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Little Secrets
Title card.
Production Information
Original Airdate October 5, 2000
Ep. Number 004
Prod. Code 020
Producer(s)
  • Tad Stones
  • Mark McCorkle
  • Bob Schooley
Director(s) Victor Cook
Story Editor(s) Kevin Hopps
Story by
Writer(s) Nicholas DuBois
Studio Sae Hahn Production Co.
Series Continuity
Previous XL
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Image Gallery (1) | Transcript

Little Secrets is the fourth episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. It first aired on October 5, 2000, and is the twentieth episode in production.

Synopsis[]

Everyone has secrets to hide. Booster sneaks in a plant from Rhizome that behaves like a monster. XR sneaks in children for private tours of Star Command. Mira, instead of completing her paperwork, throws it in the trash. Meanwhile, Buzz is charged with hunting a spy on Star Command.

Plot[]

Darting between trees and building-tall flowers, a figure dressed in military camouflage dodges blasts of energy from the surrounding flora. Everything attacks him; from the flowers, to the lily-like pads and the tree thorns. He is nearly overcome when giant roots burst from the ground, but he clambers upon one and uses his goggles to zoom in on his target: an encampment of sorts with a domed building in its center. Using a zip-line to secure himself, he slides down the rope and penetrates the encampment, but upon reaching the ground is surrounded by laser motion detectors. With a series of leaps and backflips, he reaches his target... but fails to react quick enough to the thorny roots that burst out of the ground and form a cage around him, trapping him.

Rhizomians

Professor Triffid with other Rhizomians.

A voice welcomes him to Rhizome; it is Professor Triffid, accompanied by three other Rhizomians. Triffid frees him from the cage, and the infiltrator admits to the professor's organic security system being odd, but effective, pulling off his mask to reveal himself as Buzz Lightyear. Triffid assures him that vege-genetic engineering is the way of the future. Mira shows up then, performing a series of martial arts movements dressed in camouflaged combat gear, wanting to test out the system too, but Buzz tells her there is no need; the security system gets Star Command's highest four-star rating. Triffid and Buzz shake on it, although Triffid hopes that one day there will be no need for security systems at all.


They are interrupted by XR and Booster, the robot pushing them all together so he can take a picture of them for his scrapbook. Triffid reacts only when XR activates his flash, exclaiming that flash photography is strictly forbidden on Rhizome. XR wheedles and takes one more, and although the group doesn't notice it, the flashes seem to have a strange effect on some red flowers, almost as if they are charging them with energy.

Booster picks a red plant.

Booster picking out a red plant.

Later on they are driving around in one of Rhizome's cities. Buzz is surprised at the traffic and Triffid tells him that it's a growing city. Booster is amazed at the size of one particular plant and Triffid explains that it is their electro-plant that works by absorbing sunlight; its roots provide enough energy to power the entire city. Yawning and clearly bored, Buzz calls the power-plant fascinating, then mimics the beep of his wrist communicator, pretending that duty is calling. Before they leave, Triffid offers them gifts: little electro-plants that provide enough power for small tasks, such as powering a book light or an electric toothbrush. Booster is amazed by all the flowers and selects a red one instead of the white ones Triffid offered them.

Back at Star Command, Team Lightyear are stuck doing paperwork. Mira starts to complain about how she didn't get to test out the security system and wants some responsibility, but before Buzz can answer, he receives a call from Commander Nebula who wants him to report to the briefing room as soon as possible. Buzz offers Mira the chance to gain more responsibility by filing his reports, with which he is about six months behind.

While Buzz and Mira are preoccupied, Booster pulls out his plant nervously. He begins to ask XR whether it was okay for him to switch the plants without telling anyone when they were practically identical except for the color, and asks the robot whether he should tell Buzz. XR advises him to keep it a secret so they don't have to go all the way back to Rhizome to return it.

Mira isn't too thrilled with filing papers.

The process of filing reports doesn't sound fun to Mira.

Buzz finishes showing Mira the procedure in which to file his reports. She asks him what the point in even doing this is when nobody ever reads them. Before he leaves, Buzz admits that there is no point, but it is procedure and they have to follow it. Mira sighs, but turns to XR and Booster, thankful that they are there to help her out. XR bails claiming he has official Ranger business and Booster follows, saying he has to water his plant. Grumbling at not being given proper recognition, Mira resigns herself to a boring day of paperwork.

XR's business turns out to be him giving a tour to children. He offers them a shirt for five unibucks and they crowd around eagerly only for the human girl to express disdain at XR being on the t-shirt and not Buzz Lightyear. The tall alien boy reminds him that they're the Buzz Lightyear Fan Club. XR skims through some of the photos he took on Rhizome, and when he reaches a photo of Buzz, two passer-by LGMs try to take it from him, but he shoos them away before turning back to the children. He opens an air vent to start them on their tour, but they express suspicion at this. When XR explains it's a "behind-the-scenes" tour, they enter excitedly.

In Star Command's locker rooms, Booster places his plant into his locker, telling it that it'll be its home until he finds a proper place to plant it. He gives it some Jo-Adian fertilizer and is surprised to see the plant actually eat it through its mouth-like petals. He nervously says he'll go get some water and leaves the fertilizer with the plant, which begins devouring the fertilizer hungrily.

In the briefing room, Nebula has just told Buzz about a spy on Star Command. Buzz is surprised it managed to slip past their security, while Nebula is doubly irritated at his space suit chafing him, the LGMs probably shrinking it accidentally in the wash. Buzz starts to say he will alert the other Space Rangers, but Nebula insists that they should keep it a secret and that Buzz's team should be the only ones to know about it. In the meantime, a Star Cruiser is flying erratically in the background.

Booster's little plant grew up fast!

Booster's little plant grew into a strong and fanged beast.



Booster returns to his plant and is shocked to see it has become a monster plant, filling the entire locker room with its roots. He screams and runs away, spilling his cup full of water, but the plant soaks it up and continues to grow.

While Mira continues to sort reports, she stumbles upon an old burger wrapper. In disgust, she throws it away, but it gives her the bright idea to simply throw away the rest of the reports instead of having to sort through them for hours. Booster bursts in, exclaiming that he can't believe his eyes, and although Mira initially thinks he is talking about her throwing away the reports, the plant's roots have reached the room, poking through the air vent. Mira is surprised that his plant grew when hers didn't at all, but she reassures him that she can handle it and fires at the root, breaking off a large chunk. She stuffs it down the garbage chute and they think that is the end of it. But the piece of root continues to grow and while Mira takes pride in how she handled the situation, the root grows out of the garbage with her discarded reports stuck between its tendrils. Before they can do something about it, Buzz sends them a message to report to the briefing room, and Mira and Booster agree not to tell Buzz a thing.

XR and the children crawl out of an air duct, and as he is explaining how being a Space Ranger takes dedication and bravery, Buzz sends another impatient message for the team to report to the briefing room. XR hurriedly pushes the children into one of Star Command's bathrooms and quickly sticks a star with Buzz's name on one of the stall doors to distract them and get them to behave until he gets back.

The plant continues to grow.

The plant continues to grow.

In the briefing room, Buzz is about to tell Mira, Booster and XR of the spy. He starts off by saying that he doesn't usually keep secrets because they can backfire, which prompts them all to come up with excuses that they forgot to do something and run out of the room. Booster and Mira return to the report room to find it covered in vines, so Mira suggests they go back to Buzz and deal with the roots later. XR herds the children out of the bathroom, then spots Booster and Mira running down the corridor, so he quickly leads them to another room. The human girl reads out that they are in a cargo bay full of LGM space suits from a Star Command blueprint, which XR demands to know how she got until she reminds him that he sold it to her. He suggests they try on some space suits while he's gone and speeds back to the briefing room. Bored to death, Buzz is acting out a mission with Star Command and Star Cruiser models when the others return. He starts explaining their top secret mission when a vine overhead juts out of the wall behind Buzz. Mira hisses at Booster to do something, and he offers loudly that they turn on the overhead vid-screen. He presses the button and a screen descends behind Buzz, hiding the plant from sight. He thanks the Jo-Adian, perplexed, then tries to explain again. But this time, to XR's horror, the children are floating outside the window in the space suits they tried on, so he lowers the blast shield to hide them from sight, with the excuse that you never know when there might be a meteor shower. He rolls out saying he'll get an umbrella for the shower, and Mira reassures Buzz that she and Booster will bring XR back as they follow him out of the room. Buzz just sits down, rubbing his head, bewildered at how strange his team is acting.

Mira and Booster run back to the report room, but are ensnared by the vines and dragged inside. Above them in the air vents, XR is leading the children through, and the shortest alien boy exclaims in delight upon seeing Booster and Mira.

Smile for the camera!

Smile for the camera!

He asks them to smile as he takes a flash photo of them, and before Mira can demand what the child is doing, the plant reacts violently to the flash, electrocuting Mira and Booster. The child is dumbfounded, but XR grabs him, not noticing the plight Booster and Mira are in. Thankfully, after a little, the plant's roots fall to the ground, leaving Mira and Booster still tangled, but alive and well. Mira wonders how the plant has so much electrical power when Triffid said otherwise, but Booster evades the question as they disentangle themselves and receive another angry call from Buzz to get to the briefing room. 

In the briefing room, Buzz receives a call from Nebula asking about his team's progress on the spy issue. He says they're on it and the Commander tells him to get a move on. Buzz decides that he's right and sets off to find the spy on his own. Mira, Booster and XR return, but seeing that Buzz is gone, run out again to tend to their own affairs. Buzz has taken to Star Command's corridors, recording his progress on his personal log. Having already checked the armory, the science lab and the launch bay, he's found no sign of either the spy or his team, and fails to notice the vines that start following him.

After XR leads the children to the laundry room and then a random closet, they start complaining at how weird and lame the tour is. He lies and says this room is a mini movie theater and starts up some recordings to show them, claiming it is Buzz's favorite show. However, most of them involve him getting blown up on planets like Tradeworld, Sentilla VI and Karn while vines silently ensnare the children one-by-one and drag them away, and eventually grab XR too once he finds the children missing.

Buzz finds a ticking and black box.

Buzz finds a bomb - a ticking black box... or so he thinks.

Buzz is crawling through the air vents after finding one open, winding up in the cargo hold (remarking on how he should cut down on all the proton burgers later) and finds a mysterious, ticking black box. Lamenting at the clichéness, he lets Nebula know that he found a bomb and Nebula congratulates him and his team.

Mira, Booster, XR and the children are all trapped in the vines. The children don't worry, thinking it's part of the tour. Mira asks what they're talking about and the human boy explains they're the official Buzz Lightyear Fan Club. Mira gives XR a look and he changes the subject by demanding what all the vines are about. Mira explains about Booster switching the plants and XR chastizes him for not telling Buzz. However, the robot uses one of his circular saws to cut them loose and ends up making sculptures out of everyone in the process.

And that's when Buzz finally finds them, lecturing them for goofing off in the middle of a crisis when a spy has planted a bomb and is now apparently using Rhizomian technology against them. Booster sheepishly explains that the plant is actually his, and XR takes the ticking black box from Buzz to show that it is one of his custom alarm clocks instead. Buzz messages Nebula to disregard his report about the bomb, and Mira light-heartedly suggests that there's nothing to worry about with no bomb and plant anymore, crossing her fingers.

The real bomb goes off and Star Command is losing its orbit!

The real bomb goes off, causing Star Command to slowly plummet towards Capital Planet!


A sudden explosion causes the space station to shake, sending them all to the floor. Nebula messages Buzz again, remarking on how, when he and his team were handling false alarms, the spy set off a real bomb, knocking them out of orbit and putting Star Command on a collision course with Capital Planet. The only good news is that the LGMs found evidence about the spy in the science lab. The human girl asks Buzz for an autograph, and after a brief mix-up with who Buzz was refusing, assures Nebula that he's on it and signs the little girl's pad.

In the science bay, a couple of LGMs are examining a wrench. When they turn their back, one of the LGMs takes it, and when Buzz asks them where the evidence is, the LGMs exclaim that it's gone. Buzz begins thinking out loud, trying to figure out who on Star Command would be able to move around undetected without raising suspicion. The LGMs offer that they could, but Buzz rules them out as suspects since they are the most loyal beings in the universe. They thank him and salute, but when the third LGM tries to imitate them, it speaks in a croaky voice and drops the wrench. Its disguise revealed, the LGM tries to run out, slipping underneath Booster's leg when the Jo-Adian tries to stop it.

The spy revealed - one of Zurg's Grubs.

The spy is revealed - one of Zurg's Grubs.

They all run out after it, but are stumped to see that it has fled down a corridor filled with LGMs. XR comes up with the clever idea to pretend he's selling Buzz Lightyear t-shirts. The LGMs, obsessed with everything Buzz, clamour up to him... all except for the spy. Buzz snatches the spy and removes its mask, revealing it to be one of Zurg's Grubs. Buzz demands to know what it has done, and the Grub admits it blew up the orbitron regulator so they would crash, as well as their power supply so they won't be able to correct their orbit. It also sneakily admits to shrinking Nebula's space suit. Buzz contacts Nebula to let him know that they have no choice but to evacuate, but Nebula snaps that they can't—thanks to Booster's plant, roots and vines have clogged up the launch bay, blocking all escape routes. The human girl offers to take a picture. XR chides her for the inappropriate timing, but Mira, getting an idea based on the plant's reaction earlier to the flash, says it's the perfect time for a photo.

Understandably, Buzz finds this to be odd and isn't sure it'll work as he poses in front of a cruiser for the children. Mira admits she's not sure either, but it's worth a shot. XR and Booster position solar panels in place as the children all prepare to take photos of Buzz with their flash cameras. However, a vine sneakily steals their cameras. XR turns on his optics' lights instead, with Mira suggesting that he try to blink to imitate a flash. At first, nothing seems to happen. And then, the plant spikes with electricity, becoming dangerous. The Rangers grab the kids and fly out of the way, while XR remarks at finally realizing why Triffid didn't want any flash photography.

Buzz vs. the plant.

Buzz takes on the plant.

However, Star Command starts entering Capital Planet's atmosphere, and Mira and the others try to set her plan in motion: if a small electro-plant could power a toothbrush, then a large one might be enough to power Star Command so they can correct their orbit. The plant breaks through a cargo box and begins eating more of the Jo-Adian fertilizer encased inside. Inspired, Buzz grabs a few of the packs to lure it away and directly into a power plug outlet. Almost immediately, Star Command's main power supply is revived and Star Command returns to its original orbit.

Later on, while a Rhizomian ship is leaving Star Command, Booster expresses his relief in them managing to save his plant. Team Lightyear, back in the report room, are just finishing up their clean-up session, Booster nearly having finished putting XR back together. Mira is glad it's all over, but Buzz has still got his report to Commander Nebula left to do. He lists off all their discrepancies: a contraband plant, disposing of official Ranger reports, unauthorized tours, failure to report emergency situations—no matter how he words it, it all sounds bad. However, he agrees to keep this a secret, for once, and throws the report away.

The little girl takes XR's arm home as a souvenir.

The little girl takes XR's arm home as a souvenir.

XR interrupts and asks them if they've seen his missing right arm anywhere, to which Booster replies that he couldn't find it. This makes XR realize that one of the children from the tour must have taken it. And indeed, the human girl did, and she shows it off to the other children proudly as they leave Star Command.




Characters[]

Quotes[]

  • Human girl: "According to my Star Command blueprint, this is just a crummy cargo bay!"
    XR: "Hey! That's top secret! How'd you get it?"
    Human girl: "You showed it to me."
  • Buzz: "Alright, Grub, how much damage have you done?"
    Grub: "Um, uh, let's see... Uh, I blew up your orbitron regulators so you'll crash into Capital Planet, and I destroyed your power supply so you can't correct your orbit. Oh, yeah! And I shrunk your commander's space suit!" (giggles)

Trivia[]

  • XR fashions four sculptures out of the vines: Zurg, Booster, a blaster and a star cruiser.

Errors[]

  • Mira puts some camouflage on her face while on Rhizome, which she later removes on Star Command. However, during some of the scenes on Rhizome, the camouflage is already gone.
  • Mira's jetpack button is missing in several scenes.
  • Mira's waist is miscolored white in one shot.

Voice Actors[]

Production Details[]

Executive Producers: Tad Stones, Mark McCorkle, Bob Schooley
Director: Victor Cook
Story Editor: Kevin Hopps
Written By: Nicolas DuBois

Voice Casting and Dialogue Director: Jamie Thomason

Storyboard: Troy Adomitis, Sean Bishop
Timing Directors and Sheet Timing: Daniel De la Vega, Gordon Kent
Storyboard Revisions: Robert Griffith, Alan Wright, Leonardo Pinero
Supervising Character Design: Greg Guler
Character Design: Dana Landsberg
Additional Character Design: Kenny Thompkins
Key Location Designers: Simon Rodgers, Latchezar Gouchev, Ken McGill
Prop Designers: Chuck Puntuvatana, Tom Foxmarnick
Associate Producer: Natasha Kopp
Creative Consultant from Pixar: Jeff Pidgeon
Key Background Stylists: Tom Cain, Sy Thomas
Color Key Stylist: Sharon Scott
Digital Color Correction: Donald Devine
Scanner: Adam Chase
Continuity Coordinator: Jungja Kim-Wolf

CGI Main Title: Pixar Animation Studios

Music By: Adam Berry
Main Title Theme By: Adam Berry

Animation Production By: Sae Hahn Producton Co.

Animation Director: Jung Yuk Song
Assistant Animation Directors: Yun Bae Kim, Yon Kun Noh
Layout Director: Ki Sul Chun
Layout Artists: Jun Chan Kim, Jae Sung Lee, Hae Won Park, Hyun Joo Park
Camera: Hyung Hee Kim, Yong Kwan Kim, Hong Jo Kim, Kee Iiyun Kim
Animators: Sang Hun Lee, Sang Man Hong, Eun Mee You, Ho Joon Lee, Seung Hoon Back, Sung Kee Whang, Jong Min Kim, Young Hoon Kim, Jung Yun Kim, Hyang Mee Park

Supervising Film Editor: John Royer
First Assistant Film Editor: Jennifer Harrison
Assistant Film Editor: Tally Paulos
Pre-Production Dialogue Editor: Monte Bramer
Track Reading: Skip Craig
Post Production Manager: Steven J. Arenas
Post Production Supervisor: Rachel Pusateri
Audio Supervisor: Victor Garcia
Post Production Coordinator: Mark Allen Bollinger

Sound Design: Paca Thomas
Dialogue Editor: Robbi Smith
Music Editor: Marc S. Perlman (M.P.S.E.)
Foley: Phyllis Ginter, Kris Daly
Digital Audio Transfer: J. Lampinen


Re-Recording Mixers: James C. Hodson (C.A.S.), Melissa Ellis, Fil Brown, Ray Leonard, Michael Beiriger
Supervising Music Editor: Dominick Certo
On-Line Editor: Keith Cook

Production Coordinator: Cris Versage
Script Coordinators: Dawn T. Connors, Leona Jernigan, Carolyn Scully
Production Associate: Sean Reed
Production Secretaries: Linda DeLizza, Jessica Farley
Talent Coordinator: David H. Wright III
Production Accountant: Ron J. Earhart

Produced By: Walt Disney Television Animation

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