The Story of Pixar is a really interesting documentary on the process behind the making of Pixar’s movies. They had a lot of interesting specs on the original Toy Story, here’s a couple things I noticed.
They had a shot of the announcement that Disney accepted the film, and there were a couple familiar toys in the background; a Little Tikes Firetruck, a familiar bucket of army men, and a dinosaur. It interests me that there was a real-life incarnation of Rex and and Army Men.
Many unseen storyboard “black friday” reels. Some used storyboards were actually originally used with the old Woody.
I agree, The Pixar Story is a fantastic, well done documentery. I love the glimphes they give us at the history of our favorite Pixar films, in peticular Toy Story.
A book you might like Dinoco is “The Pixar Touch” by David. A. Price. You should check it out, if you already haven’t.
I second eje’s vouch for The Pixar Touch. It’s a very illuminating look at how a company can do business while still maintaining its artistic integrity. Not to mention it reveals (or rather, describes, since most of these are ‘open secrets’) some of the corporate feuds in the studio’s life, like the Katzenberg spat, the Monsters Inc copyright lawsuit, and the Steve Jobs/Michael Eisner saga, among others.
I really want to watch The Pixar Story, but unfortunately I’m not American and we don’t have ABC here. Is it available on home video Blu-Ray or DVD?
In the commentary of TS1 they said a Barbie in a prom dress and with a car was going to help Woody get out of Sid’s house, but they had issues with MATTEL
Ah, so Rex WAS based (partly) off of the Dino Riders toy. Now I see where the rumors came from. I forget, did Lee actively deny that, or did he just say that Rex wasn’t based off one source in particular?
Thanks for the suggestion, ellie-jessie-eve, I’ll be sure to check that out. One good book I’ve read was the Art of Pixar Shorts (or something like that). It documents the technical side of why shorts exist, and have very in-depth sections on each short from Walley B. to Mater and the Ghostlight.
Another thing I found interesting was the editing process behind Toy Story, as in addition to the story being rewritten, a lot of animation was trimmed down, and a LOT of scenes were cut. In random documentaries, they tend to show some kind of extended sequence that never quite made it in.
The Dino Riders toy was also used in one of the Silent Night Deadly Night sequels, so I recognized it. Rex could’ve also been based on the Dinosaurs and Cadillacs line of toys too. Trixie however, looks very much like the Dino Riders Triceratops. -Omar
I stumbled across a couple vids of the Dino-Riders in question. If you think about it too much, Rex does have a resemblance to the T-Rex from the set, but then again, they are both Green Tyranosaurus’. Pretty much same thing goes for Trixie as well. But the colors and sizes are pretty accurate, as well as the design on the tail of the T-Rex, it’s almost the exact shape but Rex’s is almost always in sideways so it doesn’t touch the ground.
It helps that the videos show the Toys without the armor/weapons and Riders, for comparison. They definently arn’t the same toys, but it is definently viable that they are the inspiration for Rex, and eventually Trixie as well. Anyway, just thought I’d share.
TDIT, it comes with the deluxe Wall-E 3-disc set, not by itself.
I love The Pixar Story. I’m sorry, but it made me cry multiple times. I liked how much it talked about Toy Story, but I think they talked way too much about Finding Nemo. Just my opinion, since I don’t think it’s a huge landmark in film history.
