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 few years 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, originally from the Buena Vista Productions website:

---

    "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

1. What Awards Did TLK Win?

Academy Awards:  Best Music - Original Score 
                 Best Music - Song - CYFTLT 
            nom. Best Music - Song - HM 
            nom. Best Music - Song - CoL

Golden Globe:    Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical 
                 Best Original Score - Motion Picture 
                 Best Original Song - Motion Picture - CYFTLT 
            nom. Best Original Song - Motion Picture - CoL 

Grammy Awards:   Best Male Pop Vocal Performance - CYFTLT 
                 Best Instrumental Arrangement with Accompanying Vocals - CoL 
                 Best Musical Album for Children 

BMI/PRS:         Most Performed Song from a Film - CYFTLT 
                 Robert Musel Award (Most Played Song) - CYFTLT             

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 unfamiliar 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.

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.

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.

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 is Kiara, their daughter and heiress to Pride Rock. This sets the stage for the plot of "Simba's Pride", the direct-to-video sequel due to be released on October 27, 1998.

Jeff Leadbeater has provided the following 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

        ?-+-?          Ahadi                    ?-+-?
           |         ------+------                    |
           |          |             |                    |
        Sarabi----+------Mufasa    Scar-----+-----Sarafina
                      |                                  |
                      |                                  |
                Simba------------+------------Nala
                                        |
                                        |
                                     Kiara

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

              ?-+-?        Ahadi         ?-+-?
                 |               |                |
                 |               |                |
Sarabi------+---------Mufasa---------+-----Sarafina
                 |                                |
                 |                                |
             Simba----------+----------Nala
                                  |
                                  |
                               Kiara

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.

3) Improbable Timing Theory

       ?-+-?           Ahadi         ?-+-?            ?-+-?
          |                  |                |                   |
          |                  |                |                   |
      Sarabi----+----Mufasa          ?-----+-----Sarafina
                    |                                  |
                    |                                  |
                Simba----------+-----------Nala
                                     |
                                     |
                                  Kiara

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.

---

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.

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.
• Sarafina: Bright Star.
• The remaining names-- Mufasa, Scar, Timon, Nala, Zazu, and Ed are all proper names. Mufasa was reportedly the name of the last king of the Bagada people, who were dispersed during the English colonization of Kenya.

A note from the Internet Movie Database (reported by Kovara):

---

"Vitani" was originally "Shetani." It is possible to hear characters refer to her by that name. It means "Devil" in Kiswahili, however, and Disney may have thought it was inappropriate, thereby changing it to something a little less offensive. "Vitani" has no meaning in the Kiswahili language,from which most of the characters' names are drawn."

---

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.

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.

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:

• On the "Rhythm of the Pride Lands" CD, the word "Bayede" is given as "a royal salute" in the lyric book; James Michener's The Covenant makes the same claim ("Bayete").
• The chant in CoL, "Ingonyama nengw'enamabala," which means "Here is a lion and a tiger," would probably contain the word "simba" if it were Swahili.
• 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, presumably because they just couldn't think of a way for James Earl Jones to SING without sounding ridiculous.... :)

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.

A "sequel" soundtrack to TLK was released in the US on February 28, 1995: 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 at most music stores at the regular CD price.

5. What Are the Full Lyrics to Zazu's "Coconuts" Song?

V) RESOURCES

1. Text, Sound, and Image Files on the World Wide Web

The TLK Script, which is as complete and error-free as possible by this time, is available on the Web in three formats at:

A valuable resource for fans of TLK and its wonderful artwork is available in Hyperion Press' The Art of The Lion King. It is somewhat rare, but indispensable. TLK was the first film with which Disney (through its Hyperion publishing arm) produced an accompanying Art book; those for more recent movies have been larger and crisper in layout, but for a first outing, TAoTLK is stunning. 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.

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 title of the series in the USA was "Kimba the White Lion".) 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:

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 perhaps 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.

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.

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

Also, as noted by Gregory Gietzen, there is a similarity to "King Henry IV, Part I"; in that play, young Prince Hal shirks his duties hanging out with two buffoonish friends, who parallel Timon and Pumbaa quite strikingly.

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:

There is an ongoing debate over whether or not the word "SEX" appears in swirling dust at one point in the film. The scene in question is midway through the movie, where Simba has just left a conversation with Timon and Pumbaa in which they have been mocking (in a friendly fashion) his thoughts on what the stars are. He flops down on the edge of a nearby cliff, stirring up some milkweed floss as he does so. As the floss swirls into the air, some claim to be able to see the word "SEX" in its swirling patterns.

It is not known for certain whether the word was planted there intentionally or not, or even if it exists at all; nonetheless, it has gained the attention of such groups as the American Life Leage, who have taken to boycotting Disney on the grounds that it is promoting "evil" themes in its productions.

A website with pictures illustrating the scene, as well as a summary of the debate, can be found at:

X) TLK AT HOME

1. Where can I get 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.

The Laserdisc release of TLK, which is THX-encoded, letterboxed, and available in both CLV and CAV editions, was released on September 19, 1995. The CLV edition costs approximately $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.