Timon & Pumbaa

### Producers

Tedd Anasti, Patsy Cameron, Chris Bartleman, Blair Peters, Bobs Gannaway and Tony Craig

### Production Companies

Walt Disney Television
 Walt Disney Television Animation

### Original Network

CBS
 Toon Disney

### Release Date

September 8, 1995 - September 24, 1999

**Timon & Pumbaa** is an American television series created by Walt Disney Television Animation. It is based on the 1994 film The Lion King and centres on Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog, as they live their problem-free philosophy "Hakuna Matata"."

The series aired on CBS and Toon Disney from September 8, 1995 to September 24, 1999.

## Plot

The show stars Timon, a meerkat, and Pumbaa, a warthog, both characters from the Disney animated film The Lion King. The series is primarily set after the events of the first film, although some episodes are set before or during those events. It involves the characters having misadventures in different settings, including the jungles of Africa, Canada, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Whereas the show focuses on Timon and Pumbaa, four episodes centre respectively on Rafiki and the hyena trio Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, named Rafiki Fables and The Laughing Hyenas, and two episodes tell the backstory of Zazu.

## Cast and Characters

### Main

* Nathan Lane / Kevin Schon / Quinton Flynn as Timon
* Ernie Sabella as Pumbaa

### The Lion King Characters

* Cam Clarke as Simba
* Robert Guillaume as Rafiki
* Michael Gough as Zazu
* Tress MacNeille, Rob Paulsen and Jim Cummings as Shenzi, Banzai and Ed
* Jim Cummings as Gopher

### Recurring

* Corey Burton as Quint / Speedy the Snail / El Toro
* S. Scott Bullock as Fred
* Brad Garrett as Boss Beaver
* Charlie Adler as Irwin / Rabbit
* Jeff Bennett as Toucan Dan / The Three Natives
* Townsend Coleman and Brian Cummings as The Vulture Police
* Rob Paulsen and Jim Cummings as Cheetato and Cheetata
* Jim Cummings as Smolder the Bear
* Joe Alaskey as Little Jimmy
* Frank Welker as Ned the Elephant
* Tress MacNeille as Rita Book
* Steve Mackall as Dr. Happy
* Grey DeLisle as Leslie Lambeau

## Episodes

See Also: List of Timon & Pumbaa Episodes

 2 | 21
 3 | 39

## Production

The series premiered on September 8, 1995, airing on Fridays on the syndicated block The Disney Afternoon. Eight days later, on September 16, the series also began airing on Saturday mornings on CBS. The show was one of the last Disney productions to air on CBS, which had a cross-promotion agreement with Disney, as Disney bought ABC in 1996, the same year that this show (and all other Disney properties still airing on CBS at the time) left the network. Also, in 1995, Westinghouse acquired CBS outright for $5.4 billion. As one of the major broadcasting group owners of commercial radio and television stations (as Group W) since 1920, Westinghouse proceeded to transform itself from its legendary role as a diversified conglomerate with a strong industrial heritage into a media giant with its purchase of CBS. Music underscore by Stephen James Taylor featuring frequent use of a microtonal xylophone and pan pipes based on an African tribal tuning.

Animation production was done by a consortium of overseas animation studios, including Walt Disney Television Animation (Australia) Pty. Limited, Toon City, Wang Film Productions, Thai Wang Film Productions, Rough Draft Korea Co., Ltd., Sunmin Image Pictures Co., Sunwoo Animation, Koko Enterprises, Toonz Animation, Gnome Productions, Jaime Diaz Productions, Project X Animation, Shanghai Morning Sun Animation, Sichuan Top Animation and Studio B Productions.

After the second season, Roberts Gannaway and Tony Craig, the series' producers and directors, left the show to work on 101 Dalmatians: The Series. The series then returned in 1998 for a 39-episode third season, with a change in writers and new directors. Since February 8, 2009 (after its final airing on the now-defunct Toon Disney), this show went off the air for three years. However, it returned to broadcast reruns for a limited time in 2012 on Disney Junior. On November 12, 2019, the entire series was released on Disney+ in restored high definition.

## Home Media

Six VHS cassettes containing 18 episodes were released in the United States under the name Timon & Pumbaa's Wild Adventures.

Three VHS cassettes containing 21 episodes were released in Europe and Australia, each containing six episodes and a music video. The first VHS, Around the World with Timon And Pumbaa, features an original story told through bridging sequences in which, after Pumbaa develops amnesia from a lightning strike, Timon tries to restore his friend's memory through the episodes featured on that video.

Three DVDs containing 21 episodes were released in Europe and Japan.

The series was made available in its entirety on Disney+ on November 12, 2019, in restored high definition.

## Awards and Nominations

 1997
 Outstanding Individual in Animation