The Lion King (1994)

The animated film that started it all. Produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation in Burbank, California, this unassuming stop-gap project grew to become a mythic phenomenon, setting record numbers for box-office sales and merchandising revenue around the world, and inspiring thousands of fans to build on its story with their own creativity.

Image Archive
Hundreds of high-quality screen images, clip art, and more!
Sounds & Music
Dialogue clips, MIDI songs, and CD track information.
Texts & Fan-Fiction
Essays, reviews, production notes, and hundreds of fan stories.
Video Clips
Video files of memorable scenes, and many more interesting movie files.
Character Profiles
Pictures and descriptions of all the Lion King characters and their roles in the story.

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The Lion King (1994)

Image Archive
Hundreds of high-quality screen images, clip art, and more!
Sounds & Music
Dialogue clips, MIDI songs, and CD track information.
Texts & Fan-Fiction
Essays, reviews, production notes, and hundreds of fan stories.
Video Clips
Video files of memorable scenes, and many more interesting movie files.
Character Profiles
Pictures and descriptions of all the Lion King characters and their roles in the story.

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The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride (1998)

The long-awaited sequel. A direct-to-video production by Walt Disney Television Animation, Simba's Pride adds new characters and another chapter to the Circle of Life mythos begun in the original theatrical film.

The Lion King 1½ (2004)

The Circle of Life begins anew with a fresh, satiric retelling of the original film's story, from the comic perspective of the meerkat Timon and the warthog Pumbaa. A tribute to the grandeur of the original as much as it is a satire, this direct-to-video production (from Walt Disney TV Animation Australia) appeals to wistful nostalgia as much as to our funny bones.

The Lion King: The Broadway Musical

Premiering in Minneapolis in 1997, The Lion King: The Broadway Musical has found a permanent home as a fixture on 42nd Street, the heart of the theatre district on Times Square in New York. Numerous other productions have set up in other cities around the world to showcase Julie Taymor's revolutionary stage rendition of the original film's story.

Texts and Fan-Fiction

The devoted fan base of the Lion King has proven itself to be both lasting and creative. Fan fiction is pouring out, growing in quality each time, and soon I believe TLK will leave a legacy as rich as, for instance, Star Trek or J.R.R. Tolkien. What's next? Lion King conventions?

What's here is just a fraction of what has been written and made available over the course of TLK's life.

(Warning: some of the stuff here (not much, but some) is just perhaps a bit racy or even offensive to some. Take this as either a disclaimer or a claimer, of course... :)

CONTENTS

The Lion King Script
Film Notes (from Disney)
Song Lyrics Archive
Original Fan-Fiction
TLK Reviews
Essays on TLK
ASCII Art

Original TLK Fan-Fiction

Many fans have seen fit to expand upon the story of TLK with their own works (including short stories, long stories, poetry, and more). Here are some examples, some from various newsgroups, some from Web denizens, some distributed through e-mail only, etc.
These stories are listed alphabetically by the author's last name. In the case of multiple authors, the name earlier in the alphabet is used.

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Compiled by Dave Morris, The Unofficial Lion King Character Encyclopedia (March '97 version).

Reviews of TLK

Kevin C. Bissessar has provided me with some articles and things; here they are.

From the Toronto Star, an article about TLK's success during its summer run.
A quote from a radio station's comments about the movie.
Also from the Toronto Star, an article outlining how TLK was the only truly "adult" movie of the entire summer.
A review from a newspaper called "The Eye," also in Toronto.
A detailed soundtrack review by Alicia Miller.

Here are a few more reviews I've collected.

A pretty good review done evidently some time ago by J. Sherman. None of the names came out right, but that's okay.
A review by a Bill DuPre, of the News and Observer.

And for more reviews, go to the Internet Movie Database and check out their collection of Reviews.

Essays on The Lion King

Some of these have been posted on rec.arts.disney and alt.fan.lion-king, and are now here just because I figured I should stick them somewhere. Also a number of essays have been contributed by visitors over the years.

"Kisasian: The Tragic Antagonist", by Kevin Bissessar.
"Patriarchy in the Pride Lands", a project by Karen Schwalm.
What TLK did to and for the life of Jason Ahrens, a true fan.
Anthropomorphism in The Lion King, by Bruce Neufeld.
Notes on The Lion King, by Eugene Arenhaus.
Hamlet and The Lion King, by Trey McElveen.
The Lion of Judah and the King of Pride Rock, by Tim Stoffel.
Modern Shakespeare, by Joel Jackel.
The Making of The Lion King, by Eva Janus.
The Lion King and Richard III, by Megan the Phantom Girlie.
Direct to Video and The Lion King, by James Maxwell.
Reflejo y Tragedia: Mi vida basada en el filme El Rey León, by PouncingSimba (Spanish).
A Lion's Quest for Destiny, a paper on fatalism in The Lion King by Ethan Romanoff.

Ryan McGinnis's Lion King Text Archive

The most comprehensive archive of TLK text files available on the Net. Includes essays, reviews, and the indispensable Humor section which showcases the best of alt.fan.lion-king and elsewhere.