Episode 2 - The Rise of Makuu

[s-tlk]

So who was watching the first episode of TLG?


I just saw it and as a quick summary for those who didn't saw it yet: It is about a crocodile Makuu who took, by force, a so called "Mashindano", a duel between the leader of the crocodiles (Pua) and its challenger, over the leadership of the group of crocodiles. Makuu didn't want to listen to anyone, especially not to the Circle of Life and the natural order of things and forced the Hippos out of the "Big Spring", a giant lake in the Pride Lands. In consequence, all the other animals shifted their habitats and there is a complete mess now in the Pride Lands. But Kion doesn't want to use the roar of the elders to defeat Makuu and send the crocodiles back. In the end he uses the roar as demonstration of his power that convinced Makuu to leaf the lake. There was a lot of little other stories, including a questionable song, but this sums it up quickly.

Any opinions about this? I think the story line was a little bit bumpy with quick and sudden switches in between. I didn't like this episode as much as the pilot episode. But we at least know now that "Call of the Lion Guard" is the intro to the series.

[nathalie]

It ain't airing on Disney channel Belgium, so can't watch it.
They said it will as of next month, but ill believe it when I see it, and even then, I doubt I wanna see it in Dutch, lol.

You can order them from amazon I sawd, does anyone know if that is country restricted?

[Azerane]

I didn't think it premiered until January 15th.... maybe I'm wrong, that would be nice :D

[Falconsfan22]

I thought it didn't come on tv until January 15 maybe I was wrong

[Leorgathar]

It will premiere on January 15th on Disney Junior, but they made the episode available now on iTunes for free (only this time). It can also be watched on this site:
http://watchdisneyjunior.go.com/the-lion-guard/video/vdka0_v3sj8k2j/01/02-the-rise-of-makuu

Sadly, that's only in the U.S. :( so I haven't seen it yet myself. *avoids reading spoilers in s-tlk's post* ><

[Rokufox]

The episodes are available on the Disney Junior website. A website I never thought I'd frequent so often...:D

[KanuTGL]

I caught it just today... :kionhappy2:

I must say that overall I was pretty pleased with the episode. It has its issues, sure, but I think it's well in line with, and beyond, what we can expect from a Disney show aimed at very young children. The animation still struggles in the full-body shots, but all the characters' expressions and lip-sync... I just love it!

I really liked the bits of wildlife facts they threw in there, like the stuff about the hyrax :D

Mufasa looked pretty gorgeously on-model in his scene. Eeee <3

And I like that Kion was so adamant about not wanting to fight. Nice approach!

Also Beshte is my new second favourite character (behind Kion, haha) in the show. He's just precious :)

[Falconsfan22]

I saw it online while I like the whole episode I think there should have been a song during the crocodile fight and not for bunga's stink. Gary Anthony Williams does a good mufasa overall the episode was great I enjoyed.

[Sharifu]

I saw this episode about a week or so ago on that Disney Junior website that Leor posted. Thanks for the link! I hope they keep putting future episodes on their website.


Gary Anthony Williams does a good mufasa overall the episode was great I enjoyed.

To be honest, I could tell right away that Mufasa's voice sounded a bit funny... So I checked the credits at the end, and yep, it was not James Earl Jones. Gary's voice is pretty close, but you can tell it's different... So many articles online kept mentioning how James Earl Jones and Ernie Sabella were returning from the original film to voice act in The Lion Guard. So did they just mean the Pilot Episode? Or is James going to voice act in some episodes in the future? Plus I kind of hope that Mufasa doesn't appear in every episode. Seems kind of silly that Mufasa keeps popping out of the clouds for every little problem Kion has. Almost makes the scenes not seem so epic and special.

Besides that I thought it was a nice episode. Looking forward to seeing future episodes. :D

[nathalie]

IMDB mentions both voices for Mufasa for every episode, thought that was weird ...

[Azerane]

Finally managed to watch this yesterday. Talking about Mufasa, I must be the only one who really disliked the voice. I instantly knew it wasn't JEJ and it sounded way off to me, but perhaps I'm picky. I didn't like that Kion was able to just summon him either. I agree that the characters faces and expressions remain well animated. I was glad Ono had a song, but I was disappointed that there was an excess of stink jokes. And also there's a lot of focus on Bunga all the time, I'm hoping that'll even out over time.

The crocodile takeover reminded me a little bit of the "Simba Rules OK" story from the magazines, but probably only because it was crocodiles. I like the nature/learning aspect of the episode and get the feeling that the hyrax will be a recurring character.

[cleargreenwater]

IMDB mentions both voices for Mufasa for every episode, thought that was weird ...

I wonder if JEJ recorded the title? Maybe he's the one who reads "The Lion Guard" statement.

I'm not sure. Some voices I can tell are different, but this one was hard for me, the new voice seemed pretty seamless. Not like Rob Lowe's, I hate to say. I'm not feeling Rob Lowe as Simba at all, and that's a shame because they're both great individually :P

Anyway, I thought this story was a little off. I liked the idea of crocodile customs, but I wasn't expecting a show of force to be the ultimate resolution of the episode. It proved it's moral though, even if it wasn't the moral I saw coming!

[Kasei]

I think JEJ is definitely the voice in the opening.