Wow, it’s been quite a while since I sat down with Karen Gillan and Pom Klementieff for the first time for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. These are two of the many strong women we love from Guardians of the Galaxy and at the D23Expo they came out on stage with the rest of the Avengers because their story will continue in the next Avenger movie The Infinity War. They were super excited to have been on that stage of around 7,000 people and of course Marvel style they couldn’t share any details from the next movie. They even said they don’t get the full script. They only get what they are working on that day. No spoilers even for them.

We sat down with them again in anticipation of Guardians of the Galaxy coming to blu-ray August 29th. (it’s currently on digital if you can’t wait until the 29th to see it). We watched it just two nights ago as family movie night and my family LOVED it. Miles was dancing to all the really great music. It was awesome family time.

KAREN : It was interesting, like we had to adapt, I guess, because we’ve only ever made anything Guardians related with James Gunn, and he created these characters and it was very much a collaboration with James in terms of bringing these characters to life. So then to sort of work with completely new directors was a different sensation, but it was also cool because they have something else to add to the table, another perspective on everything and, um, and also it was cool ’cause like for the first time, it’s like oh, we don’t know these characters the best now. It’s like okay, let’s do this.

POM : I was kind of scared at the beginning because I have a great relationship with James Gunn, and he’s an amazing director and he’s really close to his actors. And so like, you know, we created this character together, so how is it going to be to work with someone else. Am I gonna do the right things, you know? Can I, maybe I should, I could call you. You know, you can call me any time. So it was kind of like a little bit stressed out, but actually when we’re on set, it went really great.

I adore the very talented @karengillanofficial she is beautiful, poised and a gifted actress. I can’t wait for her story as #nebula to unfold further #avengersinfinitywar #avengers #marvel #d23expo

A post shared by Louise Bishop (@momstart) on Jul 15, 2017 at 2:42pm PDT

Karen also told us about how she is perceived by some of her fans. Now that her character is sort of a good guy from the transition in her relationship with her sister in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 children are less scared of her. That’s a fun fact. She also hinted a bit about her character will develop even further in Avengers: Infinity War.

At the D23Expo a few months ago, hard to believe it was that long ago already, we sat down for The Lion King panel. This was a very good panel because it was The Lion King. I mean, can anyone watch this movie and not be brought to tears. I remember seeing this movie in the theaters and it was THE BEST. This movie broke the mold on modern animation at the time. It was dramatic and the music was fantastic. I just loved it and it’s now available on digital download and will be available on blu-ray Signature edition August 29.

As far as the animation family goes this was like being in front of royalty. Don Hahn was there and he was the moderator/interview/host of the panel. He is the producer for Lion King and many other Disney titles. He’s had his hands on so many different titles. We learned a few different fun facts from the interviews and we captured some of the interviews and this is what we learned. But first, let’s start off with a singalong…

One thing we learned was that The Lion King was originally titled “King of the Jungle”. I’m glad they changed it, I think The Lion King is so simple yet rightly deserved.

Two we learned that no one wanted to work on The Lion King. No one believed in a movie of talking animals. But people did believe in Pocahontas, wow we know which one did better box office right?

We have captured an interview with Ernie Sabella the voice of Pumbaa whom we learned originally wanted to be one of the hyenas. We also learned that he and Nathan Lane did some of their voice recordings together which was never done before, or at least most animation is still to this day recorded individually.

Finally, we have video of Jim Cummings, the laughing hyena, he also did the voice of the naked mole rat (who reported from underground). Even more amazing is that he is the original voice of Darkwing Duck from DuckTales, voiced Winnie the Pooh and Tigger and Pete from many different Mickey Mouse shows. And that’s just to name a few.

The Lion King Panel ended with a huge performance of The Circle of Life! It was pretty spectacular.