"Lightyear" is an origin story for the character behind the Buzz Lightyear toy
from the "Toy Story" series, so there are plenty of franchise-referencing Easter
eggs in Disney-Pixar's latest. Where have we heard the phrase "crystallic fusion" before?
And why was that Zurg battle so familiar? Keep watching to find out.
You can't separate Buzz Lightyear from his Space Ranger suit — quite literally,
in the "Toy Story" movies. Even though he gets some time out of the bubble helmet in "Lightyear,"
Buzz still seems the most like himself when he's geared up in the green Galactic Alliance garb.
There are a couple of different iterations of the Space Ranger suit that pop up through Lightyear,
with the old-school model from the beginning and the updated version in the final scenes
being the two main ones. They both include a lot of little details that
are pulled straight out of "Toy Story" that long-time fans will surely catch.
From the three brightly-colored buttons on Buzz's chest plate,
to the wrist communicator he's constantly talking into, the "lightyear" suit is a
spot-on recreation of the toy. Or at least, the new model seen at the end of the movie is.
The older suits have some small differences -- no wrist laser and a big red button instead of
a switch on the front, revealed to be the shameful "surrender button." But
by the time the credits roll, Buzz and his team have all gotten their shiny new Space
ranger outfits -- a design so cool that every kid in 1995 wanted to have one of their own.
A lot of the story in "Lightyear" centers around crystallic fusion — the sci-fi method
by which Star Command and its agents are able to achieve hyperspeed.
When Buzz and the other inhabitants of the Star Command ship crash-land at the start of the film,
their old fusion core is destroyed, forcing them to experiment with the
resources available to them locally in the hopes of creating a new one.
It's a process that takes decades, with Buzz undergoing numerous failed experiments with
crystals that are just a little bit off. Finally, his robot companion Sox comes up with the correct
solution, and a fully-functional crystallic fusion core is created.
Of course, crystallic fusion has been a part of "Toy Story" lore from the very beginning.
In the original film, during Buzz and Woody's very first conversation,
Buzz asks his future best friend a series of questions, believing himself to have landed on an
alien planet. In the hope of repairing his ship, he asks Woody what power sources are available.
"Do you people still use fossil fuels, or have you discovered crystallic fusion?"
"Well, let's see. We've got double As."
In the grand scheme of things, this is a tiny detail buried in a throwaway line,
so it's cool to see "Lightyear" remain so loyal to the idea in its own story.
There are a lot of lines in "Lightyear" that are taken
straight out of the "Toy Story" movies -- like,
a lot. Some of them will be immediately obvious to anyone familiar with the earlier movies.
For instance, at the very beginning of "Lightyear" when Buzz and Alisha
are exploring the alien planet, Buzz records a mission log commenting on the landscape,
observing that the "terrain seems a bit unstable."
Of course, this is also his comment when walking around on Andy's bed in the original "Toy Story."
"Terrain seems a bit unstable."
There are a bunch of callbacks like this scattered throughout "Lightyear." Classics like "I'm Buzz
Lightyear, I'm always sure" and "Not today, Zurg" add a nice texture to the film by connecting it
repeatedly back to "Toy Story." It's fun to see all the little ways in which the toy Buzz pulls
his personality from his fictional self, and the many catchphrases are a great way of showing that.
The first act of "Lightyear" is a rollercoaster, to say the least.
After crashing on the alien planet and setting up a colony, Buzz and Star Command begin working on
a new crystallic fusion core to reactive hyperspeed and get everybody off-world.
Buzz flies the first test mission for the core,
which is supposed to take him four minutes and 28 seconds. However, due to the temporal
distortion of hyperspeed, more than four years have passed by the time Buzz lands.
Time dilation is certainly not a new concept in the sci-fi genre.
But in the modern context of the genre, it's hard not to draw a direct comparison to Christopher
Nolan's "Interstellar," which features a devastating moment of severe time dilation.
Buzz's four years aren't nearly as long as the amount of time skipped in "Interstellar," but
the effect is still unnerving. What's arguably even more unsettling is that Buzz continues
to volunteer for more test flights, knowing full-well that he'll lose years every time.
Despite the fact that his voice actor, anatomy, and universe are all completely different,
Buzz himself stays remarkably consistent to his "Toy Story" characterization in "Lightyear."
Some of his personality traits are obvious — the need to constantly record his mission log,
his wariness, and his hyper-fixation on the mission at hand. But some of the
other consistencies are much smaller and easier to miss.
For instance, Buzz's resistance to teamwork, and specifically to working with anyone he deems
unqualified, is very true to his portrayal in the first "Toy Story." In fact, he experiences very
similar arcs in the two films, going from a moody loner to a willing member of a larger community.
Buzz's general hesitation at normal social interaction and relationship-building is
also something that's kept the same from "Toy Story," as the character is always more focused
on his mission in both instances. By keeping all these little personality touches the same,
Pixar pulls off an impressive balancing act — creating a version of the character who feels new,
while at the same time being a continuation of what's been established in the past.
The opening of "Lightyear" says that it was released in 1995 in the "Toy Story" timeline.
While it would have been easy for the film to completely ignore that detail later on,
it remains an active component of the overarching style.
A lot of the movie takes inspiration from even older sci-fi franchises like "Buck Rogers,"
but there are a number of details that feel specifically '90s in nature.
During Buzz's first hyperspeed test flight, for example, his autopilot system I.V.A.N.
starts malfunctioning. Buzz pulls I.V.A.N. out of the ship's system,
revealing it to be nothing more than a blocky plug-in, and blows into it like it's an NES
cartridge. Sure enough, the autopilot immediately starts to work as intended.
This isn't the only '90s detail that comes up, either. Many of the
digital readouts in "Lightyear" have the blocky overlays of '90s computer screens,
which makes sense for a movie that's supposed to have been released in 1995.
Obviously, "Lightyear" pulls from all eras of science fiction,
and it still feels like a contemporary animated movie in its overall structure. But still,
it's fun to see that the writers committed to the mid-1990s setting in multiple ways.
When you make a big-budget science fiction movie, it's only right that you pay homage
to the greats of the genre. "Lightyear" takes that obligation quite seriously, and one of its
most clever sci-fi references is to none other than Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey."
"Open the pod bay doors, HAL"
After things go wrong on his first hyperspeed test flight, Buzz frantically tries to get his ship
back to the ground in one piece. Unfortunately, his autopilot I.V.A.N. is more of a hindrance
than a help. In a fit of frustration, Buzz shouts the order, "Open the fuel door, I.V.A.N."
The computer responds, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that" -- a clear parody of HAL.
"I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that."
Not only is this a sneaky reference to "2001," but it's also a joke about how
Siri and other real-world voice-command and navigation systems often mishear things.
This isn't the first time that Buzz Lightyear has been part of a "2001" Easter egg.
In the opening sequence of "Toy Story 2," which is set in a video game starring the Space Ranger,
the film's iconic theme music is played via a series of floating platforms.
Clearly, someone at Pixar has a lot of love for "2001."
It's no secret that Pixar loves spoofing "Star Wars" in its Buzz Lightyear storylines. Zurg
is basically a big, silly, purple Darth Vader with Emperor Palpatine's title. And if you thought that
"Lightyear" would mark the end of Buzz's history of "Star Wars" references, you'd be very wrong.
The big one in "Lightyear" is more subtle than some of the ones in the "Toy Story" films,
but it should still stick out to those who know both series well. Sox, Buzz's robotic cat comrade,
is able to interface with various computer systems using a plug in the tip of his tail.
When he interfaces and starts "hacking," his head spins around in full 360 degrees and he starts
mumbling "beep boop beep boop" over and over again. It's a funny gag, if a pretty simple one,
and it seems like a pretty clear reference to R2-D2's own hacking habits in "Star Wars."
As the "Toy Story" movies constantly remind us, Buzz Lightyear is a cool toy.
He comes with "karate-chop action," a wrist-mounted laser, and a winged jetpack.
All of these special abilities come into play in "Lightyear" as well, with some proving crucial.
At multiple points throughout the film, Buzz shows off his "karate-chop action,"
which manifests as a far more versatile collection of martial arts skills. His wrist
laser doesn't come with the old Space ranger suit model, but in the third act of the film,
Buzz improvises by strapping a smaller standalone laser blaster to his wrist for easy use.
The weapon comes in handy in his battle with Zurg, and when the new Space Ranger suits
are revealed at the end of the film, they all have wrist lasers built in.
As for Buzz's winged jetpack, Pixar waits most of the movie to reveal it. Only when
the rest of the team is reentering the atmosphere in their ship does Buzz
pop the wings to try to help keep the vessel on course. It all works out,
though the reentry could definitely be classified as "falling with style."
"You're mocking me, aren't you?"
"Yeah, but in a supportive way."
"Lightyear" wouldn't be complete without a proper battle between Buzz and Zurg,
and that's exactly what the film delivers in its third act.
The two go head-to-head in a heated fight that spans Zurg's dreadnought
and even extends to the open space beneath it, with Buzz ultimately coming out victorious.
While not a carbon-copy, the "Lightyear" fight does have some similarities to the Zurg battles
in the "Toy Story" movies. For instance, the shot where Buzz jumps and front-flips over Zurg, then
turns to quickly fire a laser back, is taken right out of the Buzz Lightyear video game Rex plays at
the beginning of "Toy Story 2." Fortunately, the real Buzz has better luck than Rex.
And, of course, the last round of the rivals' duel in "Lightyear" — which takes place in the void of
space — features a classic exchange between the two. Zurg orders Buzz to "Prepare to die," and
Buzz retorts, "Not today, Zurg!" We all knew it was coming, but it's still fun to hear.
The ending of "Lightyear" foreshadows a bright future for Buzz, his friends,
and the Galactic Alliance. The Space Ranger Corps is reinstated with state-of-the-art tech,
and Buzz's team becomes officially sanctioned for high-priority missions.
Their first assignment? Head to the Gamma Quadrant of Sector 4 for some investigating.
That destination may ring familiar if you grew up on "Toy Story."
"I'm stationed up in the Gamma Quadrant of Sector 4, as a member of the elite
Universe Protection Unit of the SPACE RANGER Corps."
The location is mentioned again in "Toy Story 2," as it's the setting of Buzz's video game
battle with Zurg. It's nice to see Pixar staying so consistent with the silly lore
they've created over the decades. Since the Buzz toy has all the memories of his fictional self,
it makes sense that he'd have a strong association with this particular locale.
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