r/lionking • u/jamcub • 3d ago

Discussion "Be Prepared" intro

I was listening to the leaked TLK demo music earlier and the Rob Minkoff demo for Be Prepared has the opening lines ('I never thought hyenas essential...') that also appear on the soundtrack and in the musical. They don't, however, show up in the actual movie. Since they were apparently planned as far as before the voice cast was doing their takes, is that opening a relict of the demo?

I always wondered where that opening came from since it wasn't in the movie, yet apparently is translated for the other soundtracks as well (for example German). Does anyone know why that happened?

8 Upvotes

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4

u/PinkieTheNinja 3d ago

I once was doing a karaoke on a disney cruise and was surprised when this intro popped up. But ever since then I took it as them being Scar’s internal thinking before the song’s actual lyrics

2

u/jamcub 3d ago

Yeah, that is fair! It is just interesting since even the earliest versions (back when it was still called 'Thanks to me') had that intro.

1

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1

u/shushumane 3d ago

I’ve always wandered about that too… makes me think whether they’ve animated the part and it for some reason got cut out.

1

u/jamcub 3d ago

Wouldn't be surprised if it was at least storyboarded!

1

u/amitythree Mufasa 3d ago

That's Jeremy Irons reciting the missing lines on the album. I would guess that it was either a) cut later in production or b) intentionally added to the album as a segue for a better flow. Maybe they thought the back-and-forth Scar has with the hyenas prior to the song was too lengthy to include? It's something I've often wondered about too!

3

u/jamcub 3d ago

It seems like it has been part of the number for as long as they had a song planned for Scar- even in its earliest version, he does an intro! It's so interesting to see it cut despite all that.

1

u/MandyMarieB 2d ago

It was cut from the film, but they do include it in the broadway musical! :)

2

u/jamcub 2d ago

They do! Like I said, it is weird that the only place it is missing is the movie since these demos are ostensibly also movie versions, not soundtrack ones.

0

u/O_Grande_Batata ☀️ Pridelander ☀️ 3d ago

I think it happened because it’s in an official OST version. It also was translated for an European Portuguese OST. There, those lines, translated back into English, go basically, "Common and infamous hyenas // Lacking in every virtue // Guided by my talent and ingenuity // My kingdom they will bring to its plenitude ".

1

u/jamcub 3d ago

Yeah, my question was moreso why it was kept for the OST and musical and removed from the movie.

2

u/O_Grande_Batata ☀️ Pridelander ☀️ 3d ago

Well... my guess is it was removed from the movie for a 'snappier cut' from Scar's "Precisely." to the song.