___ _ _ ___ ' | ` |__| |__` | | | |__, ___ ________________________________________________________ _____ [ --- __---__ --- --- --- --- --- --- --- / \ [ [ / \ [ \ [ [ / [ [ \ [ | [ [ [ [ [ \ [ [/ [ [ \ [ [ [ [ [ [ [ \ [ [\ [ [ \ [ | --- [ / [ \ / [ \[ [ \ [ [ \[ \ [ -------/ --- ----- --- - --- --- --- --- - \___--/ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS LIST v2.8 This document is available at http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~btman/text/faq Contents: I) Introduction: Abbreviations, etc. II) The Characters 1. How do you spell all the names? 2. Who did all their voices? 3. What IS Timon, anyway? 4. What's that cub's name? / What about the sequel? 5. Genealogy: Who's Nala's father? III) The Language 1. Characters' Names 2. "Hakuna Matata": What does it REALLY mean? 3. Rafiki's Chant? 4. What Language is it on the Soundtrack? IV) The Music 1. What's on the Soundtrack? 2. Isn't that Ladysmith Black Mambazo I Hear? 3. What's This I Hear about a Second TLK CD? (Rhythm of the Pride Lands) 4. So What Are the Words to Timon's "Hula" Song? V) Resources 1. Text, Sound, and Image Files on the World Wide Web 2. Scripts 3. The Art of The Lion King (book) VI) Unfortunates 1. Similarities to Tezuka's "Jungle Taitei" 2. The Songs are Substandard VII) Oopsies 1. How did Rafiki Levitate Up That Cliff? VIII) Hidden Mickeys in TLK 1. There *were* hidden Mickeys, weren't there? IX) Miscellaneous 1. Doesn't this plot sound familiar? 2. Injokes in TLK X) TLK at Home 1. Where can I get the video? 2. Are there missing scenes in the video? 3. What about the LD? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I) INTRODUCTION Welcome to The Lion King FAQ. For those readers who don't know, if that's possible, "The Lion King" is the biggest (as of September 1995) animated Disney film in history, and in the opinion of many, their best ever. Most people who haven't been living on Neptune for the last year or so know what the plot of "The Lion King" is, but for those who need a refresher... here is the plot as found in the Film Notes on the Buena Vista Productions home page: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- "The Lion King" follows the epic adventures of a young lion cub named Simba as he struggles to accept the responsibilities of adulthood and his destined role as king of the jungle. As a carefree cub, he "just can't wait to be king," and spends his days frolicking with his pal, Nala. His father, King Mufasa, the revered ruler of Pride Rock and the lands that surround it, teaches him about the "circle of life" -- the delicate balance of nature which bonds all animals together -- and cautions him to prepare for the day when he will be called upon to lead. Mufasa's evil brother, Scar, hopes that day will never arrive and schemes to do away with the king and Simba so that he can assume the throne for his own tyrannical purposes. He and his hyena henchmen -- Shenzi, Banzai and Ed -- lure Simba into the path of a wildebeest stampede in which Mufasa is killed trying to save his son. Scar convinces Simba that he is responsible for his father's death and urges him to run far away from the Pride Lands and never return. A frightened and guilt-ridden Simba flees into exile where he is befriended by a wacky but warmhearted warthog named Pumbaa and his free-wheeling meerkat companion, Timon. Under the dubious guidance of this nature's odd couple, Simba adopts their "Hakuna Matata" (no worries) attitude towards life, living on a diet of bugs and taking things one day at a time. The cub matures into a young adult and is able to put his past behind him until a beautiful young lioness, who turns out to be his childhood friend Nala, arrives on the scene. She tells him of the hard times and suffering that have come to the Pride Lands under Scar's reign and beseeches him to take his place as king. With the help of Rafiki, a wise shaman baboon, Simba realizes that his father's spirit lives on in him and that he must accept the responsibility of his destined role. In a climactic battle with his uncle and an army of hyenas, Simba attempts to reclaim his rightful place in the "circle of life." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Some statistics: "The Lion King" was released twice in the US, once on June 24, 1994, and again on November 18, 1994. From those two running times it grossed some $313 million in the box office alone, placing it fifth on the list of high-earning films of all time (after E.T., Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump, and Star Wars). Considering it cost only $40 million to produce, this is quite remarkable. A few abbreviations will be used in this FAQ. The most common, pretty clearly, will be TLK: "The Lion King." Others are: CoL: "Circle of Life" IJCWtbK: "I Just Can't Wait to be King" HM: "Hakuna Matata" CYFtLT: "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" ROTPL: Rhythm of the Pride Lands JE: "Jungle Emperor" by Tezuka -------------------------------------------------------------------------- II) THE CHARACTERS TLK has a wealth of memorable characters, just as in any Disney film. However, since not only is it an animal movie with certain creatures of questionable description, but it is also set in Africa and is complete with names that sound unprecedentedly foreign to English-speakers, the capacity for confusion on this front is considerable. In fact, some of the MOST frequently asked questions-- or, more appropriately, the most frequent errors in reference-- are regarding things like the names and species of the various characters in TLK. So, here goes. 1. How Do You Spell All the Names? The main character, the lion cub who grows to become an adult and eventually the King is Simba. His father, who is killed halfway into the movie in the Stampede sequence, is Mufasa. His childhood female friend who becomes his Queen at the end is Nala. The villainous lion with the black mane and the hyena henchmen is Scar. The bird who describes himself as the King's majordomo is Zazu. The monkey who ceremonially anoints Simba at the beginning and who shows him the way back to his destiny as an adult is Rafiki. The small, fast-talking creature Simba meets in the jungle, with the pointy tail and the "no worries" attitude, is Timon. His friend, the large, flatulent, reddish-brown warthog, is Pumbaa. The female hyena, the one with the large topknot of hair and the solid-colored snout, is Shenzi. The quick-tempered hyena with the dark snout is Banzai. The third hyena, with the insane and stupid laugh, is Ed. Simba's mother, Mufasa's wife, is Sarabi. Nala's mother is Sarafina. 2. Who Did All Their Voices? Nearly all the voices in TLK were done by notable vocalists, already famous for their work in big-screen productions or Broadway. Simba: Jonathan Taylor Thomas as a cub, and Matthew Broderick as an adult. Mufasa: James Earl Jones. Nala: Niketa Calame as a cub, and Moira Kelly as an adult. Scar: Jeremy Irons. Zazu: Rowan Atkinson. Rafiki: Robert Guillaume. Timon: Nathan Lane. Pumbaa: Ernie Sabella. Shenzi: Whoopi Goldberg. Banzai: Cheech Marin. Ed: Jim Cummings. Sarabi: Madge Sinclair. Sarafina: Zoe Leader. 3. What IS Timon, Anyway? This is a listing of the respective species of all the characters. Simba, Nala, Mufasa, Scar, Sarabi, and Sarafina are all lions. Rafiki is a mandrill (he's usually referred to as a baboon, but specifically he's a mandrill). Timon is a meerkat, a small (6" tall) prairie-dog-like burrowing creature of South Africa. Pumbaa is a warthog. Zazu is a hornbill. Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed are hyenas. 4. What's That Cub's Name? / What About The Sequel? At the very end, Rafiki presents a new cub, Simba's and Nala's, to the expectant crowd of animals just as he had earlier with Simba himself. This new cub's name is the subject of some controversy, and a definitive answer will probably be unavailable until the sequel (most likely a direct-to-video production like "The Return of Jafar," and with a working title of "Simba's Pride") is released. Now that the plotline of "Simba's Pride" is known to some extent, it is safe to confirm some assumptions and deny others. The plot line of the sequel is as follows: Simba's daughter, likely named Shani, is in love with the estranged son of the late Scar. Simba must come to terms with the idea of the son of Scar being the next King of the Pride Lands, an acceptance which is understandably difficult for him. Concept artwork and storyline information was seen at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Opportunities Expo in Universal City, CA, on February 22. My opinion is that Scar's son (whose name might be Kovu) is very well-designed, and regardless of the medium of release, I think it will actually be a very good and worthwhile addition to the TLK universe. Provided by Matt Robinson, here is the rundown of previous discussions of the name of the new cub(s): -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- In the days of Rec.Arts.Disney (as a single group), no one had any clue as to the identity of that little cub at the end of TLK. FDC Flower came up with the name Tanabi. It stuck. Tanabi and Chaka are names that circulate with increasing popularity, and I receive an email from one of the crew at WD Feature Animation (one of the Final Checkers). The email stated that after production, a lot of the people called Simba's son Naba. Rumours of a TLK Sequel circulate, and Tad Stones the producer writes to tell us that Simba's son is called Chaka, his daughter is called Shani and Shani's love interest is called Kovu. Much much later on, he mails again to say that the script has been revised and will focus on Shani much more. Chaka becomes an unnecessary character and is written out of the current draft. The Deluxe LaserDisk is released and the audio track with commentary from the producers mentions that they called baby Simba (or baby of Simba -- I'm not certain which) "Fluffy" So there's the history of all the names circulating. Chaka, Naba, Shani, Kovu and Fluffy are "canon" names, Tanabi was a creation, and of these only Shani and Kovu will appear in Simba's Pride =) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 5. Genealogy: Who's Nala's Father? Jeff Leadbeater has provided the following well-done speculation on this subject: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- One of the biggest questions about The Lion King is "Who is Nala's father?". These three theories are the most likely ones. 1) Scar Paternity Theory ?-+-? ?-+-? ?-+-? | -------+------- | | | | | Sarabi----+----Mufasa Scar-----+-----Sarafina | | | | Simba------------+------------Nala | | Shani This theory suggests that Mufasa and Scar co-ruled the Pride Lands, and therefore shared the reproductive responsibilities. As a result, Mufasa mated with Sarabi and fathered Simba, and Scar mated Sarafina and fathered Nala. Evidence that proves this comes from the movie itself. When Scar took sole possession of the Pride Lands, he should have killed Nala, since that is the custom. The fact that Nala wasn't killed supports Scar's paternity of Nala. 2) Mufasa Paternity Theory ?-+-? ?-+-? ?-+-? | | | | | | Sarabi----+----Mufasa-----+-----Sarafina | | | | Simba-----+-----Nala | | Shani In this theory, Mufasa is the sole ruler of the Pride Lands. As a result, only he was allowed to mate with the females. Therefore he sired both Nala and Simba. Evidence of this comes from the fan story "A Matter of Pride." Scar himself said before he was to kill Nala that Simba was her brother. That is evidence that Simba and Nala were siblings. 3) Improbable Timing Theory ?-+-? ?-+-? ?-+-? ?-+-? | | | | | | | | Sarabi----+----Mufasa ?------+------Sarafina | | | | Simba------------+------------Nala | | Shani This theory was introduced recently. In this theory, the former king (the one before Mufasa) mated with Sarafina just before Mufasa took over. Then Mufasa mated with Sarafina. When Nala was born, they were unsure who the father was, so they just decided to consider Mufasa her father. Since we never see anyone claim paternity to Nala, we cannot say who was her father. Until we get more evidence, these are the most likely theories. NOTE: "A Matter of Pride" is not recommended for young people or people who do not like the following: rape, bestial sex, and permarital sex. Reader discretion is advised by its author, Christine Morgan. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- III) THE LANGUAGE Given TLK's setting, in Africa, and the thoroughness with which its creators designed the entire movie, not to mention the fact that Hans Zimmer injected a great deal of his trademark African musical style into the score and songs, it stands to reason that there would be a great deal of linguistic correctness involved in TLK. Unfortunately, this also entails a lot of confusion as to how the African languages in TLK work. This section should help address that issue. 1. Characters' Names Many of the characters' names are in Swahili and actually mean things. Here is the listing of all the names that have translations. Simba: Lion. Sarabi: Mirage. Rafiki: Friend. Pumbaa: Simpleton. Shenzi: Uncouth. Banzai: Skulk, Lurk. The remaining names-- Mufasa, Scar, Timon, Nala, Sarafina, Zazu, and Ed are all proper names. Rumor has it-- I'd appreciate a definite confirmation from a historian-- that Mufasa was the name of the last king of the Bagada people, who were dispersed during the English colonization of Kenya. 2. "Hakuna Matata": What Does It REALLY Mean? This phrase, the motto of Timon and Pumbaa, means nearly what they claim it to mean: literally translated, it is "There are no concerns here." The words have an implication of location as well as of the concerns involved. However, the pronunciation used in TLK is somewhat less than accurate; as pointed out by a reader of alt.fan.lion-king, the stresses should be on the first syllable of each word rather than the second. 3. Rafiki's Chant One of TLK's most frequently asked questions is "What does Rafiki's 'squash banana' chant mean?" Well, here it is: Asante sana! [Thank you very much!] Squash banana! [...Squash banana.] We we nugu, [You're a baboon,] Mi mi apana! [And I'm not.] So Rafiki is correct in his explanation of what the chant means, at least for the last two lines; surely we could expect no less. Again, this is in Swahili. As to the history of the chant's usage: when the production team was in Kenya to research story elements and study lion and other animal behavior, Brenda Chapman (who worked on storyboards) heard their guide singing it to himself, and wrote it down. The guide told her he'd made it up as a meaningless schoolyard chant, and she felt it would work well as a part of Rafiki's character. 4. What Language Is It on the Soundtrack? Listeners to the soundtrack, both to "Circle of Life" and the instrumental score, will hear a large amount of African vocal material used. This is a result of the majority of the music being arranged by Hans Zimmer, who incorporates a lot of such material into his scores (such as "The Power of One") through his collaborator and lyricist, Lebo M. The vocals are in Zulu, not Swahili. This observation is supported by several points: 1) On the "Rhythm of the Pride Lands" CD, the word "Bayete" is given as "a royal salute" in the lyric book; James Michener's _The Covenant_ makes the same claim. 2) The chant in CoL, "Ingonyama nengw'enamabala," which means "Here is a lion and a tiger," would contain the word "simba" if it were Swahili. 3) Lebo M. is South African, and Zulu is a much more common language than Swahili among speakers and songwriters of that area. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV) THE MUSIC 1. What's on the Soundtrack? The TLK Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, sold in a deep blue CD or cassette case with an image of Simba looking into the sky, contains the following tracks: 1. "Circle of Life," Elton John and Tim Rice. Sung by Carmen Twillie. Arranged and produced by Hans Zimmer. Features improvisations by Lebo M. 2. "I Just Can't Wait to be King," Elton John and Tim Rice. Sung by Jason Weaver and Laura Williams, with Rowan Atkinson. Arranged and produced by Mark Mancina. 3. "Be Prepared," Elton John and Tim Rice. Sung by Jeremy Irons, with Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings. Arranged and produced by Hans Zimmer. 4. "Hakuna Matata," Elton John and Tim Rice. Sung by Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella, with Jason Weaver and Joseph Williams. Arranged and produced by Mark Mancina and Jay Rifkin. 5. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," Elton John and Tim Rice. Sung by Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Sally Dworsky, Joseph Williams, and Kristle Edwards. Arranged and produced by Mark Mancina. 6. "This Land," Hans Zimmer. Features African vocals by Lebo M. 7. "...To Die For," Hans Zimmer. 8. "Under The Stars," Hans Zimmer. Features African vocals by Lebo M. 9. "King of Pride Rock," Hans Zimmer. Features African vocals by Lebo M. 10. "Circle of Life," Elton John and Tim Rice. Sung by Elton John. 11. "I Just Can't Wait to be King," Elton John and Tim Rice. Sung by Elton John. 12. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," Elton John and Tim Rice. Sung by Elton John. The first five tracks are songs directly from the movie. Tracks 6-9 are instrumental score movements, by Hans Zimmer and unrelated to the songs; they are excerpts, since the actual movie score is more extensive than what is included on the soundtrack. The last three tracks are Elton John's "Radio" versions; both CYFtLT and CoL were #1 hits on the Adult Contemporary chart for several weeks (11 for the former, 8 for the latter). Early promos for the movie promised *seven* original John/Rice songs, not five. One which was cut, "Warthog Rhapsody," has been released on the new "Rhythm of the Pride Lands" CD. As to the other: Evidently Mufasa was to sing a song entitled "To Be King," which was supposed to be geared toward teaching Simba what it means to have the responsibility of kingship. It was cut, understandably, because they just couldn't think of a way for James Earl Jones to SING without sounding ridiculous.... =) 2. Isn't That Ladysmith Black Mambazo I Hear? No, though it's not a bad guess. Ladysmith is a South African a cappella musical group who does music inspired by mining songs born there. They are quite famous now, having done the accompaniment to Paul Simon's "Graceland" and "The Rhythm of the Saints" albums. However, they are not the group we hear on the TLK soundtrack. The African vocals in TLK are created by Lebo Morake, the lyricist who has assisted Hans Zimmer in his African-themed movie scores, such as "The Power of One." He is the one who sings the improvisations we hear at the beginning of CoL, as well as at the very end and in various other parts of the score. He leads a chorus made up in large part of African vocalists who lend to the spirit of the music with their familiarity with the Zulu language. 3. What's This I Hear About a Second TLK CD? A "sequel" soundtrack to TLK was released in the US on February 28: Rhythm of the Pride Lands. It consists of almost all new songs inspired by TLK, including a couple of others that are already in existence and even one that was cut from the movie in production. The track listing is as follows: 1. "He Lives In You," Sung by Lebo M. 2. "Hakuna Matata," sung by Jimmy Cliff. 3. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," sung by Lebo M. 4. "Kube," sung by Lebo M. 5. "Lea Halalela," sung by Khululiwe Sithole. By Hans Zimmer. 6. "It's Time," sung by Lebo M. 7. "One by One," by Lebo M. 8. "Warthog Rhapsody," sung by Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella. By Elton John. 9. "Lala," sung by Lebo M. By Hans Zimmer. 10. "Busa," sung by Lebo M. By Hans Zimmer. 11. "Noyana," arranged by Lebo M. There have been many mixed reactions to this CD. Some, including that of the writer of this FAQ, are overwhelmingly positive; other people have reported returning the CD to the store after being unimpressed by the music. For those who wish to see for themselves, ROTPL is available in the US now at most music stores at the regular CD price. 4. So What Are the Words to Timon's "Hula" Song? Here they are, cut directly from the Script (see section V.2): -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Luau! If you're hungry for a hunk of fat and juicy meat Eat my buddy Pumbaa here because he is a treat Come on down and dine On this tasty swine All you have to do is get in line {Parenthetical parts are Pumbaa singing; the apple is at his feet.} Aaaare you achin' (Yup, yup, yup) Foooor some bacon? (Yup, yup, yup) Heeee's a big pig (Yup, yup) You could be a big pig too. Oy! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- V) RESOURCES 1. Text, Sound, and Image Files on the World Wide Web Disney-related WWW sites are by nature rather difficult to publicize without the fear that they will be shut down by Disney. The maintainer of this FAQ keeps a large TLK archive, as well as a listing of other good TLK Web sites. Send mail to btman@cco.caltech.edu for the list of Web addresses. 2. Scripts The ASCII version of the latest form of the TLK Script, which is as complete and error-free as possible by this time, is available on the Web at: http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~btman/text/tlk The MS WinWord 6.0 version of the script, less accurate but with formatting and footnotes as well as several appendices, is available on the Web at: http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~btman/text/lionking.zip 3. The Art of The Lion King A valuable resource for fans of TLK and its wonderful artwork is available in Hyerion Press' _The Art of The Lion King_. It is somewhat rare, but indispensable. Following is a set of information provided by Matt Robinson: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The only two versions are the "standard" edition and the "limited edition". The standard is US$50, CA$60, or 35 UK pounds depending on your country. The limited edition seems only to be available on the other side of the pond from me and is $250. It is signed by the producers/directors and other people from the TLK production team. There's also a sericel included. Hyperion Press publishes both books, both are hardcovers, both should be virtually identical save for the autographs and sericel. The ISBN of the standard edition is 0-7868-6028-6 You can't miss it among the other books, it's bigger than A4 paper (at least 35cm x 25cm) and the cover sticks out like a diamond in the rough (oops, thats Aladdin - and The Sword in the Stone =) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The book is also almost an inch thick, with a bold blue dust jacket with gold lettering. It's hard to miss if it's on the shelf; if it isn't, ask the clerk to order it. 4. The TLK Mailing List A mailing list keeps the Lion King fandom together in a tight-knit, good-natured discussion community which grows continually. It has taken over from alt.fan.lion-king as the standard forum for mature discussion of the movie, with a great many posted messages per day about ongoing topics on and related to the movie. To join, simply send an e-mail to mailserv@nwoca.ohio.gov, and put the following in the body of the message: SUBSCRIBE TLK-L -------------------------------------------------------------------------- VI) UNFORTUNATES 1. Similarities to Tezuka's "Jungle Taitei" A Japanese animated series, first aired in 1966, has been touted by its creators and many anime fans as the unrecognized (by Disney) source of the story and much of the rest of TLK. They do have a point, to be honest, although Disney officially denies all knowledge of "Jungle Emperor" (abbreviated JE here), as it was called. The similarities are unsettling: In JE, the hero's name is Kimba, very close to Simba. The supporting cast of JE includes a talkative bird, a wise monkey, and a villainous uncle, with a scarred eye, named Claw. Crucial points in both works center around a heroic shot of Simba or Kimba standing on a jutting rock. There are in fact more of these parallels. A complete synopsis of the similarities between TLK and JE can be found on the Web at: http://bronze.ucs.indiana.edu/~tanaka/Tezuka_Disney/Tezuka_Disney.html Yet, as Matt Robinson points out to me, Tezuka's team has admitted that many of these visuals and concepts, for instance the lion on a rock and the monkey in a tree, are stereotypical enough for a coincidence to be conceivable, and for these parallels to be inevitable. The storyline of JE, however, is refreshingly different from TLK's, enough so to render any claims on that front of plagiarism by Disney ludicrous. Following is some information brought to my attention, once again, by Matt, which sheds some light on the respective attitudes of the Tezuka and Disney Companies, as well as the storyline of JE. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- But, while some see obvious references and influences to Tezuka's work in "Lion King," the story itself is quite different. In "Kimba," the cub's mother dies aboard a ship and Kimba escapes, swimming back to shore. While trying to go home, he visits cities and realizes that mankind has created a wonderful civilization of laws--quite different from the law of the jungle. In "Lion King," Simba leaves the pride after mistakenly believing that he had a role in his father's death. In "Kimba," the hero battles poachers and trappers, a magic serpent and even the monster of Petrified Valley. He defends his domain against "the insect invasion," "the red menace" and "the gigantic grasshopper." Aiding his efforts are his animal friends, Dan'l Baboon, Pauley Cracker, Tadpole, Samson and Roger Ranger, who is a human. In "Lion King," however, there are no human beings and Simba fights hyenas and Scar. The character of Scar, the power hungry "black sheep" brother of Mufasa, is particularly intriguing to some observers. In the TV series, the villian Claw, who has a scar above his eye, takes over the throne in Kimba's abscence. Takayuki Matsutani, president of Tezuka Productions in Tokyo, said there is some similarity between the animated creations on two counts: the son grows up to be the king's successor after his father's death, and the symbolic scene where Simba stands on a rock in "The Lion King," whereas in the Japanese version, the opening scene has Kimba standing on a rock. He also agreed there were similarities in the baboon, the bird, the hyenas and te evil lion. "However, quite a few staff of our company saw a preview of 'The Lion King,' discussed this subject and came to the conclusion that you cannot avoid having these similarities as long as you use animals as characters and try to draw images out of them," Matsutani said. "If the Disney Co. had gotten a hint from 'The Jungle Emperor,' Osamu Tezuka, a founder of our company, would have been pleased," he continued. "And, we feel the same way, rather than making a claim. "Therefore, our company's general opinion is 'The Lion King' is a totally different piece from 'The Jungle Emperor' and is an original work completed by the Disney production's long-lasting excellent production technique." Asked about the apparent similarities, Minkoff said that whenever a story is based in Africa, it is "not unusual to have characters like a baboon, a bird or hyenas." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 2. The Songs are Substandard Another common complaint about TLK is that its songs are not up to the standards set in The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. This is not surprising. Howard Ashman, the extraordinarily gifted lyricist who worked with Alan Menken (the composer) in the three above-mentioned films, passed away before the completion of Aladdin, and Tim Rice, who is in the opinion of a great many fans a decidedly less-talented artist than Ashman, had to take over. Rice was responsible for some of the songs in Aladdin, and stayed on to write the lyrics for the TLK songs. Disney also hired Elton John to write the music for the songs in TLK, which was a move many regret, since the style John uses is considerably more geared toward pop music than Broadway musical numbers, which TLK and most previous Disney films have looked for. In synopsis, the musical combination in TLK, for the songs, was an experiment, one that did not work as expected. Moviegoers expecting to hear songs like the ones they enjoyed in the past few movies were in many cases disappointed. One or two of the TLK songs were arranged by Hans Zimmer, which did wonders for salvaging them musically, but lyrically none of the songs have the stature of those that went before. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- VII) OOPSIES Lion King Mistakes With special thanks to Phil Pollard, who painstakingly compiled this list, here is the Oopsies list directly from his home page. (I have edited some misleading typos.) It covers some, but not all, of the errors committed by Disney in bringing the film to the screen. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- We all make mistakes. Considering the amount of work that goes into producing a Disney film, these tiny mistakes are a credit to the Disney name in that they are the worst that can be found. Note: Excluded from this list are any instances where blood or injuries disappear in good taste. Yes, it would have been accurate for Mufasa's entrails and body to be smeared up half the gorge from the stampede, but it does not constitute a mistake. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Mistakes [*]Seeing Spots. When Simba was a newborn he had a few cub spots on him: four on his head and three on his side. We see this when he first appears and Sarabi licks him awake, and Rafiki anoints him. He must have grown up really fast and have lost them, because an instant later, when Rafiki lifts Simba to the crowd, the spots are gone. [*]The Cat's eyes. All the lions and lionesses have yellow tinted backgrounds on their eyes by day. In most of the night scene's, they turn closer to white. One notable exception is the fight scene where they stay yellow for all the cats for some forgotten reason. The mistake appears when Sarafina is comforting her daughter Nala as Scar talks about Simba and Mufasa's deaths. The eyes have a yellow tint, and then for one brief camera switch are pure white. [*]Zazu's flippin' feathers. Poor Zazu. Throughout most of the film he has three tail feathers when standing and four in flight. This is due to the two center feathers forming a large feather when standing. The problem is, when he is first seen at the presentation of Simba and several times in the Stampede he has from 4 to 8 tail feathers. [*]Meerkat's Stripes Every meerkat that appears, including Timon, has 5 horizontal stripes down its back. The center or third stripe is slightly larger. Even for a side view, these stripes are still visible. However, when Timon in singing the introduction to "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," His stripes aren't visible from the side. This occurs twice between camera switches. [*]Rhino's Ear In the song "I Just Can't Wait to be King," Zazu flies into the back of a rhino. Look carefully. The rhino's ear is drawn on its shoulder. [However, it is the FAQ writer's opinion that in this case, given the surrealism of the style used in this scene, and given that the rhino's head and neck are for that reason indistinguishable from its shoulder, this is not a "goof" but a mere stylistic flourish. -BT] [*]Flickering Flames There is a -single- frame missing in the fire at the end. It is -extremely- hard to see. This was lost due to a chain being lost on the CAPS hard drive. [*]Whisker's Whiskers. When a character is created, he/she is given a character model for all to refer to. In this movie, all the adult lions had 5 whiskers on each side of the face. The lionesses have none. When Simba was shown as a newborn he has none. Later, when just a young cub, Simba has 3 whiskers on is right side and 4 on his left. At least that's how it was supposed to be. Excluding long shots, where details are not added, the number and appearance of whiskers on Simba, Mufasa, and Scar changed over 80 times. Often, it was a case of whiskers disappearing for a few seconds. From close ups to mid shots, they disappeared. Three times the 3/4 combo on simba went to 4/3. In some scenes where Simba was with Scar, and the Scar crew was probably animating, Simba had a 4/5 combo. Most of the times the number would change during camera switches. A few times it would change when a character panned off and the back on. And even once or twice, they disappeared on a simple pan. This is a relatively large mistake but it is easily missed. Hopefully no one got fired. CHARACTER : L/R - # of times (comments) Simba : 0/0 - 24 (as cub) : 0/0 - 11 (as adult) : 3/3 - 2 (cub) : 4/3 - 3 (cub - reversal of sides) : 4/4 - 5 (cub) : 4/4 - 1 (adult) : 4/5 - 2 (cub - Scar lead) : 5/5 - 2 (cub) Mufasa : 0/0 - 10 (excluding ghost appearance - no pupils, no whiskers) Scar : 0/0 - 21 + ---- TOTAL: 81 [*]Pawing Around When we see Simba lying, near dead, on his side in the desert, both of his paws are placed in front of him. But, when Pumbaa and Timon show up, one of his paws is lying on his head. (Remember Timon lifing it up?). [The FAQ writer notes here that, as Matt Robinson notes, Pumbaa rather obviously nudged Simba while the camera was on Timon; that's how he knew Simba was still alive. Or, also a possibility, Simba could have involuntarily moved his paw over his face, while unconscious, to fend off the buzzards as they closed around him. -BT] Phil Pollard (pepollar@jmu.edu) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Here are a few more errors not included in the list above: 1. When Mufasa shows Simba the extent of the kingdom ("Everything the light touches"), the camera shows very clearly the sun in the middle of the screen, rising, as it tends to do, in the east. Then Simba notices, to the *right* of the sun, and thus to the *south,* the Elephant Graveyard. Later, Scar refers to it as being "on the *northern* border." 2. And, of course, this might not be actually a mistake-- just discussion fodder. But in the very beginning, Rafiki enters on the ground in front of Pride Rock, and then evidently levitates to the tip where Mufasa is sitting. We don't see him between his entry and his arrival at the top, though his feet are shown climbing some gently sloping rocks. Since Pride Rock is so precipitous and outthrust, this doesn't quite make sense. How does Rafiki *DO* that? (The obvious answer: he's a very resourceful mandrill, is Rafiki.) 3. The "I Just Can't Wait to be King" sequence ends in a voluminous pyramid of animals, made up of giraffes, hippos, elephants, an ostrich-- and several giant anteaters. Well, while there's nothing wrong with the others being there in the pyramid (aside from the obvious), giant anteaters are native only to South America, and not to Africa... 4. During the Stampede sequence, as Mufasa is running through the herd of wildebeests as he tries to rescue Simba, we get a brief shot of Scar pacing along a ledge above and watching the scene intently. For some reason, his large black shadow is cast up on the wall behind him-- as though lit from the valley floor. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIII) HIDDEN MICKEYS IN TLK 1. There *were* hidden Mickeys, weren't there? Well, there is one confirmed one, at least. Whan Timon puts his arm into the hollow log to pull out some grub, one of the bugs that crawls out of the hole is wearing Mickey Mouse ears. A false Hidden Mickey is when Nala and Simba are drinking from the pool during the CYFtLT sequence. The ripples make "interesting" patterns, but there aren't any "real" Hidden Mickeys in them. On the Web, point to http://disney.hitchhiker.org/disney/disney/TLK/hidden-mickeys-tlk ...for an overview of speculation on the Hidden Mickeys in TLK. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- IX) MISCELLANEOUS 1. Doesn't this plot sound familiar? Disney makes no secret of the fact that TLK is very similar to Shakespeare's "Hamlet" in a large number of instances. Some parallels include: * A self-doubting, sorrowful hero * The hero's father, the rightful king, murdered by the hero's evil brother, who then usurps the throne * Exile of the hero when he realizes his life is in danger (from his uncle in one case, from the pride in the other) * Company for the hero in exile in the form of two comic, buffoonish characters * The ghost of the hero's father appears to him and commands him to take back what is rightfully his Understandably, though, the parallels end at many key spots. In TLK: * Scar does not marry Sarabi * Timon and Pumbaa are not agents of Scar * The end is a triumphant one, not one in which the entire cast dies 2. Injokes in TLK Dave Cleary has put together a rather good list of injokes used in TLK: links and references to other movies or music or what-have-you. Without further ado: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 1. Scar says "You have no idea" to Young Simba. This line comes from "Reversal of Fortune" and was spoken by the Claus von Bulow character in that movie. CvB was played by Jeremy Irons, who also voice Scar in TLK. (Irons won an Oscar for his CvB role, BTW). 2. Zazu sings "It's a Small World After All" (the Disney themepark signature tune) to Scar, who reacts very negatively to it. Zazu also sings "Nobody Know the Trouble I've Seen," which is sometimes associated with movies about prisons or slavery. 3. in the soundtrack, quotes from Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus" and the Gregorian Chant "Dies Irae" both occur in spots in the movie dealing with death. The texts of both compositions deal with the subject of death. 4. after Pumbaa, Timon, and Zazu drive the hyenas from the cave in the last fight scene, they do the "Arsenio whoop," a noisy yell done with a shaken fist that was popularized on "The Arsenio Hall Show" in the late 1980's-early 1990's. 5. Rafiki's kung-fu imitation while battling the hyenas during this last fight scene is reminiscent of Bruce Lee and other kung-fu actors. 6. a few posters have mentioned that Zazu's comment about Scar early in the movie ("He'd make a nice throw-rug...." etc.) is very much like something out of the TV show "Blackadder," which featured Rowan Atkinson. Whether this comes directly from that show or not, I don't know. 7. in the Elephant Graveyard scene, the hyenas drag Zazu off to a thermal vent, unceremoniously stuff him in it, then shoot him skyward; while being dragged off there, Zazu shouts "Oh no! Not the 'Birdie Boiler'." This is highly reminiscent (of all things) of a couple of 1950's Warner Bros. cartoons that starred a bulldog and black cat (one of these cartoons was entitled "It's Hummertime!"). In these cartoons, when the cat does something wrong or loses a bet, he has to suffer punishment in a clever Rube-Goldberg-like manner, each of these being given a colorful name. In all of these, the dog drags the cat off to the "punishment" and the cat shouts, "Oh no! Not 'Roll Out the Barrel'," or "Oh no! Not 'The Thinker'," or whatever the punishment is called. There's either a borrowing going on here or a big-time coincidence. 8. to me, at least, the humorously confused exchange between Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa ("Who's got a scar." "No, no, no, it's his uncle." etc.) reminds me a lot of the humorous cross-talk scenes of Abbott and Costello (such as their famous "Who's on First" routine). As far as reference to TLK in other movies and TV shows, I can think of four right away: 1. someone recently posted a reference to TLK in an episode of the TV show "ER" in which a group of kids are told they can go watch the movie (the kids cheer, BTW). 2. There's a scene in the movie "Toy Story" where a car radio is playing "Hakuna Matata." 3. on the cartoon show "Animaniacs," there is a brief parody of the opening presentation scene called "The Tiger Prince." On another cartoon, Wakko Warner decides to change his humorous stock-in-trade facial expression. One of the options he attempts is a tongue-hanging-out dead ringer for Ed the hyena. 4. on an episode of "The Simpsons," Lisa sees a cloud that sprouts various shapes, first of a deceased friend of hers, then of a Mufasa-like head that asks for "Kimba, uh I mean Simba" to avenge him, then of Darth Vader, then of James Earl Jones saying "This is CNN." The heads all pop up one next to the other. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- X) TLK AT HOME 1. Where can I get the video? The video of TLK, in Dolby Surround but not in letterbox (wide-screen) format, is now available in stores everywhere in the US. The cost averages $17.99, and it comes with two mail-in rebate coupons worth $5 each. [Editorial: The cover art is hideous.] The video has been released in the UK and in several other countries as well; it's UK release date, as with the LD, was September 19th-- Jeremy Irons' birthday. 2. Are there missing scenes in the video? No. Nothing is missing from the video that was included in the film release. The message at the beginning, informing the viewer that the film has been "edited" for home video use, means simply that since TV screens are of a different aspect ratio than the big screen, the video has had portions of the left- and rightmost areas of the picture cut off throughout the movie. This does result in the loss of some effect in the more impressive "virtual reality" shots, such as the long camera arc with Zazu in CoL; but for those of us who can't live without TLK in some form or another, now that it's gone from theaters, not to mention those people who require closed captioning to enjoy it properly, the video is indispensable. One note, again brought to my attention by Matt Robinson: there is a hidden visual trick in the widescreen film, which is cut off by the VHS formatting. Near the end, where Scar is rationalizing to Simba after the latter challenges him to "step down or fight," Scar points upwards to the hordes of hyenas crowded onto the rocks above. Just off the screen on the video but visible on the film, where the rocks come down into a V-shaped notch, one of the hyenas drawn in silhouette is actually a schnauzer. This is in fact not visible on the video, so don't expect to catch it now if you missed it in the theaters. =) Also, and *also* brought to my attention by Matt =), there were a couple of scenes which were included in storyboards but were cut from the production film. The following text is lifted directly from a post by Matt, with his permission. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- No, but there WERE at least two other scenes that got past the brainstorming, and storyboards, but didn't arrive in the film, namely the Warthog Rhapsody scene and song, and the scene after Simba has gone home and Timon argues whether he should bother going to help him. This was (understandably) cut out to keep Timon's character as lovable as possible. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- AlWeHo@aol.com has brought the following interesting note to light, regarding cut scenes and story development: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Also missing is a scene where Scar (after Mufasa's death) puts the make on Sarabi, and gets rejected by her. It may have gotten as far as the script and *I think* storyboards, but never got animated. Andreas Deja wanted that scene in the movie to show Scar was straight. (He was sensitive to the speculations about Jafar in Aladdin) He also thought it would add to the story if he had a reason besides being king, to kill-off Mufasa. "Sparky" Katzenberg thought it would be just "too much" for the kiddies and kept yanking it all the times it kept getting brought up. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- 3. What about the LD? The Laserdisc release of TLK, which is THX-encoded, letterboxed, and available in both CLV and CAV editions, was released on September 19. The CLV edition reportedly costs $29, and the CAV edition-- which includes large amounts of deluxe promotional material (namely, cut scenes, early promos, song demos, development animation, character development, and those six lithographs and that "Making of The Lion King" show that were included with the deluxe video edition), typically costs $129. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- FAQ written by Brian Tiemann (btman@cco.caltech.edu) Special thanks to all those who provided info included here, including Buena Vista Productions, Matt Robinson, Phil Pollard, Melissa Martin, Jeff Leadbeater, and the readership of rec.arts.disney and alt.fan.lion-king as well as the patrons of FDCMuck. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update History v2.8 11/22/96. Added info about the TLK Mailing List. v2.7 4/24/96. Redid the Names controversy yet again. v2.6 4/15/96. Added the list of injokes in TLK, compiled and posted to alt.fan.lion-king by Dave Cleary. v2.5 2/28/96. Added information about the sequel, "Simba's Pride," and how what is known about the storyline affects our assumptions about the name of Simba and Nala's cub. v2.4 1/7/96. Redid the controversy about the cub's name. v2.3: 12/23/95. Fixed the Hidden Mickeys list URL, which was out of date since Josh Wilmes moved his site. v2.2: 9/30/95. Since I've now actually bought the CAV LD, I know what's on it. :) I added stuff to X.3 about it. That's probably the end of the LD info... v2.1: 9/19/95. Updated stuff about the video and LD, now that the release dates have passed. v2.0: 9/14/95. Updated several bits of dated information relating to video release scheduling, etc. v1.9: 9/1/95. Added a bit to the "Missing Scenes" section (X.2), provided by AlWeHo@aol.com. v1.8: 8/15/95. Fixed some formatting inconsistencies (like the -=-=-=-) dividers and do forth). Also revised the box-office gross statistics-- they were wrong. :) v1.7: 8/9/95. Added the improved flowcharts and discussions in Section II.5, the Genealogy, courtesy of Jeff Leadbeater. v1.6: 7/18/95. Added Section V.3, The Art of The Lion King, with info provided by Matt Robinson.