So why doesn't Woody carry a gun?

[Hobo Wan Kenobi]

Well I don't know about you guys but when I was a kid I would loose my guns and stuff for my action figures all the time. Maybe that's what happened to Woody's.

 

[micdavis]

Yes, that's fine for the first movie. And that's what I always thought.

But the second movie they need him complete with hat, why not the gun?

This will haunt me until I meet John Lasseter face to face.

 

[DarkHelmet]

I think I read somewhere in Woody's backstory that he lost it after being in a Saloon and firing up the place in a drunken rage.

Part of his 12 step program was giving up the gun along with the bottle.

I could be wrong, but this is what I remember reading.

 

[foxbatkllr]

Perhaps Al does have the gun stored somewhere else, he just never puts it in Woody's holster.

 

[Larry Young]

This will haunt me until I meet John Lasseter face to face.

I have always loved you.

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Perhaps Al does have the gun stored somewhere else, he just never puts it in Woody's holster.

Oh, the horror of losing one of those dang tiny blasters on Star Wars action figs!!! We collected them in a small soap box, and my brother made the figs fight each other with tooth pics, due to the high tech weapons embargo. Guess who had the technological advantage? Yes, a farmboy in pajamas...

 

[Wes R]

Those Star wars guns were the worst, you lose them in thick carpet and you'd never find them. Even the light sabers were hard to keep track of. I kinda figured he'd lost the gun someplace or like me never had everything in the same spot.

 

[Treadwell]

I lost my Kenner 12-back Leia pistol minutes after buying the damn thing...in the car on the way home.

 

[tripoli]

I always considered it a PC thing with the main character Woody. Lasers and Zurg's ball gun give a different connotation that a 50's pistol does. And it is a kids movie basically, it just did not need to be there.

I hate film revisionism like E.T., but I think what Pixar did was OK in the big scheme of things. Some time you just don't need to put such issues into a movie.

And for me, loosing my original Star Trek figures phasers and tricorders was the tough issue. I have never remembered those figures from my childhood until this thread.

 

[Solo4114]

Maybe Woody's more the guitar-slinging cowboy type than the gunslinging cowboy type.

 

[cboath]

Never picked up on Woody not having a gun.

I think in all three movies his string gets pulled by somoene/something and makes him speak one of his 'pre recorded lines' and one of the lines is "Reach for the sky". Well, if he's not hold holding a gun, why would the other party reach for the sky?? Seems fairly implicit he should have a gun. Unless he was sherrif MacGyver, he'd have a gun as a sherrif

 

[JMChladek]

Well, if you get the drop on somebody from behind and they reach for the sky, then you don't need the gun. Or if you make them think there is somebody on a rock with a Winchester pointed at them, you don't need the gun either.

Again, getting back to 1950s sensibilities on TV, when the law arrives says "reach for the sky" the criminal does it, regardless of whether they might still have the upper hand or not. The G-men got the drop on them and they were caught. It happened right up through the Batman TV series in the late 1960s (Chief O'Hara and Commissioner Gordon didn't carry guns either). Maybe it wasn't realistic, but it worked for TV of the day with the censors and decency standards of the time. Space men could get away with shooting guns as they usually had a stun setting. So nobody really got hurt if somebody got hit.

Like I said, you don't miss the gun in Toy story. And Woody's personality is such that he really doesn't need a gun either as he uses his charm (and brains) to get out of a situation. So MacGyver sheriff does sort of fit.

If Woody were a real 50s show, I could imagine at the end of the show when letters from kids are read on the air by the host, somebody would likely have addressed that issue to the kiddies out there in "Wild West" land.

 

[Contec]

The "doll" woody could have been made so that the buyer needed to send a letter in to the tv show to get a membercard and maybe the toy gun as a member bonus or such..

 

[JMChladek]

The "doll" woody could have been made so that the buyer needed to send a letter in to the tv show to get a membercard and maybe the toy gun as a member bonus or such..

:thumbsup :thumbsup

Ohhhh, very valid point. I like that idea. And it also would explain why the original doll had none and could be considered complete. Such toy premiums were common back then.

 

[micdavis]

Not during the timeline that Woody apparently comes from. He's not a modern toy.

He has a holster, there should be a gun.

I am afraid until I get a proper explanation (from John Lasseter) I'm going to have to move The Incredibles into the top Pixar slot.

 

[CTF]

It should be there, anyway.

Mike Giacchino > Randy Newman

 

[wannab]

Yes, a new Woody would have had a gun. It got lost. The Cleaner doesn't have the needed missing gun, he is just a repairman and touch up guy. If Woody's hat had been missing the Cleaner wouldn't have it either. I imagine if pressed/paid he could haunt ebay and snap one up. Okay?! I wouldn't read too much into it, as is stated above, other characters had guns in the movie.

Now what Spielberg did to E.T., that was just PC nonsense. I didn't care for E.T. anyway so I'll never have to fret over it.


Doug

 

[neosporing]

if anybody wants to do a run of a scaled colt for woody, i'd be interested in buying one

if not there is always this website

 

[CTF]

Actually, even back in '82, the 'Berg regretted having the Feds chase the kids with guns; and the change is so small, who cares? I mean, the digital E.T. is way more offensive (plus, you can still get the original E.T., you know).

Still, Free Hat!

 

[micdavis]

I only ever saw E.T. once, disliked it immensely.

Never saw the re-do, did they actually put in a CGI ET? All the scenes?