By Reanna Gonzalez
Fans were surprised when Pixar announced their first Toy Story spin-off would follow Buzz instead of Woody but maybe they’re saving the best for last.
The coming Lightyear movie is exactly what it sounds like it will be; a film that explores the origin story of the beloved space hero, Buzz Lightyear. The spin-off takes a look at the hero of the stories that inspired the Buzz that fans all know and love. It serves as a prequel to the Toy Story movies, particularly when Buzz’s character enters that storyline.
To be clear, Lightyear is not a story of the Buzz Lightyear doll that fans have become familiar with, but rather the space hero of a show that inspired him. The story will follow the hero’s out-of-this-world (literally) adventures in space.
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This film will contain a lot of completely new storyline and style. There was a lesser-known Buzz spin-off from 2000 called Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins that briefly explores who Buzz is but the Lightyear movie will delve deeper into the roots of his character. We also likely won’t be seeing any of the other familiar Toy Story characters because this functions in a world that is separate but related to the world that the Toy Story characters exist in.
The movie is made up of a phenomenal cast with actors like Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, and Taika Waititi voicing the primary characters that the story follows. These well-known voices -even among younger generations- are wise casting choices that already speak to the performative capability of this movie. Buzz’s voice will be played by Chris Evans, while in the Toy Story movies he was voiced by Tim Allen.
The animation itself will possess a slightly different look than the Toy Story films because the creators wanted to evoke more of a realistic, cinematic effect to give it more of a sci-fi feeling. Further, there’s more diversity- both in the illustration of the movie and its cast- than any of the other Toy Story films up to this point. However, the inclusion of black characters, especially when the protagonist is still white, was possibly entirely due to the criticism creators received after the fourth Toy Story film that very clearly lacked diversity.
On that note, many fans have wondered why the creators opted for doing a Buzz Lightyear movie, rather than another Toy Story, and the ability to create a story that allowed for more diverse characters may also play a role in that. Another Toy Story film, while it could incorporate a few new characters that could be people of color, would still have the same white main characters that all Toy Story films follow. By focusing on one of the primary characters from the greater story, they were able to bring in several new characters to create a better sense of representation.
Lightyear will be Pixar’s first ever spin-off full-length film, which is why there are several fans that are unsure what the inclusion of a Buzz spin-off will mean for the Toy Story franchise, mostly because of when they chose to do it. Given that Woody was the original protagonist of the films, audiences were surprised to hear that Buzz would be getting his own spin-off before Woody. While many folks aren’t sure what the purpose behind doing it in this order is, there is a strong likelihood that Woody will get his own movie, solely because Buzz got his own.
The Lightyear movie will exist in a slightly different style that teeters on different genres of film. The film will incorporate several sci-fi elements that weren’t as heavily incorporated into the Toy Story films. If Woody were also to get a film of his own, there’s a strong possibility that it would involve this same technique of genre-blending, likely leaning more into the Western aesthetic that surrounds his character.
If there was a Woody movie, it could explore Woody’s hazy past. Because Woody knows so little about where he actually came from or the collection of toys that he belongs to, his character is actually very complex and could be a great means of exploring mental health or individualism for a young audience. This could easily hold enough story to make up a whole film and would serve as a good message to kids about knowing who you are, where you came from, and who you want to be.
A recent interview has revealed several hidden facts about Woody that are practically begging to be explored in a movie of their own. For example, Woody was likely a gift from Andy’s father who we find out is dead and thus not present in Andy’s life. This simple detail in Woody’s backstory, alone, could make for an emotional and inspiring film. However, the interview also revealed that Woody was a single-made promotional doll for a cereal that Andy’s father had to win, which explains why Woody doesn’t remember much and explains his value as a toy.
Woody’s doll was inspired by “Woody’s Roundup”, a weekly Western show that also featured Jesse, Bullseye, and Stinky Pete, whose dolls fans met in the Toy Story films. In each episode of the show, something would go terribly wrong and Woody would have to save the day, making him the prime character to base a doll or toy line on. Exploring these details in a film would allow fans to see Woody’s emotional response to a question that has always existed around his character.
There are emotional tidbits about each character that could (hopefully) be explored further in these spin-off movies but it seems there will also be a lot of information revealed that is less essential to the story than it is a nostalgic surprise for fans. As an example, a big reveal in Lightyear is Buzz’s hair, which has always been covered by his suit in the Toy Story films. If a Woody movie were to be made, it would perhaps explore the relationship between Woody and his boots and, perhaps, how that pesky snake got in there.
The entire concept behind Woody’s character certainly has enough going on to carry its own movie. Additionally, it would answer many of the questions still surrounding Woody the doll’s character in the Toy Story films. No matter how they approached it, a movie that explored Woody’s origin story would certainly be worth making for the sake of the franchise and for the sake of fans. Though Pixar hasn’t confirmed a Woody spin-off, there is a good likelihood for it because Buzz got one and Lightyear will likely be a huge success that encourages them to keep the world alive by expanding on the characters.
Lightyear is set to be released in theaters on June 17, 2022.
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