion King. Please no. Leave

it alone. Tara, why don't you take the unpopular

culture? Sure thing. Based on its popularity,

The Lion King has been referenced in a variety

of media. For instance, the animated TV series

The Simpsons spoofed the film in the episode

Round Springfield. Toward the end of the episode,

the ghost of Mufasa appears in the clouds with

bleeding Gums Murphy, who had died earlier in

that episode. and Darth Vader and Dreaming Joel

Jones who voice both Mufasa and Darth Vader says,

this is CNN. You must avenge my death, Kimba.

Dah. I mean, Simba. A reference to the Lion King

slash Kimba the White Lion controversy. Simba

and Nala's escapade to the Elephant Graveyard

was mentioned in a Season 2 episode of House.

Disney also frequently referenced The Lion King

in its own films and shows. For example, in the

Disney -released Pixar -produced 1995 computer

-animated film Toy Story, the song Hakuna Matata

can be heard playing in Andy's car during the

film's climax. Pumba made a cameo in Aladdin

and the King of Thieves in 1996, and Hercules

in 1997 paid homage to both the Lion King and

the Neman Lion. Skarskin is worn by this title

character while he's posing for a painting on

a Greek vase. So yeah, Lion King showed up everywhere

because it's so popular. I remember the one from

Toy Story actually very, very, very well. And

of course it's had a bunch of different, it's

appeared in a bunch of different video games.

We're not going to go into all the video games,

but the Kingdom Hearts series and you know. Yeah,

the Kingdom Hearts series is easily the best

game. I will say before we move on, I will say

that the actual Lion King video game that was

on the SNES, I believe, I believe it was a Super

Nintendo. I love that game because it almost

directly takes everything from the movie. Yeah.

In most of the parts. I mean you have you have

the Every major scene is worked into the adventure

of the game and that was very very awesome So

I think we are going to be moving on to the Lion

King 2 and you're going to hear a scene from

that movie next Look at that little guy a chip

off the old block and you gotta know who's gonna

raise them His parents? Okay, sure, get technical.

But who's gonna teach him the really important

stuff? Like how to belch. And dig for grubs.

I'm telling you, buddy, it's gonna be like old

times. You, me, and the little guy. It is a girl.

Girl! GIRL! Kiara grows more beautiful into a

queen that will someday make us all very proud.

But this Kub Kovu grows stronger when Zeera fills

his heart with hate. I'm very worried, Mufasa.

Things are not going well, no? Hmm? You have

a plan? Chiara? Together? This is the plan? Are

you crazy? This will never work! Oh Mufasa, you've

been up there too long, your head is in the clouds!

Okay, okay, okay, okay, alright, okay! I don't

think this is going to work, but I trust you.

I just hope you know what you are doing! Up next

is The Lion King II, Simba's Pride. Take it away

with the history lesson, Kevin. Lion King II,

Simba's Pride. Later retitled The Lion King II,

Simba's Pride. You're like, what the heck did

I just say? Well, they switched it from a Roman

numeral to an actual number two. Anyway, came

out in 1998. It was a direct video animated film

released by Walt Disney Home Video. on October

27th of that year. The film centers around Simba's

daughter, Kiara, who falls in love with Kovu,

a male lion who was raised in a pride of Scar's

followers and Simba's enemies, the Outsiders.

Desperate to be together, they must overcome

the two obstacles that are keeping them apart,

Kovu's mother, Zira, and Simba's pride's prejudices

against the Outlanders. That's a mouthful. While

the original film's plot seems to have been inspired

by the Shakespearean play, Hamlet, The sequel's

plot is much more similar to another Shakespearean

play, and you can guess which one it is, Romeo

and Juliet. No, really. What do you remember

about Lion King II Simba's Pride, Mike? This

was one of the very first Disney sequels I ever

really learned about. Because I was like, wait,

there's no sequel to Lion King. Oh, there's a

sequel. No, you said though in the first one

this one was so set up to happen Yeah, because

I mean seriously that end scene. I mean, yes

I know that they had to they they God I can't

believe I'm doing this but they wanted to come

full circle in the first movie from Mufasa and

Simba to Simba and Nala and and and their future

daughter right, but I mean The first movie and

I didn't really say this when we were talking

about the plot But the first movie actually left

me wanting more and it was kind of like you can

equate it to what you call it The other Disney

movie that set up the sequel Lady and the Tramp

Yeah, where they show the Isn't that the one

where they show the puppies being born at the

end of the first one? Both of those are equally

set up because you've already been introduced

to a character so it leaves it open for the possibility.

Not saying you have to have a sequel, but it's

saying if you ever want one, we've left it open

for you. The only other one that doesn't do that

is Little Mermaid. You don't see Melody being

born at the end of Little Mermaid 1. Yeah, and

of course like not all the other ones have these

are like two of the only ones where you have

like the actual like obviously nobody's born

in Aladdin so that it would do a similar type

of thing or you know a lot of the other ones

it was basically I'm surprised they didn't do

it with Little Mermaid, but that's probably because

they were not necessarily planning on doing a

sequel, but Yeah, I don't ever remember seeing

this one until like a couple months ago, so It's

a number of years ago. It wasn't like when it

first hit But it was like maybe a year. So after

it got released But I do remember seeing this

before. I've said before with the Disney spotlight,

and I normally say with any sequel, especially

films like Lion King that leave that open door,

Back to the Future is another franchise with

Back to the Future 1 and 2 that leave that open

door to see more of a story. I liked it because

Like I said, left me wanting more, and I wanted

to see where the characters would have gone,

and I'm glad that we do have this sequel. I don't

think Kevin really said anything in our private

Skype window earlier today, but he was telling

me notes and stuff about the scripts for recording

this episode, and I'm like, dude, shut up so

I can watch the best Disney sequel ever. I didn't

comment on that. Of course not. That's an oxymoron,

first of all. You just used the word best and

sequel in the same sentence. I used three words

actually, best is sequel ever. Best Disney sequel

ever. Tara, do you remember seeing this one?

Definitely, 100%. My brother bought this for

me for the holidays as a gift because he knew

I loved Disney movies and I loved Disney sequels.

I'm not sequels per se, but I love Disney films,

so he bought it for me and I watched it. And

I watched it a lot over the years. I'm glad you

watched it if he bought it for you. Yeah, because

I would be totally mean. Like, oh, Paul, thanks

for the gift. I'm not going to watch it. Thanks.

Go ahead. So yeah, I definitely did grow up watching

this. Well, not growing up, but when I was around

eight, nine years old when it came out, I remember

watching it on VHS. And then a couple years later,

it was shown a lot on ABC with The Wonderful

World of Disney. So yeah, that's my experience

watching it. As far as getting into the characters

a little bit, obviously, like most sequels, you

have some carryovers and you have some new characters.

Just to get the the carryovers out of the way.

There's actually not a ton of them in this one

I guess but you have Simba and Nala still This

one it is still the same voice for Nala it for

the adult Simba this one had both Cam Clark and

What you call it yeah, Matthew Broderick so there

was both of them I think cam Clark did one of

the songs or something like that, but they're

both involved in that and then you have Timon

and Pumbaa, still voiced by the same people,

Sabela and Lane, Zazu, this time voiced by Edward

Hibbert, Rafiki voiced by the same person, Mufasa

appears kind of in this one, if you want to consider

the vision an appearance. But this one's basically

all about these new characters, which are the

young Cubs. You have a baby, a young and an adult

version of Kiara. Mary Gibbs plays the baby,

Michelle Horn plays the young version, and Nev

Campbell plays the adult version of Kiara. You

have a young version of Kovu, played by Ryan

Donahue, and an adult version of Kovu, played

by Jason Marsden, who is most notably doing Duke

right now in G .I. Joe Renegades. You have Nuka,

Andy Dick, Azira, Suzanne, Plachette, Vitani,

Jennifer Lean, and then you have Vitani, the

young version of Vitani, which is Lacey Chabert.

Which is interesting because you have Neve Campbell

and Lacey Shebert both doing characters in this

at the same time that they're also at this point

still doing party of five Yep, party of five

reference. Thank you. I got it in there. Yeah

So what about in this one as far as out of the

new characters? Maybe like what are you guys's

favorite and least favorite characters? For me,

it's Kiara and Kova the adult versions of them.

Actually, I like both versions, but I like the

adult versions better. Yeah I don't hang against

the young versions. I think it's nice, but I

just prefer the adult versions. Yeah, I'm actually

flipping because in the first one I liked the

younger versions of the Cubs better, but in this

one I'm with you. I like the older versions of

Kobu and Kiara. I don't really care for a lot

of the other characters in this. I shouldn't

say I don't care for them. I don't care for Simba

in this one as much as I like Simba in the first

one. I like Simba's character development because

he has essentially become Mufasa. Yeah, I guess.

I mean, not in the regal way that Mufasa and

James Earl Jones played Mufasa, obviously, because

they're two different characters, two different

voice actors, but I mean, honestly, guys, seriously,

this is just like Little Mermaid 1 and 2. Definitely.

I mean seriously, outside of being based on two

different Shakespeare's plays, honestly when

I was watching Lion King 2 earlier, I'm like,

wait, this is just the first movie retold with

their kids. Well, I'm gonna agree and disagree.

Well, for the part that has to do with... There's

a lot of times. You obviously still have the

ending where they have the new baby. You have

it starting the same way with Chiara as a baby.

I like the reference to Little Mermaid and the

fact that it is basically just the kids now involved

in the story, but like we said in the introduction

here, the first movie was more like Hamlet. This

one's more like Romeo and Juliet. There's major

differences, but I get what you're saying. I

mean, as far as the points of these films, not

what they're based off of. Yeah, I mean the plots

as far as like the the characters and tie -ins

yes I see a lot of similarities as far as the

actual plot I don't think it's quite the same

no But uh and I don't know like as far as the

other characters that are like carryovers They

all seem about I like them about the same I like

Timon Pumbaa Rafiki and Zazu about the same as

I did in the first one to vary in different levels

Yeah, I have a different worst character in this

one. Which one? And it's because I'm not a fan

of the voice actor, I'm not a fan of any of his

work whatsoever, I cannot stand this asshole.

He is a complete dick, which is Andy Dick. I

cannot stand that character. I'm actually gonna

agree with you. I hate the character of Nuka.

Oh, Nuka? Yeah, I wish the president would have

nuked him in the ass. Nuke is an asshole. I don't

like any dick either, so I'm with you on that

one. He's a total dick. What about you, Tara?

Do you have a least favorite character? Least

favorite character? Zira. Yeah. I don't like

her at all. She's a bitch. You have a most favorite?

Kiara. Sorry. Kiara. Kiara. Yes, Kiara. Not Kiara.

Kiara. Yes, I love Kiara. She's really cool,

and I love her. She's like the female version

of Simba, so... Yeah. It's awesome. I love...

uh... One of the reasons why I love adult Kovu

so much is because it's Jason Marston voicing

him. And I know Marston from voicing Snapper

Car in Justice League. He also did Gear on Static

Shock. And he's as Kevin, I almost called you

Jason. As Kevin said, he plays Duke on the new

G .I. Joe Renegades cartoon. And I just, I never

knew that. But once I heard adult Kovu's voice,

I'm like, holy crap. It's Jason Marsden. Yeah.

Let's see, do we? Yeah, we're going to go right

to plot because apparently there's no behind

the scenes stuff for this one. Yeah, none needed.

As far as your quick plot thing, it starts the

same way as the first one. You got the new baby

cub being presented by Rafiki. And you have kind

of right at the beginning where Kiara and Kovu

meet and they're kind of hitting it off right

away and becoming friends and then, of course,

the feud between Simba and Zeera separate them

and it's kind of that whole Montague and Capulet,

you're not allowed to like each other type thing.

Yep. Which leads to some scenes where you have

Simba and Kiara... kind of going through their

relationship at the same time you have Zira trying

to plot with Kovu and all this as far as a way

to get revenge for Scar's death. So basically

the entire movie is Zira trying to get back at

this and trying to find a way to get back at

Simba to the point where you have this feud boiling

and boiling and boiling, obviously again like

Romeo and Juliet. You have Kiara being trained

or watched over by Timon and Pumbaa similar to

how you had Timon and Pumbaa looking after Simba

and I don't want to go into too much detail here

but to go basically all the way to the end you

have a face -off between Simba and Zira where

the two groups are ready to basically go off

and have an all -out battle until Kiara and Kovu

step in and eventually persuade everybody to

stop the nonsense and everybody kind of sides

with Simba except for Zira who's unwilling to

let go and obviously we have a similar thing

where a lion basically dies. So I do like the

ending though where they have Kovu and Kiara

at the top of the Pride Rock with Mufasa's voice

coming over and saying that he did a good job

and that we are one. I thought that was kind

of a cool way to end it. One of the things, much

like the Circle of Life opening in the first

film, I loved the opening music in this film.

It was just something that was really, really

cool. It was very different. Again, it was another

way to almost reintroduce us to the fact that

Simba and Nala have had a cub. One of the things

that really has no place in this is Zira. I mean,

seriously, there was never any mention of Scar

dating or screwing lionesses or anything like

that in the first film. Scar would have probably

mated with a hyena before a lioness. Well, it's

a classic Disney sequel for Paw, where they put

in a character that should have been around.

In the previous film, there's no reasoning for

this person not appearing in the first film,

but now they're in the second one, or the third

one, or whatever. And the other thing is, is

that, you know, Zira's got her facts wrong. Simba

didn't kill Scar. I mean, technically, I guess

you could say... Simba left Scar to be mauled

and killed by the hyenas, but Simba didn't actually,

his actions didn't physically kill Scar. He didn't,

you know, claw him to death or hold a potato

gun to his head or whatever. I don't know. For

the same reason Zira dies, because they're unwilling

to, you know. Change their ways. Right. Or forgive

or, you know, let bygones be bygones. Right.

I do have to mention a part that I noticed in

the film. I didn't notice it the first time I

watched it, but rewatching it for this, there's

a part where I don't remember what character

says it. Maybe it's Zazu, or it's Timon or Pumbaa,

but whatever. They're talking about one of the

Cubs, or one of the evil people, or whatever.

They say something about riff -raff. They say

it, and it sounds exactly like from Aladdin.

I remember that. I thought that was pretty cool

that they said that. Riff -raff. Yeah. Oh, yeah,

as it does say that about one of the... I think

he says it about... He calls Kovu braf -fra.

Yeah, he does. You know, we had a Party of Five

reference earlier. The other geek reference that

I noticed watching this one back, when Simba

comes back from being injured and Timun and Pumbaa

carry him, To moon or not to moon Pumba goes

up under Simba to carry him on his back and then

to moon carries his tail I Think Kevin knows

where I'm going with this I Don't know where

you're going. I know you don't know where I'm

going with this way Kevin should know it reminded

me of May of Soundwave carrying Megatron and

rumble carrying Megatron's gun Oh, okay. Yeah,

that makes sense. I don't know, it just reminded

me of that. Why do I? Tara, what are your favorite

parts in this one? My favorite part of... Or

these favorite, either way. Well, favorite part.

I'll go to my favorite part first. Favorite part

of this is the part where Kiara and Kovu, like

the little... where they're staring up at the

stars and they're all lovey -dovey. I thought

it was really cute. Where you know Chiara's looking

for a Kovu and then he disappears and I thought

that was really cute Least favorite part is when

Simba gets the shit beat out of him So yeah,

that's my least favorite part. That makes sense.

What about you Mike? least favorite part is anything

to do with with Nuka and his whole jealousy bit

and Honestly anything to do with Zira when it

which is probably half the movie But my favorite

parts are the love story between Chiara and in

Kovu Because as I said before it mirrors what

Simba and Nala went through Yeah, I especially

like it at the beginning when they're kid when

they're young cubs And they just meet up and

just are just having a good time in the beginning.

Yeah I also loved, my absolute favorite To Moon

and Pumba moment is in this movie. Which one?

When Pumba's stuck, To Moon gets the idea, jumps

up on top of him, holds his tail like a gun and

says, okay, this thing's loaded and I'm not afraid

to use it and all the lionesses run away. Yeah.

No. It's funny, but that was one of the parts

I did have a problem with, because I'm like,

really? That made them all run away. I thought

that was hilarious. Ew, that's disgusting. It's

disgusting, but it's funny, though. Yeah. It's

funny and disgusting at the same time. Like a

Kevin Smith joke. It's fun, disgusting. Oh my.

That's a good one. I've just invented a word.

As far as the trivia for this one, there's not

as much, obviously, for the first one, but there

are a couple of things I wanted to mention. Vitani

apparently was originally named Shatani, S -H

-E Tani, and it's possible to hear characters

refer to her by that name at points in the movie.

It means devil and Kishwahili and Disney thought

that it was inappropriate so they changed it

to Vitani thinking it might be a little less

offensive, whatever. The son of Zira made of

scar from the Lion King is called Kobu, Swahili

for scar. Zira means hate, the name of Nuka,

Zira's hapless elder son means bad smell. That's

true, he looks like he might smell. Simba's daughter

was originally named Aisha, but was changed when

Disney realized that this was already the name

of the Yellow Ranger of the popular Power Rangers

television show. I'm glad they changed it too

because if this movie would have had a reference

to Power Rangers, I would have not liked it as

much. It does have a reference to Power Rangers

because it almost happened. No, so that's good

that it didn't happen. Filmmakers revealed that

in a symbolic manner, Pride Rock has almost always

shown on the shadow side as opposed to the original

film. Which was from the other side and opening

song. He lives in you was also used in the Broadway

version of the first Lion King So music and this

one's not too bad Not as good as number one.

No, but it's still good for what it is and for

the and for the film that That it portrays though.

So yeah, I mean, it's not terrible. It's not

great like most sequels music Oh yeah, we can

go on and on about that. But the main songs there,

He Lives In You, We Are One, My Lullaby, Appendee,

He Is Not One Of Us, and Love Will Find A Way.

I don't necessarily have a favorite song or least

favorite, but I just remember thinking that the

music wasn't quite as bad as I thought it might

be. I hated My Lullaby. That was just... How

do you really feel? Yeah, I hated that song.

What about you, Tara? My favorite songs? Or just

any songs that you either liked or disliked?

Yeah. I love the love song between Kiara and

Kovu. Such, so pretty. Exactly like Can You Feel

the Love Tonight, but more modern, more for,

you know, this generation. Yeah. And I love that,

which is just a beautiful song. That's the only

song I really loved in this film. And also, He

Loves in You. Yeah. Getting into the Wow Getting

into the legacy segment. I have to take this

first part because it's holy crap Siskel and

Ebert gave the film a two thumbs up and said

it was a Satisfactory sequel to one of the most

popular films of all time the Lion King However,

they also said it was best that it went to videos

citing that the music was lacking and not remotely

equal to the original soundtrack Okay now for

me, like I said the music for what it is for

this movie is awesome comparing it to the first

line king yeah of course it's not going to be

as good because that soundtrack is like 10 times

awesome but i mean There wasn't a song in this.

I mean, yeah, I don't like My Little By. There

are certain songs that I don't like, but like

a lot of the songs that have to do with Kiara

and Kovu or the intro song of He Lives in You,

I like that because it kind of reminds me of

the overall story of these two movies. Yeah.

I just think that I agree with their review though.

Two thumbs up and satisfactory sequel, but obviously

it's not going to live up to the original because

no Disney sequel does, except for one. That's

true. It never lives up to the original right?

There's only been one Disney movie of all time

sequel wise that has been better than the original

Rescuers Down Under We talked about that off

air a few days. That's not a it is a sequel,

but anyway, we'll get to that later Take the

TV guide portion TV Guide gave the film 2 .5

stars out of 4, claiming that, despite being

of slightly higher quality than Disney's previous

direct -to -video animated sequels, comes nowhere

near the level of its big -screen predecessor,

either musically or artistically. The review

later went on to say that, though most of the

original characters and their voices are back,

they all sound bored apart from the zesty addition

of Suzanne Plachette as a scheming Zira. The

overall result is okay for kids who will enjoy

the low humor provided by the comical meerkat

Timon and the flotulent warthog Pumba. But it

could have been so much better. Oh, geez. I can

see there's some of their points. Awards, Kevin.

Actually, this one did have some awards that

it was nominated or won some Annie Awards. One

to Annie for outstanding achievement in animated

home video production. I'm nominated for achievement

in music for an animated feature production.

A couple other things, DVD exclusive awards and

Vancouver effects and animation festival won

first prize for animated feature film. So it

did have a few awards. I did either one or it

was nominated for, which kind of surprises me,

but it did. And as far as the release, in 1998

Disney believed that Simba's Pride would be so

popular that it shipped 15 million copies to

stores for the October 27th release date. Disney

sold 3 .5 million copies in three days. 13 million

copies were sold while it was still in print

in the late 90s. The film was first released

on VHS in the United States on October 27th,

1998, then on DVD as a limited issue on November

23rd, 1999. The DVD was placed into the vault

on January 19th, 2000. It was not released again

on DVD until August 31st, 2004 when it was a

two disc special edition, and it went back into

the vault in 2005. Um, yeah. Thank God they're

re -releasing these eventually. I'm assuming

with the future diamond edition re -release of

the Lion King that they'll bring out the other

two, but hopefully. Hopefully, and we can only

hope, right? Yes. They've done that with every

other one, so. Yeah, that's true. That's true.

So we are going to move on and you're going to

hear... Don't know, some scene with Timun and

Pumbaa, I'm not sure yet. Lion King 1 .5, oh

kill me now. I tell you, Timon, that song always

gets me right here. Yeah, Pumbaa. Well, enough

of that. Uh, Timon, what are you doing? I'm fast

-forwarding to the part where we come in. But

you can't go out of order. Au contraire, my porcine

pal, I've got the remote. But everyone's gonna

get confused. We gotta go back to the beginning

of the story. We're not in the... of the story

yes we were the whole time yeah but they don't

know that then why don't we tell them our story

hey I've got an idea why don't we tell them our

story oh I like the sound of that a little backstage

tour take them behind the scenes for a revealing

and intimate look at the story within the story.

Because what they don't know is how we really

were there, even though they didn't know we were

there, you know? Couldn't have said it better

myself. So does this mean we're going back to

the beginning? Oh, no, Pumbaa, no. We're going

way back to before the beginning. Wait, wait,

wait, wait. Hold on a second. Three? What's with

the three? No, no, no. The three has skeptical.

Timon, you can't use two. There's already been

a two. Ooh, you got a point there, big fella.

It's not a sequel, anyway. Yeah. More like a

behind -the -scene -quel. A what -a -who -quel?

Oh, you know. An in -between -quel. That's it.

Pumbaa, my muse. It's genius. Now this title's

a knockout! No! Not literally! And finally up

in episode 90 is... The Lion King 1 and a half.

Take it away... Actually, yeah, take it away,

Kevin. Never mind. We're ready for The Lion King

1 and a half. Wait a second, we had one. Then

we had two. Now we're at one and a half. Interesting.

We'll talk about that in a second. In some countries,

it's also known as Lion King 3 Hakuna Matata.

Anyways, whatever you want to call it, Lion King

3, Lion King 1 and a half, it's a direct -to

-video animated film from Disney, released February

10th, 2004. The film is... a part prequel, part

parallel film to the 94 animated film, The Lion

King, as it focuses on Timon and Pumbaa before

and during the events of the original film. The

film, set up as a frame story, starts out playing

the very beginning of the original film. Timon

and Pumbaa are shown in silhouette, commenting

on the movie, being shown before them in a style

nearly identical to that of Mystery Science Theater

3000. So when did you first see this one, Mike?

There's silence. My gears are working here. About

six hours ago First time he watched it folks.

I have so many hours before this recording took

place No, seriously because you know, we're recording

this Sunday night do the hill stage date January

30th Yeah, we're recording this Sunday night

January 30th and I had heard of this movie and

As Kevin likes to bash me for doing this, but

it's just the way that I am If I don't like something

based off a trailer I am completely anti and

just totally against it and this was one of those

things because I was expecting when they first

announced this project this is much like Little

Mermaid Ariel's beginning when they first announced

this project it was tentatively titled Lion King

3 and I thought it was going to be another future

story of maybe Kovu and Kiara you know and maybe

having Simba and Nala in there somewhere but

I honestly thought it was going to be another

continuation of the second film and come to find

out that it's fucking Tamun and Pumbaa. And the

reason why I say that is because at this point

in time, I had seen so many episodes of a goddamn

animated series that they had. I was so sick

of these characters. Yeah, I can understand that.

To me. I don't know, it just doesn't make sense.

To me, this is what happened. They did Lion King

1, they did Lion King 2. Whereas in Lion King

1, they set it up for a sequel. In Lion King

2, they closed the book. The way they had that

last scene with Mufasa saying that it's all done

and all are one and everything's good, that was

it. Somebody decided we need to milk this for

even more money, and they're like, wait a second,

we can't do a Lion King 3 because of how we ended

Lion King 2, so what do we do? Well, instead

of going the traditional route and just doing

a prequel, I will give them credit for not doing

that because that would have been the easy thing

to do and somehow do like Mufasa as a youngster

or something. I could have seen that. I do give

them credit for trying something new and trying

the whole Mystery Science Theater 3000 angle,

but it just doesn't work. Timon and Pumbaa are

funny at times doing that and I like some of

the commentary they do and it's kind of a unique

twist. but I just get bored with it. It would

have been better if they hadn't shown the story

of To Moon and the story of them, you know, flubbing

all of the original scenes in the film. It would

have been better if it was just them in the theater

watching the film. I don't think it's funny.

It'd be like a running video commentary with

them just commenting on the film instead of actually

putting them into the film. It's just, oh god.

As far as the characters and the cast. It's very

obvious. It's obvious you have everybody from

the first film because they show a lot of scenes

from the first film. But Simba, you have still

older Simba. Simba is Matthew Broderick. The

younger Simba is no longer Jonathan Taylor Thomas

because he's too old at this point. So they have

Matt Weinberg do the younger Simba voice. You

still have Lane and Isabella doing Timon and

Pumbaa. Still got the same person doing Nalas.

Still got the same people doing the Shenzi Banzai

and Ed and Rafiki. The only new characters are

Ma, who is Julie Kavner and Uncle Max, Jerry

Stiller, who are in Timon's family. Uncle Max

is funny. Yeah, Jerry Stiller is cool. I will

give him that. I had looked at the cast listing

in the script, but before I had done that, I

was like, wait, wait a second. Why the hell is

Marge Simpson a meerkat? Where are we going from

here? We're going to go into the plot, but I'm

not giving you a plot, because the plot is it's

the first movie with commentary. Did we already

do the general memories and recollection segment

already? Yes. Oh, you didn't ask me about my

memories of this. What are your memories of this?

What are my memories of this? Watching it in

my friend's basement on Halloween. One year after

it came out. Talking about a scary movie. Pardon?

How did you feel when you first watched it? I

laughed. I thought it was a joke to be honest

with you. That's why, if you want my honest opinion,

I thought it was a joke. I could not take the

film seriously at all. This is almost like, I

don't know, it seems like it should have been

like a TV special or a cartoon episode or something,

I don't know. This, yeah, to me, this seems like,

you know how they had the Lion King Timon and

Pumbaa cartoon series? Yep. This should have

been an episode on that. Yeah, or some sort of

feature film. Or a TV movie. Yeah. Not part of

the Lion King franchise film series, because

I just couldn't get into this movie at all. I

have to give Jerika in our Ustream a shout out,

because she said, Tooncast podcast, we watch

it so you don't have to. That is a good thing

to say because I have had to watch all these

sequels only so I can tell everyone out there

not to watch any of these. I will say though

as far as the plot, Rafiki gets around. mean

seriously he runs into to moon and then he that's

the only really part that's kind of different

is to moon story but what I liked about to moon

in this is that Rafiki is telling him to go look

beyond blah blah blah and I like how they're

kind of like next -door neighbors to pride rock

and I like how they eventually found what they

actually deem Hakuna Matata as their little piece

of land there. The other thing I liked about

this is actually seeing Simba grow up. You don't

get that in the first film. You get that they're

walking on the bridge of the path and he's a

cub and then all of a sudden he's an adult and

then Matthew Broderick jumps in with the song.

or whoever did the singing voice. It still sounds

like Broadway to me. You know what I mean though?

In this you have... Well there's a lot of clever

stuff in this one and it's like it was a clever

idea. There is some good moments but for some

reason when you just put it all together as a

movie it just doesn't work. No. I don't know

why it just doesn't. Like I want to like it.

Because I think it's unique that they actually

did this unlike every other sequel that they've

ever done They tried to do something different,

so I'll give them props for that, but it just

somehow doesn't work The other thing that I I

kind of found weird And I kind of like it was

weird, but I kind of liked it because we automatically

assume That well actually it does happen in the

first film or Nala to moon and Pumba Go back

after symbol when he goes back to pride rock

whereas in this one Pumba goes back but to moon

argues with him because that's the other thing

about the songs in this regardless of how awesome

the first songs are they Completely almost they

didn't butcher them, but they completely changed

all the songs because to moon is making it all

about him And about their friendship at who know

Whatever. Hakuna Matata. There you go. Hakuna

Matata. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I kind of, yeah. So

anyway, and then of course Rafiki comes along

with his wisdom thing and then finally gets to

Moon to go after. I did not particularly care

for the slow warthog running scene. That kind

of put me off because it's kind of like they're

making fun of the Simba scene in the first film

and I just, I didn't like that part. Yeah. Some

a few trivia notes for you on this one the song

Timon sings called That's All I Need is apparently

a reworked version of the song that we mentioned

that was going to be in the first one called

Warthog Rhapsody An ancestor of the song Hakuna

Matata Timon's story of leaving the meerkat colony

is based on a short scene deleted from Hakuna

Matata during the original Lion King So apparently

there was ideas about that during the first one

that got cut the characters that show up at the

end are Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Stitch, Pocahontas,

Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Lost Boys, Aladdin, Jasmine,

Genie, Quasimodo, and a whole bunch of other

people including Blue, Mowgli, Snow White, Seven

Doors, Lady and the Tramp, Belle, Beast, Dumbo,

and a lot of other people. I remember that scene.

I absolutely love that scene. It was hilarious.

That's my favorite scene because Timon's like,

who are all these people? They're all their Disney

characters, man. Coming to watch the movie. And

of course we have a theme going. The original

Lion King associated with Hamlet, the second

one with Romeo and Juliet. Apparently this one

is inspired from a play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

are dead. And apparently there is a total of

at least 20 hidden Mickeys in this film. So go

hunting for hidden Mickeys if you want to watch

this film. You know what we should do on the

GeekCast site? We should totally work behind

the voice actors. We should just make like screen

captures of all the hidden Mickeys. Kevin would

go nuts. That means I would have to watch the

sequels again. Yeah, Kevin would go crazy and

he's not gonna watch the sequels. I would do

that, Kevin. I would do that. Maybe I should

do it for you guys. That's the only reason to

rewatch this one is to find your hidden Mickeys.

Maybe go make a hidden Mickey blog. I still think

that sounds dirty. There you go. That works.

That sounds dirty. I think it sounds dirty. Yeah,

it probably would take forever, too. That's too

funny. Oh, well. Yes, going into the music segment

the film soundtrack the Lion King one -and -a

-half songs from Tumun and Pumbaa's hilarious

adventure was released to CD by Disney Records

on February 10th 2004 it includes two songs from

the original film That's All I Need and Hakuna

Matata re -performed by Nathan Lane who took

over the role of voicing the character Tumun

The rest of the soundtrack includes various R

&B tracks, including remakes of the Cool and

the Gang classic Jungle Boogie by artist French

and two instrumental pieces from film composer

Don Harbor. I'm not even going to pronounce that

guy's name. Some weird Ininho guy was the original

composer for the Good, the Bad, and the Oh, wow.

Holy crap. So we had the Good, the Bad, the Ugly,

and then the song, though. We have Grazing the

Grass, Dig a Ton of Dance, That's All I Need,

Hakuna Matata, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Jungle

Boogie, Timon's Traveling Theme, and The Good,

The Bad, and The Ugly are the songs. It's kind

of like, I equate this one to The Lion King 2,

the music, alright, I like some of it, but it's

nothing like the first one, obviously. I can't

believe this one won awards. It won awards, what?

Yeah, first of all, before we get to the awards

though, we've got to say our Rotten Tomatoes

thing. The film has a 79%, which I think is pretty

high for it. The community actually gives it

a 65, and that's very rare where the community

gives it a lower rating than the actual people

at Rotten Tomatoes. Than the actual reviewers.

TV Guide stated that this retelling of The Lion

King from the point of view of the comic sidekicks

is one of the rare Disney direct -to -video sequels

worthy of the original. It went on to say that

the only aspect of the film that feels forced

is the revisionist positioning of Timon as Young

Simba's stepdad, which has no emotional echo

in the first film. The quality of the animation

is surprisingly impressive. Some static backgrounds

are the primary concession to a small screen

budget, and the fluid character movements and

expressions are vastly superior to those of,

say, the Timon and Pumbaa TV cartoon series that

gave it Three and a half out of four stars. I

find this funny. But it did win awards, like

Mike said. Yes, it won awards. It won any award

for best home entertainment production. It won

for the Best 2005 DVD Exclusive Awards. I didn't

even know they had DVD Exclusive Awards. In the

following categories, Best Animated Character

Performance, Nathan Lane, Voice, Alexis Statham,

I don't know. Yeah, the guy that animated Timon.

Statham. Alexis Statham. Yeah, got that. There

you go. What she said. Best animated DVD premiere

movie. Wow. What? Uh, best director of a DVD

premiere movie. Uh, best editing of a DVD premiere

movie. And best screenplay for a DVD premiere

movie. It also won a Saturn Award for best DVD

release in 2005. What came out that year on DVD?

I'm gonna, I'm gonna kind of echo what one of

our Ustreamers said in the chat. What Jerika

said. Was nothing else released that year? Yeah,

exactly. Clearly. Clearly not in the DVD premiere

movie, whatever that means. I don't know what

qualifies one for that, but... Actually, it was

only nominated for best DVD release, so the Saturn

Award. That was only a nomination, so... At least

it didn't win that one. Yeah, and it is on DVD,

obviously, because it won DVD awards. I don't

actually know what kind of DVD it is. I'm assuming

it's a single disc edition. And it's also in

the box set. Yeah, that's true. That's true.

I would just wait, because I actually don't have

the films. I watched them all on YouTube. I wish

I had them. I wish I had that special edition

box set, but I think the special edition box

set is only for the first film. I don't think

it's for... Probably. They have something where

all three of them already go. Right, but I'm

saying specifically that special edition box

set, I think that's just the first film. Gotcha.

And it goes for astronomical amounts of money

on Amazon, unfortunately. I used to have a poster

from the first film, a really gigantic cardboard

Lion King poster. I don't know what happened

to it. It says a DVD box set of the three Lion

King films in two special edition formats. Yeah.

So they were all released together in 2004. yes

there you go um all right so we are going to

go to some commercials uh you're going to hear

some glass shattering and all that good stuff

and some promos from the voice actors that we've

interviewed so we'll be back hello tooncast this

is your boy kev just wanted to give you call

on uh with a few thoughts about the lion king

franchise And I think the first Lion King is

the best Disney film ever made. It's not my personal

favorite, but definitely the best Disney film.

And when I say that, to me, there's not even

a close second. The success alone puts it way

out front. I mean, Lion King has plays, musical,

and the merchandise for it was just sick. Everywhere

you turn, There was Lion King this and Lion King

that. There was always something about Lion King

and countless high school symphonic bands taking

the Lion King score to festival. I mean, hell,

I still remember some of my parts that I played

on Lion King. And at that point, it became more

than just a movie. And then the soundtrack was

just beautiful. One of the best I've ever heard.

I played the video games. The Super NES version

I just ran through in one sitting, I think. And

the Sega Genesis version just kicked my ass.

I mean, it was much harder than the one on SNES.

As far as the actual movie is concerned, there

aren't enough good things that I can say about

Lion King. The animation was phenomenal. I mean,

just beautiful. great characters, great color,

great backgrounds, incredible attention to detail.

And it's like every little part of the production

was taken to the next level. And what meant the

most to me were the cultural references and the

African setting. And it made it feel kind of

relative to the nature shows and all of the...

National Geographic that I used to watch as a

kid. If I had to choose a favorite character,

I'd say Mufasa, simply because even his enemies

had respect for him. And the one thing that does

piss me off though, and I'm not sure if this

is true or not, and I'm sure that y 'all will

get into it on the show, is the rumor that it

was a rip -off of Kimba the White Lion. And like

I said, I'm not real sure that... If that's true

or not, I haven't done a whole lot of research

on it. But if it is, that's kind of fucked up.

But moving on to Lion King 2, this one was cool,

but nowhere near as engaging as the first. It

has that Disney sequel curse. And that's where

they don't put as much effort into the sequels.

And it makes me think that it was kind of a cash

grab. And just to kind of keep the name of Lion

King still circulating. I mean, the animation

was good, story was OK. And I think it's kind

of hard to follow up on something as epic as

the first Lion King. I don't remember a whole

lot about it. And it's just kind of one of those

things where you watch it once. I enjoyed it,

but not something that I'm dying to come back

to. But something that I am dying to come back

to is Lion King One and a Half, which was like,

I mean, stupid fucking funny. They took all of

what made the first movie funny and turned it

on its head. And it just, they just turned everything

up a notch. And it wasn't just the jokes, but

how they told the jokes. You know, they weren't

afraid of, they weren't afraid to make fun of

themselves, which is similar to what they did

in Emperor's New Groove. And the animation was

just awesome. I thought that this could have

been a full theatrical release. I had a lot of

fun with the characters. I liked the story. And

it was just a lot of fun. So definitely the first

Lion King was the best. Second Lion King, not

so much. And Lion King, one and a half. Yeah,

I liked that one too. So great show. Keep up

the good work. And I'll talk with you guys later.

Hey guys, Raphael here at the Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles. Did you say podcast? Dudes, dudettes,

you're listening to a podcast on the Gatecast

Radio Network. Cowabunga! Hey guys, it's Mike

Hunt, and we here at IGN have just put together

a totally cool list of the top 100... Oh my god,

what's happening? I am from the Geekcast Radio

Network and I have been sent from the cartoon

gods to do away with your crappy top 100 list

and to enlist all of the other geek gods from

across the internet. With our powers combined,

we will create the most epic top 100 list of

all time and forever put you peons at IGN to

shame. So go tell all the other morons at IGN

to take This is Dr. Wily, and I will destroy

Mega Man while listening to Tooncast! This is

Megatron, leader of the Predacons. And if you're

hearing this, it means the Beast Unleashed podcast

is now over. Yes. In The Beast Unleashed, myself,

Steve Megatron Phillips, Pecan Court Michael

Wilson, and TFG1 Mike review Beast Wars and Beast

Machines in the very first podcast of its kind.

Yes. In the podcast, we interview voice actors,

writers from the show, and talk in -depth trivia

between everything in between. So, if you're

interested... You can tune in to the now finished

Beast Unleashed podcast over on geekcastradio

.com. Excellent! Yes! Hello nurses and friends

and nurses. Yakko Warner here and you're listening

to a podcast on the Geekcast Radio Network. Lucky

you. Do you like retro shows? Did you grow up

in either of the 80s or the 90s? Then tune in

to Telecast, GeekCastRadio .com's newest podcast.

Join us here on the Telecast as we revisit some

of your favorite shows, such as Clarissa Explains

It All, Salute Your Shorts, Saved By The Bell,

and much, much more. Only on GeekCastRadio .com.

Sword of Omens, give me sight beyond sight. I

see a new episode of Tooncast coming this week.

Where about the Tooncast? Final thoughts on the

Lion King franchise, Tara? Amazing, amazing film

series. Loved it. Was part of my childhood and

always will be part of me and my life. And I

just love it and I'm so glad that I got to watch

it growing up and that kids today still know

what it is because it's really a classic and

it'd be a shame if they redo it in 3D because

it won't have the same... Effect it had on me

growing up. So Lion King awesome film Kevin franchise

thoughts and as far as the franchise like obviously

the first movie is epic It's one of the greatest

Disney movies of all time So I'm not gonna you

don't need to say anything about that one as

far as like summing it up with the two sequels

Lion King 2, I thought was fairly good for a

sequel. I thought it was a great way to end everything.

You know, the fact that the first one set up

for Lion King 2 fairly well and that Lion King

2 closed it, I thought perfectly. You know, I

can't complain about that. I don't know. Like

I said before, I appreciate what they were trying

to do with Lion King 1 .5, but fail. I hope to

God everybody didn't just drop their iPods or

whatever mp3 players that they're using to listen

to this podcast because holy crap Kevin Thompson

likes a Disney see I didn't say I liked it I

said come on you've got to admit come on conspiracy

come on gotta admit you like the sequel the Lion

King good for a Disney sequel but it's not the

worst Disney sequel so I'm saying it's good for

a Disney sequel right but it can't be included

in the worst movies as - Hard Disney sequels

are the worst - No. Not all of them, no. Some

of them, majority of them, yes. Not all of them.

You have to live up to the first one to be a

good sequel. And Lion King 2 did. It didn't live

up to the first one. Yes it did. Yes it did.

Yes it did. And yeah, I absolutely love this

franchise. Lion King, in my opinion, is the number

one Disney movie at this point. of all time.

The second one was awesome, really loved how

the story played out even though there are a

few plot points that are meh but overall it was

a great sequel. I could have totally done without

one and a half maybe if they had just made it

a Timoon and Boomba story without the rest of

the Lion King cast and not rehash the movie or

if as I said before if they had just had to learn

from the doing commentary as they watched it

instead of showing them you know cause -and -effect

all of the things that happen in the original

movie but overall great franchise uh... i think

we are going to close the show thank you for

listening on here on tune casters always get

contact with us leave feedback for the show visit

the website the cast radio dot com you can comment

on each of us on post Leave the show's feedback

in iTunes. Please do this speaking of iTunes

back in episode 89 I mentioned that we did have

two new iTunes reviews We had brought up the

one back then when Kevin was asked about his

eight on Dexter And we already covered that so

the latest iTunes review was posted by Edward

Nito I'm assuming that's how he says his name.

It's N I E T O January 18th, 2011. Don't quit.

5 -star review. This is the best Tooncast I've

heard despite the fact that I don't care much

for you hating on Snow White. Your show is hella

cool. Come on, 100 more shows. Well, Edward,

sir, 100 shows is it for Tooncast proper. We

will be going 65 years in the future for Tooncast

Beyond, where we cover all manner of current

cartoons. But Tooncast in its current configuration,

its current format will end. As far as Snow White,

dude, seriously? You like Snow White? What's

wrong with you? I'm sorry. I don't mean to call

the guy out, but seriously? You like Snow White?

Everyone's entitled to their opinion. I used

to like Snow White. I don't like it anymore.

Even as like you would say, Mike, it's wrong.

So thank you for leaving us reviews on iTunes.

You can follow us on Twitter. The show name there

is DCR and Tooncast, all one word, minus TFJ

and Mike. Kevin, what is your Twitter? Optimus

Solo. Finally, you changed it. And Tara? Tara

Blair. Become a fan on Facebook. Go to Facebook

.com slash Geekcast Radio Network. Call the voicemail

line and tell us what you're leaving a message

for and your name. 502 -526 -5821. We hope you

enjoyed this episode of Tooncast. I wish you

would join us next time when we will be closing

the door on the Disney Spotlight Vault. For now,

I am TFG1 Mike with Optimus Solo from BehindTheVoiceActors

.com and Tara the Rising Star. Thank you for

listening. Until next time. I can see what's

happening. What? And they don't have a clue.

Who? They'll fall in love, and here's the bottom

line. Our trio's down to two. Oh. The sweet career's

self -claimed. There's magic everywhere and with

all this romantic atmosphere Disasters in the

air Hakuna Matata What a wonderful phrase Hakuna

Matata Ain't no pairs in craze It means no worries

for the rest of your days. It's our problem -free

philosophy. Hakuna Matata. Hakuna Matata? It's

our motto. What's a motto? Nothing. What's a

motto with you? So you have to do what I tell

you? Not yet, I don't. And with an attitude like

that, I'm afraid you're shaping up to be a pretty

pathetic king indeed. Not the way I see it. I'm

gonna be your mighty king, so enemies beware.

Well, I've never seen a king or beast with quite

so little hair. I'm gonna be the main event,

like no king was before. I'm brushing up on looking

down, I'm working on my brush... a rather uninspiring

thing. Oh, I just can't wait to be king. You've

got a long way to go, young master, if you think.

No one's saying do this. Now when I said that,

I... No one's saying be there. Well, I meant

what? No one's saying stop that. But what you

don't realize? No one's saying see here. Now

see here! We don't run around all day. Well,

that's definitely out.