Time marches inexorably forward, and thus, the release of Lightyear gets closer and closer. The Toy Story prequel goes back in time to tell the story of the person who inspired the Buzz Lightyear toy. Apparently he gets marooned in space? And in the process of trying to get everybody home, there’s a robot attack?
Nothing about this trailer justifies the use of David Bowie and therefore I propose Lightyear stay marooned.
Lightyear, according to the summary, is the “definitive origin story” of Buzz Lightyear, but if I’m reading Pixar’s YouTube page right, it’s also the in-universe movie that inspires Andy to want a Buzz Lightyear toy. So… it’s a biopic? Is this the Walk the Line of the Toy Story universe? Let’s let Angus MacLane try to explain:
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“Buzz’s world was always something I was excited about,” said director Angus MacLane. “In Toy Story, there seemed to be this incredible backstory to him being a Space Ranger that’s only touched upon, and I always wanted to explore that world further. So my Lighytear pitch was, ‘What was the movie that Andy saw that made him want a Buzz Lightyear toy?’ I wanted to see that movie. And now I’m lucky enough to get to make it.”
If it’s a biopic, is Chris Evans actually playing the role of Buzz Lightyear, who maybe was a real human with a less dominating chin? Or are we pretending this movie is facts? Possibly I should put a lot less thought into this.
At any rate, the trailer came with more details about the cast. Keke Palmer, Dale Soules and Taika Waititi play “a group of ambitious recruits,” while Peter Sohn voices the robot cat, Sox, which is destined to transform into about ten million toys. Uzo Aduba, James Brolin, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Efren Ramirez and Isiah Whitlock Jr. are also voicing unspecified roles, and—unsurprisingly given his track record for Pixar—Michael Giacchino will provide the score.
Lightyear is in theaters on June 17th.
This is an odd premise, but if anyone could make it work, it’s Pixar.
A similar attempt was made with the animated series King of the Hill, with a live-action spinoff of a TV series they watched in-universe, Monsignor Martinez. But it never went beyond the pilot stage. You can watch it here.
I think it’s just the in-universe fictional movie that the toy was based on. I don’t see anything in the trailer that suggests “biopic.” Nothing in Toy Story suggests it’s a world where humans have already colonized alien planets.
@3 my husband and I were debating this as well – it’s a bit of a murky concept. Then again it wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen the fictional works of a fictional world. I’m just not sure how often it is that it is this blatant. Maybe the tales of Beadle the Bard?
I think the “biopic” stuff comes from the first announcements about this movie, that used phrases like “the real Buzz Lightyear that the toy was based on.” Those announcements implied Buzz was a “real” person in the Toy Story universe. Now we see that it was a fictional movie in the fictional ‘verse, which actually makes a LOT more sense than a real life Buzz who fought a real Zerg.
@4/Lisamarie: There was a whole Buzz Lightyear of Star Command animated series some years back that purported to be the basis for the toy, so this movie is a retcon. It didn’t quite work in-universe, though, since it included the Little Green Men from the Pizza Planet claw game, which were not apparently associated with the Buzz Lightyear franchise in any way.
Then there’s Fearless Fosdick, a Dick Tracy parody that was the favorite comic strip of Al Capp’s comic strip character Li’l Abner. It took on such a life of its own that it actually got a short-lived TV series in 1952.
Yeah, my husband mentioned that too. But I guess I could see the movie spawning an animated show AND an action figure, even if the show isn’t that much like the movie. My favorite example of this is Beetlejuice, lol.
That said we are probably overthinking :D
Hi Molly – agree about David Bowie song – I hate to see it bandied about like this.
And the Cat voice actor – sounds all wrong to me