Toy Story 5 is careening into cinemas with its foot to the floor, like a Pizza Planet employee behind on their deliveries. And if you’re concentrating, you’ll spy a very fast Easter egg that’s become a staple in Pixar movies.

With Buzz, Woody, Jessie, and the gang back for the fifth adventure in the franchise, I had my eyes peeled for any throwback moments. And while there aren’t many, one is clear as day — though it’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-fast.

Without spoiling the storyline, you can spot the reference in the third act of the film. A group of characters is travelling along a rural road when a vehicle approaches, causing them all to freeze in their signature Toy Story way. It absolutely fangs it past them.

That vehicle? It’s a Pizza Planet truck. Unmistakeable in its yellow-and-white body and characteristic urgency, this is the vehicle of choice for the forever flustered delivery worker from the franchise’s space-themed restaurant and arcade. Pizza Planet appeared all the way back in Toy Story, when Woody tried to trick Buzz into flying home to Star Command.

The Pizza Planet truck has become a bit of a cameo classic in most Pixar films from Turning Red to Onward — of course, there are Reddit threads — and appearing in every Toy Story film (even as a tattoo in Toy Story 4). Those pizzas have got to be ice cold by now.

Toy Story 5 opens in cinemas on June 19.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated 2 days ago

Lately, Marvel fans are feeling something they haven’t felt in a good, long time: hope. It’s been a rough half-decade or so as MCU films went from being boring (Eternals) to bizarre (Quantumania) to, shockingly, unprofitable (The Marvels). Meanwhile, Marvel TV gave us shows that went from ambitiously weird (Moon Knight) to weirdly controversial (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) to downright bad (Secret Invasion). As time went on, even the franchise’s biggest fans began to wonder if we’d get anything that could possibly match the glory days of Marvel.

However, late last year, the studio began releasing teaser trailers for Avengers: Doomsday, which (thanks especially to the trailer with Professor X, Magneto, and Cyclops) reignited Marvel hype for countless fans. This year, Daredevil: Born Again matched the quality of its breakout first season, and the early trailers have made it clear that Spider-Man: Brand New Day will be the hit film of the summer. With Avengers: Doomsday coming out on December 18, fans have plenty of awesome things coming out later this year. But would you believe that in just two weeks, a Marvel TV show with a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score is coming out? 

That show is X-Men ‘97, Season 2, which will be slicing its way onto Disney+ on July 1.

A Perfect Season Of Superhero Television

X-Men ‘97 Season 2 focuses primarily on the fight against Apocalypse, a villain who believes in nothing more than survival of the fittest. In his world, perfection is achieved by culling the weak. While things are a little less cutthroat in the real-world, X-Men ‘97 has still achieved perfection in its own right. On the movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Season 2 currently has a critical score of 100 percent. That’s good news for fans wondering if the show’s sophomore season would be nearly as good as the spectacular Season 1.

Based on the critics’ reviews, it sounds like X-Men ‘97 is going to be even better than we’d hoped. According to Empire Magazine’s Amon Warmann, “X-Men ’97’s second season continues to build on the mutants’ rich history in fresh, exciting and unpredictable ways. The years-long wait for its return was worth it.” Polygon’s Jake Kleinman agrees, writing that this season “is just as good, if not better, than anything I’ve seen before.” Additionally, IGN Movies’ Jesse Schedeen said that, “The series continues to be both a love letter to a particular era of the X-Men franchise and a source of deep, enjoyable character drama that can appeal to Marvel fans of all stripes.”

There’s Just One Big “But”

Now, there is a big but here, and I’m not talking about the one on Rogue. X-Men ‘97 Season 2 currently has a perfect Rotten Tomatoes rating, but the critics have only seen the first four episodes. Additionally, the show is universally beloved on Rotten Tomatoes, but there are (as of this writing) only 17 reviews. Is it possible the show will botch the landing, or that other reviewers will dislike the series and lower its score? Sure. But based on the show’s strong start and the extreme praise of these early reviewers, it looks like X-Men ‘97’s second season will be another one for the ages.

Like an Age of the Apocalypse? Nah. They gotta save that for Season 3!

By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated 2 seconds ago

Here’s a question that you might get phasered for asking at a Star Trek convention: who do you think the most memorable character of The Original Series is? Many would say Spock, the alien who captivated audiences from the very beginning. Honestly, though, I think he’s more (as the character might say) “fascinating” than memorable. Others would say Captain Kirk, who effectively became the face of the franchise. It may be splitting hairs, but to me, that makes him more iconic than memorable. Personally, I think the most memorable TOS character is Dr. McCoy, who served as the irascible, emotional counterpart to Spock’s logic-loving Vulcan.

McCoy was great because he was always the ultimate audience surrogate. When Kirk and Spock would debate things in intellectual abstracts, the good doctor character would (with his southern drawl) bring everything back down to Earth. McCoy was so memorable, of course, because he was played to perfection by the late, great DeForest Kelley. He is so natural in this role that you might think he was Gene Roddenberry’s first choice. As it turns out, he was! But Roddenberry lost fights with two different directors across two pilot episodes, which is why Kelley was actually the third man to play chief medical officer aboard the starship Enterprise. 

The Doctor Is In

When Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek, DeForest Kelley was his first choice to play the show’s doctor. He wanted to cast him in the show’s first pilot episode, “The Cage.” However, Roddenberry had less power back in those days, and he occasionally let director Robert Butler boss him around. At Butler’s suggestion, Roddenberry cast John Hoyt for the role of the doctor in the pilot episode. In a way, this worked out: NBC rejected the first Star Trek pilot but ordered another one, and the only cast member who returned for the second was Leonard Nimoy. Had DeForest Kelley gotten the role back then, he may very well have been recast later on.

Later, Gene Roddenberry was working on Trek’s second pilot episode, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.” He was still keen to have Kelley play the chief medical officer on the Enterprise, especially after the man starred in Police Story, one of Roddenberry’s failed pilots. Unfortunately, the past repeated itself. The director for the second pilot, James Goldstone, strong-armed Roddenberry into casting Paul Fix instead. NBC liked “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and greenlit the series. To this day, newcomers to Star Trek are baffled at Dr. McCoy’s absence from this episode.

His Memory Will Live On Forever

Finally getting the green light for his ambitious sci-fi show was obviously good news for Gene Roddenberry. Once NBC picked up his series, Roddenberry had a lot more control of just about everything, including casting. He was finally able to put DeForest Kelley into the show, and Dr. McCoy made his debut in “The Corbomite Maneuver.” Star Trek would come to define the veteran actor’s entire career, and he made the jump with the rest of The Original Series characters into feature films. Later, he appeared in the first episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, effectively passing the franchise baton to an entirely new crew of intrepid space explorers.

The quality and intensity of Kelley’s performance in Star Trek left an indelible mark on pop culture. Many years later, Karl Urban did his best Kelley impression when playing Dr. McCoy in the Kelvinverse films. Now, Punisher actor Thomas Jane is about to play the feisty doctor on the final season of Strange New Worlds. Together, these actors have done more than carry on the legacy of sci-fi’s greatest franchise. They have also carried on the legacy of DeForest Kelley, a wonderfully talented performer and the most memorable actor in Star Trek history.