<P> When choosing the members of the team, Riley stated "The qualities came first . If we're going to have this superhero team, we want them to be fierce and brave and strong and fast and keen of sight . Those are the qualities of our five animals in the Lion Guard...(T) he lion is going to be the fiercest . The bravest is the honey badger, hippo the strongest, cheetah the fastest, and the egret--egrets have sort of binocular vision which gives them depth perception which most birds who have eyes on either side of their head don't, so Ono our egret is the keenest of sight . They're the best of the best within the Pride Lands ." </P> <P> Riley also noted the inclusion of Swahili into the series; "(I) t's one of those things that struck me about The Lion King that there's all these Swahili phrases...I wanted to have that element in the series as well, so we've actually hired Sarah Mirza, who literally wrote the book on English - Swahili translations . We've been using Swahili not just in names of characters and places but also in the language of the show itself . Like' Zuka zama' which is Bunga's catchphrase and' Sisi Ni Sawa' song . All of the characters have catchphrases which mean real things in Swahili ." </P> <P> In terms of giving The Lion Guard the same look as the original film, director Howy Parkins stated: "(W) e were very mindful to hold the essence of The Lion King, through the look of the background environments to the actual characters . We did extensive research and were also able to obtain some original model sheets...The challenge with The Lion Guard was capturing the stunning beauty and look of The Lion King, so when one of my friends, Barry Atkinson, who worked on The Lion King as a background painter, became available, we brought him in . He shared a lot of insight when it came time to look at examples that the new backgrounds artists had done . Then another friend of mine, Mike Surrey, came in to talk to the animators and the storyboard artists . He was the animation supervising director on Timon on The Lion King . So we've pulled in some favors ." </P> <P> Speaking on the show's educational aspect and tone, Parkins said: "We have multiple characters and stories to tell, so we've used the Circle of Life as sort of a nice story arc to the entire series as well as the feature . For the research we've done, we've been able to take facts about the animals in the Serengeti and some of the habitat information and either work them into the stories or create entire stories based on an actual fact . Without being overly educational, we are very educational . It's been a fun thing to run with through the entire storytelling process...(W) e have to be mindful of the two to seven audience . We have the music, the chase sequences, a lot of comic relief, as well as our villains, so there will be some dark moments . But we tend to pull back a little more than they did on the original movie or on a movie, for example, like Finding Nemo ." </P>

Who plays the female hyena in lion king