Everywhere you look, Hollywood’s biggest science-fiction, fantasy and action franchises have stopped exploring uncharted territory, and put themselves into reverse gear
You’ve got a friend … Buzz Lightyear in his own toy story, Lightyear– the best known line from any Pixar film, in fact – is Buzz Lightyear’s gloriously nonsensical catchphrase, “To infinity – and beyond!” It’s hardly surprising, then, that he says it once every 15 minutes in Lightyear, the new Pixar cartoon which is, supposedly, the sci-fi blockbuster which prompted Andy’s mother to buy him a Buzz action figure back in 1995.
Instead of another Toy Story film, we have a nostalgic trip back to Andy’s childhood viewing. Instead of another, we have a flashback to Gru’s childhood, too, in next month’s Minions: The Rise of Gru. Instead of a Star Wars episode recounting Rey, Finn, and Poe’s further adventures in a galaxy far, far away, we have several TV series set before The Force Awakens.
And just think of the latest Star Trek series. Once upon a time, the whole point of the programme was to boldly go where no one had gone before. That pioneering spirit infuses the sub-title of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which premiered on Paramount+ in May.