Lightyear: 5 Reasons It's Not The Movie Andy Watched In Toy Story (And 3 Reasons It Is)
7. Why It Is: It Has Only One Planet Location And It Looks Earth-Like
Lightyear is being criticized by film critics and fans because despite the limitless potential of Buzz having adventures on multiple alien planets as a space ranger, the entire movie is set on only one planet that is not so different from Earth - with rocky deserts on some parts and jungle forests on others.
We need to remember that Lightyear is pretending to be a 1995 live-action sci-fi movie at the latest. Before then, sci-fi movies needed to get creative with the kinds of settings they could achieve. Think of a sci-fi movie in the ‘90s where characters are pretending to be on another planet, and chances are, the planet looks like an Earth desert.
The first Star Wars movie, despite the infinite possibilities of multiple planets, featured only one, and it looks like a regular desert. By the time of Return of the Jedi, the planets are only a desert planet and a forest planet.
We may not like it, but Lightyear is going for historical accuracy here. It is only natural that the characters of Lightyear are trapped on a planet that looks like Earth’s landscape talking about the possibility of going somewhere else - Cut to Luke Skywalker looking at the twin suns of Tatooine.