FourToy Storymovies exist along with several short animated films. There was also a 2000s cartoon calledBuzz Lightyear of Star Command, which lasted for four seasons. It was moderately successful for aDisneycartoon.
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Despite Woody seemingly being the main character of theToy Storyfranchise, it seems like Buzz is the more marketable character. It was still surprising to see Buzz get his own CG movie,Lightyear, outside of theToy Storyfilms. What exactly is this film about and how does it tie into everything, if at all?
There will be spoilers ahead forLightyearand all otherToy Story-relatedmedia.
7Lightyear Is A Movie In Toy Story
The marketing forLightyearhas been confusing. Why is Buzz so different from the version inToy Story? Is this a spinoff, not connected to those movies at all? No one knew what to expect until opening night.
There is a text scrawl at the beginning of this movie that solves all of these riddles though.Lightyearis a movie Andy watched in 1995. That’s where the Buzz Lightyear figure came from. Weirdly, this detail is never mentioned inToy Story.Lightyearexisting now as a movie is a bit of a retcon situation.
6Buzz’s Weaponry
Buzz, inToy Story, has one weapon only as he can shoot laser blasts from his gauntlet. It was not effective since he was just a toy but it would seem that the “real” Buzz was supposed to have wrist guns too.
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Buzz’s arsenal inLightyearis a bit different. He begins the film with a pistol and a sword that is reminiscent of a lightsaber. The weaponry is also reminiscent of a video game. It’s too badLightyeardidn’t get avideo game tie-inas it could have been cool. Eventually, Buzz gets a wrist weapon via Izzy, and the suit he gets at the end of the 2022 movie resembles theToy Storyversion better.
5Buzz’s Jetpack
The aforementioned new suit Buzz gets at the end ofLightyearalso has the wings the toy version has. Before this, Buzz is flightless. The first homage to these wings happens when Buzz is trying to help his crew enter back into the atmosphere.
When heejects out of his spaceship, the seat attaches wings to his space suit. They’re a bit wonkier than the final version but they are wings nonetheless. They probably helped inspire the engineers to add the more classic wings to Buzz’s new suit. Buzz can barely fly in theToy Storymovies though. He needs a rocket in the first film to truly make it work.
4Buzz’s Spaceship
There are acouple of different spaceshipsin the movie that aren’t shown in any of the Toy Storyfilms. The beginning plot follows Buzz and Alisha who awaken aboard their colony ship which he nicknamed The Turnip. After crashing on a foreign planet, the rest of society wakes up to help set up a new colony.
Buzz’s spaceship looks morelike an X-Wing. Since that’s part of the Disney brand now, the similarities might not be accidental. The box Buzz comes in inToy Storyresembles the final ship at the end ofLightyear, so it does eventually make an appearance.
3Buzz’s Stealth Mode
One of the best jokes in theToy Storyfilms is how ignorant Buzz is that he is a toy. He tries to reach Star Command via his radio and thinks his laser gun still works. He even tries to activate stealth along with some other buttons on the front of his space suit.
InLightyear,the stealth works. Anyone that uses it will go completely invisible for a few minutes. While the idea is present in the main movies, it exists for real inLightyear.
2Buzz’s New Crew
Buzz’s universe is not built up that much inToy Storyas he exists by himself in the original movie. In the sequel, Emperor Zurg appears, but that’s as far as the lore goes in terms of characters. The cartoon adds a lot more, but none of those characters make it intoLightyeareither.
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There are a lot of new characters in Lightyear who Buzz interacts with. Mo, Izzy, and Darby all belong to a sub-rookie task force that Buzz eventually takes under his wing. There is also Sox, the robotic cat. Weirdly, these characters weren’t toys either. Sox would have sold like hot cakes in the firstToy Storymovie.
1There Are Two Buzz Lightyears
The biggest revelation inLightyearis that Emperor Zurg is not just a robot like he’s presented inToy Story 2. He is Buzz froman alternate timelineor more like a Buzz that went too far into the future. The protagonist is voiced by Chris Evans while the older version is portrayed by James Brolin.
Why their voices don’t resemble each other, or Tim Allan from theToy Storymovies, is beyond anyone’s guess. This might be the biggest retcon inLightyearbesides the idea of the movie existing in the first place.
