"In 1995, Andy Got A Toy From His Favorite Movie. This is That Movie." LightYear Out Now

jmpblodgett
Jun 21, 2022
6 min read

*WARNING: MASSIVE SPOILERS BELOW*

The Toy Story franchise kicked off in 1995 with the original story about a boy and his toys—toys that spring to life when their owner sleeps. The film radiated charm, generated laughs, and elicited a wistful tear or two. The performances by Tom Hanks and Tim Allen as Woody and Buzz, respectively, anchored the project, which also enlisted a strong supporting cast. The animation was not just gorgeous, but groundbreaking; Toy Story holds the distinction of being the first fully CGI animated feature. Disney/Pixar wisely spaced out the subsequent tales, debuting 2 in 1999, 3 in 2010, and 4 in 2019.

Toy Story aficionados will also remember Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command: The Adventure Begins, a direct-to-video title released in 2000, as well as the television shows Toy Story Treats (1996), Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-2001), Toy Story Toons (2011-2012), plus the specials Toy Story Of Terror (2013) and Toy Story That Time Forgot(2014).

That’s a whole lot of Buzz Lightyear, and that doesn’t include toys, books, stuffed animals, video games, and all the accompanying merchandise. It’s conceivable that longtime fans have simply grown up and moved on and/or gotten tougher to please.

But to make matters worse Andy from Toy Story doesn't have any other toys from 'Lightyear' aside from Buzz, and with Sox/ Alisha/ and Izzy being massive characters in this film it doesn't make sense that Andy wouldn't have any other toys from 'Lightyear' if it were in fact his favorite film that began the Toy Story franchise.

'Lightyear' massively misses the mark on what supposedly began a billion dollar franchise. Following 'Lightyear' The ranking of Toy Story related films is as follows:

Toy Story 2
Toy Story
Toy Story 3
Lightyear
Toy Story 4

4.2 million lightyears from space with crew 1200 on Star Date 3901 began the world of Toy Story. The film "Lightyear" begins with Buzz (played by Chris Evans) taking mission logs, and introducing the science crew in hyper sleep. Viewers then meet Commander Alisha Hawthorne (played by Uzo Aduba) and the rookie (played by Bill Hader).

Throughout the whole film many different ships are used. The first known as 'The Turnip." Buzz ultimately crashes the ship and court Marshalls himself before Commander Alisha Hawthorne releases him.

The film then picks up with star year 3902, a year after the crew has been marooned. Buzz must now complete a mission of achieving hyper speed in hopes of getting everyone home. Lightyear has four minutes in an XL1 ship. Fans then meet Diaz (played by Efren Ramirez) before Buzz gets on the XL1. 4 minutes and 28 seconds go by and Buzz hits 0.8C (or 80%) hyper speed before failure occurs in the engine, he then has 26 seconds to correct a 4 degree change in the course.

When Buzz returns to earth he finds that it has been 4 years, 2 months, and 3 days. The faster Buzz flys, the faster he travels into the future. Lightyear ages minutes while the rest of his team ages years, including his best friend. Alisha Hawthorne ends up getting engaged to Keiko while Buzz was away during his first mission. Alisha then gives Buzz "Sox" a companion robot (played by Peter Sohn). Buzz leaves Sox behind to figure out the fuel in hopes that his companion can assist in getting everyone home.

Buzz begins having nightmares, which leads him to decide to go back into space. He goes back, another 4 years pass. When he returns, Alisha is pregnant. Buzz then goes on four more missions leading to 40 years going by, he then goes on one final mission before Alisha passes away.

When Buzz returns he meets Izzy, Alisha's granddaughter. A small rilvary begins between him and Alisha's replacement Commander Cal Burnside (played by Isiah Whitlock Jr.) after Burnside reveals that crew 1200 will be remaining on the planet protected by a laser shield.

After 62 years, 7 months, and 5 days Sox has figured out the fuel. At this point in the film, Buzz notes that it is "Star date I have no idea."

Lightyear opts to steal a ship and go on a mission with Sox, the pair hit 100% hyper speed, and get zapped through space. When Buzz gets back to the planet he meets Izzy 22 years 19 weeks and 4 days later, and finds that there is an alien ship on a hunt for Buzz.

The alien ship becomes known as the "Zurg Ship." At this point in the film Buzz meets The Junior Patrol who become his team. Izzy (played by Keke Palmer) , I.V.A.N. (played by Mary McDonald Lewis), Mo Morrison (played by Taika Waititi), and Darby Steel (played by Dale Soules).

Buzz then learns that Izzy is afraid of space, as they are being attacked by an enemy robot. Buzz then steels another ship known as "the armadillo."

Lightyear comes to the realization that Alisha's belief in him cost her everything, "We Wanted To Matter" he recalled. Buzz ultimately gets taken which leads him to discover that "Zurg" is him from the future, 50 years later (played by James Brolin).

"A New Now That's Never Been Lived" becomes Zurg's motive. He wants to bring Alisha back by fixing his past mistakes and never crashing the ship in the first place. Buzz and Zurg turn on each other. Ultimately Buzz survives with the help of Zurg's Sox "I like this version of you" Sox recalls. Zurg kills future Sox.

At this point Buzz leaves the spaceship with his famous space suit wings. Buzz makes it back to the planet where he is confronted by Burnside who enlist Buzz and his team to be space rangers in the new Universe Protection Division.

The film ends on Star Day 4071 with The Universe Protection Division heading to Gamma Squadron Sector Four, and with an After credit seen of Zurg waking up in space alive.

'Lightyear' made a total of $85.6M worldwide for its opening weekend. The film struggled to travel to infinity and beyond at the domestic box office this past weekend, coming in at an estimated $51 million - below industry projections of around $70 million

Lightyear's box office receipts may have been a casualty of increased competition with "Top Gun: Maverick" and "Jurassic World: Dominion," which have surpassed worldwide cumulative grosses of $885 million and $600 million, respectively, according to Sunday estimates from Comscore.

"Lightyear" has been banned in Malaysia and other countries over a same-sex kiss in the film. "Historically speaking, controversies surrounding a movie only serve to raise awareness and curiosity among consumers and thus have little demonstrable impact on box office," Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian told FOX Business. "Of course there may have been some potential moviegoers who opted out of seeing ‘Lightyear’ for personal or political reasons, but pragmatically speaking, for families who want to see a brand new PG-rated animated movie in theaters, ‘Lightyear’ is the only game in town until ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ opens on July 1 and therefore the film could wind up building its box office revenues over time rather than with a big launch on opening weekend."

Lightyear is an archetypal hero, a blend of generic sci-fi tropes, representing the cultural shift from dusty westerns to pulpy space operas. Most importantly, he was just a toy.

The genius of Toy Story is that Buzz slowly comes to the realization that he is not a spaceman destined to save the universe - he’s a piece of sentient plastic. It’s a brain-breaking existential crisis, one that both humbles and empowers him; Buzz is such a fascinating character because he is forced to see himself for who he truly is, transcending his delusions of grandeur to become a smaller, greater kind of hero.

In Toy Story 2, Buzz experiences another epiphany, as he sees himself replicated hundreds of times on the shelves of a store, and is again reminded of his insignificance. Buzz learns he isn’t special - but he is unique - he finds great meaning in Toy Story’s somewhat nihilistic world, where the good times are short and the landfill is eternal.

But there wasn't much growth for him in the next two films, where Woody took a bigger share of the spotlight, and Buzz was reduced to a punchline; there was nowhere left for his character to go. Hence, Buzz was reborn in Lightyear, redesigned to look like a cop, blasting off on a “real” space adventure, completely missing the appeal of his character.

Pixar built its stellar reputation by telling bold, original stories that their creatives wanted to tell - they still do, as Soul and Turning Red prove. But Disney has a habit of bleeding its most valuable franchises dry, draining fan favorite characters into withered husks. Such films include Cars, The Incredibles or even Finding Dory

As Lightyear’s box office shows, there's a real limit to that kind of approach; some characters have only one story to tell, and that’s fine.

Pixar's, “Lightyear” ranks as one of the studio’s lower starts, behind 2017’s “Cars 3” ($53 million) and ahead of 2015’s “The Good Dinosaur” ($39 million) and 2020’s “Onward” ($39 million). It’s also one of the rare Pixar films to not take the top spot at the domestic box office, landing in second place.

Time will tell if the film has what it takes to stand out in the box office as theaters look towards the release of "Minions: The Rise of Gru" on July 1st, "Elvis" on June 24th, "Thor: Love and Thunder" on July 7th and "Where The Crawdads Sing" on July 15th.