Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command:
The Adventure Begins

DVD cover art
Directed by Tad Stones
Produced by Mike Karafilis
Mark McCorkle
Robert Schooley
Tad Stones
Written by Mark McCorkle
Robert Schooley
Bill Motz
Bob Roth
Based on Disney's Toy Story
by John Lasseter
Starring Tim Allen
Nicole Sullivan
Stephen Furst
Larry Miller
Adam Carolla
Patrick Warburton
Wayne Knight
Diedrich Bader
Narrated by Tim Allen
Music by Adam Berry
Edited by John Royer
Production
company
Distributed by Walt Disney Home Video
Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Release dates
 August 8, 2000 (USA)
Running time
 71 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins is a 2000 American Disney animated direct-to-video comedy film that acts as a pilot to the television series Disney's Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.[1] Set in the fictional universe of the 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.[1] It was the only film spin-off of a Pixar film until 2013's theatrical Cars spin-off film Planes.

Tim Allen reprises his role as the voice of Buzz Lightyear, as do Wallace Shawn, R. Lee Ermey, Jeff Pidgeon, and Joe Ranft as Rex, Sarge, Squeeze Toy Aliens and Wheezy respectively. Woody is voiced by Jim Hanks, the younger brother of original Woody voice actor Tom Hanks (As Hanks was too busy working on Cast Away), and Hamm is voiced by Andrew Stanton instead of John Ratzenberger. Originally, Patrick Warburton, (the TV series voice for Buzz), voiced Buzz for the film, and when it was released to video, his lines were redubbed by Tim Allen.

When the movie was later edited into three episodes of the television show, the opening "Andy's Room" sequence was removed and used Patrick Warburton's Buzz Lightyear dialogue.

The entire film was animated using traditional cel-based animation techniques.

Plot

As a framing device, Andy's toys watch a VHS copy of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins.

Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen) and Warp Darkmatter (voiced by Diedrich Bader) are searching for three missing Little Green Men (L.G.M.) (voiced by Patrick Warburton), a noosphere-dwelling race serving as Star Command's Universe Protection Unit's scientists. They discover the lost L.G.M. in a hidden outpost belonging to Evil Emperor Zurg (voiced by Wayne Knight). Zurg tortures the L.G.M. when Buzz and Warp break in; a battle breaks out with Zurg's robots while he escapes. The self-destruct sequence starts, leaving Buzz and Warp a minute to escape. Warp gets pinned under wreckage and forces Buzz to leave just before the explosion happens, presumably killing Warp.

Ashamed, Buzz refuses a new partner, but is given a Star Command recruit, actually Princess Mira Nova (voiced by Nicole Sullivan), who Commander Nebula (voiced by Adam Carolla) trains. With the power of "ghosting", Nova is nearly invulnerable. Buzz reiterates his refusal to endanger another partner, despite Nebula's forceful assertion Buzz must not work alone. Buzz later rescues a shy janitor named Booster (voiced by Stephen Furst) from being fired.

In Zurg's fortress, his new second-in-command, Agent Z (also voiced by Diedrich Bader), is given a robotic arm that becomes a variety of weapons. 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., after building a robot soldier called XR (voiced by Larry Miller), who is offered to Buzz as a partner as he can be repaired after any damage and can learn from him, 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 says a solo ranger could go to stop Zurg with the prototype Alpha-One. Nebula dismisses the idea, deciding to launch the full-scale assault.

Zurg corrupts the Uni-Mind, so he can use it to control minds, while his scientists start making a "Mega-Ray" to use the corrupted Uni-Mind to bend entire populations of people to Zurg's will. Mira and Buzz each attempt to steal the Alpha-One prototype spacecraft; Mira wins and leaves with it. Buzz pursues Mira in his own craft, not realizing Booster and XR are inside it, having entered it to play make-believe. Eventually, Buzz catches Mira and stores Alpha-One in his spaceship's cargo bay; Booster and XR are discovered also. Zurg's Mega-Ray subverts several planets in quick succession such as Rhizome and Bathyos. He then turns it on Star Command, enjoying the irony of watching his greatest enemies become his mouthpieces. Buzz, Mira, Booster, and XR see the Mega-Ray's beam strike Star Command, and enter it to discover its effects. They 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. Not knowing Buzz has escaped the bomb blast, Zurg believes he is actually dead and moves on.

Booster accidentally causes the ship to crash-land on Planet Z. There, Buzz insists on finishing the mission alone. When they start to argue over something ridiculous, Buzz orders them to leave. Buzz fights Agent Z, but he is shocked when Agent Z removes his helmet, revealing himself as Warp Darkmatter. Taking advantage of Buzz's momentary confusion at this, Warp knocks him out and delivers him to Zurg. Warp explains that not only had he faked his death at the beginning of the film, but was secretly working for Zurg for years as a double agent. When Zurg mocks Buzz, Buzz responds by dictating his "final log entry". Zurg and Warp watch in amusement, but Mira, Booster and XR hear Buzz's surrender and his final entry (which includes a coded plead for help).

Zurg plans to use the "Mega-ray" on Buzz, but XR and Booster arrive 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 surround Zurg and pronounce him under arrest; but Zurg escapes through a distraction. Zurg triumphantly declares if Buzz goes to any planet, he can hear his voice mocking him. Booster and XR capture Warp and leap from Zurg's now-exploding tower. Mira uses her "ghosting" power to take Buzz to the core of the Uni-Mind. In moments the Uni-Mind is restored to normal, freeing the suborned peoples and leaving Zurg momentarily helpless. The unity of the L.G.M. is restored and Warp is arrested.

The film ends with Buzz, having at last admitted that he cannot work alone, creating a new team called "Team Lightyear" with XR, Mira and Booster (all newly decorated with Star Command's highest commendation). They fly to the galaxy and shout "TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!".

Voice cast

Andy's room

Awards and nominations

This is a list of awards and nominations by the film:

Year Award Title Recipient Result
2001 Video Premiere Award[3] Best Animated Character Performance Tim Allen (voice), Greg Guler (key character designer: Buzz Lightyear) Nominated
Best Animated Video Premiere Mike Karafilis (producer), Mark McCorkle (producer), Robert Schooley (producer), Tad Stones (producer) Nominated

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Stack, Peter (August 13, 2000). "Buzz Lightyear Tops Stack of Kid Stuff". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  2. ↑ Fretts, Bruce (August 8, 2000). "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Video Business Video Premiere Award winners". Variety. February 25, 2011. Retrieved January 18, 2014.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.