Daily Dialogue — August 22, 2015

“To infinity and beyond.”

— Toy Story (1995), screenplay by Joss Whedon and Andrew Stanton and Joel Cohen & Alec Sokolow, original story by John Lasseter and Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Callback.

Trivia: Jeffrey Katzenberg often gave notes that he wanted more edge. Pixar presented an early draft of the film to Disney on November 19, 1993. The result was disastrous. The film was deemed unwatchable and John Lasseter recalls simply hanging his head in shame. It presented Woody as a “sarcastic jerk” who was constantly insulting the other toys. Katzenberg took Walt Disney Feature Animation president Peter Schneider in the hall after the screening and asked him why it was bad, Schneider responded that it “wasn’t theirs anymore.” Disney immediately shut down production pending a new script. The story team spent a week on a new script to make Woody a more likable character, instead of the “sarcastic jerk” he had been.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Nice use of a callback here. The first use of the line is provided by Buzz, repeating his catch phrase before he ‘flies’. This last time is delivered by Woody, a nifty way of showing how he has bought into his friendship with Buzz.