My children are well past the age where they are content to watch the same show or movie over, and over, and over again. I remember those toddler and preschool fixations as if they were yesterday (weren’t they just yesterday??), and I remember wanting to lie down in the driveway and figure out how to run myself over with the car, rather than watch that same video again.
But I have a confession to make. If I have a sick child or two home from school, I will almost always suggest that we watch Toy Stoy 2. I don’t really know why. It just seems so comforting; a movie we can recite most of the lines from without a second thought, and a story that makes me laugh every single time. Oh, and I guess the kids like it, too.
If you have the same sort of soft spot in your heart that I have for Bullseye and Jessie and the rest of the Toy Story 2 gang, you can’t miss the two-part interview with Floyd Norman that’s running over at Jim Hill Media.
Part One recounts the author’s arrival at the (then barely-known) Pixar Studios, and the decision to make a sequel in the first place. There are some great sketches contained within that segment, too, including the one of Woody and Jessie on the turntable that appears at the top of this article.
Part Two is like a carnival of the movie’s fascinating trivia, complete with pictures. Did you know that the heroine of the movie was originally not Jessie, but one Senorita Cactus? She was… a cactus. Ouch.
Did you know that Toy Story 2 was originally slated to head direct-to-DVD, and therefore the famed Barbie sequence (my absolute favorite part of the movie, hands down) was cut out, only to return once the project was declared a full-fledged feature film?
There’s more—so much more—but I’ve probably spoled enough of it for you. Go read it for yourself. (And just try not to hear “Good-bye! Good-bye! Buh-bye! Good-bye! Are they gone? My cheeks hurt!” in your head while you’re reading.)
This was great. Thanks for the link!