Timon and Pumbaa

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Timon and Pumbaa is a cartoon starring Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog from the Disney franchise The Lion King. The show first aired on CBS from 1995 to 1998. it has been rerunning on various Disney channels ever since.

It largely ignores the canon of The Lion King, focusing on characters alone. And instead of the realistic style of the movies, it goes for Surreal Humor. It didn't even stay in Africa. But, for what it is, it isn't bad.

The song "Hakuna Matata" was the musical theme of the series, and the philosophy of Hakuna Matata ("no worries") was the narrative theme.

Tropes used in Timon and Pumbaa include:


  • A Day in the Limelight: Zazu and the Hyenas had their own episodes.
  • Actor Allusion: In an episode about Manhattan, Pumbaa says that he wants to see a musical about "Guys and Dolls". This was because the voice actors of Timon and Pumbaa were in that musical.
  • Alternate Continuity
  • Balloon Belly: Happens in many episodes.
    • First, in Brazil Nuts, we see a fat Timon. This form of Timon uses strange words like "yay big", "baby" and "flant it", things Timon wouldn't say in his normal form. He even stuffs a dollar bill in Ralph the snake's eye.
    • In Washington Applesauce, Timon and Pumbaa decide to eat the giant worm that was ruining the apple festival, so they become fat and gigantic.
    • In one episode, they imagine eating so many bugs, their bellies would explode.
    • In "Island of Manhood", Timon drinks a bug soda and gains a balloon belly. This was in order to earn a "Burp" badge as part of the test in the episode.
  • Berserk Button: Back from the Lion King is Pumbaa's famous "THEY CALL ME MR PIG" berserk button when two cheetahs in "Gabon with the Wind" refer to him as a pig. Needless to say, it sucks to be those cheetahs.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Happens at the end of the direct to video only movie, "Around the World with Timon and Pumbaa" when Timon looses his memory after being struck by lighting, much like what happened to Pumbaa at the start of the video. Pumbaa tells the "kids" to rewind the tape to start from the beginning, because it was the only way to help Timon remember.
  • Bigger on the Inside: Pumbaa is rather-clearly shown/proven to be this whenever he eats another character and then becomes the subject of one or more "internal organ shots", most notably when Timon gets eaten by him in "Beetle Romania" and discovers the fact that his body somehow contains a solar system.
  • Bilingual Bonus: Besides "Hakuna Matata", there are other Bilingual Bonuses in the series.
    • In Brazil Nuts, Ralph the snake says "Moi" (Me) and "Nous va?" (We are going?)
  • The Cameo: Scar of all characters shows up twice in the series. Once in "Around the World with Timon and Pumbaa" when Pumbaa lost his memories and once when Zazu is cleaning his nest. Yes, he's supposed to be dead. Just roll with it.
    • Zazu, the hyenas, Rafiki... pretty much every character except for Nala and Mufasa appear in the show at some point.
  • Canon Discontinuity: The midquel focusing on Timon and Pumbaa's lives ignores this series, though it could be argued that the series was never intended to be in canon with the film to begin with.
    • That said, the midquel does have some similarities to their origin story that appeared in this series.
  • The Chew Toy: Timon most of the time. Oddly, Pumbaa takes this role in the "Stand By Me" video.
  • Clear My Name
  • Continuity Nod: Several to The Lion King, of course.
  • Denser and Wackier: Compared to the original movie.
  • Depending on the Writer: Timon's greediness for money and power varied from episode to episode. Sometimes he didn't care about money, just as long as he could get a meal.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: In "Hot Air Buffoons" Timon and Pumbaa won a hot air balloon race, but then lost when "a new winner" landed, even though he came second.
  • Fartillery: Pumbaa eventually suggests using this method to expel Timon from his body during the Fantastic Voyage Plot section of "Beetle Romania"; needless to say, This Is Gonna Suck Timon's reaction to said suggestion is priceless.
  • Feud Episode: The episode "Kenya Be My Friend?" has Timon and Pumbaa parting ways and eventually befriending each other's opposites: Monti and Baampu.
  • Flanderization: For instance, Rafiki always bops people on the head with his stick when trying to get advice through their heads.
    • And the biggest one: Timon said "mook" just ONCE in The Lion King, whereas here it's practically his Catch Phrase insult.
    • If you hear closely in the fight scene after Pumbaa says "THEY CALL ME MISTER PIG!" in the first film, Timon can be heard saying "OH BABY!", but he says the word "baby" 2 times in his fat form in Brazil Nuts.
    • Another instance where Timon said the word "baby" was in a video about Blu-Ray 3D years after the series ended, Timon tells he has to plug "this baby" in. "This baby" refers to the 3D Blu-Ray player!
  • Hammerspace In "Luck to be A Meerkat", Pumbaa has a lot of things in his belly when Timon wants to find a place to store the "lucky marble".
    • In "Island of Manhood", one of the things Timon must do to pass the manhood test is carry a backpack with a ton of things on top of it.
  • Hilarity Ensues
  • Hypocritical Humor: Near the end of the episode "Beetle Romania", Timon becomes positively enraged by how "intellectually superior" Pumbaa starts acting (and also being) after he (Timon) sneaks into his brain and turns it back on; not only is Timon getting angry at someone that he caused Pumbaa to turn into, but he also is the one that normally acts smart (but clearly isn't smart) between himself and Pumbaa (in fact, he turns Pumbaa's brain back off purely because he doesn't want to admit the fact that Pumbaa has become smarter than him...and also to get him to stop boasting about himself). Luckily, Timon is severely punished for this.
  • Illogical Safe: A short in which Pumbaa suffers a run of bad luck has this happening to Pumbaa -- and then, as soon as he's out of the safe, it happens again with a space capsule.
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Happens in Brazil Nuts when "Fat" Timon makes a pun about how long it is taking to get ants, and claims they "must be after the uncles, too!" He finds that nobody heard the pun, but Pumbaa runs in to warn about Ralph and Eddie eating them.
  • Inexplicably Identical Individuals: Quint
  • Jerkass or Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Timon, Depending on the Writer.
  • Kangaroo Court: There is no other name for the trial of Timon, accused of touching the Forbidden Stick, when the judge makes up new laws whenever he wants.

"It is hereby illegal to tell me to 'chill out!'"

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