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Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins

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Buzz Lightyear of Star Command:
The Adventure Begins
Promotional poster
Directed byTad Stones
Written by
  • Mark McCorkle
  • Bob Schooley
  • Bill Motz
  • Bob Roth
Based onToy Story
Produced by
Starring
Edited byJohn Royer
Music byAdam Berry
Production
companies
Distributed byWalt Disney Home Video[1]
Release date
  • August 8, 2000 (2000-08-08) (United States)
Running time
70 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States[1]
LanguageEnglish

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins is a 2000 American direct-to-video animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and co-produced by Pixar Animation Studios using traditional animation.[2] It acts as the first three episodes and pilot to the television series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, a spin-off of the Toy Story franchise, which took place after the events of Toy Story 2.

The film was nominated for two Video Premiere Awards: Best Animated Video Premiere and Best Animated Character Performance for Allen. To date, this and the television series are the only traditionally animated productions of Pixar as well as the only direct-to-video production Pixar had any involvement with.

Plot

The film opens as a framing device, with Andy's toys watching a VHS copy of the movie.

Buzz Lightyear and his partner Warp Darkmatter are searching for three missing Little Green Men (L.G.M.), a noosphere-dwelling race working as scientists for Star Command's Universe Protection Unit. They discover the lost L.G.M. in a hidden lab belonging to the evil Emperor Zurg. Buzz and Warp break in and rescue the L.G.M., and a battle breaks out with Zurg's robots while they escape. Zurg triggers the self-destruct mechanism; Warp gets pinned under wreckage and forces Buzz to leave just before the explosion happens, presumably killing Warp.

Stricken with survivor guilt over Warp's death, Buzz refuses a new partner, but is given a Star Command recruit, Princess Mira Nova, whom Commander Nebula trains. With the power of "ghosting", Nova is nearly invincible. Buzz later prevents a well-meaning janitor named Booster from being fired.

In Zurg's fortress, a new henchman called Agent Z has a multi-weapon robotic arm. Zurg learns of a huge orb on the L.G.M. homeworld called the Uni-Mind, responsible for the telepathic link between them; he sends his robots to capture it. The L.G.M. build a robot soldier called XR, who is offered to Buzz as a partner as he can be repaired after any damage. They get a telepathic message about Zurg's attack. When Buzz and XR arrive on the L.G.M. planet, they are confronted by Agent Z, who destroys XR while the Uni-Mind is stolen by Zurg. Unable to think clearly, the L.G.M. rebuild XR, but with a mind of his own. Commander Nebula decides to launch a full-scale assault on Planet Z, but Mira argues that a solo ranger could go to stop Zurg with the prototype Alpha-One. Nebula rejects the idea, deciding to launch the full-scale assault.

Zurg corrupts the Uni-Mind into a "Mega-Ray" to bend everyone to Zurg's will. Mira steals the Alpha-One prototype spacecraft to fight Zurg. Buzz pursues Mira in his own craft, not realizing Booster and XR are stowaways. Eventually, Buzz catches Mira and stores Alpha-One in his spaceship's cargo bay; Booster and XR are then discovered. Zurg's Mega-Ray subverts several planets in quick succession before turning it on Star Command. Buzz, Mira, Booster, and XR discover all of the staff have been suborned by Zurg; they flee in Buzz's Star Cruiser. Zurg uses Star Command's entire arsenal, planting a bomb on Buzz's ship. Buzz and the others escape in the Alpha-One just before the bomb detonates, destroying the cruiser. Zurg presumes Buzz dead.

Booster accidentally causes the ship to crash-land on Planet Z. There, Buzz insists on finishing the mission alone and orders the others to leave. Buzz fights Agent Z, but he is shocked when Agent Z removes his helmet, revealing himself as Warp. Taking advantage of Buzz's momentary shock, Warp incapacitates him and delivers him to Zurg. Warp explains that he faked his death and was secretly working for Zurg for years as a double agent. When Zurg mocks Buzz, Buzz responds by dictating his "final log entry". Mira, Booster and XR hear Buzz's final entry which includes a coded plea for help.

Zurg plans to use the Mega-Ray on Buzz, but XR and Booster intervene in time to rescue him as it fires. Booster and Mira destroy Warp's mechanical arm after Booster lands on him. Buzz and Zurg face each other; Zurg thinks he has won, but Buzz and his three friends corner Zurg and place him under arrest. Zurg escapes through a trap-door. Booster and XR arrest Warp and skydive from Zurg's now-exploding tower. Mira uses her "ghosting" power to push Buzz to the core of the Uni-Mind and restore it to normal, freeing the suborned peoples and leaving Zurg momentarily helpless and apparently destroyed. The unity of the L.G.M. is restored and Warp is taken to prison for treason.

Buzz, having at last admitted that he cannot work alone, creates a new team called "Team Lightyear" with XR, Mira and Booster. They fly to the galaxy and shout "To infinity and beyond!", closing the film.

Voice cast

In addition to Buzz Lightyear and the Little Green Men, several of Andy's other toys appear in the film's opening sequence:

Production

Set in the fictional universe of the Disney/Pixar film series Toy Story, the film inspired a line of Buzz Lightyear toys. The opening computer-animated sequence was created by Pixar, while the rest of the film was traditionally animated by Walt Disney Television Animation,[2] Jade Animation and Walt Disney Animation Japan.[3] It was the only film spin-off of a Pixar film until 2013's theatrical Cars spin-off film Planes, (as that was not produced by Pixar at all, but by Disneytoon Studios). The movie was written and produced by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, who would later go on to create Kim Possible for Disney Channel.

Allen, Shawn, Ermey, and Ranft reprised their roles from the films. Woody is voiced by Jim Hanks, the brother of his original voice actor Tom Hanks,[4] and Hamm is voiced by Andrew Stanton instead of John Ratzenberger.

Originally, Patrick Warburton voiced Buzz for the film, but when it was released to video, his lines were redubbed by Allen.[citation needed] When the movie was later aired as the first three episodes of the television show, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, the opening sequence in Andy's bedroom was removed and Warburton's vocal performance replaced Allen's.

During the film's end credits, the song, "To Infinity and Beyond", was arranged by Randy Petersen and Tim Heintz and performed by William Shatner and the Star Command Chorus.

Reception

Bruce Fretts of Entertainment Weekly rated the film D+ and called it "a straight-to-tape travesty" that is cheaply animated compared to its predecessor.[5] Susan King of the Los Angeles Times instead described the animation as "a cut above the norm" for direct-to-video films, and she said the script is "breezy and funny".[6]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Title Recipient Result
2001 Video Premiere Award[7] Best Animated Character Performance Tim Allen (voice), Greg Guler (key character designer: Buzz Lightyear) Nominated
Best Animated Video Premiere Mike Karafilis (producer),[b] Mark McCorkle (producer), Bob Schooley (producer), Tad Stones (producer) Nominated

Notes

  1. ^ Animation outsourced to Walt Disney Animation Japan.
  2. ^ Credited as associate producer

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000)". Allmovie. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Stack, Peter (August 13, 2000). "Buzz Lightyear Tops Stack of Kid Stuff". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  3. ^ "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins end credits (High Quality)". YouTube.com. 26 February 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
  4. ^ Fretts, Bruce (August 8, 2000). "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  5. ^ Fretts, Bruce (August 11, 2000). "Video Review: 'Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  6. ^ King, Susan (August 10, 2000). "Buzz Is Back". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  7. ^ "Video Business Video Premiere Award winners". Variety. February 25, 2001. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
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