Board Thread:Lion Guard Discussion/@comment-33871435-20180913023946/@comment-33871435-20180917044530

Narifia wrote: I understand the difficulty in waiting for new episodes and--yes--I agree that the way they air the episodes is poor. Instead of long hiatuses followed by a burst of 4 episodes all in one week, they could instead space the episodes out to one a week so that the hiatuses don't seem so long and grueling. While it's nice to have a big chunk of episodes all at once, it's better overall to space them out so the audience doesn't get frustrated with the long wait, build up unrealistic hype about how good the episodes must be after so long a wait, and then get disappointed when that isn't the case.

However, I think some of you fail to understand how long the animation process actually takes. To say that they should be nearly done with season 3 by now is laughable. Production on The Lion King, the original movie, started in 1988--and the movie itself didn't release until 1994. That's SIX YEARS it took to animate one 88-minute movie. And according to this source, https://disney.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lion_King#Production, it took THREE YEARS to work on the Wildebeest Stampede scene ALONE, which overall comprises just a few minutes of the overall movie.

With that in perspective, think about what you're demanding: each episode of The Lion Guard is roughly 25 - 30 minutes. It took six years to create the original 88-minute movie. Obviously, time and technology have caught up which makes the animation process go a whole lot faster--there's no denying that. But there's more that goes into making an episode than just the animation--there's also the writing, editing of the script, casting, music and sound, recording, and final editing of all the combined animated footage, sound design, and voice clips to consider. There's also the fact that they have to research African culture and languages, as well as nature and animal facts to help write the script.

I'm not saying no one here has a right to be upset about the hiatuses, because as I said above, the way they air the episodes could be handled a whole lot better. But I am saying that we need to stop and chill and think about how long it really must take to create an episode in the first place--let alone an entire SEASON. Where it used to take 6 years to create an 88-minute animated film, with advanced technology it now takes maybe 2 - 4 years. How long, then, must it take to make one 30-minute episode? How about 19 30-minute episodes? Grab out your calculator app of choice and do the math. It's not something they can just squeeze out in only a few short months. The wait seems to take forever on our end because all we have to do is sit and watch it--our investment time is only 30 minutes per episode. But it doesn't take 30 minutes to make that episode, and we need to be aware of that before we take up the pitchforks and demand that the creators go faster.

I know full well it does not take "30 minutes" to create a 21-22 (not 25-30) minute episode. But it should NOT take them as long as it seems to be the past year. Any season of any tv show (regardless of format and number of episodes) takes 8-14 months to produce. That's how long it takes. You talk like there AREN'T a hundred examples of animated shows NOT having this problem. No, I don't know what all goes into it (though I don't appreciate you talking like you have MORE of an idea), but I know that this was NOT always a problem for this show. And YES, after ELEVEN months worth of hiatuses, they SHOULD be completely finished with Season 3. There is no reason that almost a full year is NOT enough. And keep in mind that they had to extend the last hiatus (that they claimed was to allow them to get ahead with next season) by an additional 3 months a month and a half in. I think we DO have a right to be fed up and irritated over what will be only eight episodes in an 11-month period. Also, not to be rude, but the Lion Guard team has a language expert and a zoological expert as part of their staff (you should do some research on this website).

Our frustration is valid. You suggesting it should take about 5 years to make one season is ludicrous.