Shenzi, Banzai and Ededit
From The Unofficial DisneyWiki
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Shenzi, Banzai and Ed are a trio of villainous spotted hyenas who first appeared in the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King as the loyal followers and minions of Scar, and would later re-appear in one sequel and one spin off series.
It is unclear on whether Shenzi, Banzai and Ed are related, although from various lines between the films, the Broadway Musical, the series and the books, it is usually assumed that they are not. None of them refer to the others as brother or sister in any canon material, while Shenzi occasionally refers to Banzai as "honey" or "baby", and Banzai has been known to refer to Shenzi as his boss. During the Broadway song "Chow Down", Shenzi says to Banzai, "Now wasn't it her mom, ate your dad?".
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[edit] The Hyenas
[edit] Shenzi
Shenzi (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg) is the only female of the hyena trio. According to Timon in The Lion King 1½, her full name is Shenzi Marie Predatora Vendetta Jacquelina Hyena. She is the de facto leader of the trio and the smartest hyena, traits which are consistent with true spotted hyenas: females are larger than the males and dominate them. She has a prominent mohawk-like tuft on her head and lacks the dark grey 'stubble' snout of the two male hyenas.
Her name means "savage", "pagan", "uncouth", or "barbarous" in Swahili.
Shenzi was originally going to be male and played by Tommy Chong, reuniting him with his old comedy partner Cheech Marin, who was playing Banzai. Her facial features mimics those of her voice actress, Whoopi Goldberg.
[edit] Banzai
Banzai (voiced by Cheech Marin) is the most accident-prone of the hyenas, being wounded twice, once in a fight with Mufasa, and once by falling into a thornbush while chasing Simba. He is also the greediest, frequently making references to eating. He is also the most short-tempered of the three, losing his temper with Ed twice, and complaining when the Pride Lands lacks food under Scar's rule ("It's dinnertime, and we ain't got no stinkin' entrees!"). He even quietly remarks to his friends that Mufasa ran the Pride Lands better than Scar.
His name means "skulk" or "lurk" in Swahili. It can also mean "die with honor" or "ten thousand years" in Japanese.
[edit] Ed
Ed (voiced by Jim Cummings) communicates through laughter, his only line of dialogue being the chorus of the song Be Prepared. He has two round cuts on each ear. He is constantly grinning, his tongue often lolls from his mouth, and his eyes rarely seem to focus on anything. While he appears idiotic and seems unaware of his surroundings, he has occasional moments of lucidity. He is the first to notice Simba, Nala and Zazu escaping while his two peers are busy cracking jokes, and when Scar betrays the hyenas at the end, he understands that they have been betrayed just as well as Shenzi and Banzai, and is just as angry as they are. However when they were attacked by Mufasa, and Shenzi and Banzai denied knowing that Simba was his son, Ed confirmed it, and during a scuffle with Banzai, he chews on his own leg.
Ed is one of the few characters not to have a swahili name.
Jim Cummings recorded over four hours of various laughter clips for any situation Ed might be in; excited, amused, angry, etc.
[edit] Appearances
[edit] The Lion King
The hyenas first appear in the Elephant Graveyard that Simba and Nala venture into. The hyenas, under Scar's orders, chase the cubs in an attempt to kill them, but are frightened off by Mufasa. Afterwards, they help Scar carry out his plan to kill Mufasa by triggering the wildebeest stampede. Immediately after Scar tells Simba to run away and never return, he commands the hyenas to kill Simba too, but Simba eventually eludes the clumsy hyenas. Years into Scar's reign, they complain about lack of food in the Pride Lands but Scar ignores them. When Simba returns to overthrow Scar, the hyenas join the fight, but most are defeated, and Shenzi and Banzai are ruthlessly beaten up by Pumbaa for calling him a "pig". When Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed overhear a helpless Scar telling Simba the hyenas are the enemy, they furiously turn against their master. Together, with the aid of other hyenas, they corner Scar after he is defeated by Simba. Scar tries to absolve himself, saying that he did not really mean it. The hyenas refuse to listen and begin to maul him, just before a giant flame engulfs Scar along with the hyenas. Whether they perished in the flames or survived and fled the Pride Lands is unknown, but the latter is more commonly accepted as they are seen later in The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa.
[edit] The Lion King ll: Simba's Pride
In the direct-to-video sequel The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, the hyenas are only briefly mentioned by Nuka as he and his grown sister Vatani arrive at the Elephant Graveyard. Originally, Zira was going to be accompanied by the hyenas but it was changed to Outsider lions.
[edit] The Lion King 1½
In the direct-to-video midquel The Lion King 1½, the hyenas have a fairly major role despite being minor characters in the original film. Seeing as Scar has no lines and makes only very brief appearances, they could even be called the movie's antagonists.
In their first appearance, they attack a meerkat colony when Timon, who is the sentry on duty of the colony, is daydreaming. They fail to catch any meerkats, but this incident drives Timon to leave the colony to find where he truly belongs. The hyenas make an appearance again during the film's climax at Pride Rock. Some anonymous hyenas are seen chasing Timon and Pumbaa into a cave (after the Hula Song in the first film), and are driven away by Pumbaa's flatulence.
Timon and Pumbaa insult the hyenas to get them away from Simba so that he has a better chance against Scar - Ed as usual laughs at the joke, and Banzai hits him, Shenzi appears to be for once the angriest of the three ("For your last meal, you're gonna eat those words."). Eventually, Timon and Pumbaa are cornered by the hyenas.
Timon first balances plates, then performs the can-can, which stalls the hyenas briefly, then breakdances, which Shenzi applauds to before simply deciding to eat him Finally, he proposes to Shenzi as a desperate move to buy time for his mother and Uncle Max as they dig a tunnel, which she turns down, becoming more and more disgusted at his proposal. However, this buys just enough time and the hyenas then fall into the tunnel, which transports them to base of Pride Rock, just in time for them to find Scar and kill him.
[edit] Backstory
The hyenas were also featured in two spin-off books of The Lion King, set before the events of the original film.
In A Tale of Two Brothers, the young hyenas appear at the beginning where they surround a helpless Rafiki who had just arrived in the Pride Lands. King Ahadi comes to the rescue just in time, with his sons Mufasa and Taka (Scar), and demands that the hyenas leave. The hyenas appear again later, where Shenzi advises Scar to make himself look good by making Mufasa look bad. Scar decided to incite a Cape Buffalo called Boma to fight Mufasa. The plan did not turn out well, and Scar's eye was wounded by the buffalo herd in the process, hence the nickname "Scar".
In Friends in Need, the teenage hyenas appear again at the beginning, where they are preparing to boil a teenage Zazu in the elephant graveyard like in the first film. A teenage Mufasa passes by, scares the hyenas away, and befriends Zazu.
[edit] Beyond the Films
[edit] The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa
The three hyenas made occasional appearances in the TV series The Lion King's Timon and Pumbaa. While Jim Cummings reprised his role as Ed, Tress MacNeille and Rob Paulsen replaced Whoopi Goldberg (Shenzi) and Cheech Marin (Banzai) respectively. The hyenas were also more noticeably dimwitted in the series in comparison to the movies. In the series, they continuously bully Timon and Pumbaa.
It should also be pointed out that significant plot points involving the three hyenas and Timon and Pumbaa in this series (particularly, the episode, "Once Upon A Timon"), have since been reconnected by the events that took place in The Lion King 1½.
[edit] Kingdom Hearts ll
The hyena trio also appeared in the Disney/Square Enix video game Kingdom Hearts II. In the game, they appeared in the Pride Lands world, and were also Scar's followers.The hyenas first encountered the game's main protagonists, Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy, when they first appeared in the Pride Lands and battled with them twice. Later on, Sora and company defeated the hyenas again when they were attempting to kill Timon and Pumbaa, just before helping Simba fight Scar. After Scar was destroyed, the hyenas went back to the Elephant Graveyard and started eating carcasses again, though Shenzi considered it a mixed blessing. The trio had one final part in the story, having some knowledge relating to Scar's "ghost" and forcing Sora and Simba to chase and attack them for answers. Once beaten, Shenzi remembers that Scar's ghost only appears when animals are frightened.
In the English version of the game, Tress MacNeille replaced Whoopi Goldberg as Shenzi's voice whereas Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings reprised their respective roles.
It is interesting to note that, out of all of the villains (Disney, Final Fantasy, or otherwise) that Sora has faced in the series, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed are the only ones that have (canonically speaking) come the closest to actually killing him; at the beginning of their first visit, Banzai is just about to bite into an incapacitated Sora (unused to his new lion form), and it is only Scar calling for the hyenas that Sora survives this encounter.
[edit] Disney's House of Mouse
The Hyenas were featured in several episodes of House of Mouse, and were part of the Disney villains featured in Mickey's House of Villains.
[edit] Disney Parks
Appearances by the hyenas at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts are extremely rare. In 2004, they were featured in Disneyland Resort Paris’s The Lion King Carnival, but since that time their most reliable presence has been as part of Walt Disney World Resort’s yearly Mickey’s Boo-To-You Halloween Parade.
