If you heard someone shout, “Come in Star Command!,” what is the first thing you’d think of? More than likely, you’d recall the bold and self-confident space ranger, Buzz Lightyear.
In the year 2000, after the intergalactic success of Toy Story and Toy Story 2, Disney and Pixar began producing a hand-drawn animated series based on the wildly popular, Buzz Lightyear. The two-season series followed Buzz (an experienced Space Ranger) and a team of new recruits as they attempt to keep peace among the Galactic Alliance. Of course, peace can’t be all that easy when the Evil Emperor Zurg is on the loose.
Like most artistic projects, the show went through changes and challenges along its path to airing on television and that got Jace Diehl thinking that he should reach out to Executive Producer and Director of the show, Tad Stones, to dive in a little deeper.
Check out the Tad Stones interview embedded below or directly on Jace’s YouTube channel as Tad explores the development of the series, shares some great concept artwork, and our favorite part — when they discuss the early brainstorm sessions while the series was in development.
From the early concepts which were explored, we would probably have been most intrigued to see more from Combat Carl’s Action Adventures or the Little Green Men series, but the alternate wild-west Los Angeles show which centered on Woody seems like it may have been a little too far reaching for us. Nonetheless, it was extremely interesting to see the concept art and hear Tad explain these ideas.
Of course, any of the show ideas would have been a lot of fun and it was also great to hear that Pixar employee (and voice of the Little Green Men in the Toy Story films), Jeff Pidgeon was involved as consultant on the series.
Thanks to Jace for giving us a heads up about his great interview as well as passing along the concept artwork to feature in this post – be sure to check out more of his videos on his YouTube channel.
HOW TO WATCH
So, now that you’ve explored even more about this almost 20-year old project, how can you watch the show? At this point, you can only watch the first three episodes (which was also the direct-to-video release called Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins), or dig a few up low-quality versions up on YouTube.
But, there is hope. As Disney+ continues to expand its catalog, additional shows and series like this one can be added. Although it’s not streamable as of today, you can request the show by going to the Disney+ Help Center page, clicking “Give Feedback,” and finally selecting the drop-down option of “Request a film or show.” Then, all you have to do is let them know you’d like to watch Buzz Lightyear of Star Command on Disney+.
Watch to chat even more about Buzz Lightyear of Star Command? Head over to the Pixar Post Forum and chat more about the series.
Pixar Post — T.J.
