My 90's and Early 2000's Experience: The Lion King (1994, Walt Disney Feature Animation)

 Hey everyone, how were your weekends? Mine was pretty good. Nice and quiet. I'm back with another post in my My 90's and Early 2000's Experience series. This year is the 30th anniversary of The Lion King and I decided to talk about that movie and my experience with it. Also, on Wednesday and Friday I'm starting a similar series to this, but focusing on Star Wars and Star Trek, which I feel are my two biggest fandoms, even over Power Rangers. So Wednesdays I'll be talking Star Wars stuff, and Fridays I'll be talking Star Trek stuff. But not limited to just my experiences with those franchises in the 90's and 2000's. I'll be talking about current stuff, as well as books, comics, toys, video games, trading cards, everything you can think of that I've had experience with from those franchises. So with that out of the way, let's talk about The Lion King! Let's get into it.

The summer of 1994 was a transitionary summer for me. I'd graduated out of the school program at the Ottawa Children's Treatment Centre and was headed to grade 2 at a public school. My first time at a public school, with able-bodied children. I was a bit scared, but I'd had a tour of Greely Elementary School, and it looked nice. Plus I was watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Batman: The Animated Series, then known as The Adventures of Batman & Robin, Eek! The Cat, and Dog City on TV, and various Disney movies, as well as my staples like Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin, Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, and Barney & The Backyard Gang on VHS. So nothing super out of the ordinary.

I don't remember the exact date, but there was one day, probably in July or August as the movie had only come out on June 15th, where Mom told us she was taking us to the movies to see the latest Disney movie, The Lion King. I was aware of the movie, since there was a preview for it on the VHS for Aladdin, and commercials for the movie and the merchandise were all over the TV as well. So I was excited for the movie for sure. We saw it and I loved it. My siblings did too, because I think we all sang "Hakuna Matata" in the car on the way home from the theatre. That's without even having the song playing in the car too. 

Once the movie came out on VHS in early 1995, either my parents or grandparents bought the tape for us. We watched it all the time to the point where I'm surprised we didn't wear out the tape. The opening had a commercial for Disneyland, the 1995 VHS of Cinderella, the 1996 VHS release of The AristoCats, the VHS release of Angels in the Outfield, and the teaser trailer for Pocahontas. The songs were so singable and the movie had so many good quotes, especially from Timon and Pumbaa and the Hyenas, led by Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi. 

Scar was a very different villain from what we'd had in Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. He was out for power like Jafar, but, on a more personal level as he'd lost his claim to the throne when Simba was born. So he wanted to eliminate both Mufasa and Simba so that he may take the throne and become the king of the Pride Lands. But, like many who want power, they don't care what happens after they take that power. Scar allowed the Pride Lands to go to crap because he had no idea about how to run a kingdom properly. He didn't care about the Great Circle of Life as Mufasa had taught Simba earlier in the movie. He allowed the Hyenas to run rampant and eat everything in sight, causing the herds to move on, leaving no food for the Lions and other predatory animals. 

We also got the soundtrack on CD. Well, my grandmother did. She actually kept it in the car for us to listen to during the long drives up to the cottage when she and Grandpa came to take us up for a week or two when our parents couldn't go or needed a break from us for a while. You know, the usual family summertime tradition. I loved this soundtrack. I still do. While I don't have it on CD I did buy the entire album on iTunes a few years ago, along with the soundtracks for The Jungle Book, Robin Hood, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Aladdin. It's currently on my iPod and I listen to it quite often. 

My siblings and I each got the Pride Rock Mini Playset that Mattel had put out when the movie was coming out. I still have mine, but I'm missing the Simba and Mufasa figures that came inside it. Though for some reason the Nala figure is still inside it. Anyway Pride Rock was, and still is, my favourite location in the movie, and I thought it was really cool seeing it on my shelf, and getting to open it up to see Rafiki's tree on one side, and Timon and Pumbaa's jungle on the other.

For my birthday in 1995, Grandma took me to Toys 'R' Us where she bought me a toy from Batman Forever, and this storybook from The Lion King. I had a few of these Disney storybooks, including one for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Sword in the Stone, but I think The Lion King one was my favourite, for obvious reasons. 

One of the things that makes this movie so important to me is that, besides getting to see it in theatres with my family, at a time where going to the movies was a treat, not a regular occurrence, was that it was popular enough that the kids I met in my class when I started at Greely Elementary School in the fall of 1994, loved it too, so our mutual love of the movie helped me make friends with the new kids I was meeting. Which was important since nobody in my class liked Star Trek or Power Rangers or Batman or even Ninja Turtles. I was alone at my school in those fandoms (for the time being), and having something that I could connect to my classmates over made my new school less scary. 

I also have this Simba cake topper for some reason. I don't remember whose birthday it was that this was used, but it was washed afterwards and given to us as a toy. It may have been my birthday in 1994, but it also could've been my sister's or brother's birthdays in early 1995. I honestly don't remember. I have it in my collection though.

For some reason we didn't get The Lion King on DVD when it first came out in 2003, but at some point my sister got the 2011 DVD release. Since I didn't have the movie on DVD in my small, but steadily growing DVD collection, I borrowed it from her and she let me keep it in my collection while she was away teaching in China for two years. I eventually gave it back to her, but it was interesting seeing the restored "Morning Report" song during Mufasa's lessons about being a king at the beginning of the movie. You could watch both the Special Edition, with that song included, as well as the theatrical version on the DVD. Which was cool. 

A few years ago I actually tracked down a copy of the 2003 Platinum Edition DVD release and I have it now in my collection. It's not as easy to select the theatrical version of the movie, but it is possible to do. Which I like, because, well, it's nice being able to watch the version of the movie that I grew up with, as well as the Special Edition, in the same set. 

I'm still amazed that The Lion King is 30 years old now. It seems like only yesterday I was sitting in the theatre with my mom, my sister, and my brother, watching the movie for the first time, scared that I wouldn't make any friends at my new school a month or two later. The movie's popularity really did help me with that when I started at my new school and it was a great experience getting to see it in theatres. To this day it's still one of my favourite Disney movies and one of my favourite movies in general. We did have the direct-to-video sequel, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride on VHS and the direct-to-video midquel, The Lion King 1 1/2 on DVD, though they weren't anywhere near as good as the original movie was. I still liked them, but they weren't as good. I did watch the TV series, The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa on CTV's BBS Master Control in the mid 90's, and, being that Timon and Pumbaa were my favourite characters from the movie, I loved that they had their own animated series.

That's it for me for today. I just wanted to talk about The Lion King for a bit because it is a movie that's important to me. I'll be back on Wednesday for My Star Wars Experience and Friday with My Star Trek Experience. I'm not quite sure what Friday's post is going to be about yet, but on Wednesday I'll be doing a discussion about the 2015 novel, Aftermath by Chuck Wendig as I just started a re-read of the book. So until then have a great rest of the day and I will talk to you again soon. Take care.