Toy Story has become one of those Hollywood franchises that will never die, like Star Wars, Batman or James Bond. Some of us wondered if stretching out the much-cherished adventures of Buzz, Woody and the gang to a fourth instalment in 2019 was pushing it too far, only to be proved completely wrong by the geniuses at Pixar all over again.
But now there’s Lightyear, the latest trailer for which dropped this week. And we find ourselves peering at it like the crew of the Nostromo inspecting Alien eggs. What is this strange concoction that appears to be a Toy Story movie of sorts, but one stretched out of all natural proportions, as if the movie screen has been dumped in a hall of mirrors?
Where are Tom Hanks’s Woody, Slinky Dog and Mr Potato Head? Why does Buzz sound like Captain America instead of Tim Allen? And who are all these space ranger types he seems to be hanging around with? Sunnyside Daycare this is not, even if Lightyear’s nemesis Zurg looks reasonably familiar at times.
As has now been firmly prefaced by Pixar, the Buzz Lightyear of Lightyear is a very different figure to the one essayed by Allen, even if his costume and general air of heroism are somewhat recognisable. This Buzz is the real-life space ranger that inspired the toy bought by young Andy to be his latest plaything way back in 1995. He is therefore not the lovably hubristic figure of fun we meet in the first Toy Story movie, nor the still pretty silly but at least vaguely self-aware character from subsequent episodes, but a real-life, bona fide space hero, or at least a fictional one.
Still with me? No? Well that’s hardly surprising, because for the best part of three decades, in fact since the very birth of CGI animated feature films, Buzz Lightyear has been defined by his very toy-ness. To expect us to reimagine him entirely after 26 years is a stretch indeed. There are certainly going to be a lot of kids with furrowed brows in multiplexes come June (if Disney, as we must hope it will, allows cinemas to show the movie).
But perhaps I’m being a bit mealy mouthed here. This is, after all, Pixar. The last time they took us beyond Earth’s borders in a big way we were treated to the nostalgic cosmic joy of Wall-E, a paean to 1970s and 80s space and sci-fi movies with an environmentally conscious message 100 times purer and more vivid than the likes of Avatar. If anyone can work out how to completely reinvent one of the defining figures of an entire animated genre, it is Pete Docter (the film’s writer and Pixar’s chief creative officer).
Moreover, Pixar is only doing the opposite thing to the makers of The Lego Movie. And if Buzz can be brought back as a real, live human (or at least an animated, fictional take on one – stay with me!) there ought to be scope for endless further meta-reimaginations. Perhaps Quentin Tarantino can be persuaded to make a bloodthirsty, B-moviesque prequel based on the rip-roaring adventures of the Roundup Gang, or someone else can develop a Disney+ show based on the animated, fictional porker that inspired Hamm the talking piggy bank. Maybe the whole thing can work in reverse (again) and a toy version of Luke Skywalker could maybe turn up in Toy Story 5!
The only question here is how many Russian doll Buzzes we have to open before we find the real one … At what level of the Toy Story metaverse do we find the genuine article, and not just another copy of a copy of a copy? Think I’m making this stuff up? There are two versions of Zarg in the new trailer alone, for chrissakes, a robot one and an apparently real one. Do they play with the toy version when done conquering planets for the day?
It’s all so bewildering, and it seems highly unlikely that the release of Lightyear this summer will do anything much to clear up the mess. Grownups, prepare for confused but happy questions as the credits roll. But be aware at the same time that all these heady, self reflexive twists and turns won’t stop junior asking for a Buzz Lightyear next Christmas. There’s just one question: do you buy the toy based on the toy, or the toy based on the guy who inspired the toy?
