New episode - "The Trail to Udugu"

[Panpardus]

Saw this on the The Lion Guard fan page and decided to start up the thread early. No plot synopsis has been given yet, but based on the meaning of the word 'udugu' -- which roughly translates to 'fraternity', 'brotherhood', or 'kinship' -- I'm willing to hazard a guess that this will be the episode in which Nala takes her cubs on some unknown trip and Simba takes over control of the Guard, with the story focusing on Kiara and Kion's relationship.

That's just my guess though; we'll find out for sure on Jan. 13.

[TTB-Kun]

this will be what? 23th out of 24 episode for the first season?

[Darkshine Laufeyson]

Ooh thanks for the information! I wish the episodes were released closer together, but oh well. This one will be almost like an early birthday present, as my birthday is on January 16th.

[Panpardus]

[quote="TTB-Kun"]this will be what? 23th out of 24 episode for the first season?[/quote]

Yeah, this is the penultimate episode before the season finale, although I don't think the last episode will be treated as anything special.

[zerodix]

good to have a title and a date so we have 2 episodes to go, then, for season one!

[Kallo]

[quote="Panpardus"][quote="TTB-Kun"]this will be what? 23th out of 24 episode for the first season?[/quote]

Yeah, this is the penultimate episode before the season finale, although I don't think the last episode will be treated as anything special.[/quote]

Shame, if that's the case. I was kinda hoping for some slightly more epic episode for the finale. Possibly even a two-parter, since "Return of the Roar" as an opener was also technically a two-parter. Especially since it's over a month-long hiatus until the next episode, I'm certainly hoping it'd be worth the wait.

Perhaps it could still be a two-parter. "The Trail to Udugu" makes me think that the name could be a double-meaning. Maybe they'll travel to some place called Udugu, but it'll simultaneously also deal with some sort of a brotherhood or family theme, such as Kion and Kiara's relationship. Makes me think the first episode would focus on the journey to Udugu, and then the second part would be about some actual problem in there.

I'm probably hoping for and reading into it way too much, but I'd seriously love if that was the case. The idea if Nala indeed took Kion and Kiara on some journey to solve a problem, while Simba and the Guard faced some threat in the Pridelands sounds like such a cool idea for a season finale.

[Panpardus]

^ Insofar as the last two episodes being a two-parter to finish the season, I like the idea especially since the setup (if "The Trail to Udugu" indeed is the episode with the storyline we're hypothesizing) lends itself to an interesting story that could be extended, as you pointed out. The Lion Guard has effectively done a two-parter before if you consider Fuli's little arc between "Fuli's New Family" and "The Search for Utamu", so the idea has some precedent. My only doubt with regards to Disney doing something special with this is that it's still a little kid-focused show and I don't think preschool shows actually make a big deal with regards to when their seasons start and end. They might change up something in the intro sequence or possibly even have a slight tone shift to mark when the new season actually starts, but story-wise things probably don't really change all that much. Also, since there's such a long break between the airing of "The Lost Gorillas" and "The Trail to Udugu", I'm not too inclined to think they'll give The Lion Guard a definitive season closer -- even if they do go on to indicate some difference between the two seasons -- just because of the loss of temporal momentum. (And the fact that "The Lost Gorillas" was more of a filler anyway, rather than actively adding to some larger narrative.) Still, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens here and how they treat it.

As far as the plot of this episode goes, you're probably right in that 'udugu' has multiple meanings here that will play into the story. I'm really hoping that Nala takes them somewhere significant that builds on the lore of the franchise.

[Kallo]

[quote]My only doubt with regards to Disney doing something special with this is that it's still a little kid-focused show and I don't think preschool shows actually make a big deal with regards to when their seasons start and end.[/quote]

While I'm not too sure about Disney, I don't know if that statement is so true with preschool shows in general. I can definitely see The Lion Guard being the type of show that does acknowledge season premieres and finales. It's from the more "grown-up" end of preschooler shows, as silly as that sounds.

Especially since, I feel it's fair to say, how much TLG was inspired by the success of MLP:FiM, and is in some ways Disney's answer to that show. And MLP has been very big on defining each season as their own thing, as well as making big season openers and finales. I feel like since TLG is so heavily inspired by it, one of the things they'd try to emulate would be to make big two-parter finales.

[Panpardus]

^Fair enough; I can see that happening with this show, I just don't know if it's a standard pattern for preschooler shows in general. Granted, I really haven't watched a preschool show since I was of the target demographic. (Mostly PBS Kids and Nick Jr.) The only change I remember noticing was that Dora the Explorer's theme song and title sequence were slightly changed every couple seasons, or new/side characters would become more regular fixtures on a couple shows like Sesame Street. But like you said, The Lion Guard is still on the mature side of preschool-targeted programs, so maybe they will go the route of acknowledging story arcs and season endings; I'm in no way against it.

[Kallo]

[quote="Panpardus"]^Fair enough; I can see that happening with this show, I just don't know if it's a standard pattern for preschooler shows in general. Granted, I really haven't watched a preschool show since I was of the target demographic. (Mostly PBS Kids and Nick Jr.) The only change I remember noticing was that Dora the Explorer's theme song and title sequence were slightly changed every couple seasons, or new/side characters would become more regular fixtures on a couple shows like Sesame Street. But like you said, The Lion Guard is still on the mature side of preschool-targeted programs, so maybe they will go the route of acknowledging story arcs and season endings; I'm in no way against it.[/quote]

To be fair, as a kid you don't usually even know/pay attention to things like seasons, and you probably don't watch every episode in order. Just what you happen to catch on TV. So even if there was a bigger episode to start or end a season, as a kid you probably wouldn't have noticed. Or at least, thought nothing more of it than "Wow, this is an unusually awesome episode".