Timon & Pumbaa (TV series)

The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa, often simply referred to as Timon & Pumbaa, is an American animated buddy children's television series created by Walt Disney Television Animation.[1] Based on the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King, it centers on Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog, as they live their problem-free philosophy "Hakuna matata". Voice actors Nathan Lane and Ernie Sabella reprised their film roles as the title characters.[2]

This article is about the television series. For the characters, see Timon and Pumbaa.
The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa
Genre
Based onThe Lion King produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios
Directed by
  • Roberts Gannaway
  • Tony Craig
  • Rob LaDuca
  • Jeff DeGrandis
  • Eddy Houchins
  • Mauro Casalese
  • Brad Neave
Voices of
Theme music composerElton John (music)
Tim Rice (lyrics)
Opening theme"Hakuna Matata"
Composer(s)Stephen James Taylor
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes85 (131 segments) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Tedd Anasti (Season 3)
  • Patsy Cameron (Season 3)
Producer(s)
  • Chris Bartleman (Season 3)
  • Blair Peters (Season 3)
  • Bobs Gannaway (Seasons 1-2)
  • Tony Craig (Seasons 1-2)
Editor(s)John Royer
Running time22 minutes
Production company(s)
DistributorBuena Vista Television
Release
Original network
Picture formatColor
Audio format
  • Stereo (CBS StereoSound) (Early Season 1)
  • Dolby Surround (Mid-Late Season 1–3)
Original releaseSeptember 8, 1995 (1995-09-08) –
September 24, 1999 (1999-09-24)
Chronology
Preceded byThe Lion King
Followed by
Related showsThe Lion Guard

The show ran for three seasons on CBS, Disney Channel, Toon Disney, and in syndication as a part of The Disney Afternoon.[3] It aired from September 8, 1995 to September 24, 1999. It is the first Lion King-related media to feature humans, as humans did not appear in the film and its sequels. It is also the first of two television series to be based on the film, the second being The Lion Guard.

Bobs Gannaway and Tony Craig, who would later work on shows like 101 Dalmatians: The Series, House of Mouse, and Lilo & Stitch: The Series, served as the show's executive producers for the first two seasons. As of Season 3, the series was produced by Chris Bartleman and Blair Peters, with Tedd and Patsy Cameron-Anasti (who have previously worked on DuckTales and The Little Mermaid TV series) serving as the executive producers.

Premise

The show stars Timon, a meerkat, and Pumbaa, a warthog, both characters from the Disney animated film The Lion King and its sequels. The series is set after the events of the first film (despite some episodes are set before or during those events) and it involves the characters having misadventures in the jungles of Africa, as well as across the globe in different settings such as Canada, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. While the show focuses primarily on Timon and Pumbaa, it has four episodes centering respectively on Rafiki and the hyena trio Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, which are under the names Rafiki Fables and The Laughing Hyenas, and two episodes centering on Zazu.[4]

Episodes
Main article: List of Timon & Pumbaa episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast airedNetwork
12513September 8, 1995 (1995-09-08)December 29, 1995 (1995-12-29)Syndicated
12September 16, 1995 (1995-09-16)December 16, 1995 (1995-12-16)CBS
22113September 2, 1996 (1996-09-02)November 25, 1996 (1996-11-25)Syndicated
8September 14, 1996 (1996-09-14)November 9, 1996 (1996-11-09)CBS
339January 1, 1999 (1999-01-01)September 24, 1999 (1999-09-24)Toon Disney

Characters
Main article: List of The Lion King characters

Main

The Lion King alumni

The following characters from The Lion King appear in this series:

  • Simba (voiced by Cam Clarke): The protagonist of The Lion King and best friend of Timon and Pumbaa, who is now King of the Pride Lands and is occasionally the voice of reason around Timon and Pumbaa's mess-ups. Clarke later provided Simba's singing voice in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.
  • Rafiki (voiced by Robert Guillaume): A wise mandrill who gives good advice and is occasionally the butt of jokes. Guillaume reprises his role from The Lion King.
  • Zazu (voiced by Michael Gough): A pompous hornbill who works for Simba.
  • Shenzi, Banzai and Ed (voiced by Tress MacNeille, Rob Paulsen, and Jim Cummings, the latter reprising his role from The Lion King): Three crazy hyenas and Scar's former henchmen who are usually spending their time looking for food, though their attempts to get it tend to backfire, after having killed Scar for his betrayal in the movie, they leave the Elephant Graveyard and now live in a cave at the Outlands.
  • Gopher (voiced by Jim Cummings): A mole, and chief lieutenant of Zazu. Cummings reprises his role from The Lion King.

Supporting characters
  • Speedy the Snail (voiced by Corey Burton imitating Bing Crosby): An easygoing blue snail who can talk and sing. Timon and Pumbaa originally planned to eat him, but ended up becoming friends with him instead. They often find themselves rushing to have to save Speedy from dangerous situations.
  • Fred (voiced by S. Scott Bullock): A maniacal meerkat who is an old friend of Timon. He loves to laugh and play around, as well as pulling practical jokes. He often uses Timon and Pumbaa as his victims, although they don't find his jokes very funny.
  • Boss Beaver (voiced by Brad Garrett): A stereotypical beaver whose life philosophy is the exact opposite of Hakuna Matata. He values hard work and is sometimes too harsh on his employees. He also emphasizes the importance of safe work conditions.
  • Irwin (voiced by Charlie Adler): A dimwitted, accident-prone penguin whose bad luck seems to be terribly contagious. Timon and Pumbaa became his friends after they were stranded in Antarctica and Irwin had two extra tickets to a cruise ship. They will try to avoid him at all costs.

Antagonists
  • Quint (voiced by Corey Burton): Timon and Pumbaa's human archenemy and the main antagonist of the series. He is a man of many disguises and his role varies from episode to episode, from mildly bothersome antagonist to full villain.
  • Toucan Dan (voiced by Jeff Bennett): A criminal toucan, wanted by the police. He is known for being a sly con-artist and always manages to trick Timon and Pumbaa (or just Timon) into helping him in his schemes and cons.
  • Cheetata and Cheetato (voiced by Rob Paulsen and Jim Cummings respectively): A pair of sophisticated cheetahs who hunt for their prey, enemies of Timon and Pumbaa and of Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. Although hard to tell apart, aside from their voices, Cheetata appears to be more eager and aggressive while Cheetato seems more likely to think things through and is the most conniving.
  • Smolder the Bear (voiced by Jim Cummings): A large brown bear with a very short temperament who Timon and Pumbaa often run into. He can be quite menacing and dangerous, but at least one episode shows that deep inside he is a nice guy.
  • The Three Natives (voiced by Jeff Bennett): A trio of natives who are really university students. Their "chief" is also a university student, and usually precedes what he says with "Bungala bungala!"

Production

The series premiered on September 8, 1995, airing on Fridays on the syndicated block The Disney Afternoon. Eight days later, on September 16, the series also began airing on Saturday mornings on CBS. The show was one of the last Disney productions to air on CBS, which had a cross-promotion agreement with Disney, as Disney bought ABC in 1996, the same year that this show (and all other Disney properties still airing on CBS at the time) left the network. Also, in 1995, Westinghouse acquired CBS outright for $5.4 billion. As one of the major broadcasting group owners of commercial radio and television stations (as Group W) since 1920, Westinghouse proceeded to transform itself from its legendary role as a diversified conglomerate with a strong industrial heritage into a media giant with its purchase of CBS. Music underscore by Stephen James Taylor featuring frequent use of a microtonal xylophone and pan pipes based on an African tribal tuning.

Animation production was done by a consortium of overseas animation studios, including Walt Disney Television Animation (Australia) Pty. Limited, Toon City, Wang Film Productions, Thai Wang Film Productions, Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd., Sunmin Image Pictures Co., Sunwoo Animation, Koko Enterprises, Toonz Animation, Gnome Productions, Jaime Diaz Productions, Project X Animation, Shanghai Morning Sun Animation, Sichuan Top Animation and Studio B Productions.

After the second season, Roberts Gannaway and Tony Craig, the series' producers and directors, left the show to work on 101 Dalmatians: The Series. The series then returned in 1998 for a 39-episode third season, with a change in writers and new directors. Since February 8, 2009 (after its final airing on the now-defunct Toon Disney), this show went off the air for three years. However, it returned to broadcast reruns for a limited time in 2012 on Disney Junior. On November 12, 2019, the entire series was released on Disney+ in restored high definition.

Music
Name Notes
Stand By Me Music video
Yummy Yummy Yummy Music video
The Lion Sleeps Tonight Music video
Alone Together From the episode "Once Upon a Timon"
Beethoven's Whiff Musical episode
Bumble In The Jungle Musical episode

Home media

VHS releases

U.S. releases

Six VHS cassettes containing 18 episodes were released in the United States under the name Timon & Pumbaa's Wild Adventures.

VHS name Season(s) Episode count Release date Episodes include Stock Number
Grub's On[5] 1 3 January 30, 1996
  • "Saskatchewan Catch"
  • "French Fried"
  • "The Laughing Hyenas: Big Top Breakfast"
 6706
Hangin' With Baby[6]
  • "Never Everglades"
  • "To Kilimanjaro Bird"
  • "Rafiki Fables: Good Mousekeeping"
 6705
True Guts[7] January 30, 1996
  • "The Pain in Spain"
  • "How to Beat the High Costa Rica"
  • "The Laughing Hyenas: Cooked Goose"
 6709
Don't Get Mad, Get Happy[8] May 8, 1996
  • Yosemite Remedy
  • Kenya Be My Friend?
  • Rafiki Fables: The Sky Is Calling
 6711
Live & Learn![9]
  • "The Law of the Jungle"
  • "Uganda Be an Elephant"
  • "Be More Pacific"
 7646
Quit Buggin' Me[10]
  • "Frantic Atlantic"
  • "Swiss Missed"
  • "Going Uruguay"
 7647

European & Australian releases

Three VHS cassettes containing 21 episodes were released in Europe and Australia, each containing six episodes and a music video. The first VHS, Around the World with Timon And Pumbaa, features an original story told through bridging sequences in which, after Pumbaa develops amnesia from a lightning strike, Timon tries to restore his friend's memory through the episodes featured on that video.

VHS NameEpisode TitlesRelease Date
Around the World with Timon & Pumbaa"Boara Boara"
"Yukon Con"
"Saskatchewan Catch"
"Stand by Me" (music video episode)
"Brazil Nuts"
"Truth or Zaire"
"Never Everglades"		September 12, 1996
Rereleased: June 7, 2004
Dining Out with Timon & Pumbaa"French Fried"
"Russia Hour"
"Swiss Missed"
"To Kilimanjaro Bird"
"Don't Break the China"
"Rocky Mountain Lie"
"Yummy Yummy Yummy" (music video episode)		August 15, 1997
Rereleased: March 14, 2005
On Holiday with Timon & Pumbaa"Kenya Be My Friend?"
"South Sea Sick"
"Uganda Be an Elephant"
"The Pain in Spain"
"How to Beat the High Costa Rica"
"You Ghana Join the Club"
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (music video episode)		August 15, 1997
Rereleased: March 14, 2005

DVD releases

Three DVDs containing 21 episodes were released in Europe and Japan.

DVD NameEpisode TitlesRelease Date
Around the World With Timon & Pumbaa"Boara Boara"
"Yukon Con"
"Saskatchewan Catch"
"Stand by Me" (music video episode)
"Brazil Nuts"
"Truth or Zaire"
"Never Everglades"		June 7, 2004[11]
Dining Out with Timon & Pumbaa"French Fried"
"Russia Hour"
"Swiss Missed"
"To Kilimanjaro Bird"
"Don't Break the China"
"Rocky Mountain Lie"
"Yummy Yummy Yummy" (music video episode)		March 14, 2005[12]
On Holiday with Timon & Pumbaa"Kenya Be My Friend?"
"South Sea Sick"
"Uganda Be an Elephant"
"The Pain in Spain"
"How to Beat the High Costa Rica"
"You Ghana Join the Club"
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (music video episode)		March 14, 2005[13]

Video on demand

The series was made available in its entirety on Disney+ on November 12, 2019, in restored high definition.

Awards and nominations

Daytime Emmy Awards

  • 1996 – Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program – Nathan Lane For playing "Timon". (Won)
  • 1997 – Outstanding Sound Mixing – Special Class – Deb Adair, Jim Hodson, Melissa Ellis, Michael Beiriger, Dan Hiland, Joseph D. Citarella, Allen L. Stone, and Michael Jiron (Won)
  • 1997 – Outstanding Individual in Animation – Kexx Singleton for ("Beethoven's Whiff") (Won)

Other media

Video games
Game Publisher Platform Release date
Timon & Pumbaa's Jungle Games THQ (SNES)
Disney Interactive (PC)		 Super NES
Microsoft Windows		 November 1997 (SNES)
December 15, 1995 (Windows)

References
  1. Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 361–362. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. Hyatt, Wesley (1997). The Encyclopedia of Daytime Television. Watson-Guptill Publications. p. 262. ISBN 978-0823083152. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  3. Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 498–499. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  4. Disney's Retired Cartoons (YouTube video). Fastpass Facts. 4 July 2019. Event occurs at 19:17-19:37. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
  5. "Timon & Pumbaa: Grub's on [VHS]: Ernie Sabella, Kevin Schon, Jim Cummings, Quinton Flynn, Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen, Frank Welker, Tress MacNeille, Robert Guillaume, Nathan Lane, Charles Adler, Chris Henderson, Daryl G. Nickens, James W. Bates, Joan Considine Johnson, Kati Rocky, Sib Ventress: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  6. "Timon & Pumbaa: Hangin With Baby [VHS]: Ernie Sabella, Kevin Schon, Jim Cummings, Quinton Flynn, Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen, Frank Welker, Tress MacNeille, Robert Guillaume, Nathan Lane, Charles Adler, Chris Henderson, Daryl G. Nickens, James W. Bates, Joan Considine Johnson, Kati Rocky, Sib Ventress: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  7. "Timon & Pumbaa: True Guts [VHS]: Ernie Sabella, Kevin Schon, Jim Cummings, Quinton Flynn, Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen, Frank Welker, Tress MacNeille, Robert Guillaume, Nathan Lane, Charles Adler, Chris Henderson, Daryl G. Nickens, James W. Bates, Joan Considine Johnson, Kati Rocky, Sib Ventress: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  8. "Timon & Pumbaa: Don't Get Mad [VHS]: Ernie Sabella, Kevin Schon, Jim Cummings, Quinton Flynn, Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen, Frank Welker, Tress MacNeille, Robert Guillaume, Nathan Lane, Charles Adler, Chris Henderson, Daryl G. Nickens, James W. Bates, Joan Considine Johnson, Kati Rocky, Sib Ventress: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  9. "Timon & Pumbaa: Live & Learn [VHS]: Ernie Sabella, Kevin Schon, Jim Cummings, Quinton Flynn, Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen, Frank Welker, Tress MacNeille, Robert Guillaume, Nathan Lane, Charles Adler, Chris Henderson, Daryl G. Nickens, James W. Bates, Joan Considine Johnson, Kati Rocky, Sib Ventress: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  10. "Timon & Pumbaa: Quit Buggin Me [VHS]: Ernie Sabella, Kevin Schon, Jim Cummings, Quinton Flynn, Jeff Bennett, Corey Burton, Rob Paulsen, Frank Welker, Tress MacNeille, Robert Guillaume, Nathan Lane, Charles Adler, Chris Henderson, Daryl G. Nickens, James W. Bates, Joan Considine Johnson, Kati Rocky, Sib Ventress: Movies & TV". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  11. "Timon And Pumbaa: Around The World With Timon And Pumbaa DVD: Amazon.co.uk: Timon & Pumba: DVD & Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-01-21. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  12. "Timon And Pumbaa: Dining Out With Timon And Pumbaa - Volume 2 DVD: Amazon.co.uk: Timon and Pumbaa: DVD & Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-01-24. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  13. "Timon And Pumbaa: On Holiday With Timon And Pumbaa - Volume 3 DVD: Amazon.co.uk: Timon and Pumbaa: DVD & Blu-ray". Amazon.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-05-12. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  1. Animation outsourced to Jaime Diaz Productions, Koko Enterprises, Rough Draft Korea, Sunmin Image Pictures, Sunwoo Animation, Toon City, Toonz Animation, Walt Disney Animation Australia and Wang Film Productions.
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