One week until the theatrical release of Lightyear on June 17, Beyond Infinity: Buzz and the Journey to Lightyear is now available on Disney+. This exciting Lightyear documentary dives into the beginnings of the toy version of Buzz and how he transformed into the human-style character we’ll see in Lightyear.
IS ‘BEYOND INFINITY’ SPOILER-FREE?
In case you were wondering, the documentary is spoiler-free (as long as you’ve watched the trailers).
WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
The 34-minute documentary explores the history of Buzz Lightyear and opens with Tim Allen in the vocal booth for the iconic film Toy Story. But, even before Tim could add his voice to the character, the Pixar team was crafting Buzz in various forms of concept artwork.
BUZZ’S ORIGINAL NAMES
Originally going by names like Lunar Larry or Tempus from Morph, the Pixar Archives crew talks about some of Buzz’s lesser-known working names, like:
- TECOR (which stood for Telegalactic, Earthbound, Cyborg of Rimboz)
- TOLAR
- FAXOL
- MICROZ
Could you imagine Buzz having been named TECOR? (Side thought — I guess you can see the beginnings of why WALL-E had a name that was also an acronym.)
Along the way, listen in as Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich, Bob Pauley, and more talk about the design and story origins of Buzz. As the documentary continues, you’ll hear from Dean Kelly (story artist), Jason Headley (writer), Dean Heezen (concept art), and so many more from the editing team, production staff and products team.
BRINGING THE NEW BUZZ TO LIFE
You can really see the care that Lightyear director, Angus MacLane and the whole team put into taking the iconic toy version of Buzz and crafting him into the human version in the upcoming film. Some of the animators even dove into all the small details Angus pays attention to — like animating specific hand and finger movements.
For the small details, Angus said, “I arrive at a picture of the whole [i.e., Lightyear] through a series of connected details.” We truly appreciate that attention to detail. That’s what Pixar is all about and one of the many reasons we’re so excited for Lightyear.
HOW TO WATCH ‘BEYOND INFINITY’
Check out how to watch and advance screening of Lightyear and be sure to check out Beyond Infinity: Buzz and the Journey to Lightyear on Disney+ now.
Then, check out 8 awesome facts about Lightyear in our earlier post.
