I don’t know how to feel about “Lightyear,” the newest Disney movie slated for release next year. Starring Chris Evans as the eponymous hero, the movie is an origin story about Buzz Lightyear. You know, from “Toy Story.”
No, the movie isn’t about Buzz the toy, but instead on the person he’s based on. In the Disney canon, he is a real intergalactic astronaut, I guess?
The trailer shows Buzz as he gets ready to board his space shuttle, dons his iconic suit, and traverses the stars, set to David Bowie’s “Starman.” It looks like it’s going to be a space adventure, maybe less “Interstellar” and more “Moonraker.” He is a Space Ranger, after all. It also shows that Buzz has hair, which is apparently big news. (He’s just a brunette white man, chill.)
“The sci-fi action-adventure presents the definitive origin story of Buzz Lightyear—the hero who inspired the toy—introducing the legendary Space Ranger who would win generations of fans,” Pixar states in its synopsis.
So here’s the burning question I’m sure everyone else is thinking and not just me: What about the Buzz Lightyear TV show? You know, “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command”? And the movie that preceded it, “Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins”? I spent my childhood watching Buzz fight Emperor Zurg and kinda sorta flirt with Princess Mira.
I suppose the show could still be canon—Buzz is already an experienced Space Ranger there. However, it’s also set in the very far future and is considerably a lot goofier and cartoony than how “Lightyear” seems to be. Is that show canon in the same way that “Drake and Josh” is canon in the “iCarly” universe, which is to say that the 2D cartoon TV show is also an in-universe TV show based on the real person in “Lightyear”? My head hurts.
In any case, the movie does seem intriguing, and Evans also looks to be genuinely excited about the project. “Animated movie were an enormous part of my childhood. They were my escape. My adventures. My dreams. They were my first window into the magic of storytelling and performing,” he said in a tweet thanking the Pixar team.
Photo screengrabbed from the “Lightyear” trailer
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