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[personal profile] thistlechaser
Thanks to Jeane asking about the show, I realized somehow I hadn't watched the second half of season three, the final season.

The Lion Guard is set within one of the Lion King movies (Simba's Pride), aired on the Disney channel, with preschoolers as the target audience. Right from the first episode, I liked it.

While it wasn't a 100% perfect match for adult viewer me, it was so very good. The stories and characters were enjoyable for adult viewers, and even most of the humor was good. (Alas one character was very big on fart humor, which didn't work for me, but I bet preschoolers endlessly giggled over it.)

This show did things that other animated shows didn't. For example, the characters aged. Physically aged up from one season to the next.

Some of the stories were so darned mature, too. In one episode, the main character had to learn that some things you cannot heal. Some injuries never get better. That sometimes there is no return to normal, that you have to just do the best you can with a long-term injury. After that ep, I was so moved I just sat there and thought about that. That's the kind of lesson we learn in only the best written adult TV shows, and it was in a cartoon meant for preschoolers.

In another episode, I actually teared up. There was a death of a minor character, and it was just handled so realistically, I was so moved by it.

Sadly it seems season three was the last season. It wasn't canceled, but the story is over and the animation department for it has been shut down. From wiki: "In Simba's Pride, there is a years-long time gap, The Lion Guard takes place during the years". Three year gap, three seasons.

I'm really sad it's over, though I am glad it had a conclusion and wasn't just canceled.

Date: 2020-08-17 05:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)
Ah, I thought I had watched them all but now am disappointed. I came back to read your review after finishing up my dvd's from the library, had some thoughts. Then scratched my head after reading your spoilers- I don't at all recall some of those incidents. Then went and looked at list of episodes w/brief synopsis online. Turns out the dvd's I borrowed contain only a few of each season- so I think I've seen just over half, and not all of them even in order. Really annoyed because I was surprised how much I liked the show. I liked how nearly all the problems the animals solved were real ones- floods, food sources, predators changing territories, etc. The conflicts were pretty realistic too. I wouldn't have noticed how the characters- Kion in particular- grew larger in size over the seasons except that you pointed it out! But I did note that the honey badger started running on all fours when they dashed off on a mission- ha. So that was an improvement, because seeing him run around fullspeed bipedally while all the other animals had normal modes of locomotion was kinda eye-rolling in the first season.

Date: 2020-08-17 10:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] thistle-chaser.livejournal.com
If you can't find the missing eps, this is where I watched the show. https://www1.swatchseries.to/serie/the_lion_guard It looks like a lot of season 3 eps are dead links though, so you could use Putlocker: https://www.putlockers.cr/tv/the-lion-guard-season-1-13031.html (Make sure you have a popup blocker, of course!)

Agreed with you on the good things about the show! I really like that the problems they dealt with were generally realistic.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the eps!

Date: 2020-08-19 04:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jeane nevarez (from livejournal.com)
Hey thanks! I'll try those links.

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