of the late 1960s. The show came from Japan, where it began as a
famous 1950s children's comic-art novel, Jungulu Taitei [King of the
Jungle or The Jungle Emporer] by Osamu Tesuka, who was already
popular for his Astro Boy character, through his own company named
Mushi Productions. The series was originally produced in 1965 and
released in Japan in 1966. The English version for world wide
syndication was produced and coordinated by Fred Ladd.
The Leo The Lion series was done immediately after Kimba, in
Japan in 1966, and intended to be Kimba's adventures as an adult.
Tezuka was so thrilled with NBC's reception of Kimba, that he went
ahead and did the series, neglecting to obtain a little something
called a contract. When he showed NBC the finished series,
(26 episodes), they told him Leo was too "dark", not suitable for
children, and they were quite happy with the 52 episodes they had.
The series was later redubbed in the U.S. (unfortuanately not with
the same voices that did the original Kimba series) in 1984 and then
released. Tezuka's budget only allowed for 2500 new cels per episode,
hence the almost-trademark cyclical animation. The New Adventures
of Kimba has just been released in the U.S with some of the episodes
dubbed in English and others in Japanese but with subtitles.
(The original names have been kept).
The TV Kimba is a simplification of the novel. Before Kimba is born,
his father Caeser is killed trying to free Kimba’s mother Snowlene from
lion hunters. The lion hunters are hired by the game warden to kill
Caeser who is always releasing the natives' livestock as he wants
all the animals to live a free existence. Snowlene is taken away on
a ship to be sold to a zoo, and it is aboard the ship that Kimba is born
in a cage. His mother convinces him to jump overboard. He later sees
the wreckage of the ship in the water and realises the ship must have
sunk, with his mother who is now dead. Kimba swims ashore guided
by the memory of his father and the voice of his mother with her image
being formed from a group of stars in the dark sky. In his travels to
reach the jungle he sees the great cities of the humans and decides
if he ever reaches the jungle he will teach the animals to be civilised
like the humans. When Kimba reaches his home he is against fighting
Claw who has taken over as king of the jungle from Caeser, and it is
not until Kimba is captured by hunters and saved by a human, (Roger
Ranger in the episode "A Human Friend", who also teachers the animals
to talk....to him), that he realises that ‘sometimes you have to fight for
what's right. He comes back stronger, defeating Claw and, like his father,
becomes king. Kimba believes that destroying fellow animals is wrong,
no matter what (even though he kills a few in the series), and that
animals should not eat one another but learn to farm and be vegetarians.
Caesar's old friends, led by wise old Dan'l Baboon, Bucky Deer and Pauley
Cracker the parrot, try to help Kimba realize his place as the young Prince,
but Kimba wants to be more than a strong fighter like father. He is impressed
by human civilization and he wants to create a similar animal civilization
where beasts will not have to prey on each other. This stirs the opposition
of many animals. Even the friendlier carnivores point out that he is basically
asking them to starve to death.
Despite the serious tone of the story, the 52 episodes that were syndicated
in America in 1966 and other countries soon after, were kept light and
humorous, and were designed to be seen in random sequence. But the
Japanese public, familiar with the cartoon-art classic had some awareness
of the chronology of the TV episodes. Kimba begins as a babyish cub,
acknowledged as the Prince but considered an impractical dreamer by all
but his closest friends. Gradually, he accomplishes his goals (including
finding a "Meat substitute" for the carnivores) and convinces the other
animals of the value of his "civilization." By the last episodes, he is a
husky teenager and his peaceful animal kingdom is solidly established.
Kimba was a Japanese cartoon, but the name is American. In the original
Japanese, Jungulu Taitei, he's Leo the Lion. NBC, which bought the American
rights, considered this moniker too unimaginative. They instructed producer
Fred Ladd to change the hero's name to something more original. Ladd's
team of writers and dubbers, led by Cliff Owens and Billie Lou Watt, took
the Swahili word for lion, simba, and changed the initial letter to create
Kimba- a unique name.
Voices
Billie Lou Watt, female: (Kimba)
Cliff Owen: (Dan'l Baboon)
Gilbert Mack: (Pauley Cracker)
Hal Studer: (Roger Ranger)
(information credit-click here)
