One famous Toy Story plot hole involving Buzz Lightyear has been officially addressed. Has it been solved? That will all depend on your point of view when looking at the evidence. Pixar is currently enjoying great success with the release of Soul, which has been getting rave reviews since its release on Christmas Day to Disney+ subscribers. As it turns out, there are more than a few Pixar plot holes that fans have wondered about over the years, and it looks like they might just have to stop thinking about them.
Just about anyone who has seen Toy Story more than once has wondered why Buzz Lightyear goes rigid when people are around if he doesn’t truly believe he is a toy. Soul director, and Pixar’s chief creative officer, Pete Docter, was recently asked about the Buzz plot hole, and his answer may surprise long-time fans who have always wanted the real answer about the character. You can read what Docter had to say below.
“We went through a lot of discussion on Toy Story, the first one, about like, ‘If Buzz doesn’t know he’s a toy, why does he go rigid when a kid walks in the room?’ We had a lot of explanations and talk about that, too. And in the end, nobody cared.”
Pete Docter went on to say, “I think the short answer is you just have to kind of try to guess where the audience is going to find importance, or at least push their interest there.” For Buzz Lightyear, Pixar just doesn’t really seem to care about that specific plot hole and they really don’t think anyone else should care either. “Our editor [for Soul], Kevin Nolting, on his big whiteboard in his office has ‘logic’ in a big X,” producer Dana Murray says. Basically, stop thinking logically when you’re watching a Pixar movie. “Stop going there,” Murray reiterates.
Pete Docter also directed Monsters Inc., which is where another popular Pixar plot hole comes from. In this instance, it’s about the Boo character and what her parents do while she is gone. Did they think she went missing? “This is one of these questions that we asked ourselves,” says Docter. “And we went through a lot of different machinations of writing scenes. We didn’t actually board any, but we felt like, OK, the audience doesn’t need to know this because Sulley doesn’t know. And we’re with Sulley. So who cares?”
When watching Pixar movies, Pete Docter wants the audience to go somewhere else and leave life behind for a little bit, while relating to the story at the same time. “I’d like to hope that the things that we’re talking about in the film &― you know, what is going on in our lives? What’s important? &― all of that will still be questions that we’re asking,” says Docter. Whatever the case may be, Pixar is at the top of their game, no matter how many plot holes fans keep finding. The interview with Pete Docter was originally conducted by the Huffington Post.
