`Lightyear'
to a mistake, Buzz (now voiced by Chris Evans) toils over his miscalculation by trying to devise a new hyperspeed crystal to get home. It's a process that requires him to go on repeat missions that slingshot him four years into the future.
Buzz never ages but he loses much in those botched time-traveling attempts since others do, including his more well-rounded commander Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba). Later, it's up to her daughter Izzy (Keke Palmer) and a ragtag crew dubbed the Junior Zap Patrol to help sort this mess out — if they can pull themselves together.
One of the refreshing aspects of “Lightyear” is the diversity reflected onscreen. The film also includes a quick lesbian kiss between Alisha and her wife, both of whom are Black. It's the briefest of smooches, and it almost wound up on the cutting room floor.
Disney honchos always backed the notion of the couple being gay since it furthered the storyline in reflecting the lonely existence of Buzz's life, says the film's producer Galyn Susman, of Oakland.
“They were all supportive of that,” Susman recalls. “But there was definite pushback on having that kiss.”
Shortly after news got out that the kiss was clipped, Disney found itself being the object of serious pushback from LGBTQ employees and allies, angered in the wake of Florida's “Don't Say Gay” legislation, which Disney has opposed.
The result? “We got the opportunity to put it back in and that was really exciting,” Susman said.
That kiss — the first same-sex smooch in a Pixar film — isn't the only quality that differentiates “Lightyear” from other animated releases. The strong secondary characters that are part of the Junior Zap Patrol — gruff female senior Darby Steel (Dale Soules) who wields quite a rap sheet; Mo Morrison (Taika Waititi), a slacker without a cause, and, of course, Izzy who has her own set of issues — represent a wider mix of characters than you'll find in most animated films.
It continues a trend for the Emeryville-based studio of casting more BIPOC characters in its features, which was also the case in 2020's “Soul” and 2022's “Turning Red.”
“Representation is really important to me because often that's how you experience new cultures,” said MacLane, a native of Portland. “Science fiction has always been at the forefront of that kind of exposure.”
Growing up watching syndicated reruns of “Star Trek” — which was the first major TV show to feature a Black actor, Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura), in a prominent role — and “Sesame Street” fostered that in him. Nowadays, he says, “a lack of diversity seems antiquated.”
He found evidence of a whiter world while watching one of the series he loves — Peter Jackson's “The Lord of the Rings” — with his kids.
“It's really quite white … It was 20 years ago and there's been a lot of change,” he said. As for “Lightyear,” “It's inextricably a product of its time.”
One of the byproducts of our present time unfortunately happens to be widespread disharmony, with people pursuing individual and not collective goals.
“Lightyear” expresses the importance of teamwork and also respecting each other's strengths and fears and backgrounds.
“I'd always been attracted to `Star Trek' and `Star Wars,' and those are films about people working together … and they had a tremendous impact on me,” says MacLane. “I think that this film is a metaphor for `Lightyear's' production … like the reason he jumps in time for four years is because that's how long it takes to make a movie.”
While marketing materials focus on how the individual served as the lightning rod of the production, the truth is that it took a Pixar village to create “Lightyear” — which is true for other features developed by the studio.
“It's really a collective effort of hundreds of artists,” MacLane said. “I think we want to, in literature and stories, believe in the individual. But the reality is that often it's a dedicated group of individuals who come together to make something.”
It took a lot of input from others to create two of the most memorable characters accompanying Buzz on his self-discovery journey: the cute robot cat Sox and the complex Izzy.
Buzz's scene-stealing sidekick wasn't going to be of the super-smart feline persuasion at first.
“Like for a hot minute, it was a helper monkey because of the history of simians and space flight,” MacLane said.
The reason Buzz required a wingcat after all became quite obvious, Susman said. He needed a consistent companion that wouldn't age and could understand what was going on in his perfectionist head.
One quality they didn't want to bring aboard was snark. They were more interested in the kind of heartwarming connection that R2-D2 had with Luke Skywalker or Slinky Dog had with Woody in “Toy Story,” he said.
“I felt like there was an opportunity for comedy in earnestness. There's a lot of sarcasm, which can be funny in the moment but ultimately it's like burning your furniture to heat your house in winter and having nothing to sit on in the summer.”
Sox was easy to pin down; the character of Izzy not so much.
“She's not a one-note goofy character,” he said. “Izzy was the hardest because she had to do the most emotionally.”
The delicate balance she required — being the granddaughter of an important figure from Buzz's life who left such an indelible mark on him — required an actor who could negotiate Izzy's past and present. They found that in Palmer, who's starring next in Jordan Peele's “Nope.” She blew them away in the first session.
“There were questions about the character, as in were we doing this right … until Keke Palmer came along,” MacLane said.
Now that Buzz commands a stand-alone feature, what about his buddy Woody? Will he lasso a solo animated spotlight?
Just mosey on to different cinematic pastures, pardner.
“For me, I'm so obsessed with Buzz and sci-fi and I'm less excited about Woody from that standpoint,” MacLane says. “I feel like we know Woody where he's from and his corny show.”
With Buzz, there are brave new worlds worth exploring, and in “Lightyear” he not only gets lost on one, he finds himself in the process.