What was up with the Timon & Pumbaa TV series??

[ILoveShenziMarie]

It's funny---no one ever really talks about this series. They just typically mention it in passing as something that was on at a time and was maybe funny, but no one really ever talks about it. There's not a forum for it here, and even the nostalgia critic didn't have a ton to say about it.

Well, after seeing it...I'm sort of speechless. It's a completely crazy piece of work, yet it feels like it's trying to be serious. That weird combination of endless gags and somewhat serious tone resulted in a show that I think deserves more appreciation.

The characters, animation, and setting are so far off from their movie counterparts that it feels original, yet the show had at least some shoutouts to it's source. The characters are flanderized beyond belief from their original counterparts, yet somehow they seem more likeable. The stories and humor is completely removed from what we got in the movie...and yet somehow it's more enjoyable.

What the heck is up with this show??!

Well, no one really seems to bother figuring out or talking about it. No one gives it a closer look or even wonders. Why? Well, because it's completely insane. And yet, it's done with heart and charm, and with good, honest intentions. You can't just dismiss something like that. And yet---there are times when you completely want to.

I admit that I'm doing something of a Nostalgia Critic thing here, but I feel it's worth it. This show deserves something of a disscussion and close look.

[Elton John]

I haven't seen it in years and I probably won't see it again due to disney refusing to put their tv shows that were based on movie properties ( they also had tv shows based on aladdin, tarzan, the little mermaid, hercules, 101 dalmations, the emporers new groove and lilo and stitch) on dvd or blu ray.

I remember hating it. Thinking it was a waste, wishing it was based on the lion characters that would still be kinda like gargoyles mixed with talespin in terms of tone. Instead I got some goofball comedy...

Maybe today if I watched it I would have a change of heart.

[Carl]

I used to like the show as a kid, but I saw a few episodes on YouTube in the past year or so and I really didn't like it. It wasn't funny to me most of the time, and it was... well, as you said, insane.

[ILoveShenziMarie]

[quote="Elton John"]I haven't seen it in years and I probably won't see it again due to disney refusing to put their tv shows that were based on movie properties ( they also had tv shows based on aladdin, tarzan, the little mermaid, hercules, 101 dalmations, the emporers new groove and lilo and stitch) on dvd or blu ray.
[/quote]

Interestingly, those shows all felt like spinoffs of their respective movies. This one, on the other hand, felt like it was trying to create it's own identity. Was it a good idea or not? You decide.

[TheLionPrince]

I watched the series when it was airing on Disney Channel and Toon Disney during the early afternoons many summers ago. Overall, the series was like Ren & Stimpley with its gross-out and toilet humor, over-the-top storylines, and zany, wacky characters. It wasn't really respectful towards the first film since Timon and Pumbaa traveled to countries like Russia and France, and interacted with humans. The voice acting was one of the highlights with veteran voice actors like Jeff Bennett, Billy West, Nancy Cartwright, Charlie Adler, Joe Alaskey, and etc. voicing characters; thankfully enough, Nathan Lane (in some episodes), Ernie Sabella, Robert Guilliame, and Jim Cummings reprised their roles. At least, the show has its moments with the characters doing music videos of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and "Stand by Me".

The series gets a mention on this forum every once and while, but it's not talked about because the movies are more popular.

[Milla]

The show is pretty insane, but I like it. You might not like it now, but if you look back you probably did like it as a kid, that's why it's a children's show. As far as I know, In my country and the rest of north africa the Timon and Pumbaa show is actually much more popular than the movie itself! That's probably because we don't have cinemas, but we do have TVs. That's how I knew about the Lion King, because of the series. It's very dear to me, it's what brought me here. Anyways, it's a children's show, they are trying to entertain children, not teens or adults. When I showed the cartoon to my baby brother he loved it so much and started watching it all day.

Children like simple stories, they want to watch something that is easy to understand. While with the movie there are many many things to notice and get. Maybe Disney made the series like that because the movie's story was too complicated? Or they knew that some countries don't have cinemas, and whoever will watch the series will go like "Who is Mufasa and scar? Who died? Who are they? How and why did that happen?"
If children see that without watching the movie first they will not like it.

[SimbasGuard]

I liked the series (Especially when Simba Guest Starred), but I drove myself nuts trying to figure out how this series fit in continuity to the movies (It didn't, but I would not fully grasp that until Lion King 1 1/2 was released). Knowing that it has no place in Lion King continuity, I can just enjoy the zany humor for what it is. However what I could not understand during the series' run is how were Timon and Pumbaa deemed the brake out stars of The Lion King. I would have preferred a show about Simba, Nala, and their (at the time of this series) unnamed cub. I DO NOT KNOW if this statement is factual, but I THINK the reason Timon and Pumbaa were given a spin-off is because they were the most popular characters among kids. However I DO NOT KNOW if that is the real reason or not.

[SimbaPrescott]

I remember really loving this series back when I was a kid. It was crazy, and I loved crazy
Some the lines and episodes I remember really well (Pumbaa's 'Hello, my name is Ted' line for some reason comes to mind). I especially loved seeing Simba's cameos, even if there weren't many. T&P were certainly more popular than the other characters back in the day, but I had always wished for a story with Simba & Nala as cubs as well.

The irony? I actually used to think an educational Lion King show for the younger kids would have been perfect too. And then we got Lion Guard.

[Akril]

I didn't watch it very often when it was originally on back when TLK first came out, and like most of the people here, I would have preferred it if it focused more on the main cast. However, since Timon and Pumbaa were responsible for most of the movie's slapstick, gross-out humor and human-like behavior (especially Timon, who carries a leaf full of bugs like a waiter with a tray, wears a grass skirt and makes references to things particular to the human world ["Ooh, the little cream-filled kind!"]) and antics that occasionally seem to warp reality (Timon seems to produce a skirt made of grass, a flower and an apple for their "Luau!" act despite being in the middle of the barren Pride Lands), in a way it made sense that a series focused on them would feature a lot of these elements (even if they did crank them up past 11). I never really understood Timon and Pumbaa's popularity, though. There must have been a really, really big population of really young kids that were begging their parents for T&P-themed merchandise both when TLK was first released (they never appealed to me, and I was 10 at the time).

I never attempted to try to fit any of the stories in the continuity of the films, because to me they just seemed like an irreverent, light-hearted spinoff which was never meant to be taken seriously. Still, despite their insane adventures, Timon and Pumbaa do seem to stay in character (at least, in the few episodes I've seen), and I did chuckle at some of the dialogue.

Side note: Simba and Nala's cub appears in one episode ("The Man from J.U.N.G.L.E."), and despite seeing dozens and dozens of variants of Simba and Nala's offspring where the multiple alternate names of their children are all given seperate identities, I don't think I've ever seen one cub with this particular cub's design, which just goes to show how far off most fans' radar the show has fallen:

EDIT: I messed up. This cub is never actually referred to as Simba and Nala's cub; I just assumed it was theirs since the series is set after the events of the first film and Timon knows what Pride Rock is and that the cub is going to be presented there.

(Also: If any fans are seriously afraid that The Lion Guard is going to ruin the TLK franchise, they really need to watch a few episodes of The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa. If the TLK franchise can remain largely untarnished after that TV series, surely it can survive whatever this new one may bring.)

[Squeely]

[quote="Akril"]I never really understood Timon and Pumbaa's popularity, though. There must have been a really, really big population of really young kids that were begging their parents for T&P-themed merchandise both when TLK was first released (they never appealed to me, and I was 10 at the time).[/quote]
I never understood it either. I was four when TLK came out, and while I never disliked T&P and still don't, I've always liked the other characters more. Except perhaps the hyenas - I can see my four-year-old self preferring T&P over them. But lions were always tops with me, even from that young age. It was kinda baffling to me that T&P would get an entire series devoted to them, and then a movie not that long after the series stopped airing (at least I think it stopped airing before 2004, but I could be wrong).

That said, I don't dislike the T&P show. I watched it when I was young, and it's pretty dang fun if you're into Looney-Tunes-style humor.