Mama Binturong

**Mama Binturong** is the sixty-fourth episode of ***The Lion Guard***, and the ninth episode of **Season 3**.

## Synopsis

The Guard's ability to find the **Tree of Life** disappears when Makini's staff is stolen by a scheming **binturong**.

## Plot

In a tropical forest, a tapir named Tenuk follows the Lion Guard on their way to the Tree of Life as Beshte and Bunga talk to Tenuk. Tenuk then tells his friends to greet Beshte who arrived at the tropical forest. Tenuk tells the Lion Guard to know if there's anything they need, Beshte should know what he needs from him. When Makini asks Tenuk for Tuliza, the tapir runs away in terror. A mongoose named Bambun and a gibbon named Seisou tell Makini to know what she did to Tenuk to which she talked to him about Tuliza as Bambun and Seisou flee in terror. Meanwhile, a porcupine named Smun spies on the Lion Guard talking about the animals afraid of Tuliza. The porcupine decides to tell Mama about the Guard talking about Tuliza.

Meanwhile, Mama appears as a large binturong as Smun tells her about the Lion Guard talking about Tuliza. Mama Binturong explains that all the Tuliza belongs to her. She then sings a rule to the porcupines that anyone who messes with her and tries to get Tuliza gets into trouble as she is extremely overprotective of the Tuliza and she constantly gets angry to anyone linked to Tuliza.

Meanwhile, Bunga talks to a civet named Tompok to which the civet flees in terror and falls into a river. Anga saves the civet from the river. As Beshte tries to explain why everyone is afraid of Tuliza, the civet runs away in terror. Smun then tells Tompok that he and the other porcupines heard him mention Tuliza. The large binturong, Mama Binturong, explains to Tompok that why he is talking about Tuliza to which Smun and the other porcupines prepare to impale him but they stop when they hear Kion telling Bunga not to say the word again as it can only either frighten the animals or cause Smun and his porcupines to appear.

As Smun tells Mama Binturong about the Guard, she decides to see the Guard herself. After hearing Makini say "Tuliza", Mama Binturong tells her porcupines to take the staff she left behind. Meanwhile, Makini notices that she does not have her staff with her as she did not notice that it is taken by Smun and his porcupines to Mama Binturong. She then opens the gourd to see the Tuliza inside as she tells the porcupines to return to her hideout. Anga then sees porcupine tracks while trying to find Makini's missing staff to which Kion summons Anga to find any porcupines stealing Makini's staff. Makini then explains that her staff has Tuliza in it and she cannot activate a moja kwa moja stone without it. Kion tells Anga to know if she found the porcupines but Anga tells him she has not because of too many trees in the dense forest. Beshte suggests asking the animals afraid of Tuliza where they took Makini's staff.

Beshte asks Seisou to know where Makini's staff is at as he gets frightened after saying "Tuliza". Bunga tries to ask Seisou that it's not about Tuliza but he refuses to listen. Seisou tries to escape but Anga decides to talk to him to which the gibbon suggests talking to the mongoose. Talking to Bambun, Kion says that the gibbon told the Guard about Makini's staff to which the mongoose suggests talking to the civet. The Guard then arrives to Tompok, the civet, about the missing staff to which the civet explains to talk to a mouse deer who would know about the staff. Talking to the mouse deer who would know about Makini's staff, he tells him to talk to gibbon living in the cave who knows about the missing staff.

At the cave, the gibbon Seisou tells the Guard that this is the only place no porcupine has ever heard an animal say "Tuliza". He explains that he doesn't want Mama Binturong to know he is helping the Guard find the missing staff. He explains that Mama Binturong controls all the Tuliza in the tropical forest to which all the animals in the forest are afraid of saying "Tuliza" as it only makes her angry and she can be frightening to them when angry. He then warns that any animal taking Tuliza causes Mama Binturong to send her porcupines to go after the animal taking it (linked to the porcupine footprints seen earlier). Kion asks him to know where to find her to which the gibbon explains that her hideout is in the Stone Forest, a place where it is almost impossible to get through that only Mama Binturong and her porcupines get through it safely.

Meanwhile at the Stone Forest, no one can get through the Stone Forest due to the pointy rocks in this area. Anga, however, sees a lot of Tuliza marking Mama Binturong's hideout to which only Bunga is able to get through the Stone Forest to do the task. Bunga then goes through the Stone Forest to find the missing staff without getting caught by the porcupines. While exploring, Bunga discovers Mama Binturong's hideout on a pile of Tuliza. Upon getting to the hideout, Mama Binturong arrives as she reveals she remembers Bunga saying his name echoing across the Stone Forest. Bunga demands to give back Makini's staff back to him but she refuses as she tells him that everyone does what she says to them. Bunga then challenges Mama Binturong to fight back but she summons her porcupines to attack Bunga. The porcupines prepare to impale Bunga with their quills but Bunga fights them back.

Confronting Mama Binturong, she knocks Bunga to the bottom of the pile of Tuliza as he continues to fight back. Soon as Bunga eats Tuliza, Mama Binturong becomes extremely enraged as she tells him to stay away from her Tuliza. Getting the staff, the porcupines prepare to impale Bunga with their quills again as Bunga uses his stench ability to defeat her and the other porcupines to get the Tuliza (also causing the Tuliza to wither). Mama Binturong gets worried over the withered Tuliza as Smun tells his master about finding more Tuliza to which Mama Binturong decides to take revenge against Bunga instead. Smun tells the other porcupines that the forest will never be the same without Mama Binturong. Bunga then retrieves the missing staff back to Makini as she happily retrieves it with Tuliza after her battle against Mama Binturong. The Lion Guard decides to find the next moja kwa moja stone to continue their journey to the Tree of Life.

## Cast

* **Max Charles** as Kion
* **Joshua Rush** as Bunga
* **Diamond White** as Fuli
* **Atticus Shaffer** as Ono
* **Dusan Brown** as Beshte
* **Bryana Salaz** as Anga
* **Landry Bender** as Makini
* **Rachel House** as Mama Binturong
* **Greg Chun** as Seisou / Mouse Deer
* **James Sie** as Smun
* **Johnny Yong Bosch** as Tompok
* **Yuki Matsuzaki** as Tenuk
* **Matthew Yang King** as Bambun

## Appearance

* **Kion**
* **Bunga**
* **Fuli**
* **Ono**
* **Beshte**
* **Makini**
* **Anga**
* **Mama Binturong** (debut)
* **Tenuk** (debut)
* **Seisou** (debut)
* **Smun** (debut)
* **Tompok** (debut)
* **Bambun** (debut)
* **Mouse Deer** (debut)
* **Makucha** (followed)
* **Chuluun** (followed)
* **Ora** (followed)

## Groups

* **The Lion Guard**
* **Smun's Prickle** (debut)
* **Makucha's Army** (followed)

## Locations

* **Forest**
	+ **Mama Binturong's Hideout** (debut)
	+ **Stone Forest** (debut)
* **Tree of Life**

## Animals

* **Lions**
* **Honey Badgers**
* **Cheetahs**
* **Hippopotamuses**
* **Egrets**
* **Mandrills**
* **Eagles**
* **Binturongs** (debut)
* **Tapirs** (final appearance)
* **Gibbons** (final appearance)
* **Malayan Porcupines** (debut)
* **Javan Mongooses** (debut)
* **Mouse Deer** (debut/final appearance)
* **Large Indian Civets** (debut/final appearance)
* **Tree Squirrels** (debut)
* **Mice** (mention)
* **Butterflies**
* **Rosy-faced lovebird Parrots** (debut/voice)

## Trivia

* A running gag throughout the episode is whenever someone says, "Tuliza", all the other animals react in fright.
* This is the only episode to feature a tapir in the series.
	+ This is also the last episode to feature gibbons, mongooses, and civets.
* Mama Binturong is introduced in this episode. She would later become a recurring antagonist beginning in "The River of Patience".
* This episode introduces Smun, a porcupine serving the leader of his prickle. Smun later appeared in "Triumph of the Roar" to join forces with Makucha's Army.