TOY STORY THAT TIME FORGOT – A DVD Review by John Strange

 

TOY STORY THAT TIME FORGOT – DVD Review

 

John Strange

 

 

This entry in the Toy Story Universe was created and originally aired on TV in 2014.  The story centers on the Triceratops toy, Trixie (voiced by the wonderful Kristen Schaal) and her desire for Bonnie (Emily Hahn) to look at her and play with her as a dinosaur.  She is treated as everything but, including as a baby reindeer complete with red pipe cleaner antlers.  To really rub it in, a toy not previously appearing in the Toy Story films, a Christmas Tree ornament called Angel Kitty (Emma Hudak) is a dinosaur in Bonnie’s imagination.

 

Bonnie’s play date with Mason (R.C. Cope) brings Woody, Buzz, Rex, Trixie, and Angel Kitty into a crash landing (Bonnie’s back pack looks like a space shuttle) in a world inhabited by toys that don’t know what they are.  Mason must have rich parents because after opening and setting up an enormous Battle Saurs city complete with a plethora of inhabitants, his attention is swept away by a digital game system called Optimum X.

 

The gang leaves the back pack and begins to explore the room they crashed in.  The feeling that they are in a Sci-Fi movie was intentional on the part of the filmmakers   There are partially built buildings, even a bridge!  There are also lots of empty boxes for the new battle Saurs set.

 

Trixie soon finds that her love of the Battle Saurs endangers her friends.  The toys have never been used by Mason so they don’t realize they are toys.  They are terrorizing and killing the old toys in the “Arena of Woe”.  When Buzz, Woody, and Angel Kitty are dragged in to be the next victims, she is forced to escape and get Bonnie’s help to save them. 

 

Reptillus Maximus (Kevin McKidd), the war leader of the Battle Saurs (and Trixie’s love interest) pursues her.  During the pursuit she forces him to see that he came from a box but that doesn’t deter him.  Their scene in the room with the game system where Trixie has to make Reptillus understand about being a toy is very well played.  The folks at Pixar do an amazing job of allowing us to watch as he is slowly won over by the logic of the situation.

 

Once the two kids are “free” of the game system, they begin to play with the toys in a free-for-all event that emphasizes just how fertile young minds can be.  Reptillus finds that he loves being used as a toy, in fact it’s “glorious.”

 

Arriving back home the toys are reunited with their friends.  Trixie lets us know that she has realized that whether or not Bonnie ever uses her as a dinosaur or not is OK.  It is the play that is important. 

 

Throughout the story, Angel Kitty has given us several cryptic statements that all sound like what an angel would say.  Following her last statement, she disappears.  I guess her work to help Trixie find herself is done.

 

As I usually do, I found myself loving the story, the characters, and general feeling that all is right in the world.  With the blu-ray disk (and the digital HD), you get a little more of everything.  The extras take us through several levels of the thought behind the story.  Director Steve Purcell talks to us about the various approaches the made to the story and the character development.  Remember this is not a feature so a lot of the testing and deleted scenes were due to the 22 minute length of the piece to allow it to run in a half hour TV time slot.

 

He discusses how the story coalesced from its original somewhat (to me, anyway) darker feel and look to the final version.  The look of Reptillus Maximus started off almost crocodilian in appearance and moved through several iterations before finding the look that was used in the story.  The same processes were used to move the various scenes around until they came up with the final version.  They also show us the methods, the toolkit, they used to develop the story.

 

Steve and Derek Thompson (head of story) give us an excellent commentary track that helps us to see the behind the scenes thinking of the storytellers.  The deleted scenes are enlightening as we can see how the original story would have played out and why it was changed to reach its final format.

 

We are also treated to a short look at the team as they introduce the story to the fans at San Diego Comic-Con.  Lastly, there are two versions of a music video of the song “My Unexpected Friend”.  One is for a sing-along and the other is sung by Reptillus Maximus.  Both have the words done karaoke-style so you can sing along if you want.

 

This disk has a proud place in my collection right beside its feature brethren.  If you love the Toy Story films as much as I do, you will want this story in your collection as well.

 

 

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BRAND NEW: Should add to your DVD collection at any cost

SALE ITEM: Worth owning, but try to catch it a sale

SECOND HAND: Plan to get it, but wait to buy it used

RENTAL: Worth taking a look at, but not owning

COASTER: Pick it up at a garage sale and use it for drinks

PULL!: Makes a great Trap Shooting target