I'm confident that many of you recognize the title for this blog entry. For those who don't, it's the catchphrase of Buzz Lightyear from the Disney/Pixar films Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Most of us already know that Pixar began life as a Lucasfilm subsidiary, even doing some special effects work for ILM on Star Trek II and a little known film once called Blue Harvest

But the Pixar/Lucasfilm connection doesn't end there. Many of the Pixar films are loaded with Star Wars references. In some ways, Buzz Lightyear strikes me as a variation of the Luke Skywalker action figures that many of us, and probably a few Pixar artists played with as little kids. Emperor Zurg from Toy Story 2 is clearly a fun tribute to Darth Vader. He's got the flowing cape, the mechanical body, and of course he is Buzz Lightyear's father. Monsters, Inc. featured an exclusive teaser for Episode II, a promo teaser that had Mike Wazowski playing charades and doing Star Wars, and then of course Mr. Incredible did battle with the omnidroid in The Incredibles.

As longtime readers know, I have a good friend who used to own a Disneyana collectibles store. Through her, I was able to meet artist Harrison Ellenshaw, who worked under Ralph McQuarrie on both Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. A few weeks after that event, my friend had another event featuring one of the story artists from Pixar. The fun thing about this setting was that because it was relatively small, we had ample opportunity to talk with the artist and not just shake hands and thank them for coming.

When I commented about how I loved the Star Wars references in the Pixar films, he told me about how it was a labor of love. He said that the Pixar artists generally loved the Star Wars movies and sought to pay tribute to Star Wars as often as they could. When watching Toy Story 2, my brother loved how Pixar was mocking Star Wars and I pointed out to him that it was in fact a tribute to Star Wars.

Well, we're going to fast forward here a few months to last June to be precise. At another event my friend had Bill Farmer, the voice of Goofy come. Now the answering message on my cell phone features none other than Goofy himself. Now at any rate, as I was talking with my friend that day, she asked me a question that made my jaw drop. The Pixar story artist I mentioned above had invited her and her husband to tour Pixar and see a special screening of WALL-E in Pixar's theater. When her husband had to work that night, it was decided that she needed to invite someone who could be trusted not to spill the details about WALL-E all over the internet a week and a half before the film was released.

I'd been intrigued by WALL-E since I first saw a teaser for it. And while he bore physical resemblance to Johnny 5 from Short Circuit, I thought he reminded me a lot of a childlike R2-D2. And now I was going to have the opportunity to not just see the movie early, but also get to tour Pixar in the process. I was thrilled beyond words to be asked if I wanted to tour Pixar and see a special screening of WALL-E. It also made me feel good that I could be trusted to keep plot points a secret. On a few message boards, I had long been talking about how excited I was to see WALL-E and even trying to convince skeptics to trust Pixar, so this was really exciting.

And of course, there's the whole geek holy grail thing. As some of you know my two hobbies are Star Wars and Disney. Like most of us, I harbor geek fantasies about someway, somehow getting to visit Lucasfilm and ILM. As a Disney fan, I dreamed of someday seeing the Walt Disney Studios which is closed to the public. Well, last February, again through my friend, I got to tour the Walt Disney Studios, and now I was going to tour Pixar. In the words of Syndrome, I was "totally geeking out here."

And so the big day arrived. When you arrive at Pixar, the first thing you realize is that you're at what may be one of the most fun places in the world to work. When I checked in at security I was given a badge featuring the Little Green Men from Toy Story that identified me as a "stranger from the outside." In driving up to the main parking lot, I saw the logo for the movie Cars painted right on the road.

The Entrance to Pixar Animation Studios

Right outside the main Pixar building(the one featured on disc 2 of Monsters, Inc.) are gigantic statues of Luxo, Jr. and the ball from Pixar's first short, Luxo, Jr. given to Pixar as a gift.

Luxo Jr. & Qui-Tom Servo

The Ball from Luxo, Jr.

Inside the main atrium, are all sorts of references to Pixar films. Right inside the entrance are life size figures of Mike and Sully from Monsters, Inc. There's also a little car from Cars. There's a ping pong table in a room where artists go to blow off steam or try to get their minds right when working on a film and the Pixar store, which on this night was loaded with merchandise from WALL-E including the cooler, complete with BnL logo, an empty ring box, a BnL lighter, and a shoe with a plant in it. Seeing as how I hadn't seen the movie yet, I was wondering what in the world some of this stuff was for. I did pick up the Art of WALL-E, a WALL-E t-shirt, a Pixar Studios t-shirt, and a Pixar hat.

Mike Wazowski and Sully

The walls of the atrium are lined with promotional artwork and banners for WALL-E as well as quite a few theater type displays for WALL-E. At one point, I saw a group of Pixar employees being initiated to the company by marching around the campus dressed as boy scouts. I should have taken a picture of that, but didn't think to as I thought it was a local boy scout troop getting a special tour.

WALL-E Theater Display

After visiting the store, we got to tour the second floor, which featured tons of concept art and maquettes from Ratatouille and WALL-E. Pictures were forbidden on the second floor, though since I could see the life size display from The Incredibles from the first floor, I asked if I could take a picture of it from the first floor. I was told that was okay. The second floor was amazing. There was concept art in all sorts of mediums, including some drawn on a yellow sticky note by none other than the story artist who had invited my friend and I to the screening. It was incredibly fascinating to see the process from drawings on paper to used and discarded concept art(I've even seen some rather Palpatine-esque drawings of some of the rats in Ratatouille, maquettes and eventually to finished product on the silver screen.

The Incredbles

There was also a cool Finding Nemo display, but since it was not visible from the first floor, there are no pictures of it to show you. With the tour over, the time had now come to line up and head into Pixar's special theater after cameras and cell phones were checked. There is only one sound system in all of the Bay Area to rival the one Pixar has and that one resides at Skywalker Ranch. The theater even has this neat effect where when they dim the lights, the ceiling overhead begins to glow like it's a starry night.

Art from WALL-E on the wall between the entrances to the Pixar Theatre

As for WALL-E, it's easily one of my favorite films of all time. The animation was gorgeous and it was nice to see a film that wasn't afraid to be something different. There are very few films like it. Director Andrew Stanton has commented that he sort of envisioned WALL-E as R2-D2: The Movie(which is far more entertaining than hours of wookiee speak in the Holiday Special). And with that the night had come to an end. It was a lot of fun and I'm grateful to my friend and the Pixar story artist(who wishes to remain nameless) for the invitation. For anyone who may be curious to know who he is, I can tell you that his name is featured during the credits of WALL-E (we applauded when his name showed up) and a few other Pixar films as well. And that's all I'm allowed to say.

Luxo, Jr lit up at night

When I got home that night, I decided to turn SportsCenter on while I grabbed a bite to eat. And wouldn't you know it, but right there on ESPN was an ad showing WALL-E playing with a basketball. I had another geek out moment knowing that I had just seen a movie that wouldn't be released for another 10 days or so. And unlike many of the film critics who saw it at special critic screenings, I had seen it at Pixar with one of the talented story artists who had worked on the film. It was truly a once in a lifetime experience that I will never forget.