The Lion Guard (2015 / 2016)

[Gemini]

[quote="Timon the great"][quote="Marizzle"]Just like Julie said, children don't exactly need to see "realism" on TV to know the real way of things. Animals also do not talk, and, yet, cartoons very often picture them speaking and every child knows it's simply fictional.[/quote]
If this was entirely true, then there wouldn't be any kids out there believing that Santa Clause is real.[/quote]

Santa Claus is a bit different. The only reason kids believe in him because their parents tell them he exists, not because they see him on a TV show. I saw images of Santa Claus a lot as a kid (like everyone else), but my parents told me from a young age that he was just a gimmick made up by the adults so they could hide presents under the tree for the kids, so I never actually believed in him even though I had much of the same exposure to him via holiday shopping, movies, the media, etc.

That said, I find it highly unlikely that any kid asking about any obviously-fictional element of this TV show (ie, the blue badger) is going to be met with a response that verifies his existence. I would think that any normal parent would tell their kids that something like that doesn't exist in real life, if they even asked. Many kids would probably figure it out on their own, unless they were really young.

Think about it. When you were a kid, what shows did you watch? Did you think they were real? Probably not. It's like your reflection in a mirror - after a short while you quickly learn that you can't interact with what's happening on the TV, and again, any normal parent is likely to back this up and say that whatever is on there simply isn't real.

So I agree with Julie. Blue badger? Weird, but not that big of a deal, really.

[gothprincesskiara]

Maybe im just complaining cause it all comes back to what about us grown up old and advanced TLK fans, do they even notice us anymore?, besides Hot Topic and other stores realizing that we want more of what we love, Disney seems to ignore more of the adult Disney fans then the kids and it just annoys me. We older fans just don't seem to get enough as much as we want, and then we end up doing it ourselves drawing fan art writing fan fiction, and editing pictures.

But then again I realize that, the lion guard is to help teach the next generation about the importance of animals and conservation, so im pulled between both ways.

[S1mb4 D4 L10n]

TLG can teach about animal conservation even if it doesn't include realism. Maybe a bit of abstract animation could be an even more powerful form of communication to children than realism. Children have quite the imagination, and maybe a non-realistic image could foster the growth of children more than an anatomically correct drawing. The point is it that a theme/moral can be put forth without realism, especially in cartoons.

[Timon the great]

[quote="GeminiGemelo"][quote="Timon the great"][quote="Marizzle"]Just like Julie said, children don't exactly need to see "realism" on TV to know the real way of things. Animals also do not talk, and, yet, cartoons very often picture them speaking and every child knows it's simply fictional.[/quote]
If this was entirely true, then there wouldn't be any kids out there believing that Santa Clause is real.[/quote]

Santa Claus is a bit different. The only reason kids believe in him because their parents tell them he exists, not because they see him on a TV show. I saw images of Santa Claus a lot as a kid (like everyone else), but my parents told me from a young age that he was just a gimmick made up by the adults so they could hide presents under the tree for the kids, so I never actually believed in him even though I had much of the same exposure to him via holiday shopping, movies, the media, etc.

That said, I find it highly unlikely that any kid asking about any obviously-fictional element of this TV show (ie, the blue badger) is going to be met with a response that verifies his existence. I would think that any normal parent would tell their kids that something like that doesn't exist in real life, if they even asked. Many kids would probably figure it out on their own, unless they were really young.

Think about it. When you were a kid, what shows did you watch? Did you think they were real? Probably not. It's like your reflection in a mirror - after a short while you quickly learn that you can't interact with what's happening on the TV, and again, any normal parent is likely to back this up and say that whatever is on there simply isn't real.[/quote]
I realize that some parents like yours will tell you at a very young age that a character like Santa Claus is imaginary. But in my experience, not all parents are like that. Some would rather wait until their actually old enough to understand all these things, because I was meaning about really young kids and not ones like 10 and up. A 5 year old is pretty prone to being naive about everything reality. When I first saw LK 1 in theaters at 5 years of age, there was a lot of things I didn't understand and realize about it until I was older and watched it again the second time a few years back before I joined this forum. Same thing with the 90s cartoon shows I watched back when I was really young. But yes, eventually I did begin to realize things as I got older without my parents always telling me.

Even then, I'm not against people having an imagination at all just like even some adults do for Santa Claus (which isn't always because of commercialism). If I did, I wouldn't have a special or any interest in Timon. After all, the imagination is what allows characters like him to exist in any case. Meaning, me being able to have thoughts, visions in my head, feelings and etc. about him.

[Marizzle]

[quote="Timon the great"][quote="Marizzle"]For all we know, we could have half a million of really young kids out there already seeing Kion himself in reality right now because most parents especially at least here in the USA, aren't going to spoil the facts on them if they're just 5 years old. Which is what this show's primary age target is.[/quote][/quote]
This honestly never happened to me. Actually, my family always made sure to teach me what was reality and what was fiction. Being 5 years old doesn't mean we can't take up the facts and, if we do, that we don't have imagination. Knowing that it was all fiction didn't make me love the movie any less. In fact, although I knew that, for example, Timon wasn't real, I always called "meerkats" by "Timon", whenever I went to the Zoo, and, despite knowing it was fiction, I still only truly understood the movie's message when I grew older.
I agree when you say that not all parents are the same, but, we need to admit that it also depends on the child itself. I was speaking about the generality of behaviours that I have seen, although I can point out a few exceptions.

[goody2shoes]

babar and the adventures of badue allready had green elafents so kids who watch lion guard will know whats real in there because there are no green elafents sorry i dont know how to spell elafents

[SimbasGuard]

[quote="gothprincesskiara"]Maybe im just complaining cause it all comes back to what about us grown up old and advanced TLK fans, do they even notice us anymore?, besides Hot Topic and other stores realizing that we want more of what we love, Disney seems to ignore more of the adult Disney fans[/quote]
Disney did state that The Lion Guard is intended for Preschoolers and their families so that proves they know that Lion King has an older fan base, in fact I think Disney is counting on that older fan base to introduce their young children to The Lion Guard. As for them doing anything to please us older fans, I think that is why Disney is all but jumping through hoops to let it be known that The Lion Guard is set within the continuity of The Lion King movies. They have all but stated that The Lion Guard Takes Place after Lion King 2: Simba's Pride. However I doubt that us older fans will get anything other than a occasional appearance by a character we know from the Lion King movies.
Now I do have a highly unlikely FAN THEORY about something that could perhaps happen on The Lion Guard:
Since The Circle of Life is bound to come up. Nala may tell Kion about her father.
However that in of itself could be too deep of an emotional topic for a preschool show.

[gothprincesskiara]

This may seem a little off topic and please correct me if im wrong, I hope im not the only one who noticed that the Lion King fandom is not as crazily expressed like the other fandoms shown alot out there, like the animes and the other cartoon shows like spongebob people love (I hate Spongebob), or this may now be changing-(Hot Topic noticed us finally ), anyway it just seemed that lion king wasn't popular enough for fans to be noticed phenotypically

[goody2shoes]

yeah i love the lion king movies i watch lion king every monday lion king 2 simbas pride every tuseday and lion king 1 1/2 every wednesday when lion guard comes out i will watch the movie every thursday and the show probably everyday and i allso like other shows like spongebob pokemon digimon and lots of others but i love the lion king and i know i will really love lion guard no matter how it is

[Lauren]

A lot fans (including myself) have questioned as to why Kovu hasn't been mentioned in the description as one of the characters that will be featured in the show. I probably bet that's because they want to surprise us once we see him with Kiara. It wouldn't make sense for him to not be there.

I sighed a relief when they stated that Kiara is going to be in the show as Kion's older sister, therefore, the creators are respecting the continuity of the first two films and having it set after Simba's Pride. Also, since Kion is going to be Simba and Nala's second child, we may finally get a chance to see a mother-son relationship when it comes to Nala and Kion. We had a father-son relationship in the first film, a father-daughter relationship in the second, and now we could see a mother-son relationship in the show. I'm hoping to see Nala have more interaction with her children since we didn't see it much in SP when it came to her and Kiara.

We can also see how Simba is improving as a father since all his problems came to a resolution in the second film, so he won't be as overprotective with Kion as he was with Kiara. Hopefully, his past is not going to continue haunting him anymore and his mind will be in peace.