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tired-lamb · 1 month ago

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If you were to rewrite the Lion Guard, what would you change there?

*cracks knuckles* get ready for a word blast.

Firstly, I would change the target audience of the show, mainly so that I could slide in much more serious plots in the show and also to raise the stakes. Target audience would be.. maybe preteens to teens. Think The Owl House, Amphibia, She-ra and the Princesses of Power, ah yes all the queer shows, Ducktales, Gravity Falls, etc. That’s what we’re trying to go for.

Secondly, characterisations. I want to add more depth to the main characters, i.e., the Guard. Give Bunga more of a role than being the comedic relief, give Ono more of a role than just being the one with the braincell, give Fuli more of a role than just snapping at Bunga all the time, give Beshte more of a role than just being Kind and Strong, give Kion more .. development, you get what I mean. Don’t get me wrong, I like the characterisations in the original show, it’s just I wish there was more to it. Give the characters flaws, maybe even have them all go through some sort of development arc (very much impossible what with industries these days cutting shows down </3). I’d like to see why these characters have been chosen for the Guard, because if you take the roles of bravest, fastest, fiercest, keenest of sight and strongest at just face value, Kion could have picked any animal. I want these roles that they’ve been given to mean something.

Thirdly, the concept of the Guard. Tying back to how I want the Guard and their roles to mean something, I’d change the main basis of the Guard’s concept to not just be a group of animals with certain qualities, but a group of animals that not only hold those qualities close to their chest but have the ability to work as a team with those qualities. The ability to combine these traits and use them for protecting the Circle of Life. This allows for moments in which, say, any of the Guard is unable to.. well, perform the role/quality they’ve been given (eg: Ono being unable to see, Fuli being unable to run fast), they still manage to be helpful to the team. This adds depth not only to the Guard members themselves but to the Guard itself, too. Also adds opportunities for fun dynamic exploration!

Fourthly (is that a word?), I’d change the fight scenes, or, rather, how the characters fight. I want to really showcase the animal side of the universe and characters, so I’d make it so that we see them fighting like or at least similar to their actual real life counterparts. Also since I’m making this a show targetted towards preteens and teens, I’d show the scars and effects characters face from these fights, too.

Another thing I would change is the Pridelanders. Not change the characters, per say, but change the atmosphere of the Pridelands. Again, I want to add stakes. The Guards before our current one usually have little to no trouble protecting the pridelands, but this new Guard that we follow as viewers is facing a land that is just recovering from the reign of a terrible king; Scar. Have the herbivores unable to trust the Guard due to the presence of two carnivores. Have the Guard face challenges in being accepted as protectors of the Circle of Life. Have carnivores themselves be hesitant to having a Guard with a lion for a leader protecting them. Have the Guard really struggle to find just how they can protect the Circle of Life. I want to see hostility. I want to see chaos. I want to see Simba struggling to be a king and thus rely on the Guard too much in order to help restore peace.

I also want the Guard to struggle. The Lion Guard has not existed for two decades. They have no one to look to for guidance. There is no former Guard member they can talk to who might know a thing or two about teamwork, about existing together as not just a unit of protection but as a part of the Circle of Life, too. They have nobody to go to … except the older lions. The older lions that remember the times of Scar’s Guard. Sarabi, even!! I love how much the og show gives time to other Pridelanders, but let’s not forget the lions maybe? Have Nala or Sarabi be a sort of mentor figure to them, maybe.

Speaking of Sarabi, I’d also get rid of Mufasa’s role in the show. I like that they wanted to include Mufasa in the show, but I dislike the way they went about it. If at all we need Mufasa in the show I’d give him a kind ‘haunting the narrative’ role except in a.. good sense? (Also to parallel with Scar’s own negative ‘haunting the narrative’ role). The Guard don’t know much about Mufasa, only that he was a great king. I’d try to add Mufasa in the story in bits and pieces, never directly and never outright. Honour him in a more quiet, in the background way.

While we’re talking about mentor figures, something I would really like to add, and I cannot emphasise this enough, is having the moments where we let the Guard be kids. I hc them to be pre teen age when they start, and I want to see these kids not only embrace this newfound role that they’ve been given in the Circle of Life, but also really think about what it means to them. What being a part of the Circle of Life means to them. I want to see moments where the Guard struggles in saving some animals or making decisions. I want to see the Guard mature as the show moves on but also really put into perspective that these are child soldiers. The things they face will and do have an affect on them. When I say let them be kids I also mean it in other ways. Let them be absolutely scarred (hah) after events like the burning of Mzimu Grove, the loss of Kilio Valley, and especially the Battle for the Pridelands. (I’m aware this kind of makes TLG a coming of age show).

I’m not quite sure what I would do with the villains. I honestly like them as they are, except I wish they got more screentime and had more of a logical reason as to why they’re villains, instead of just being animals that are ‘greedy’ for food. An idea I’ve been having for sometime however is to make the TLK2 villains serve as the villains in TLG aswell, plus making them the ones to resurrect Scar. Also, while we’re talking villains, change the Circle of Life concept to be a little more up-to-interpretation. Like, of course I’d let it have some concrete characteristics (such as the ones mentioned in the first TLK movie), but when it comes to the Guard and the show as a whole I’d make it more up-to-interpretation in order to avoid the whole issue the writers had with their villains (and how in a real life situation the outlanders’ whole ordeal being portrayed as ‘bad’ just.. doesn’t make sense).

For villains like Makucha, I would have given him much more build up or not put him in as a villain at all. If the main cast needs to face any struggle at all in season three, I would make it about them trying to recover from the Battle for the Pridelands. I think this would be a kind of arc for the Guard. They think they’re as good as they can get, but the BFTP hits them in the face, as does having to take the Journey to the Tree of Life. They’re forced in a new environment, and excuse me for how I’m about to describe this, freshly traumatised, and not only that but I would write some of the characters to regress back to older, bad habits they had when they were starting out at first. I’d write this to be an affect all of them face from the Battle for the Pridelands; a piece of ‘evil’ inside all of them instead of just Kion.

Alongside this arc of the Guard (wow thats catchy) I’d also have Makini have her own arc as well. The Guard is in shambles after the BFTP, and Makini is their closest friend. I would see this as an opportunity to build up Makini’s character, especially as a future Mjuzi (whether that be in the Pridelands or the Tree of Life). She finds herself in a position where she’s the only one who can somehow try to bring the Guard back together to what it was, or maybe even something stronger. Some development for my girl <3.

This arc resolves in the journey itself. I had thought of making it continue to their time in the Tree of Life, but hit a dead end there. The way I see this arc coming to a close is that it eventually erupts in a fight between the Guard members themselves. It’s nasty, with Makini and Anga trying their best to hold at least one or two of them back. This would take place around ‘Friends to the End’. In the prior episodes, I’d make it so that the fight that takes place here builds up. All the points I’ve mentioned above for this arc would be shown in the prior episodes, and eventually produce what happens in this one. I’m not going to write out the entire episode plan I have for this, but I’ll give some important points. The episode is pretty angsty, in a sense, and after Kion leaves I think the others would, too. Beshte, although not as mad as some ofthe others, is still deeply unsettled, and is also feeling some inkling of annoyance. Again, pieces of ‘evil’/Scar inside all of them. They’re not acting themselves, all of them, and when they split up, Makini and Anga are just trying to get them to reconcile. In the end, what brings them back together is Kion. I’m keeping his whole nearly-falling-off-a-cliff thing. The moment all of them find out he’s in danger, they rush and forget whatever they had said or done in the fight before. This is to sort of remind both the Guard and the viewers of why they’re on this journey, and why they’re together at all. Why does the Guard exist as a unit and why has the Circle of Life chosen them? All themes and questions that have been already addressed in the previous seasons, but something the Guard has forgotten due to the events of the BFTP. Trauma does that to you. To everyone. It’s not easy for them, especially as kids, but they find a way to come back together, because they’ve grown from ‘just the Guard’ now. They’re practically family to each other. What Scar and his army wanted so bad was to seperate them, and by the effects of the BFTP, they’ve unknowingly succeeded. It’s Makini who finally brings this realisation to them, and reminds them of all that they’ve learned and all that they’ve experienced, together. They’re the Lion Guard, and that’s where this arc sort of concludes. (Cough, can you tell I like found family themes?)

However we will still definitely see the Guard struggle after this, but not without wanting to make up for it, not without wanting to try and to heal. There’s no more spitefulness, and even if there is, what follows after is forgiveness and love. While this particular arc of the Guard will have come to a close by the time they reach the Tree of Life, I still want to show how it’ll take some time before they’re able to become what they once were. Healing is never perfect, after all.

Speaking of the Tree of Life, the Guard’s time there deserved waaay more episodes. The place had such a huge build up only for us to spend barely anytime there at all. I’d also like to see more time given to the Night Pride. I think they rushed a lot of things regarding them, such as their introduction, Queen Janna’s death, how we’re suddenly supposed to root for Rani as new Queen.. etc etc. I’d probably write it so that we spend some time with them before anything major happens. I’m not criticising Queen Janna’s death by any means, and although I really liked the entire episode and Rani’s coronation in general, I do wish we as an audience had more of a chance to connect with these characters first. I mean, I’m an emotional person, and while I did cry once or twice for Queen Janna, there was no basis for me in order to root for her or Rani’s character, you know? I’ve also seen one or two people talk about how they wish Queen Janna had more connection with the rest of the Night Pride, especially Baliyo, than with just Rani. I can agree with that, and so I’ll probably add that bit or two in my rewrite, as well.

Another idea I have in mind (and this is inspired by this particular night pride redesign/revamp) is to change Binga. I like her, don’t get me wrong, but I dislike that she’s just a genderbent Bunga whose supposed to be his love interest. Heck, I dislike the whole squeezing in love interests for the Guard (except Ono and Beshte, ofc) at the end of the series. If at all you want them to have love interests, let it build over time. I know Kion and Jasiri or Kion and Fuli would have made more sense that Kion and Rani. But for Bunga specifically the idea I have in mind is to make Binga an Indian-crested porcupine instead (an idea that was also inspired by this post). Idk much about them, but what I do know is that they’re tough and close to the honeybadger in terms of size and toughness against larger predators. I can see that what the writers were trying to go with for Binga was to kind of have Bunga meet ‘his competition’; someone who could stand up to Bunga. I think having this someone be a porcupine (especially with Bunga’s already established history with porcupines from Mama Binturong) would make sense and also be a lot more fun than having another honeybadger. I would also probably change Binga’s name, too, so as to not make them.. well, you know, genderbent Bunga. I don’t wanna go too in depth on this idea in this post specifically, but I’ll definitely be making a post on this idea someday (and maybe an OC, now that I think more abt it lol).

Also, although I’ve not finished the series I am aware of the fact that the Guard return to the Tree of Life after returning to the Pridelands. Now that.. is something I would change. If I go with Kion and Rani being love interests, then I’d make it that maybe Kion wants to go back, but this doesn’t mean the rest have to. I mean, they all have a life in the Pridelands after all, and I’m sure some if not all of them would like a break now that Vitani’s Guard is keeping the Circle of Life in balance, and whatnot. Not such a fleshed out idea but just wanted to add it in there.

I also really like @kaythefloppa ‘s idea of how the show ends (particularly his last point of his entire rewrite). It’s sweet and brings everything to a satisfactory close. I’d have to love to see it, honestly.

Aaand I think that’s it! There’s my ‘how I’d rewrite of TLG’ and things I would change! According to tumblr this post was started around 5 November and has been sitting in my drafts ever since so uh.. saying this is late would be an understatement. However, in my defense, I had a LOT of thoughts while writing this! A lot of my ideas were coming to dead ends the more I thought about them so I tried rearranging/changing some stuff so that wouldn’t happen, but I’m sure if this rewrite were to be the actual show’s writing there’d still be some dead ends and plot holes, lol. Ah well, good thing this isn’t then, huh?

Thank you so much for this ask!! I gotta say, you usually have really interesting and thought-provoking questions so whenever I see you in my inbox I get excited, haha. Hope my answer was as interesting to read as your question was!

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