thistlechaser | Entries tagged with tv: the lion guard

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.

When Disney first announced The Lion Guard, no one thought it would be good. People billed it as The Avengers in the Pridelands (which, considering that statement now, wouldn't that be a good thing?). People said it would ruin Lion King. People said it would be awful and not worth watching.

They were all wrong.

Though aimed at preschoolers, I've very much enjoyed all 13 episodes of the show's first season. While a couple fell a little flat for me, even then I still more enjoyed the episode than not, and there were many more episodes that I loved than didn't work for me.

The show wasn't 100% perfect for an adult viewer -- how could it be, when the target audience are preschool kids? But I was surprised at how much enjoyable-to-adults stuff Disney was able to include. Also, I liked all of the characters except one (I bet that one was the most popular with preschool kids).

Everything about the show was believable as happening in the Lion King world.

Every episode had at least one song, and most of them were a big addition to the episode, only twice did I wish they had not included the chosen song.

My favorite song was We're the Same (Sisi ni Sawa), which also happens to come from my favorite episode, one that told us that in the Lion King world, not all hyenas are evil. The song:

In the beginning of the series, I really disliked the new hyena design. I assume they changed them to make them less scary for the young viewers. However, by the end of the season, I didn't even notice it anymore.

One thing that I didn't like and only grew worse as the season went on, was that each animal character had a catchphrase, but it was in some African language. Catchphrases never work for me in general.

There was an odd thing about the show's canon -- the non-main character animals were sometimes just "dumb animals" and other times could speak/were as intelligent as the main characters. So in one episode the zebras grazing in the background might act like normal animals, and in the next episode they'd talk between themselves and to the main characters. In one episode, there was a big plot about antelope migrating, and all of them spoke and had opinions through the whole event, then the next episode some antelope were stuck in a mudhole and never spoke and couldn't seem to help themselves escape, the main characters had to physically pull them out and yell at them to try to direct them.

Unfortunately the last episode was all about the character I disliked (and now hate). Bunga, the honey badger. He's one of those "so stupid he's (supposedly) funny" characters. Incredibly annoying, though I suspect little kids like him best. I'd like to run him over with a lawnmower. Add in that Timon and Pumbaa were guest stars in the episode, and it was by far my least favorite of them all. Sad note to end the season on for me, but as I'm in the minority opinion on Timon and Pumbaa, other people might think it's ending on a high note.

All in all, I really enjoyed this show, and I can't wait for season two!

If you don't get the Disney Junior channel, or would rather watch it online, you can view the whole thing here.

Current Mood: okay

I need a new show to get hooked on. Lacking that, I dabbled in a lot of viewing tonight.

It started with that Day-o song from Beetlejuice:

That got me thinking about the movie, so I tracked it down and watched it. Sadly, it didn't hold up at all. The characters were nice, the actors were fine, and there were some rare funny bits, but the special effects (which were an important part of the movie), didn't age well at all. Everything looked like cheap Halloween masks. It did have some enjoyable moments, but all in all I think I would have been better off with my good memories of the movie.

I poked around for a TV show to watch, and spotted the oddly named 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown. Knowing nothing at all about it, I dived in. It seemed to be a talk show comedy mixed with a gameshow, which wiki confirmed, but sadly it didn't really work for me. It had a few funny moments, but all in all the humor fell seriously flat for me. That, combined with a loud laugh-track, made me give up on it before I reached the halfway point of one ep.

Know the show America's (or [your country]'s) Got Talent? I've always wondered why there wasn't a big, general ...Got Talent show, with clips from all the shows from all the different countries. Turns out there is, but it only plays in England (I think, if I guessed references and named locations correctly). It was quite entertaining for one episode, but not enough to drive me to seek out more of it.

Lastly, I watched the newest episode of The Lion Guard, which continues to be a wonderful show despite being shown on Disney Junior. The animation is outstanding, the songs are fun, and I love the majority of the characters. Unfortunately one main character is seriously immature, but... Disney Junior. It's also too bad that the hyenas are so neutered as villains, but... Disney Junior. Even with those issues, it's my favorite show currently on TV.

Speaking of it, my figures from it arrived. I'm amazed at how high quality they are! I've never had plastic figures so well made and well painted. The biggest one is seriously heavy! I don't have much display room on my desk, so I put them on the edge of my computer tower, where they're often fittingly silhouetted by the window.

The other three are in a jumbled pile at the bottom of my tower, taking up space.

Current Mood: tired

Long, long ago, Discover was running a promotion: Sign up for a credit card, and get a free GPS for your car. (This was well before cellphone apps.) "Great!" I said. "Sign me up!" As soon as I got the GPS, I canceled the credit card.

The Discover ran another promotion: Sign up for a credit card, and get a $200 Disney gift card. "Great!" I said. "Sign me up!" As soon as I got the gift card, I canceled the credit card.

Sometime soon after that I learned that opening and closing credit cards like that could hurt your credit score, so I stopped doing it. But I got a GPS and big gift card out of it, and my credit score is outstanding now, so no harm done.

The problem was, it was a Disney-only gift card. Now and again I went into a Disney store and checked the online store, but there was never anything I really wanted. Then one year I decided to just give it away, but that seemed like too much trouble (same with using one of those giftcard exchange sites), so I tossed it into a drawer.

I've really, really been liking this new The Lion Guard show, and what better way to show my support of it than buying merchandise of it? So I decided to buy this set. To be honest, I wouldn't have bought it if not for the card. I only want two of the figures out of it, and it doesn't look as well made as it might be, but... free. And a test to see if a 15+ year old card would even still work (it does, yay!).

When I first got the card, I had thought I might take a trip to Disney and use it there, but that never came to be. Hopefully more Lion Guards items will be added though, and I'll be able to keep chipping away at the balance.

Current Mood: hungry

I'm going to be stuck in meetings all day, boo. My stomach is really bothering me too, which makes the all day meetings more of an issue. Blah!

Yesterday was my birthday. My company was doing a blood drive the same day, so I decided to take part. Never before (when I was heavier) could I take part because even for medical blood draws they could never find a vein and had to take it out of the back of my hand (OW). But now they can do it in my elbow just fine, so I decided that a great thing to do on my birthday would be to give back to the world...

Except I can't donate blood. I got there, filled out all the forms, did the interview with the nurse, only to discover that since my toe is still infected and I'm on antibiotics, I can't donate. It makes sense, but it depressed me for the whole day, nearly to the point of crying over it (I suspect PMS on that issue). It was worse because, when I checked in and they discovered it was my birthday, they sang to me. Then I had to slink out without donating. Blah.

In the evening, I watched the new Lion King movie/start of the animated series. The Lion Guard. While I was far from the target audience (preschoolers), I enjoyed it a heck of a lot. They ruined the hyenas (which makes sense, they don't want to scare the little kids), and there was too much silliness for me (again makes sense, little kids would like that), but this will be a series that I'm sure I'll be able to enjoy.

Since yesterday was my birthday, I went out for lunch (even though I'm trying to save money so never go out anymore). Just a couple of chicken skewers and I was bad and bought a small, freshly baked baguette (I had a mental IT'S MY BIRTHDAY I WANT TO EAT BAD STUFF!) moment. I had expected that I was going to eat the whole thing, but oddly I found I didn't want to. I ended up sticking half of it into the freezer for some future bread craving emergency.

Somehow, even though I had bread and butter(!!!) and what I thought was grilled chicken though was oddly very greasy, my weight was actually down this morning. If it stays down on my official weighing morning (Friday) I'm going to consider trying to be looser about calories one day a week. Maybe a slightly higher calorie day will shake my body up some and get me off this endless (two month long!!!) plateau.