Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins is a 2000 American animated direct-to-video film, which originally serves as a spin-off of the "Toy Story" franchise and was released on August 8, 2000. The film later led to a television series, "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command", which aired on UPN and ABC from October 2000 to January 2001, and a CGI-animated feature film, "Lightyear", to be theatrically released in the United States in June 2022. The film was nominated for two Video Premiere Awards: Best Animated Video Premiere  and Best Animated Character Performance for Allen. Plot. The film opens as a framing device (taking place after the Pixar film "Toy Story 2"), with Andy's toys watching the VHS copy of the movie. Buzz Lightyear and his partner Warp Darkmatter are searching for three missing Little Green Men (L.G.M.), a noosphere-dwelling race working as scientists for Star Command's Universe Protection Unit. They discover the lost L.G.M. in a hidden lab belonging to the evil Emperor Zurg. Buzz and Warp break in and rescue the L.G.M., keeping Zurg's robots busy while they escape. Zurg triggers the  self-destruct mechanism; Warp gets pinned under debris and forces Buzz to leave just before the explosion happens, apparently killing Warp. Stricken with survivor guilt over Warp's death, Buzz refuses a new partner, but is given a Star Command recruit, Princess Mira Nova from Tangea, whom Commander Nebula trains. With the power of "ghosting", Nova is nearly invincible, but Buzz is still reluctant. Buzz later prevents a well-meaning janitor named Booster from being fired. In Zurg's fortress, a new henchman called Agent Z arrives with a multi-weapon robotic arm. Zurg learns of a huge orb on  the L.G.M. homeworld called the Uni-Mind, responsible for the telepathic link between them; he sends his robots to capture it. The L.G.M. build a robot soldier called XR, who is offered to Buzz as a partner as he can be repaired after any damage. They get a telepathic message about Zurg's attack. When Buzz and XR arrive on the L.G.M. planet, Agent Z confronts them and destroys XR while Zurg steals the Uni-Mind. Unable to think clearly, the L.G.M. rebuild XR, but with a mind of his own. Commander Nebula decides to launch a full-scale assault  on Planet Z, despite Mira's argument that a solo ranger could go to stop Zurg with the prototype Alpha-One. Zurg corrupts the Uni-Mind into a "Mega-Ray" to bend everyone to Zurg's will. Mira steals the Alpha-One prototype spacecraft to fight Zurg, and Buzz, who wanted to follow her plan, pursues Mira in his own craft, unaware Booster and XR have stowawayed. Eventually, Buzz catches Mira and stores Alpha-One in his spaceship's cargo bay; Booster and XR are then discovered. Zurg's Mega-Ray subverts several planets in quick succession before turning it  on Star Command. Buzz, Mira, Booster, and XR discover all of the staff, including Nebula, have been suborned by Zurg; they flee in Buzz's Star Cruiser. Zurg uses Star Command's entire arsenal, planting a bomb on Buzz's ship. Buzz and the others escape in the Alpha-One just before the bomb detonates, destroying the cruiser. Zurg presumes Buzz dead. Booster accidentally causes the ship to crash-land on Planet Z. There, Buzz, insistent on finishing the mission alone, orders the others to leave. Buzz fights Agent Z, but is incapacitated and delivered to Zurg when Agent Z  reveals himself to be Warp, who, in addition to having faked his death, was secretly working for Zurg for years as a double agent. Buzz dictates his "final log entry", a coded distress call to Mira, Booster and XR. Zurg plans to use the Mega-Ray on Buzz, but XR and Booster intervene in time to rescue him as it fires. Booster and Mira destroy Warp's mechanical arm after Booster lands on him. Buzz fights Zurg, who escapes before Buzz's allies can arrest him. Booster and XR arrest Warp and skydive from Zurg's exploding tower. Mira uses  her "ghosting" power to push Buzz to the core of the Uni-Mind and restore it to normal, freeing the suborned peoples and leaving Zurg momentarily helpless and apparently destroyed. The unity of the L.G.M. is restored and Warp is taken to prison for treason. Buzz, having finally admitted that he cannot work alone, creates a new team called "Team Lightyear" with XR, Mira and Booster. They fly to the galaxy and shout "To infinity and beyond!", closing the film. Production. Set in the fictional universe of the Disney/Pixar film series "Toy Story", the film inspired a line  of Buzz Lightyear toys. The opening computer-animated sequence was created by Pixar, while the main parts of the film are traditionally animated by Walt Disney Television Animation. It was the only production that was a spin-off of a Pixar film until 2013's theatrical "Cars" spin-off film "Planes" produced by Disneytoon Studios. The movie was written and produced by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle, who would later go on to create "Kim Possible" for Disney Channel. Allen, Shawn, Ermey, and Ranft reprised their roles from the films. Woody is voiced by Jim Hanks, the brother of his  original voice actor Tom Hanks, and Hamm is voiced by Andrew Stanton instead of John Ratzenberger. Originally, Patrick Warburton voiced Buzz for the film, but when it was released to video, he was replaced by Allen. When the movie was later aired as the first three episodes of the television show "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command", the opening sequence in Andy's bedroom was removed, and Warburton's vocal performance replaced Allen's. During the film's end credits, the song, "To Infinity and Beyond", was arranged by Randy Petersen and Tim Heintz and performed by William Shatner and the  Star Command Chorus. Reception. Bruce Fretts of "Entertainment Weekly" rated the film D+ and called it "a straight-to-tape travesty" that is cheaply animated compared to its predecessor. Susan King of the "Los Angeles Times" described the animation as "a cut above the norm" for direct-to-video films, and she said the script is "breezy and funny".