tek's rating:

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins (not rated)
BLOSC Wiki; Disney Wiki; IMDb; Pixar Wiki; Wikipedia
streaming sites: none that I know of.

This is a traditionally animated, direct-to-video movie that came out in 2000, and is set sometime after Toy Story 2. As in the "Toy Story" movies, Buzz Lightyear is voiced by Tim Allen. The movie was later broken up into the first three episodes of the TV series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, in which Buzz is voiced instead by Patrick Warburton. Also, the VHS and DVD versions of the movie contain a brief CGI scene set in Andy's bed room, featuring some of his toys, though that scene doesn't appear in the episodes of the TV series. Anyway, I first saw the movie on VHS sometime in the early 2000s, but didn't write a review until I got it on DVD in 2021. And by then, none of it was familiar to me at all.

There's an opening scene of Andy's toys preparing to watch the new Buzz Lightyear movie on VHS. Once it starts, they won't be seen again. So... Buzz and his partner, Warp Darkmatter (Diedrich Bader) are on a mission to rescue three LGMs (Little Green Men) who have gone missing. They uncover a hidden base belonging to Evil Emperor Zurg (Wayne Knight), and rescue the LGMs, but Warp sacrifices his life to allow Buzz to get away before the base explodes. After that, Buzz vows never again to work with a partner, because he doesn't want to put anyone else in danger.

Back at Star Command, Commander Nebula orders Buzz to accept a new partner, a Tangean princess named Mira Nova (Nicole Sullivan), but Buzz refuses. Meanwhile, the LGMs create an "experimental ranger," a robot called XR (Larry Miller), as a potential partner for Buzz. There's also a Jo-Adian janitor named Booster (Stephen Furst), who hopes to become a space ranger someday. Then, Zurg's newest henchmen, Agent Z, steals a mind-linking sphere called the Uni-Mind from the planet of the LGMs, and Zurg turns it evil, to power a ray he shoots at various planets to turn their inhabitants evil, finally turning the ray on Star Command itself. Buzz, Mira, XR, and Booster are the only ones not hit by the ray, so they must work together to foil Zurg's evil plan. Which, of course, they eventually succeed at, and Buzz realizes he needs partners, after all.

Well, I've left out plenty of details, including at least one major plot twist, but that's basically the story. I didn't like the movie as much as the series that follows it, but it was alright. Oh, and there's a closing credits theme song, "To Infinity and Beyond," performed by William Shatner.


animation index

Toy Story franchise
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films: Toy Story * Toy Story 2 * Toy Story 3 * Toy Story 4
specials & shorts: Toy Story Toons * Toy Story of Terror! * Toy Story That Time Forgot * Lamp Life
spinoffs: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins * Buzz Lightyear of Star Command * Lightyear