Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today we continue our Dino-Rama event as we look at the second of the two Toy Story specials that have aired on ABC. About two years ago, I looked at the Halloween special, Toy Story of Terror and had nice things to say about it. And last December, ABC aired a second holiday special, Toy Story That Time Forgot. Yeah, this really isn't a holiday special in the slightest. I could have saved this review for the Christmas season but the connection to Christmas is tangential at best as there is nothing Christmassy about this special save for the fact that it's set on December 27th, two days after Christmas. You could take out the Christmas aspect of the special and save for maybe, the new character, Angel Kitty, nothing would be lost. But that's fine, Toy Story of Terror is a great Halloween special and it's not set on Halloween but with Time Forgot, that isn't the case at all. Rather, the Christmas aspect feels shoved in but really, that is such a minor problem compared to a lot of the larger problems that I have with the special. Which I'll get into as I go over the review but there is one thing that I do kinda have to bring up regarding this special. This commercial...
Yeah, a commercial for Toy Story That Time Forgot action figures aired during this special and from my recollection, that is the only time that aired. Never again and perhaps because I'm not the intended demographic for these types of toys, I don't recall hearing about them after the special aired. Now, let me clarify something. I have no issue with this being a toy commercial as heck one of my favorite shows, My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic but the writers have been going beyond the characters being based on toys and telling good stories for five going on to six seasons now. And I don't know what happened here with Toy Story That Time Forgot, if the toys came first or if, the special came before it but other than the characters that we know from the film trilogy, none of the characters had much to them or it felt as though, the special was retreading familiar ground from the movies. With that out of the way, let's get to the plot.
The Plot
It's two days after Christmas at the Anderson household as we see Bonnie playing with her toys but one toy in particular isn't happy with how she is being played with. Enter Trixie.
But soon, Bonnie's mom mentions that it's time to go as Bonnie has a playdate at her friend, Mason's house but once there, we see that he got a new video game console for Christmas. And this is where we perhaps get the only good shot of the special as we see what it is like from a toy's-eye view to be tossed and once the toys get out, they decide to go and find their friends a la Mason's toys.
Once in there, however, they meet the Battlesaurs, who led by Reptillus Maximus and The Cleric. Cue evil bad guy over The Cleric as it's pretty obvious that he's the bad guy but as for Reptillus Maximus, Trixie becomes infatuated with him. And Reptillus, who really doesn't have much of a character in the special is curious about Trixie and her world.
Soon afterwards, our dino pals are taken and suited up with armor as their lack of armor disturbed The Cleric and from here, Buzz and Woody disappear from the special for a good while. And there's a good reason for that as they originally weren't supposed to be in this special. Heck, it was originally only supposed to be a 6 minute short starring Rex and Trixie.
When the special was planned as a 6 minute short film, it was only going to be Rex and Trixie who were going to go over to Mason's house with Bonnie. When John Lasseter convinced the film makers to make it a 22 minute Christmas special to give the characters and idea more screen time, he suggested that they add Woody and Buzz.
Which I honestly think would have worked better as none of the main Toy Story cast get anything to do in this special and shorts like Partysaurus Rex prove that supporting Toy Story characters can carry a story on their own. Granted, it needs to be a good story and this most certainly is not.
I will give the special this much, it is cool to see Rex and Trixie in this kind of armor. Let's come back to The Cleric for a second though, he unlike the rest of the Battlesaurs, the new toys that Mason got for Christmas knows that he is a toy and doesn't want the other Battlesaurs to know the truth but I have to question how that's possible as it has been shown numerous times in the Toy Story world that it takes a while for a toy to realize that they are in fact just a toy. And his main goal is to keep the Battlesaurs fighting and to destroy Mason's other toys. Why, so the Battlesaurs are the only toys that Mason has left? Well, that can't be it as he doesn't seen the point in playtime. It really doesn't make much sense. Ah well, soon afterwards, Trixie and her new love interest enter part of the playset known as the Arena of Woe as Trixie is shocked to see that Reptillus is brutally beating up Mason's old toys to the point, where he is tearing off the arms of a sock monkey. And then after she discovers this, Buzz and Woody are brought in to be the next victims and all Woody has to arm himself is a red crayon. Yeah, that's not going to help you much, sheriff.
And we also learn from Woody that the Battlesaurs have no ideas that they're toys. Oh and the robotic arms that have been placed on Rex, The Cleric is using them to control Rex and uses them to take Buzz Woody, and new character Angel Kitty hostage. Oh, Angel Kitty, I forgot to mention this character. Angel Kitty was a brand new character created solely this special and the only purpose of this character seemed to be to have a Christmas connection. Which again is tenuous at best as there is no need for this special to be set around the Holiday season. And soon Reptillus feels betrayed as he learns that Trixie has what The Cleric calls the Mark of Obedience, which in reality is is just Bonnie's name on her foot. The Cleric uses Rex to take the prisoners hostage and to their doom as he has Rex hold Buzz and Woody over a ventilation fan as he plans remotely control Rex to drop them down into the fan, so that they'll be torn apart.
Geez, special that's dark. Look, Toy Story isn't one to shy away from stuff like why? The main villain of this special was about to kill Buzz and Woody, just so that he could remain ruler of the Battlesaurs and that the other Battlesaurs never learn the truth. Is that really worth killing two living beings over? Seems rather drastic. Meanwhile, Trixie escapes and finds Bonnie and turns off the power core for Mason's game and through this convinces Reptillus of how great is to be played with and it doesn't matter how you played with as it more important to be there for your kid and he decides to turn off the power to the game and gives in and Bonnie finds him and plays with him and then Mason joins in and Reptillus enjoys his first play time. And this is how Buzz and Woody are saved. Special, you seriously have mood whiplash as you went from almost killing off the two main characters of the Toy Story franchise to a sweet and innocent playtime between two friends. That's like going from Mufasa's death to Genie singing Friend Like Me. It's such a switch in tone and mood, that to say it's jarring is an understatement. Through this according to The Pixar Wiki, the Battlesaurs learn that they don't need to fight all the time and we end the special with Trixie accepting that it doesn't matter how she's played as with as she is Bonnie's toy.
And Angel Kitty disappears as though the cat descended from high above the skies. Nah... Yeah, this special isn't very good.
Characters
One quick note, I will not be looking at Mason or Bonnie for characters as they served absolutely no purpose in the special.
Main Characters
Trixie voiced by Kristen Schaal
This special had a tough task ahead of it as it decided to take a character that was introduced in the last Toy Story movie and make her the main character. Did it succeed? Well, Kristen Schaal turned in an excellent performance voice wise but c'mon, she's Mabel Pines. So, of course, the voice acting was good but voice acting can only carry a character so far. Her arc in the special seemed rather petty. It was just her accepting that she's Bonnie's toy, no matter how Bonnie decides to play with her. There really isn't a whole lot that can be done with that concept. Compare that to the previous special, Toy Story of Terror, where Jessie had to overcome her fears in order to save her friends, most notably claustrophobia. The stakes there felt high and as though, if she didn't succeed that the Yodelling Cowgirl would never see her friends again. And yes, The Cleric was about to kill Buzz and Woody but for a rather stupid reason but even with the lives of Buzz and Woody on the line, that actually felt secondary to the main arc, which again is very weak for a main character in my opinion.
Reptillus Maximus voiced by Kevin McKidd
Reptillus' arc is something that this point is over 20 years old and any Toy Story fan can probably figure out, where his arc is leading as it is pretty much a copy of Buzz's arc from the very first Toy Story movie. Other than that, there isn't much to him as a character. He's apparently, a noble warrior but they don't give him any real depth.
Supporting Characters
Rex voiced by Wallace Shawn
I feel like Rex was only in this special because he's a dinosaur and that's it. There was no real need for him to be in this special other than the fact that he's a dinosaur and The Cleric used him to almost kill Buzz and Woody.
Buzz and Woody voiced Tim Allen and Tom Hanks
Special, if you weren't going to use Buzz and Woody, then why did you include them? Because other than them almost dying, these two had nothing to do in the special. Sure, Woody was the one that told Trixie that the Battlesaurs had no idea that they were toys but I'm pretty sure, you could have had Trixie find out on her own. You easily wasted two of the greatest Pixar characters of all time as this special did absolutely nothing with them and it came across as though, you only put them in there because they are the main characters of the Toy Story franchise.
Angel Kitty voiced by Emma Haduck
This character had even less of a purpose than Buzz and Woody, it felt like Angel Kitty was only in the special to give it a connection to Christmas but if you took out Angel Kitty, nothing would have been lost.
Villain
The Cleric voiced by Steve Purcell
Congratulations Sid, you are no longer, my least favorite Toy Story villain. I don't get this character, he wants to destroy all of Mason's toys but he doesn't see the point in play time as he wants "his" Battlesaurs to continually fight buy why? And this character really seems like a contradiction as he knows that he's a toy, even though for all the audience knows, he has only been out of his box for two days and the other Battlesaurs have no idea that they are just toys. So, how did he find out? This character just raises too many questions.
My Final Thoughts
Yeah, that about sums it up. This special isn't that good. It's not Cars 2 level bad but when compared to the trilogy and even Toy Story of Terror, this is one of the weakest things starring these characters. Now, this isn't the worst thing featuring the Toy Story characters as this existed.
This isn't as big a blemish as Toy Story: The Musical but I'm sorry, two cool scenes cannot save this stinker. Honestly, if you want to watch something featuring a Toy Story dino, go watch Partysaurus Rex as you'll have a blast with that, whereas there is no need that anyone ever needs to watch this. Join me next time as we look at...
Dinosaur (2000)
No comments:
Post a Comment