Buzz Lightyear

Concept and creation

Buzz Lightyear's name was inspired by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the Moon. Aldrin acknowledged the tribute when he pulled a Buzz Lightyear doll out during a speech at NASA, to rapturous cheers. A clip of this can be found on the Toy Story 10th Anniversary DVD. Aldrin did not, however, receive any endorsement fees for the use of his first name.

Regarding the design of Lightyear, his creator, John Lasseter, is on record as saying he wanted to create an action figure in the line of G.I. Joe for Toy Story and decided upon a spaceman figure. He attributes his design to the influence of Apollo astronauts, in particular their clear helmets, skullcaps, communication devices and white suits.

The purple and lime green color scheme were his and his wife's own favorite colors respectively. The looks of television actor Ed Kemmer are also believed to be a prototype for Lightyear. Kemmer played Commander Buzz Corry in Space Patrol, one of the first science-fiction series on US TV.

Films

In Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear is first seen when given as a gift to Andy from his mother at his birthday party. He also believes that he is a real space ranger, rather than a toy. Previously, the distinction of being Andy's favorite toy was held by Woody (a cowboy doll), but Buzz quickly becomes the new favorite; as a result, Woody is left to develop animosity toward Buzz. The effects of Woody's jealousy eventually leads them to be captured by Sid, a child who enjoys torturing toys and lives next door to Andy's house. While imprisoned in Sid's house, Buzz sees his own television ad and finds out he is "made in Taiwan," thus convincing him that he is a toy and not a space ranger. Upon understanding this, Buzz becomes depressed, but Woody eventually convinces him that it is a good thing. Buzz regains hope, and the two work together to escape, return to Andy, and become friends.

In Toy Story 2, Buzz assumes the leadership of the toy gang in order to rescue Woody, who has been captured by a greedy toy collector named Al, who is intent on selling Woody to a museum in Japan. On the journey, Buzz accidentally comes across a newer Buzz Lightyear toy with a utility belt. When he tries to take the belt, the newer Buzz (who, like Andy's Buzz in the first film, believes he is a real space ranger) attacks him, believing that he is a disobedient space ranger. The two Buzzes fight and Utility Belt Buzz traps Andy's Buzz in a cardboard rocket ship similar to the one he originally came in. Soon the other toys find Utility Belt Buzz and mistake him for Andy's Buzz, despite Buzz's cries of "You've got the wrong Buzz, YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG BUZZ!". Utility Belt Buzz joins the gang after Rex tells him that he knows how to defeat Emperor Zurg (in a video game.) Andy's Buzz eventually breaks free from his cardboard prison and tracks down Utility Belt Buzz and the rest of the toys. After arguing with Utility Belt Buzz over who the real Buzz is, he eventually convinces them that he is the real Buzz by showing them the bottom of his boot, which has Andy's name written on it. Soon after Buzz and the gang manages to rescue Woody along with Jessie and Bullseye. At the end of the film, we see that Buzz has developed a crush on Jessie.

In Toy Story 3, Woody, Buzz, and the other toys accidentally end up in a daycare center after a mistake when Andy is packing for college. The daycare center toys are led by the teddy bear Lotso, who is later revealed as manipulative, untruthful, misunderstood, and some might say "evil". Buzz is caught spying on one of his secret meetings. To stop Buzz, Lotso switches Buzz back to "demo mode" causing him to again believe he is a space ranger and turn against his friends. When escaping, Woody and the other toys accidentally switch Buzz to "Spanish mode" causing confusion for many characters and comedic character changes and opportunities for the audience. Buzz turns back to his normal self after he nearly gets crushed by a television set in a garbage truck. After making their way back to Andy's house, Buzz, Woody, Jessie, and the other toys are given by Andy to a little girl named Bonnie. The end shows the toys embracing their new life with Bonnie.

In Toy Story 4, Buzz will return where he and the others will help Woody reunite with Bo Peep.

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command

In Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, Buzz is a space ranger working for Star Command, protecting the universe from Evil Emperor Zurg. He works in a team alongside Mira Nova, a Tangean princess with phasing powers, Booster, a janitor from the planet Jo-Ad, and XR, a robot created by the Little Green Men (the aliens from the movies, LGM for short). This version of Buzz is completely different from the one in Toy Story, in looks and personality. Buzz also has had many love interests on the show. He once had a friend and partner named Warp Darkmatter, however, he later joined Zurg and became his primary agent. Buzz also seems to never take off the purple headwear that he has with his Space Ranger uniform. Aside from his regular catch phrase, he has a habit of telling villains that "Evil never wins!"

Other appearances

Buzz also appears in Finding Nemo. He is also seen in Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry and Partysaurus Rex, and two specials: Toy Story of Terror! and Toy Story That Time Forgot. Buzz also appeared in two episodes of Family Guy both times in cutaway gags set up by Stewie Griffin. In the 2013 episode Chris Cross, after Stewie has seriated Brain Griffin with You Needed Me, he complains that he invited Buzz to watch and he did not show up. This cuts to Buzz talking with a woman at the bar. In the 2017 episode The Finer Strings, when Brain insists that Carter is his friend, Stewie says "That's what Woody thought about Buzz Lightyear." This leads to a cutaway gag where Woody catches Buzz making out with Bo Peep.

Characteristics

Buzz Lightyear is known for his bravery and courage. Buzz believes that following rules is the way people should live their life. Though a great leader, at times he exhibits rather unemotional, erratic, and impulsive behaviour, a triumvirate of his biggest character flaws. Buzz is trained in several forms of martial arts and is a highly skilled warrior in hand-to-hand combat. Being in peak physical condition, Buzz makes a perfect space ranger and is an example to many. Perhaps unexpectedly, Buzz Lightyear the space ranger toy enjoys his closest personal relationships with two cowboy dolls: his best friend in the trilogy is Sheriff Woody Pride and by the end of Toy Story 2, he has developed a crush on Jessie the Cowgirl, which is actualized with their mild romance in Toy Story 3.

Buzz wears a high-tech space suit, similar to those of modern-day astronauts though more streamlined and iconic. The suit chest features a control panel. On the left hand side of the suit, a large red button activates the suit's flight system, which are two purple wings with candy cane lining, and green and red wing tips. The buttons on the right of the suit have numerous functions such as contacting Star Command, shooting grappling hooks, and activating full throttle. On the toy Buzz of movies however, all they do is make Buzz say different catch phrases. Buzz's suit also protects against the vacuum and cold of space. It can also translate all he says into any language even an outer space dialect. A retractable helmet, when activated, covers Buzz's head and allows him to breathe in space or on planets lacking a sufficient supply of oxygen. The left arm of the suit has a panel that flips open to reveal a display that contains a mission log in the wrist area to record history and provide records. The right arm contains the weapon system which projects an unusually strong and powerful red-colored laser out of the small cannon on the back of the wrist. Buzz has a utility belt as an upgrade to suit. It has various things such as anti-gravity servos, magnets for climbing purposes, and a grappling hook.

Action figure

Toy figure, Buzz Lightyear, with packaging, licensed from the film Toy Story, plastic / cardboard, made for Thinkway Toys in China, 1995-1999. The Buzz Lightyear figure was manufactured by Thinkway Toys, New York between 1995-1999. An enhanced, newer model was released in 2009 to coincide with the Toy Story 3-D Double Feature. Originally, Tim Allen's voice was on the action figure. The newer models feature a voice actor who sounds similar to Allen.

The Toy Story Action Figure, Buzz Lightyear was subject to mass sales in the Christmas after the film's release, mainly in the United States and United Kingdom. In 1995, Thinkway didn't think that Toy Story would be that popular hence didn't make enough dolls to meet demand, as referenced in Toy Story 2. When Toy Story 3 came out they made 2 more Buzz Lightyear action figures for the Toy Story Collection, one normal one and an extra one with the utility belt from Toy Story 2. Produced by Thinkway Toys also with the spaceship box from the movies.

In May 2008, NASA and Disney announced that an original Thinkway Toys' Buzz Lightyear action figure would fly aboard the space shuttle Discovery on mission STS-124. The 12-inch toy was to remain on the International Space Station for six months, where it would take part in an experiment and appear in a video downlink from space. The flight was arranged as part of the Toys In Space program that began in 1985.

The mission launched with Buzz aboard the NASA space shuttle Discovery (STS-124) on May 31, 2008, to celebrate the opening of Toy Story Midway Mania at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Disney California Adventure Park theme parks, with the ultimate destination of the International Space Station (ISS). The action figure "ate" dinner with the 10 astronauts and cosmonauts and was seen peering out a window aboard the ISS. The action figure stayed aboard the space station for a period of six months as part of a NASA toys-in-space educational program.

The Buzz Lightyear action figure returned from the space station on Sep 11, 2009 aboard mission STS-128.

In October 2009, Thinkway Toys released a replica Buzz Lightyear figure based on the figure in the Toy Story movies as part of their Toy Story Collection series of toys. This Buzz Lightyear was much more accurately detailed than the other Buzz Lightyear figures and it has features similar to the figure seen in the movie with similar pop-out wings complete with blinking lights at the wing tips, laser, wrist communicator and the figure has over 65 phrases with original voice. However, the figure lacks the karate chop action. The figure also comes with a Certificate of Authenticity and comes packaged in the spaceship packaging as seen in the movies.

In 2010, Lego created a Buzz Lightyear action figure. The Lego set is number 7592 and has 205 pieces. When the figure is completely built it has articulating head, arms, hands, torso, legs, feet, wings and visor.

In 2010 Lego created a Buzz Lightyear mini-figure it was released in two variants. Both variants featured the same molded elements with different printing both mini-figures had a total of five new molded elements for the minifigure being the head, the two winged pieces, the head cover and the torso of his spacesuit. One being the standard variant to represent the "clean" Buzz Lightyear. This minifigure was featured in 7 sets : 30073, 7593, 7598, 7597, 7590, 9002700 (watch set) and a magnet set (852949) featuring Buzz, Woody and a pizza planet alien. The other variant was the "dirty" version of Buzz Lightyear as seen in Toy Story 3. This mini-figure was featured in 1 set which was 7599. This variant featured the same Buzz mini-figure with printed on dirt stains. In 2016 a new version of Buzz Lightyear was created for the Lego mini-figures Disney series. This mini-figure featured new prints for legs and arms of the minifigure and removed the Star Command logo from the chest of the torso piece. The most noticeable difference between this mini-figure and the 2010 release was the mini-figure head which is now a classic styled mini-figure head and not a molded piece.

Cultural impact

On October 2007, readers of Empire voted him No. 1 of the Top 20 Greatest Pixar Characters. They also rated him the 94th greatest movie character of all time.

Buzz's classic line “To infinity… and beyond!” has seen usage not only on T-shirts, but among philosophers and mathematical theorists as well. A book about the history of infinity from 1991 (4 years before Toy Story), by Eli Maor Lucia uses the phrase for its title. Hall of The Humanist linked the film's plot to an interpretation of humanism. She compared the phrase to "All this and heaven, too!", indicating one who is happy with a life on Earth as well as having an afterlife. The 2008 quadruple platinum song "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé includes the lyric "...and delivers me to a destiny, to infinity and beyond," a reference which was pointed out by alt-country singer Jeff Tweedy of the band Wilco during a 2010 solo performance in Chicago. Also in 2008, astronauts took an action figure of Buzz Lightyear into space on the Space Shuttle "Discovery" as part of an educational experience for students while stressing the catchphrase. The action figure was used for experiments in zero-g. Also in 2008, the phrase made international news when it was reported that a father and son had continually repeated the phrase to help them keep track of each other while treading water for 15 hours in the Atlantic Ocean.