Difference between revisions of "The Lion King"

Latest revision as of 11:36, August 27, 2026

The Lion King is an animated musical drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released in 1994 by Walt Disney Pictures. The story is about Simba, a lion cub prince whose father, Mufasa, is murdered by his brother (and Simba's uncle) Scar. Simba is forced to live in exile, and Scar becomes an oppressive king. Years later, as an adult, Simba returns to take his rightful place as king.

The film spawned two direct-to-video sequels, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride in 1998 and The Lion King 1½ in 2004, along with a photorealistic remake in 2019. Additionally, there is a musical theater production of the same name that debuted in 1997 and two television spin-offs, Timon & Pumbaa (1995–1999) and The Lion Guard (2015–2019). The original film and the musical adaptation have been referenced often in The Simpsons.

References[edit]

Episodes[edit]

Season	Episode number	Episode name	Reference
6	125	"'Round Springfield"	Bleeding Gums Murphy appears in the sky to thank Lisa for making more people familiar with his music. Then Mufasa the Lion appears in the sky, in reference to a similar scene in The Lion King where the late Mufasa gives his son advice from the clouds. Mufasa says, "You must avenge my death, Kimba... I mean: Simba!" This is a reference to the accusations that Disney Studios plagiarized a large part of the look and plot of the 1960s Japanese animated TV series Kimba, The White Lion.
12	265	"Simpson Safari"	The scene with the sunrise, silhouettes of animals, and rhythmic music is reminiscent of the opening moments of the film. When Kitenge is driving the Simpsons on a safari, Pride Rock can be seen in the background.
15	319	"Today I Am a Clown"	During his televised Bar Mitzvah, Krusty thanks the cast of The Lion King as they leave the stage.
17	375	"Girls Just Want to Have Sums"	The Itchy and Scratchy musical "Stab-A-Lot" spoofs the songs and the look of The Lion King. The song "Two Days, Two Circles" is a parody of The Circle of Life.
19	403	"Midnight Towboy"	Homer is driving at night in search of milk for Maggie. He sees a billboard with the letters "MILK" going down the left edge, but when he gets closer he sees that it really reads "Mr. T Is the Lion King", advertising a performance at the Capital City Playhouse.
20	440	"Four Great Women and a Manicure"	In Lisa's retelling of Snow White, the Evil Queen is killed by forest animals in a manner similar to Scar's death, where he is killed by hyenas, right down to the shot of her being killed by said animals shown only in shadow just like when Scar is being killed by hyenas.
22	478	"Angry Dad: The Movie"	Bart and Homer walk by a poster for an animated film called The Lyin' King, a pun on The Lion King.
23	493	"The Man in the Blue Flannel Pants"	The Loin King is a reference to The Lion King.
27	592	"How Lisa Got Her Marge Back"	While Lisa sings Don't Rain on My Parade, a baboon is shown raising a lion cub, referencing the opening scene of The Lion King.
34	738	"Game Done Changed"	During Principal Skinner's song "Magnet Performing Arts School", Database and Martin are seen dressed as Pumbaa and Rafiki from the musical.
35	753	"McMansion & Wife"	Jebediah Springfield holds the baby up over a ridge in a parody of the scene where Rafiki holds Simba up.
D+	809	"Yellow Mirror"	The Loin King is seen again.

Specials[edit]

Picture	Special name	Reference
	Plusaversary	Scar is seen at a table with Cruella de Vil. Lisa puts party hats on them.
	Welcome to the Club	Scar is seen at Disney Villain Land.
	May the 12th Be with You	Simba and Sarabi make an appearance.

Comics[edit]

Picture	Comic issue	Story name	Reference
Simpsons Comics
	Simpsons Comics #75	...The Permanent Record Room!	Bart tells Milhouse that he doesn't feel guilty about pulling pranks because he would otherwise become a prank victim himself, which Milhouse compares to The Circle of Life. Bart then tells him to stop quoting Elton John songs.
Bart Simpson
	Bart Simpson #7	All's Veldt That Ends Veldt!	When Bart is being chased by two lionesses, he turns and asks them, "Haven't you guys ever heard of 'The Circle of Life'?" He then remembers, to his chagrin, Lisa telling him, "That's just a nice way of referring to 'The Survival of the Fittest'!"

Common cast and crew[edit]

Cast[edit]

Name	Role in The Lion King	Role on The Simpsons
Shohreh Aghdashloo	Voiced Queen Janna in The Lion Guard.	Voiced Mina bin Laden in "MyPods and Boomsticks".
Neve Campbell	Played adult Kiara in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.	Voiced Cassandra in "Rednecks and Broomsticks".
Common	Voiced Kiburi in The Lion Guard.	Voiced himself in "The Great Phatsby: Part Two".
Jim Cummings	Played Ed the Hyena in the original film.	Voiced Duncan in "Saddlesore Galactica".
Andy Dick	Played Nuka in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.	Voiced himself in "Yokel Chords".
Billy Eichner	Played Timon in the 2019 remake.	Voiced Billy in "Krusty the Clown".
Jeremy Irons	Played Scar in the original film.	Voiced Raggy in "Moe Goes from Rags to Riches".
Elton John	Contributed songs to the soundtrack of the original film and its remake.	Voiced himself in "I'm with Cupid".
James Earl Jones	Portrayed Mufasa in the original 1994 film and its 2019 remake.	Voiced a removalist, Serak the Preparer and The Raven narrator in "Treehouse of Horror II", Maggie Simpson in "Treehouse of Horror V" and the narrator in "Das Bus".
Julie Kavner	Played Ma in The Lion King 1½.	Voice of Marge Simpson.
Keegan-Michael Key	Played Kamari the Hyena in the 2019 remake.	Voiced Jazzy James in "The Great Phatsby: Part One" and "The Great Phatsby: Part Two".
Rob Lowe	Voiced of Simba in The Lion Guard.	Voiced Cousin Peter in "The Very Hungry Caterpillars".
Cheech Marin	Played Banzai the Hyena in the original film.	Voiced himself in "A Midsummer's Nice Dreams".
John Oliver	Played Zazu in the 2019 remake.	Voiced Booth Wilkes-John in "Pay Pal".
Seth Rogen	Played Pumbaa in the 2019 remake.	Voiced Lyle McCarthy in "Homer the Whopper" and himself in "Steal This Episode".
Amy Sedaris	Voiced a guinea fowl in the 2019 remake.	Voiced Maggie Simpson in the season 36 episode "Bart's Birthday".
Jonathan Taylor Thomas	Played Simba as a cub in the original film.	Voiced Luke Stetson in "Dude, Where's My Ranch?".

Crew[edit]

Picture	Name	Role in The Lion King	Role on The Simpsons
	Hans Zimmer	Composed the music for the original 1994 film and its 2019 remake.	Currently serves as a score producer for Bleeding Fingers Music for The Simpsons. He also composed the music for The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Game and the special episode The Longest Daycare. He also conducted "Spider-Pig" in The Simpsons Take the Bowl.

External links[edit]

The Lion King at the Internet Movie Database
The Lion King at Wikipedia

Cultural references

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