The Planet Destroyer

The Planet Destroyer

Production Information
Original Airdate	October 9, 2000
Ep. Number	007
Prod. Code	006
Producer(s)	Tad Stones Mark McCorkle Bob Schooley
Director(s)	Don MacKinnon
Story Editor(s)	Bill Motz Bob Roth
Story by
Writer(s)	John Behnke Rob Humphrey Jim Peterson
Studio	Hana Animation Co., Ltd.
Series Continuity
Previous	NOS-4-A2
Next	The Beasts of Karn
Image Gallery (1) \| Transcript

The Planet Destroyer is the seventh episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. It first aired on October 9, 2000, and is the sixth episode in production.

Synopsis

The Planet Destroyer is Zurg's latest weapon. With it, he destroys both Tradeworld and Tangea, Mira's homeworld, in order to bring the Galactic Alliance to its knees in exchange for slavery. Team Lightyear set out to find it and discover that it isn't a Planet Destroyer, but a cross-dimensional translocator that shifted the planets into another dimension instead. With the help of Mira's father, King Nova, they return the planets to their original locations and thwart Zurg's scheme.

Plot

On Tradeworld, Lardak Lurdak purchases a drink from a vendor with counterfeit money, but the vendor turns out to be Buzz Lightyear in disguise. Mira Nova tries to arrest him, but Lardak grabs her and throws her into Buzz as he tries to make his getaway on his hoverbike. Once Buzz and Mira disentangle themselves, Buzz pulls out a gun and fires a tracer that latches on to Lardak's bike. Confident that they can catch up to the criminal, he contacts Booster on his wrist communicator to pinpoint Lardak's location. However, Booster and XR, in orbit around Tradeworld on 42, are experiencing a strange signal jamming their equipment, preventing them from picking up the tracer's signal. Buzz and Mira decide to collar Lardak the old-fashioned way and set off in pursuit.

They weave through traffic and buildings, and when Lardak goes in one direction, Buzz and Mira split up, with Buzz still pursuing him and Mira flying off in another direction. Lardak, spotting Buzz following him, fires at a sign hoping that it will crush the Ranger, but it snags upon the sides of two buildings, leaving Buzz unscathed. However, it provides enough of a distraction for Buzz to fly past Lardak's hiding location in the recesses of a building. Lardak thinks he's safe, but Mira ghosts through the wall behind him and slaps handcuffs on him before he can react. Buzz finds them and together, Mira and Buzz take Lardak into custody.

Thy fly out of Tradeworld's atmosphere towards 42, while Lardak continues to complain, and Booster contacts Buzz again to tell him that the interference is getting "weirder". Behind the three, fuchsia rays engulf Tradeworld, spinning erratically around the planet, until it disappears in a burst of white light. Mira, shocked, wonders what could have done that, but Buzz has a feeling it's not a what, but a who.

Later on, Evil Emperor Zurg conducts a public broadcast, where he informs the galaxy that he has just tested his new Planet Destroyer on Tradeworld. He orders the Galactic Alliance and Star Command to surrender, or else he will destroy more planets. This throws the Senate into disarray, senators arguing on what course of action they should take. The President silences them and asks for Commander Nebula to speak, who assures the Senate that the galaxy is safe as long as his Rangers are on the job. Madame President is satisfied with this answer and they call Zurg, refusing to surrender. This tickles Zurg's fancy and he randomly selects another planet to destroy for their impudence tomorrow at noon, Planet Z time: Tangea, Mira's homeworld.

The Space Rangers take precautionary measures to protect the planet. Hundreds of Star Cruisers are in orbit around the planet, and they activate a laser-web that can prevent even the smallest particles of space dust from penetrating Tangea's atmosphere. Planet-side, Mira reassures her father, King Nova, that everything is under control. However, they don't get off on the right foot. King Nova dismissively says that Tangea can take care of its own and that they don't need "monkeys in space suits" to protect them, reminding him how he disapproves of her being part of "that space club". His words spark Mira's anger, who doesn't like her father's superior attitude against non-Tangeans, but he argues that her occupation prevents her from properly developing her mental powers and that if Mira continues to consort with monkeys, she will start to act like one.

Mira returns to 42, frustrated at her father's egotistical and arrogant attitude. Noon is fast approaching and the Rangers are on the alert for Zurg's Planet Destroyer. Booster reports that the strange energy readings have returned, and Buzz orders XR to divert more power to the laser-web. The ship begins to shake, and noon comes and passes. The shaking subsides, and Tangea is still intact, much to Mira's relief. However, the fuchsia rings return, inside the laser-web, and in another flash of white light, Tangea is gone, leaving behind only the Star Cruisers and their laser-web.

Back at the Senate Chamber, the senators are in a panic. Madame President tries in vain to get them to settle down. Senator Phlegmex announces that his people, the Phlegmians, insist that they open negotiations with Zurg immediately. Buzz respectfully points out that they can't negotiate with a monster like Zurg. Outside the chamber, Mira forlornly stares at the night sky on a balcony, and Booster and XR try, in vain, to cheer her up. Booster lacks tact, but Mira doesn't mind; she says she knows her friends and family aren't dead. XR begins to patronise her, but Mira says that she can feel her father's presence; somewhere, he is alive. XR leads Booster away, and Booster expresses his admiration on Mira looking at the bright side of things. XR, on the other hand, thinks Mira's lost her mind. After more arguments in the Senate Chamber, Madame President concedes defeat and tells Nebula to prepare for surrender. He and Buzz ask for another chance, but Madame President will hear none of it. She calls Zurg and invites him to Capital Planet to discuss the terms of their surrender.

Zurg soon arrives at Capital Plant with his forces. Citizens watch the marching Hornets in terror, and Zurg's massive dreadnought hovers over Capital Plaza, a small spacecraft emerging from it and touching down before Nebula and Madame President. Zurg emerges from it with two Grubs, and the Evil Emperor remarks that he has been dreaming of this moment since he was a "wee evil genius". Nebula grunts that he drop the pleasantries, but Zurg offers his hand for a shake, willing to let bygones be bygones. Madam President elbows Nebula to shake, but as the Commander reaches out to shake Zurg's hand, Zurg pulls it away before he can, laughing immaturely at Nebula falling for his joke. Before Zurg enters, he wonders where Buzz is so he can enjoy the sight of the Ranger groveling before him. However, Nebula informs him that Buzz has been reassigned, to the surprise of the President.

Team Lightyear hasn't been truly reassigned; Nebula has given them the task of locating Zurg's Planet Destroyer and taking it out, but reminds them in his recording that Star Command will deny any involvement if they are captured. Booster is excited as he plots them a course for Planet Z, but Mira says that they should head for the Pelegar System instead. Buzz reminds Mira that he has been studying his arch-nemesis for years and knows how he thinks; the Planet Destroyer is on Planet Z. Mira disagrees again and takes over the controls, steering them in the opposite direction as she tells Booster to plot them a course for the Pelegar System. Buzz demands an explanation and Mira admits that she can sense her father's presence, and all of Tangea, somewhere in the Pelegar System. She quickly adds that she knows they probably think she's crazy, but insists that she's right; she laments that she should have honed her mental powers more, which might have helped her explain it better. To Mira's surprise and delight, Buzz orders Booster to set course for the Pelegar System.

Back on Capital Planet, Zurg explains what he has in store for the planets of the Galactic Alliance. He will make everyone work 167 hours a week in lunchbox-sized cubicles, wear brain-control modules to make them mindless drones, and they will not get any dental benefits. He asks for their signatures on his surrender agreement, saying it's a necessity his lawyers insist on. Despite their reluctance, the senators start signing.

In the Pelegar System, Team Lightyear stumbles upon a strange mechanism. Buzz orders Booster to set them up an attack run on the Planet Destroyer. After firing one round, they prepare to fire again, but Booster spots the strange energy readings cropping up again. Buzz asks where the energy is focused, and Booster replies anxiously that it's focused upon them. The Planet Destroyer fires at them, and they are engulfed in rings that swirl around them and cause them to disappear in a flash of light. However, they reappear in anther patch of space, disoriented, and stumble upon a planet directly in front of them. They enter its atmosphere to discover that it's Tradeworld, intact and in one piece, with the citizens going about their daily lives as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened. Booster is frustrated at the computers not working, and Mira realizes that they are working fine, but make no sense because they are in another dimension. Buzz concludes that Zurg's Planet Destroyer doesn't destroy planets; it's a cross-dimensional translocator that shifted the planets into this universe instead. And to Mira's delight, once they break out of Tradeworld's atmosphere they see Tangea looming before them.

As Buzz starts to say that he never doubted her (well, maybe a little) something collides into their ship. It turns out to be Mira's father, who ghosts through the hull, and Mira embraces him, happy that he is alive. She asks him what he was doing out there, and he replies that he was trying to save them all; with his enormous mental powers he might be able to penetrate the trans-dimensional hull of the so-called Planet Destroyer. Mira, unimpressed, asks him what he would do if Zurg's robots attacked him. He admits not having thought of that and Mira says that she'll go instead, but her father will hear none of it because her powers won't stand a chance of penetrating the Planet Destroyer's hull. Buzz points out that they should both go, and they reluctantly agree.

Later, Mira and King Nova fly around the mechanism, searching for the hull. Mira can feel all the energy it is exhibiting and knows ghosting through it will be tough, but he reassures her that she'll do fine. Clasping hands, they synchronise their energies. Once they are in synch, King Nova ghosts them through, but it is difficult; Mira's concentration is starting to slip. He tells her to remember her training, and they manage to ghost through, stumbling upon a pair of Brain Pods in the process. One of them orders for Hornets to attack, and that's when Mira takes action, subduing them easily with her Ranger training. The Brain Pods attempt to escape to warn Zurg, but their escape route gets blocked by Hornet debris. King Nova disapproves of all her jumping and shooting, but Mira says it gets the job done and turns to the controls, that are far too complex for her to make heads or tails of. Nova says that if Mira hadn't knocked out the Brain Pods they might have known how to handle the controls. Mira is in no mood for another one of his lectures in Tangean mental superiority, but he disagrees and ghosts his hand into one of the Brain Pod's heads, fishing around for a moment until he finds the information he's looking for. Mira is surprised, not knowing that Tangeans could do that and wants tries it out for herself. Nova says it's an advanced mental discipline, but offers to teach it to her, and she gets excited before remembering that they should first do their job and get those planets back where they belong.

Back on Capital Planet, it is Madame President's turn to sign. She wishes there were some other way, but Zurg reminds her that she wouldn't want to suffer the same fate as Tradeworld. He indicates the empty patch of space on the screen, but that is when both Tradeworld and Tangea reappear, and the senators start cheering. Zurg is upset when he sees the planets have returned, and Buzz, Booster and XR show up. They destroy a few of his robots, Nebula pitching in to help, but before they can attack Zurg, he activates his rocket boots and bursts through the ceiling, retreating into his dreadnought hovering above. Buzz contacts Mira on his wrist communicator and gives her a set of coordinates, and her father transfers Zurg's dreadnought into the other dimension. Buzz thanks Nova personally, and he admits that he wouldn't have managed it without their help, either. Mira also figures out how to read people's minds, though she is disgusted at the twisted thoughts the Brain Pod has.

Characters

Quotes

Under construction.

Trivia

Under construction.

Errors

When Mira and Nova are synchronizing their energies to ghost into the transdimensional hull, the back of Mira's cap is her hair color at one point.

Voice Actors

Adam Carolla as Commander Nebula
Stephen Furst as Booster Munchapper
Wayne Knight as Evil Emperor Zurg
Larry Miller as XR
Kevin Michael Richardson as Lardak Lurdak
John O'Hurley as King Nova
Roz Ryan as Madame President
Nicole Sullivan as Mira Nova
Patrick Warburton as Buzz Lightyear
Frank Welker as Grubs and Brain Pods

Production Details

Executive Producers: Tad Stones, Mark McCorkle, Bob Schooley
Director: Don MacKinnon
Story Editor: Bill Motz, Bob Roth
Written by: John Behnke, Rob Humphrey, Jim Peterson

Voice Casting and Dialogue Director: Jamie Thomason

Storyboard: Debra Pugh, Robert Onorato
Timing Directors: Barbara Dourmashkin-Case, Mitch Rochon
Sheet Timing: Barbara Dourmashkin-Case, Mitch Rochon
Supervising Character Design: Greg Guler
Character Design: Brian Brookshier
Key Location Design: Ken McGill, Latchezar Gouchev, Justn Thompson
Prop Design: Tris Mast, Tom Foxmarnick
Lead Background Paint: Donna Prince
Key Background Stylist: Sy Thomas
Associate Producer: Natasha Kopp
Production Manager: Zoe Seals
Creative Consultant from Pixar: Jeff Pidgeon
Color Key Stylist: Janet Cummings
Storyboard Revisions: Alan Wright, Chong Lee
Continuity Coordinator: Kathrin Victor
Digital Color Correction: Donald Devine
Scanner: Adam Chase

CGI Main Title: Pixar Animation Studios

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

Animation Production By: Hanna Animation Co., Ltd.

Directors: Young-Sang Yoon, Eun-Sub Hong, Kyoung-Ho Lee
Backgrounds: Young-Ku Kim, Woo-Sang Yun
Camera: Chul-Kyu Lim
Animators: Jung-Tak Kim, Eun-Young Byun, Kuen-Sik Song, Sung-Chui Lee, Jung-Hee Jung, Ae-Kyoung Choi

Animation Directors: 深西保寿, 藤橋健徳, 内永康徳, 梅澤優和, 井ノ上ユウ子, 今本博希, 長井宏仁

Key Animators: Koichi Uchisawa, 中島勝治, 石林久平, Hirokazu Taguchi, 石橋博一郎, Chiho Shirai, Tomoko Ishikawa, Yasue Fujitani, Kazuki Matsui, Katsuichiro Nishikami, Kiichiro Fukunaga

Animation Checkers: Fujika Enomoto, Yuki Saito, Shinichi Murooka, Shinichi Suzushima, Taichiro Nakahashi, Toshiaki Masutani

Animators: Akari Fukunaga, Daisuke Kamei, 谷藤淳子, 渡藤浩茂, 竹沢欣一, Anime-Spot, Studio MAT 3D Production: OLM Digital

Finish: OLM Digital, Tatsushi Inagaki, Miyuki Hirama, Kazumi Horikawa, Wish, Akiko Inoue, Izumi Inoue, Yosuke Amamoto, Mizue Ueda, Takako Uemura

2d Composite Advisor: Takaya Mizutani

Supervising Film Editor: John Royer
First Assistant Film Editor: Jennifer Harrison
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

Supervising Sound Editor: Jennifer E. Mertens
Sound Effects Editors: Rick Hammel, Otis van Osten, Kenneth D. Young
Sound Editor: Eric Hertsgaard
Supervising Music Editor: Brian F. Mars
Re-Recording Mixers: Michael Jiron, Allen Stone
Supervising Music Editor: Dominick Certo
On-Line Editor: Keith Cook
Assistant Coordinators: Etsushi Nioka, Hiromi Takeda

Assistant Producers: Katsuichi Inoue, Takeshi Fukuda

Production Coordinator: Bill Turner
Script Coordinators: Dawn T. Connors, Carolyn Scully, Brian Sintay
Production Associate: Carin Cobrae
Production Secretaries: Linda DeLizza, Jessica Farley
Talent Coordinator: David H. Wright III
Production Accountant: Ron J. Earhart

Produced By: Walt Disney Television Animation