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Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins

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This article is about the film. For the TV series, see Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. For the video game, see Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (video game).
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command:
The Adventure Begins
VHS cover
Directed byTad Stones
Screenplay by
Based onToy Story
by John Lasseter
Pete Docter
Andrew Stanton
Joe Ranft
Produced by
  • Mark McCorkle
  • Bob Schooley
  • Tad Stones
Starring
Edited byJohn Royer
Music byAdam Berry
Production
companies
Distributed byBuena Vista Home Entertainment[1]
Release date
  • August 8, 2000 (2000-08-08)
Running time
70 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States[1]
LanguageEnglish

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins is a 2000 American animated science fiction comedy film directed by Tad Stones, who is also the producer with Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley. It serves as a spin-off of Pixar's Toy Story franchise and released on direct-to-video in the United States on August 8, 2000.[2]

The film later led to a television series, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, which aired on UPN and ABC from October 2000 to January 2001, and Pixar's feature film, Lightyear, which was theatrically released in the United States in June 2022, serving as an origin story for the character, voiced by Chris Evans. The film was nominated for two Video Premiere Awards: Best Animated Video Premiere and Best Animated Character Performance for Tim Allen.

Plot

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A framing device shows Andy's bedroom (shortly after the events of Toy Story 2) where all of his toys are about to watch a VHS copy of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins.

In the film, 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 an organization led by Buzz's archnemesis, the evil Emperor Zurg. Buzz and Warp break in and rescue the L.G.M., keeping Zurg's robots busy while they escape. However, Zurg triggers the self-destruct mechanism; Warp gets pinned under debris and forces Buzz to leave just before the explosion happens, apparently killing Warp. Stricken with survivor guilt over Warp's death, Buzz refuses to work with another partner, out of fear of someone else dying.

He then meets up with Commander Nebula, who introduces him to Mira Nova, a prodigy ranger and the princess of the planet Tangea, which Buzz saved from Zurg a while back, and offers her to Buzz as his new partner. With the power of "ghosting", Nova is nearly invincible, but Buzz still refuses. Afterwards Buzz later prevents a well-meaning janitor named Booster, who dreams of becoming a space ranger himself one day, from being fired. Meanwhile, in Zurg's fortress, a new henchman called Agent Z arrives with a multi-weapon robotic arm. Zurg learns of a huge orb on the L.G.M. home world called the Uni-Mind, responsible for the telepathic link between them; he sends his new agent to capture it. The L.G.M.s on Star Command build a new robot soldier called XR, who is offered to Buzz as a partner as he can be repaired after any damage. They then get a telepathic message about Zurg's attack on their homeworld. When Buzz and XR arrive on the L.G.M. planet, Agent Z confronts them and destroys XR while Zurg steals the Uni-Mind. Unable to think clearly, the L.G.M. rebuild XR, but end up giving him a mind of his own. Commander Nebula decides to launch a full-scale assault on Planet Z, despite Mira's argument that a solo ranger could go to stop Zurg with the prototype Alpha-One.

Zurg corrupts the Uni-Mind with his own evil thoughts and installs it into the "Mega-Ray" to bend everyone to Zurg's will. Mira steals the Alpha-One prototype spacecraft to fight Zurg, and Buzz, who wanted to use her plan by himself, pursues Mira in his own craft, unaware Booster and XR have stowawayed. 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, including Nebula, 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 is dead.

Booster accidentally causes the ship to crash-land on Planet Z. There, Buzz, insistent on finishing the mission alone, orders the others to leave. Buzz fights Agent Z, but is incapacitated and delivered to Zurg when Agent Z reveals himself to be Warp, who, in addition to having faked his death, was secretly working for Zurg for years as a double agent. Buzz dictates his "final log entry", a coded distress call to Mira, Booster and XR.

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 fights Zurg, who escapes before Buzz's allies can arrest him. Booster and XR arrest Warp and skydive from Zurg's 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 dismayed. The unity of the L.G.M. is restored and Warp is taken to prison for treason.

Buzz, having admitted that he cannot work alone, creates a new team called "Team Lightyear" with XR, Mira and Booster.

Voice cast

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In addition, there is the cast of toy characters that appear in the film's opening sequence:

Production

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The opening computer-animated sequence was directed at Pixar Animation Studios by Angus MacLane, while the main parts of the film are traditionally animated by Walt Disney Television Animation. It was the only production that was a Pixar spin-off until Disneytoon Studios' 2013 film Planes, which is a spin-off of Pixar's Cars franchise.

Tim Allen, Wallace Shawn, R. Lee Ermey, Joe Ranft, and Jeff Pidgeon reprised their roles of Buzz Lightyear, Rex, Sarge, Wheezy, and the squeaky toy aliens, respectively. Woody is voiced by Jim Hanks, the brother of his original actor Tom Hanks,[3] and Hamm is voiced by Andrew Stanton replacing his original actor John Ratzenberger.

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 Patrick 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.

Release

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Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins was released to VHS and DVD on August 8, 2000.[4]

Reception

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Bruce Fretts of Entertainment Weekly rated the film D+ and called it "a straight-to-tape travesty".[5] Susan King of the Los Angeles Times 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

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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),[a] Mark McCorkle (producer), Bob Schooley (producer), Tad Stones (producer) Nominated

Notes

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  1. ^ Credited as associate producer

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (2000)". Allmovie. Archived from the original on 2023-04-23. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Stack, Peter (August 13, 2000). "Buzz Lightyear Tops Stack of Kid Stuff". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  3. ^ Fretts, Bruce (August 8, 2000). "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command Review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 8, 2012. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  4. ^ "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins DVD Review". dvdizzy.com. Retrieved 2023-03-09.
  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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