"The Lion King"
Rune
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This message was from RICH_...@AGWBBS.NEW-O to ALL,
originally in rec.arts.disney
and was forwarded to you by RAY ROONEY.
-------------------------
Message-ID: <Rich_Kos...@agwbbs.new-orleans.LA.US>
Newsgroup: rec.arts.disney
From: Rich_...@agwbbs.new-orleans.LA.US (Rich Koster)
Organization: The Amiga GateWay BBS * New Orleans, La.
(This is from Carol:)
Cross-posted to Fidonet's Disney Echo and Usenet's rec.arts.disney
newsgroup:
More from the 2nd Official Disneyana Convention held at the
Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim CA September 14-19, 1993.
Announcements made about "The Lion King" during the Saturday,
September 18, 1993 Animation Seminar, by someone representing
Disney Animation (his name is not in our notes, I regret to say,
and at this point Rich's tape recorder was running out of tape and
battery power...arrrrrrrgh!)
"The Lion King" will come out June 1994. They wanted to create an
allegorical story of a lion cub coming of age with a dash of Moses
and the Bible story of Joseph, exile, some of the story of
Shakespeare's "Hamlet": The lion cub growing up to "accept
responsibility" is considered to be a very important theme in the
"Hamlet" "to be (act) or not to be (act)" vein. This animated film
will have no human characters in it, it's all animals.
Emphasis is on these four elements: Music. Story. Characters.
Theme.
Sorry for spellings (phonetic) and some of the blanks:
Producer: Don Hahn
Music: Elton John and Tim Rice
Simba the lion cub: Johnathan ?, currently one of the child actors on
the TV show "Home Improvement"
Simba the adult lion: Matthew Broderick
Mufasah, Simba's father: James Earl Jones
Hornbill: Rowan Atkinson (starred in "Black Adder")
Rafiki, a baboon filled with folk wisdom: Robert Guillaume
Nala: Myra Kelly
Simba's mother: Madge Sinclair
Hyenas, sidekicks to the villain: Whoopi Goldberg and Cheech Marin
Simba's uncle, Scar the Lion, the villain: Jeremy Irons ("...a
'Klaus von Bulow' lion...")
Animal consultant: Jim Fowler, who many of us might remember from
the old TV show "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" and who has
appeared as a guest on many talk shows bringing exotic animals
in tow. Real lions were brought to Disney Animation Studios for
the artists to observe and draw.
Fifty percent of the animation was completed and fifteen minutes of
the film was completed in color as of the date of this presentation
(see above). Previews will start in December 1993. The film "is
in a constant state of flux" creatively.
The trailer was shown to us, so we were among the first to see it.
Little did we know this trailer would appear on the "Aladdin" home
video cassette just a few days later! (Last year, we were treated
to extensive sneak previews and background drawings of "Aladdin"
approximately two months prior to its premiere. I guess since "The
Lion King" is so incomplete at this point the Disney Studios didn't
want to reveal much more than the trailer.)
The song on the trailer is called "Circle of Light".
Those of you who recall my post earlier this summer of the D-MGM
Animation Studio Tour will remember my descriptions of some of the
backgrounds to be used in "The Lion King". Some of these same
backgrounds appear in "The Lion King" trailer: That magnificent
sunset, rich in oranges and reds. The aerial view of the river
delta: In the trailer you see (computer rendered?) birds flying
over it. The view of (I'm guessing) Mt. Kilimanjaro in the mist.
These scenic views are very outstanding. The drawings of the
animal characters as they appear in the lobby waiting area of the
tour look OK to me, but the way they appear on the trailer is
outstanding! But nothing can match those backgrounds, in my mind
at least.... That sunset, the rendered printout of it as seen at
D-MGM's Animation Studio Tour, impressed me very deeply.
At the time of our visit at the D-MGM Animation Studio Tour a
storyboard of one of the songs ("I Can't Wait to Be King", sung by
the lion cub, and others) was on public display for visitors to see
and understand how work progresses from the storyboard stage to the
drawing and animation they are witnessing the people doing through
the windows.
The trailer received a very warm reception among ConventionEARS.
--Carol Koster
* "If this is where the monarch is headed, count me out!
* "Out of service... Out of Africa..." -Disney's "The Lion King"
* "I'm going to be a mighty king, so enemies beware.
* "I've never been a king of beasts with quite so little hair.
* "I'm gonna be the mane event, like no king was before!
* "I'm brushing up on looking down. I'm working on my ROAR!!
* "Thus far a rather uninspiring thing. Oh, I just can't wait to be king!"
* -Disney's "The Lion King"
* Q-Blue v0.7 *
-- Via DlgQWK v0.71a
End of forwarded message.
Now, I ask you: Does any of this sound just a wee bit familiar?
Hyena henchmen? Baboon mentor? Lion with a scar? Oranges and reds?
Can you say, "Thumbing their noses" boys and girls? I knew you could.
* SLMR 2.1a * Portions of this message have been pre-recorded.
S. Hagstrom
>Now, I ask you: Does any of this sound just a wee bit familiar?
>
>Hyena henchmen? Baboon mentor? Lion with a scar? Oranges and reds?
>
Ummmmm.....Is that Tezuka I hear spinning in his grave? RIZZZZZZZ!
Of course..Disney has never been known for originality...
They realy should have left Simba white and not changed him to regular
lion color...And kept the name Kimba. If you are gonna rip off someone, don't
do a half-way job.
Timothy Fay
unfortunately, never had the privilege, and must rely on ancient videos
of the show. :)
--
Reply to: ava...@wings.micro.umn.edu
"My mental facilities are TWICE what yours are -- you pea brain!"
-Percival McLeach
Bryan Feir
>I thought this _might_ be of interest here...
Yes, it was... I'd heard about this kicking around on Fidonet, but it's
good to see it show up here as well.
>Now, I ask you: Does any of this sound just a wee bit familiar?
>
>Hyena henchmen? Baboon mentor? Lion with a scar? Oranges and reds?
>
>Can you say, "Thumbing their noses" boys and girls? I knew you could.
Just a little, yes. <sigh> What is *really* annoying is that Disney
is trying to co-opt another story, this time while the author is barely
cold in his grave and the story is very much still under copyright. And
you can bet that if anyone tried to do this to them they'd be screaming
bloody murder and sending out lawyers left, right, and centre. But they
will probably get away with it, simply because it's being made in the US
for American audiences, and the US has a nice little history built up for
protectionism when they think they can get away with it, and when they
can get good enough lawyers.
Who owns the rights to the English versions of the Jungle Emperor
stories, anyway? While they're unlikely to be able to win a court case
against the all-mighty DisneyCorp, it could turn into an interesting PR
battle...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryan Feir (.sig not found because of NFS problems)
Timothy Fay
>
> Just a little, yes. <sigh> What is *really* annoying is that Disney
>is trying to co-opt another story, this time while the author is barely
>will probably get away with it, simply because it's being made in the US
>for American audiences, and the US has a nice little history built up for
>protectionism when they think they can get away with it, and when they
>can get good enough lawyers.
The U.S. isn't the only country guilty of this, unfortunately. I agree
with what you said regarding the story. But, based on what was posted,
it looks like the movie is just different enough to survive any sort of
legal challenge (and that may be why Disney was careful to point out
that the story was still in flux).
Avi Melman
An even bigger rip-off is DIRECTLY from the Japanese Jungle
Emporer show. Scar the Lion=Bubu the Lion. Disney's interpretation
could very well have come from his original name in Japanese. Also,
some good may come out of this. How many of you noticed that EVERY
time a Disney film came out in theatres, and then on video, EVERY
other company with rights to related material (i.e. the many
renditions of Beauty and the Beast) released theirs on video as well?
I predict a WIDER re-release of Jungle Emporer/Kimba the White Lion
(ick) on video.
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| Avi Melman - writer, subtitler, student (financial status), translator |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| "The furry version of the Bubonic Plague is commonly referred to as the |
| Baboonic Plague. The victims first lose their fur, then their tails." |
--------------------...@orion.oac.uci.edu---------------
Fuzzy Fox
>Most of the writers probably grew up watching the show. Some of us,
>unfortunately, never had the privilege, and must rely on ancient videos
>of the show. :)
And many of us have never seen any work by Tezuka whatsoever, and so we
have no idea what you're all going on about. :)
--
----- David DeSimone ----- Fuzzy Fox ----- f...@netcom.com ------------
This signature is UNREGISTERED! If you continue to find this
signature useful, you are morally and legally obligated to pay for it!
BGAL
> They realy should have left Simba white and not changed him to regular
>lion color...And kept the name Kimba. If you are gonna rip off someone, don't
>do a half-way job.
Actually, I think Simba is the word for lion in the African
Dogon language, but yup, the similarity is there, and thus the
rip off.
Tygger
SH>>
>>Now, I ask you: Does any of this sound just a wee bit familiar?
>>
>>Hyena henchmen? Baboon mentor? Lion with a scar? Oranges and reds?
>>
SH>Ummmmm.....Is that Tezuka I hear spinning in his grave? RIZZZZZZZ!
SH>Of course..Disney has never been known for originality...
SH>They realy should have left Simba white and not changed him to regular
>lion color...And kept the name Kimba. If you are gonna rip off someone, don
>do a half-way job.
HAH! HAH!!!! I'm not the ONLY one who saw the resemblance! Ever since
I saw the trailer on Aladdin I've been bitching about the Kimba rip-off.
There's also a scene which is right out of Roots: the baboon is holding
the cub up to the sky.
Get this: on the trailer, it's claimed the story is original. HAH!
Seems to me that Disney, who is death on copyright infringement of their
own characters, would be above such double-standards. From what I've
seen, the story seems to be changed just enough to avoid real blatant
copyright infringement of Tezuka.
Disney wouldn't know originality anymore if it bit them....
Yes, I'm upset about this. Kimba was my first introduction to
animation; I remember watching it as a young child. What Disney has
done comes across, to me, as a slap in the face of Tezuka: WE are
DISNEY. WE can do whatever WE want, no matter if someone else has done
it before us.
It would be highly amusing if enough people screamed loud enough to get
the attention of the main stream media (Entertainment Tonight et al) and
they decided to take a closer look at The Lion King.
Well, that's my two cents worth [clink clink]. The above opinions are
my own. They are ONLY opinions. I am NOT speaking for ANYONE ELSE.
TTFN!
Tygger
* OLX 2.1 TD * Great wealth makes us neither more wise nor more healthy.
{ Team H BBS - Richmond, CA - 510-236-5114 - Anonymous accounts available }
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Timothy Fay
>
>And many of us have never seen any work by Tezuka whatsoever, and so we
>have no idea what you're all going on about. :)
Wow, that's hard to imagine... You don't know what you've been missing!
:-) Quick--go out and rent some ASTROBOY and UNICO tapes! :-)