Episode 14: Bunga and the King.

[Elton John]

[quote="Vorkey"]Great episode. It's nice seeing some of the other characters for a change.

I especially like that fact that Kion didn't use his superpowers to save the day. I'm not even sure why they bothered giving him superpowers in the first place. The show works fine without that stuff.[/quote]

The show was originally pitched as 'the lion king meets the avengers' during its creation.

[zerodix]

i watched it via another link too (googled the episode name and checked out where to watch without winning an iphone or free malware) and i must say it was a nice episode. i totally got simba when bunga was disrespecting him to the max XD and the song was short, but ok. good to see nala appear every now and then, but i also hope tiifu and zuri will show their faeces in the feature (that was a bad word joke on purpose)

[TTB-Kun]

animation in a nutshell

[Daktari]

Finally I've been able to watch the episode!

This was by far my favourite one! Probably because Nala and Kiara got more screentime, I've been wanting that since the show started. I really liked the scene where Simba pushed Kiara out of the way from the sink hole and Nala grabbing on to her neck saving her. More mother-daughter interactions, pleeeease! They also gave Nala many of her facial expressions she has in TLK1 and SP, so nice! Even though the style of the designs and animation of it are horrible.

One thing I just can't stand though is Bunga and his disrespecting manners. He is first of all talking to an adult, second of all to the king! He just doesn't seem to get anything, I honestly don't understand how he can even be part of the Lion Guard. Soooo annoying. However, it was great to see that Simba and the others gave light to his irritable ways (as someone else mentioned, kind of displaying the fans' complatints). I didn't really like how Simba just suddenly started liking him so much and calling him his "brother"

The animation and designs are as I mentioned earlier very bad, I want it to be more true to TLK1 and SP. Their bodies are so compact, what's up with the teeth?? Simba's mane is not right and Nala's face is alot rounder than it should be, etc, etc!! I know it would be more expensive and take more time to make the show more true to TLK1 and SP, but I think that would make more people watch it and really would make this show stand above so many other childrens' series

Despite Bunga I really enjoyed the episode though!!

[Elton John]

Animation on par with tlk1 is not feasable for a tv series. High quality animation is incredibly time consuming and very expensive. Why don't people understand this?

Not to say that tlg's animation cant be better, but for them to make it on par with a feature film would take years and years just to get five episodes maybe.

[Daktari]

As I mentioned, I KNOW it's extremely time consuming and expensive. But they can make it MORE on par with TLK1 and/or SP, even though it will probably never be as good. What it is right now is NOT worthy the Lion King universe in my opinion.

[Amadi_the_Guard]

I just watched this episode, and I must say it's great. I think the animation is improving, and so is the plot. It's actually covering some of the stuff fans have been asking about, both regarding the show and the franchise in general, such as cub at the end of TLK (I'm sure if someone asked Disney now, they would say it's Kion, and that Kiara was probably watched by other lionesses during the presentation), Nala's dad, Simba and Bunga being brothers in a way... It's pretty dandy.

Regarding the complaints about animation. I can see why everyone is a bit disappointed with the show. In this episode, when Simba tries not to fall, it doesn't look anywhere near as good as Mufasa's climbing does in the original movie, or in Simba's nightmare in the sequel.

However, it's important to keep in mind that the budget for this show is much, much smaller then the one movies had, and raising the budget is not really an option. This show is, from my perspective, probably targeted towards two groups of individuals, toddlers and the old fans. Neither of those groups will stop watching the show because of the poor animation, because no toddler has ever really been like 'yeah sure, that show is pretty and colorful, and animals are cute, but the animation is lacking so I'll go watch something else', and how many of us intend to drop the show because of the animation? From what I've seen, the show has plenty of positive sides too, and that is what most of the fans care about.

Someone said that improving the animation would bring more people into the show, and I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I disagree. I don't think that anyone who is not already, to some degree, interested, will check out that one show for toddlers just because the animation improved. Most adults care more for adult cartoons, and a few shows for kids that achieved great popularity among adults did so by accident - it would be too risky to rely on just that and invest money. We may love the show but we need to keep reasonable.

I'd also like to note how freaking hard it is to really copy someone else's drawing style. Give it a try, it's a real pain. Then imagine having to do 30 minutes of animation that way? I have full respect for the animators, because I'm sure they are working hard and giving it their best.

And maybe, the animation isn't all that bad to begin with - the animation in the movies that we are comparing it with are too good.

[Aelwen]

[quote](I'm sure if someone asked Disney now, they would say it's Kion, and that Kiara was probably watched by other lionesses during the presentation), Nala's dad, Simba and Bunga being brothers in a way... It's pretty dandy.[/quote]
i thought that only heir apparent is presented in this way.

[Daktari]

Amadi, you're not disrespectful because you disagree, no need to apologize. I see your point, but I still think more people would like to watch the show if the animation was better. With that said, it probably wouldn't be so many so it's worth it economically if their budget now is so disappointingly low. I guess I just wish the circumstances were different, because I think cartoons could be well animated even though the target is young kids (come on, they KNEW old fans of TLK would watch it!!)! But I agree with you that the animation of TLG is getting better and better. I wish the designs were a bit different though.

[Squeely]

[quote="Amadi_the_Guard"]Most adults care more for adult cartoons[/quote]
I'm definitely an exception to this because I'm 26 and I hate adult cartoons. Being crude for the sake of being crude? Doing celebrity jokes because "lol this celebrity"? No thanks, I'll pass. Though, I have heard good things about Rick and Morty, so I may have to look into that someday. As for the rest, I just don't find those kinds of jokes funny, and in fact find them rather tasteless, while the jokes on kids' cartoons often have me rolling. That's just me, though.

Anywho, I'll agree the animation and style of TLG isn't great by any stretch of the imagination, but it does its job fine. I don't have an issue with it because I know it takes the average animated show something like 6-9 months just to make one episode. Outside of gradual improvements, asking for anything as quality as even SP's animation is asking too much imo.