Transcript for:
Pixar Theory Lecture Notes

  • This show was sponsored by BetterHelp Therapy Online. Being human doesn't come with a user manual and sometimes we don't have the tools we need to navigate life stressors. Luckily, working with a therapist can help you gather those tools, visit betterhelp.com/super and navigate life with a little more ease. Hey brother! Guys back in 2012 we made a video called the Pixar Theory, and unbeknownst to us at the time, it would change our lives, this channel, and the music industry forever. ♪ Everything is part of the Pixar Theory ♪ Okay, definitely not the music industry, but it is available on iTunes if you're interested. But since then, anytime Pixar has produced a new movie, we have produced a new video to add that chapter to the Pixar theory explaining how each new movie fits in. But hey, we get it. Maybe you missed one or two of those videos over the years. Maybe you didn't see every single Pixar movie. And with 26 different movies out now, it can be hard to keep track of every single thing. So today we're simplifying things and making a brand new, updated, complete Pixar theory. Including everything from "Toy Story" through "Lightyear", which turned out to just be a movie inside of "Toy Story". That's how "Light year" fits in. This is the Pixar theory. ♪ Pixar theory ♪ ♪ The Pixar theory ♪ ♪ We're finally going to see clearly ♪ ♪ The Pixar theory ♪ The Pixar theory. By now, I'm sure you've heard of it, but in case you're new, I'm sure you're at least familiar with the idea that Pixar loves to put little Easter eggs in all their movies, little nods and references to all of their other works. The Pixar theory is the idea that all these little Easter eggs are more than just nods and references and winks at the audience. They are proof that every single movie Pixar creates exists in the same universe on the same timeline. So for example, you can see Riley from "Inside Out" at the aquarium in "Finding Dory." So they must exist in the same place, right? And then in "Finding Nemo", you can see this kid reading a comic book of "The Incredibles" and there's a Buzz Lightyear at his feet, So I guess "Toy Story" is in there as well. And then speaking of "The Incredibles", you can see Duke Kaboom in Jack Jack's room right here. So "The Incredibles" are looped in as well, and you can see how it all builds on itself. But the real part of the Pixar theory is realizing that if it's one universe, then there must be a through line, a plot that's happening across time and what is that plot? And as ever, I think it's important to point out that we did not invent the Pixar theory. It was originally introduced to the world by a man named Jon Negroni. He actually even wrote a book about it. But since then, the internet has of course gone crazy with it and there are tons of different interpretations and versions of it out there. So the version you're gonna hear today is the one that we have come to accept and build upon over the past 10 years here at Super Carlin Brothers, we don't count any of the shorts, sparks, or shows, just the movies. Let's go. The movies of course, don't come out in chronological order. We'll have to put them in order ourselves. The first one on the timeline is "The Good Dinosaur", although I guess you could argue "Soul" is the first one. "Soul" is kind of happening all of the time and none of the time and time just works weird in that movie. So I, we're starting with "A Good Dinosaur". It is particularly important to the Pixar theory because of this moment right here where the asteroid misses the Earth. This tiny non-event right here is the catalyst for everything that happens in the Pixar universe. It's why the Pixar universe is so similar to our own but also slightly different. And the first big change is pretty obvious. It's how much more the dinosaurs were able to develop since the asteroid missed. Arlo and his family have developed intelligence, agricultural practices, they're building homes, they farmed the land, but as they say in "Brave", you can't escape your fate. And so even though the dinosaurs bought themselves a couple extra million years by the asteroid missing, they're still doomed. Not by an asteroid, however, but simply by weather, which in the movie is already causing catastrophic problems. Climate change, who knew? For example, the pterodactyls used to be able to hunt, but now they have to follow the storm in order to scavenge food. The T-Rexes have to herd animals to provide themselves a steady food supply, but food is so short that they're under constant threat of losing their herd to raptors. But on the other hand, we also get an early glimpse at human life on the planet in the form of Spot who proves that even the youngest humans are extremely resourceful in ways that the dinosaurs just aren't. What "The Good Dinosaur" establishes for the Pixar universe though is something we're gonna continue to see through the timeline as a whole. It's this idea that any animal that doesn't get domesticated, like rats or insects or basically anything underwater, will develop some level of intelligence. Heck, even in "The Good Dinosaur", you can see different levels of domestication with the chickens. - Yesterday he said Footless Fran was the worst. - She's only got one foot. - But hey, that's not the only way an animal might and intelligence, right? You might also be a human who was magically turned into a bear. That's right. Next up we turn to the movie with mother daughter strife where the main character has red hair and someone gets turned into a giant bear. I'm speaking of course of, "Brave" "Turning Red" I know. Can you believe it? Isn't it weird that somehow there is more than one movie with this exact plot? Well, not if you understand the Pixar theory. Otherwise, it's kind of weird that even a single movie exists with this plot. But honestly, I'm kind of surprised it took this long for another movie like this to come out because not only are the plots similar, but so is all of the magic involved in turning someone into a bear. Real sentences I say for my job. (whispers) Thank you for watching. Both situations involve a character from the past searching for power. Sun Yee in "Turning Red" to protect her family and Mor'du in "Brave" for conquest. And both are granted this power in the exact same form, giant bear. Mor'du gets it from the witch in "Brave" and Sun Yee gets it from the gods apparently. Or does she? Hmm? More on that later. But let's talk about the witch because the witch's workshop is by far the most curious thing about this movie, especially as it relates to the Pixar theory. For one, it introduces us to magic, which is our first glimpse of things behaving in ways that they're not supposed to. Her crow can talk to humans, her door doesn't work the way I've ever known doors to work, and the witch herself seems pretty adept at wielding magic but she is obviously also not the source of it. For example, her knives and other sharp objects are quick to turn on her when Merida offers her a valuable piece of jewelry suggesting they have some mind of their own outside of the witches control, or who knows, maybe she's just not speaking with enough hearts fire, am I right, Barley? - Your hearts fire. You must speak with passion. Don't hold back. - Indeed Barley. But the other important bit of magic we see that the witch can do is the power to change someone's fate. Here's how Merida describes fate. "Some say our destiny is tied to the land, as much a part of us as we are of it. Others say fate is woven together like a cloth. So the one's destiny intertwines with many others. It's the one thing we search for or fight to change. Some never find it, but there are some who are led." One's destiny intertwines with many indeed. Hmm, I wonder who that's about? But anyway, let's get back to bear magic. There's obviously some key differences between "Turning Red" and "Brave." Obviously like one is a giant red panda and the other is black bear, and that Sun Yee is able to go back and forth between human and panda where as Mor'du just sort of gets stuck as black bear. But there's quite a number of similarities as well. For example, both sets of bears have a certain darkness to them. I mean, Mor'du is basically in full dark mode all the time, even though when he dies you can see the human spirit inside of him. It's actually much more at peace, which sort of suggests that somewhere along the way the bear or primal darkness or something overtook the man. It's like the scene in "Turning Red" where Meilin is going through the mirror and there's like a big struggle. It's like the bear won that and is the one who's left on the outside. Merida's mom also shows moments of advancing towards darkness throughout the movie, and we see Meilin totally lose her cool on Tyler when he calls her a freak. Not to mention, you know, Ming as giant Godzilla panda. Even how you undo the bear spell is super similar. Both somehow involve a celestial based time limit. For Merida, it's before the second sun rises, and for Meilin, it's before the end of the red moon. Then staying inside of a physical circle and sing with your heart. Oh right, sorry, hearts fire. - My what? - Your hearts fire. You must speak with passion. - This separates the bear spirit from the body. Man, even that. A soul entering or exiting a body after a circle is drawn on the ground. Why does, why does that sound familiar? (grunts) I'm telling you guys, it's like all these movies are connected or something. Oh wait, that's why you're here. And yes, I know nobody in "Brave" is actually singing, but they are standing in a stone circle and everyone is wishing with all of their heart that Merida's mom is going to come back. Okay, fine. We also don't know that's what they're thinking, but if you don't think that Meredith has enough hearts fire on her own to bring her mother back in this situation, then you need to go watch the movie again. And I mean just compare the separated soul from the bear in each movie. I mean it's just this translucent ghost of the person who used to live. Coincidence?
  • I think not. - Thank you Bernie, but okay, so magic exists. Souls exist. Humans and animals are capable of intelligence. What happens next? Machines, yes machines and in fact, the power struggle between humans, animals, and machines is what takes up the big middle section of the Pixar theory. But I use power struggle pretty loosely here because it's not like any group is trying to be in control or suppress the others in any particular way is just that as certain group rise, it's usually at the cost of the others. But I say others pretty loosely here because for the animals their ship sailed with the dinosaurs, like that was their time and from there on out everything's pretty much downhill, but we'll get into that more later. For now, let's focus on the introduction of the machines, which happens in "The Incredibles." Which takes place somewhere around the 1950's and 60's. Here we see the supers who live in a world of constant fear and crime and do their best to fight it until one day they get outlawed, but not before the best of all of them, Mr. Incredible, offends his biggest fan, Buddy Pine, AKA Syndrome. Turns out this day had a pretty massive impact. Little did Bob Parr know that by not entertaining little Buddy's fandom in this moment, he would alter the course of the entire world pretty immensely because the end result is that young Budford retreats home, locks himself in his room, and invents artificial intelligence in the form of the omnidroids, lethal robots he uses to try and kill off all the supers so that he can pretend to be one. Too bad for him though, the machines end up being smart enough to defeat even him. Thankfully the Incredibles are able to step in and defeat the omnidroid anyway, but it's too late. The damage is done. AI has been introduced to the world and this event marks the beginning of the end for the humans in terms of power on the planet for quite some time, and even marks the beginning of the end for the end of magic on planets abroad. But we'll come back to that one. However, despite this being the spark that lights the flame, the humans don't like lose power immediately or anything. Interestingly, the animals do start to emerge as a bit of a power, but never really take the driver's seat. Well, except for that one time when Dory literally drives a truck off a cliff. I mean, I know it's a movie about talking fish, but for some reason this moment I feel like is really where they, you know, jumped the whale shark. Nailed it. They literally did it though. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world though, another movie is happening around this time, "Luca", now if you recall, at the end of "Luca", Luca and Alberto are revealed to be sea monsters, a revelation that the people of Portorosso accept and embrace almost immediately, which is like fine, good for them for being so open minded, but I do feel like it happens kind of super duper fast for a town with a statue of a man killing a sea monster, you know, right there in the middle of it. But nah, we're good. Instead, let's go ahead and make these two sea monsters the champions of this year's pasta triathlon. And if that doesn't say progress, then I don't even know what the point of a pasta triathlon even is. That said maybe part of the reason they weren't as surprised by this sudden revelation of sea monsters is because they're used to sort of supernatural things happening in the world like super powers, which we know are things happening all around the world because of how the end of "Incredibles 2" goes. But what also lines up really nicely for "Luca" in terms of the Pixar theory is the cleanliness of the water. I mean, sure Alberto was littering up a storm at the beginning of the movie, but for the most part it's very clean, which is in harsh contrast to Pixar movies taking place closer to present day, where if you see underwater, it is horribly polluted anywhere it's near humans and this is sort of a sure sign of things to come. But actually the second even closer look underwater because there's another bit of big consistency within the universe happening. You may have noticed that the fish in "Luca" are not quite as smart as the other fish we see like in "Finding Nemo." Instead they're more like sheep. So what gives? And actually we already went over it, it's because the fish and "Luca" have been domesticated by the sea monsters, much like the chickens were domesticated by the dinosaurs in "The Good Dinosaur." But you might be wondering about now where did the sea monsters come from? And that is a very good question and we will definitely answer it in a little bit. It is quite important. But we did mention "Finding Nemo." So for now let's move on to our next set of movies within the timeline, which are the "Toy Story's", "Inside Out", "Finding Nemo" slash Dory, "Ratatouille" and "Up." Actually "Turning Red" takes place around this time as well, but we already sort of talked about "Turning Red", so. Anyway, "Finding Nemo" shows us just how much the fish, similar to the dinosaurs, have advanced in intelligence in the absence of humans, they have school systems, traffic lights, a real estate market. - Because a lot of other clownfish had their eyes on this place. - You better believe they did, every single one of them. - Not only that, but we also see a lone fish successfully circumnavigate the globe, find his son, and another group of fish overpower a human. But not all animals are out to fend off humans. Instead, in "Ratatouille" we see that Remy works alongside humans to great effect. He literally becomes the greatest chef on Earth, which is pretty impressive when you consider that, until then, cooking was exclusively a human activity. But I guess I should note that while Remy is an exceptional rat, he's also an exception to the rule. The rest of his family totally sees humans as the enemy and in the very near future that is gonna become very true. In the meantime though, the fact that Remy the rat is actually the greatest chef on Earth, is a secret known only to four humans by the end of "Ratatouille." Linguini, Colette, Anton Ego, and Chef Skinner and Chef Skinner does not like Remy and he promptly blabs to the press about the rats in the kitchen and most people are just grossed out by this and decided never to eat there again, which I guess they can't anyway 'cause they close down the restaurant. But a very clever person may have noticed that the rats coincided exactly with renowned critic Anton Egos review of Gusteaus claiming it as the best meal he ever had and put two and two together and hmm, do we ever see anyone else being served food by animals. - As Epsilon is the finest chef I've ever had. - Charles Muntz, the man literally waging war on animals or while a specific animal. (Kevin screeching) A prehistoric animal I might add, which per the Pixar theory has become incredibly intelligent and evaded capture for 70 plus years and that's evading capture from a guy who by his twenties already had a dirigible full of some of the world's rarest artifacts and that's apparently not even half of his collection. But how smart is Kevin? I mean he's up against Muntz, who recognizes the potential intelligence of his dogs, and invents collars that allow him to directly talk to them, but again, it totally fits. Animals like fish, rats, and Kevins who have been ignored by humans have developed intelligence. Meanwhile, dogs who have been domesticated like Buster in "Toy Story" have not. But Muntz seems to have found the bridge between the two and has hyper smart dogs capable of cooking food and flying airplanes. Man, I tell you "Up" is a weird movie sometimes if it's even happening at all. (whispers) Whole video by clicking the card. But "Up" is important as it does introduce some other big players to the Pixar theory, namely BNL, AKA Buy N Large, the corporate face of the machine quietly at work in the background since "The Incredibles." If you don't know, BNL is actually the company that is trying to buy Carl's house and force him out of the city at the beginning of the movie. And BNL shows up a bunch in Pixar, I mean most notably in "Wall-E", but also here in "Toy Story 3" where you can see that they produce the batteries inside of Buzz and actually there's a bunch of little Easter eggs connecting "Up" and "Toy Story." Like you can see a Lotso and the little girl from Sunnyside in this room right here, the grape soda cap that Carl wears as the Ellie badge can be seen as a commercial in Sid's dad's room, and, of course, there's the infamous postcard on Andy's bulletin board from the mysterious Emma Jean, who I do not have time to talk about right now. But let me just say, I spent the better part of my mid-twenties investigating this unseen character and eventually took the question all the way to Pete Docter himself. Wild ride. But while we're on "Toy Story" and batteries, let's pause because it's our first great example of one of the bigger concepts of the Pixar theory, which is how humans are used across it. Which is to say, as batteries. Sort of, it's more like the power of human memory has the ability to bring things to life. But this is the answer for how toys come to life and why they're afraid of being forgotten by their owners because their owners are literally their life source. "Coco" actually gives us an extremely good breakdown for how this all works and I'll explain that in a minute, but for now, just start thinking of humans as batteries. Where humans are, there is life. Where humans are not, there is not, at least when it comes to inorganic things like toys or machines or (clears throat) cars. On the other hand, when it comes to animals, humans' involvement is typically not so great. We get to see the start of the humans' real effect on the planet in "Finding Dory" when Marlin, Nemo, and Dory find themselves amidst a junkyard on the ocean floor. The pollution is vast with little sign of life anywhere except for the occasional crab and giant bioluminescent squid. But really the trash is the important thing here because it marks the beginning of the end for the animals. Unless you're like an animal that benefits by lots of trash, like I don't know, rats or something, which hey, look, "Ratatouille" is the next movie on the timeline. It's like these movies are connected or something, I swear. But we already talked about rats, so instead let's just move forward with the pollution to the point where it gets like truly out of control. (ominous crashing) For that, we have to fast forward about 100 years to 2105 where the humans have finally polluted the planet apparently beyond repair and have to leave in "Wall-E." During that time, BNL, our faceless machine driven corporation, has basically overtaken every aspect of life on Earth. - Go to full autopilot, take control of everything, and do not return to Earth. - And ultimately they come to the conclusion that the planet is a lost cause. So they load up everyone on a bunch of star cruisers and send them into space and told their little Wall-E robots can clean up the Earth, which it turns out they never expected to work. So it makes you wonder why they made the Wall-E robots to begin with, but whatever it worked out. Either way they evacuate the planet and leave it unpopulated at all, or so they thought, for 700 years. And a lot happens in that time. - Dadgum. - Because with the animals dead and the human's gone, who's left to inherit the Earth, the cars. They might think like, well obviously "Cars" doesn't take place on Earth, right? Like it's definitely some sort of alternate reality or something like that. But no, it's definitely the same planet the humans were on. For one, it has all of the same places and we get to see a lot of them in "Cars 2." But it does bring up a lot of questions like how are the cars coming to life? Why do they all have personalities and names similar to people from our time, just a little bit different? How could it be that they have their own timelines with dates and stuff? If all of "Cars" took place during those 700 years, how could they have a 1950's? Even if they started their own timeline, that's too many years. You might be asking the question, are they artificial intelligence? Are they products of BNL? No. BNL may have polluted the planet to an unlivable state, but power and domination was never their goal. They were never trying to kill off the humans or develop their own race to inhabit the Earth. BNL's goal was always to make the lives of humans easier and easier at any, and I mean any, cost. I mean they literally paid with the entire planet. (ominous crashing) But seriously, look at how everyone is treated on The Axiom. Like if your goal is to eradicate humans, why bother keeping them alive and comfortable? But so if the cars aren't artificial intelligence, what are they then? Well, how it works is that the cars are coming to life the same way the toys were coming to life, the same way the monsters will eventually power their cities, with human energy. And while it's very similar to the toys, there are a few key differences. I mean obviously the cars weren't coming to life while the humans were there the way the toys were. Plus since they're built as cars, they still need fuel, oil, maintenance, and stuff like that to operate. But perhaps the key difference is that the toys are designed as something that is supposed to be brought to life by a child's imagination and thus typically their personality matches. Whether that's a cowboy or a space ranger or a part slinky dog or a potato with the re-arrangeable face. - Look, I'm Picasso.
  • I don't get it. - Cars on the other hand are not built this way and so don't have a preexisting personality. Instead, cars on the personality of their former owners complete with their memories but viewed through a car-ified lens. It also appears that the cars wake up, if you will, in the same order in which they were cared for, instead of all at once. This explains why new generations of cars from Doc Hudson to Lightning McQueen all the way up to Jackson Storm continue to emerge throughout the series. And why their years in history seem to line up so well with our own. We actually even get a hint as to when the real Lightning McQueen would've lived as a human thanks to this bandaid on the truck driver in "Finding Dory." And actually if you wanna get like real deep in the weeds, we have a pretty good idea who that human was, the actor who played Buzz in the "Lightyear" movie. (whispers) Full video by clicking the card. Not Chris Evans, the in universe Pixar character who was an actor that played Lightyear in the movie that like Andy watched. It's all very confusing, But if you're still confused about how the cars wake up, great news, "Luca" offers an almost perfect example for how this works. I'm sure you recall in "Luca" the mystery of what happened to Alberto's father because we don't learn a whole lot about him other than that he used to live with Alberto in a tower above the water near town until he abandoned him. And while it's never confirmed, I feel pretty confident that Alberto's father's name was, of course, Bruno, as in silenzio Bruno. If you don't recall, silenzio Bruno is basically Alberto's don't listen to the voice inside your head, you only live once, let's drive this rickety Vespa off a cliff into the ocean and just generally ignore gravity, battle cry. And I mean it makes sense because his dad probably used to tell him not to do such crazy, gravity defying stuff all the time. But having been abandoned, Alberto rebels by ignoring any sort of warning echo in his head and instead shouting to the heavens. - Silenzio Bruno!
  • Silenzio Bruno! - And this is all relevant because in "Cars 2" there's a character named Bruno Motoreau who is the French crew chief of Raoul Caroule. And I'll be real, he is an exceedingly minor character except that he is almost definitely the car-ified version of Alberto's father. And for a character that has almost no screen time, we actually know a surprising amount about him. He plays the accordion, likes romantic drives along the Seine, and his favorite movie is The Engine of Dr. Motoreau. Plays the accordion with what? You don't have hands. But he did. Now interestingly, The Engine of Dr. Motoreau is a reference to the real life movie, "The Isle of Dr. Moreau" which, and I could not believe this, is a movie about a man creating human-animal hybrids, you know, like sea monsters. And get this, Seine might be a river in France, but it also has a second meaning as fishing net and not just any kind of fishing net, but specifically this kind of fishing net that Alberto was almost caught in at the beginning of the movie. So the idea is that the human Bruno caught Alberto's mother who, of course, above the water just looked like a human. They fell in love, had Alberto, and then she died. Possibly at the hands of the town's folk who again have a statue of people hunting sea monsters in the middle of their town which leaves Bruno to raise his son alone and away from town and above the water because he, of course, isn't a sea monster, which is why Alberto doesn't live underwater. The point is, the similarities between Bruno Motoreau's interests and the likely story of Alberto's father all but prove that this is how the cars come to life. Got it? Good. But oddly, if you can believe it, that's not even the last connection between the "Cars" movies and "Luca." You know what else connects them? Crabs. Because why wouldn't they? Crabs are weirdly important to the Pixar theory. Did you know that crabs are the only non-car-ified creature confirmed to exist inside of the "Cars" universe? But it's surprising, right? Because didn't all the animals die off from the pollution caused by the humans, (ominous crashing) which is why the humans left? But it's actually not that surprising because if you go back to that scene in "Finding Dory" when they're swimming around the junkyard, what is the only other animal they see? Crabs. And in addition to fish, guess what else the sea monsters domesticated? Crabs. Also, also, actually, actually, we know that as far forward as "Wall-E", there is at least one other critter that seems to have been able to survive. The cockroaches, like Wall-E's little pet Hal. Which may seem irrelevant here, but crustaceans, such as crabs, are actually extremely closely related to roaches. Keep that in mind next time you're having a lobster, right? Just a big ole' sea roach. Like no one ever wants to eat bugs until they're giant, live underwater, and served at a premium. All right guys. Now I need quick pause to tell you that today's show is brought to you by BetterHelp. I'll just be straight with you guys, when life isn't working for you, it is totally normal to feel stuck. Frankly, navigating challenges can be terrifying when life doesn't come with a user manual. So whether you're undergoing a career change or a new relationship or becoming a parent, we all need help with challenging emotions. Which is where therapy comes in. Therapists are trained to help you learn productive coping skills for life's everyday speed bumps or challenges and BetterHelp has connected over 3 million people with licensed therapists because it's convenient and accessible. We here at SCB talk pretty openly about our relationship with mental health and going to therapy and stuff on all of our various different shows, which is why I can't tell you how grateful I am to have discovered therapy as an avenue for help because like anyone else out there I have struggled with feeling stuck or understanding my own emotions and just having someone to like help me through those moments has been crucial. BetterHelp is the world's largest therapy service and has already matched over 3 million people with professionally licensed and vetted therapists who are all available 100% online. Plus it's affordable. All you have to do is fill out this brief questionnaire to match with the therapist and then if things aren't working out with that person, it's super easy to just switch to a new one. Like it couldn't be simpler. There's no waiting rooms, no traffic, no endlessly searching for a new therapist, which can be the hardest part. If you wanna learn more and get 10% off your first month, you can head over to betterhelp.com/SUPER. One more time, that's BetterHelp H-E-L-P .com/SUPER. Link is the description down below. Anyway, where were we back above the surface? Oh yeah, right, The Axiom just left with all the humans. Well I guess actually, we follow all the humans that went on The Axiom, but actually lots of star cruisers left Earth and went out into the far reaches of space. You ever wonder what happened to the rest of them? Like are they just still out there? Honestly, probably, except for one, which didn't have such a happy ending and instead crash landed on a whole different planet full of magic. Not gonna lie, when I first watched "Onward", the thing that bothered me the most was that in this like total fantasy world, all of the technology they came up with was almost the exact same stuff we humans came up with except obviously, they weren't on Earth 'cause there's like two moons. Like how could that possibly be I wonder? How is this gonna fit into the Pixar theory? Our smartphones and cars just inevitable? No, as ever, the Pixar theory provides. The reason the technology and "Onward" is so similar to the technology from Earth is that it's from Earth. What happened is one of the other star cruisers crash landed into the planet of "Onward" and all their technology is being sourced from that star cruiser, which is just packed to the brink with the peak of human technology. And I mean this makes sense, right? Like if a giant spaceship crashed into the middle of your magical utopia, you'd have to explore it and figure out where it came from and what all of its secrets were, right? And guess what? Telling people where it came from is one of the functions we know The Axiom can do. Not only that, but it's also equipped with powerful AI that can tell them how to do and build most things. And if only a few beings are capable of magic on your planet, you can see why adopting technology that makes life easier for every troll, gnome, elf, dwarf, mermaid, and any other creature around would be preferable. But that is why the cars, planes, highways, snacks, infrastructure of the entire modern world in "Onward" is so similar to Earths. I mean heck, they even have the same brand of TripleDent gum. I guess they just couldn't be bothered to think of new one, stuck in their head forever. ♪ TripleDent gum ♪ ♪ Will make you smile ♪ - This again? - But it really should be no surprise, The Axioms are products of BNL and they are not shy about suggesting how you should treat their products. But you might be thinking, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. If BNL is so pervasive, then shouldn't we see like a BNL logo somewhere like at least a tiny sticker? No, I thought so too. But instead where you need to be looking is the horizon, where you can see proof of the crashed star ship. In the movie the brothers are questing towards a mountain in the distance called Raven's Point. It turns out this isn't their true destination, but it is ours. Because Raven's Point isn't a mountain at all. The whole movie I kept thinking, man, it looks so familiar. And that is when I looked at the blueprints for The Axiom. And guess what? It's a perfect fit. And you think, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you telling me those ships are the size of the mountain? Uh, yes, they are. These ships are absolutely massive and totally mountain size. And if you're wondering why it doesn't look like a spaceship anymore, that's because it's been there for hundreds of years and it's just been covered by nature in the meantime. But anyway, let's get back to Earth where the cars and apparently a few crabs are running the place because you might have noticed that in "Wall-E", the planet looks way more polluted than we see it in "Cars." You may have also wisely pointed out that there's a ton of plant life in "Cars" that the Eve drones should have easily been able to find and report back to the captain. Very, very good points, both of which though are pretty easily explained. First of all, the humans may have needed to leave way before the planet looks like it does in "Wall-E." And second, the Eve probes may specifically be being sent to locations where there is no vegetation to find out if vegetation has returned to those locations. But either way, it doesn't matter. Every single Eve droid to be coming back with plant life every single time and it makes no difference because the AI is programmed to never return anyway. At all times, it maintains its directive to stop the captain from ever learning about it. As for the planet being so brown, well I think that's probably because the only inhabitant of the planet for several centuries was cars. But, of course, the cars too eventually die off. Look, here's poor Todd. kind of weird for them to leave that car-cass in the shot. Am I right? (laughs) Car, you get it. But it's like we said, when there's no humans, there's no energy. The cars can survive on fuel alone for a while, but even by "Cars 2", there's already an energy crisis. But of course we all know that is where "Wall-E" steps in and solves everything by finally delivering a plant to the captain of The Axiom and delivering the humans back to Earth. - We can go back home for the first time. - And what becomes of the humans after they return to Earth? Well, it looks like they start rebuilding, but eventually we know they become monsters. Now we've always known this was the case and for a long time our theory was that after returning there was still some like leftover radiation or something from the pollution that got into the humans and eventually caused them to mutate into the monsters. But with so many new movies out, we now have a much better understanding of what actually happened and how they transitioned into the monsters. The answer is, of course, the sea monsters. See while the above ground humans all left on The Axioms, it doesn't mean the sea monsters ever left. The oceans being much larger than the surface likely allowed them to spread out and find sanctuary and survive the inter meaning 700 years. I mean, we absolutely know if they don't have to live near land or anything thanks to Luca's creepy uncle. And this offers an alternate explanation for how those crabs were surviving during the times of the cars. They were domesticated. But so as the humans are now able to return to a now livable planet, so too are the sea monsters able to reemerge above the surface. Where as ever they continue to take on the form of humans. And if our story about Alberto's parents is correct, then it means the sea monsters could procreate with the humans and eventually create an entire race of monsters. But of course after that happens, it means once again there's no humans left, which means energy crisis, which is where we find the monsters in "Monsters Inc."
  • What are you doin'? - Mikey, there's a scream shortage. We're walking. - In fact, what is it we know they're harvesting to run their cities. Oh yeah, (laughs) human energy. Or more specifically human emotions or even more specifically human memories. Yes, here we go. At last we've explained how humans as an energy source works. Oh, but wait, weren't you gonna tell us about how the sea monsters came to be in the first place? Yeah, I am. I'll get there. Okay, shh, I'm talking about batteries. (chair rustling) I'm over here now. Okay, so if you recall at the beginning of "Monsters Inc", there is a scare shortage, which if you ask me makes no sense. I mean, we know Sully and Randall are both simultaneously close to breaking the all time scare record. That means the two best scares of all time are working at the same time right next to each other on the scare floor. And somehow you're at a scare shortage. - Oh, kids these days. They just don't get scared like you used to. - Indeed Waternoose, indeed. The solution in the movie is to switch to laugh energy, which I submit to you based on what I just said, makes no sense. If talent is at an all time high, why is scream at an all time low? Well, it's because of how the scare floor works, which is time travel. When the monsters go through the doors, they enter the human world. But as we've just established, the human world is their world. What the monsters are doing is just accessing a point in history when humans existed because as ever they need human energy to survive. As such, when they travel back in time to scare the kids matters and we have a pretty good idea when they're traveling back to thanks to some of the posters and toys in the kids' rooms. Namely all these actual posters promoting the opening of Disneyland back in 1955. We also have this Jesse doll in Boo's room, which would've come out alongside of a Woody's Roundup, which also came out in the fifties and was super popular until- - Two words Sputnik. - Which for the record went into space in 1957. So right on cue. But here's the monster's problem. They're only ever able to travel back in time a set amount of time, meaning that as time progresses forward in their world, it also progresses forward in the human world at the same rate. So for example, let's say it's the year 3050 in the monster world and they're traveling back to 1950. Then, in 3051 they'd be traveling back to 1951. So when Waternoose says, kids just don't scare like they used to, it's because he's up against the ever-changing nature of the kids in the human world. Interestingly, back on the human reign portion of the timeline in the 1940's is also when the supers were at the top of their game. - I'm at the top of my game. - Helen says that in an interview 15 years prior to the events of the movie in "The Incredibles" where the need for the supers has all but evaporated. Which explains why scream energy is fading and laugh energy is rising because it's the same time that Syndrome introduces AI into the world, which we know then goes on to make everything way, way, way easier for the humans moving forward. Prior to that though the supers were required because they were in constant danger all the time. It makes sense that scream energy was what they needed because fear was in constant supply. But over time, joy, not fear becomes the dominant emotion. You see where we're heading? Yeah. "Inside out." And this is exactly what we see inside of Riley's head. Like if you look at her long-term memory, it's mostly joy back there. There's literally just more joy to harvest from these kids because they have more happy memories and memories specifically not emotions. Emotions just color the memories. "Inside Out" also explains why children are better targets than adults for harvesting the energy. Because for the most part, all of their memories have just a single emotion, but when they get older, they have more complex and mixed emotions, which would obviously be harder to harvest. And boy, let me tell you, since last time we did a complete Pixar theory video, I have personally had three kids and that is absolutely true. They feel one emotion at a time at 100% and nothing in between. "Inside Out" also introduces us to the character Bing Bong, whose death is quite powerful. In Riley's mind, Bing Bong was a real being, not just a memory. So he's able to walk around freely rather than being contained inside of just an orb. But he still spends most of the movie in this in between state. He's a memory that's never called upon, but he's also not entirely forgotten. And as such, he just sort of continues existing until eventually he falls victim to the memory dump. And oddly, this exact phenomenon is the driving force behind the entire plot of "Coco." Which is why it should come as no surprise at all that the City of Dead just looks like a much grander version of the inside of the human mind. The difference of course being that instead of looking at a single little girl's memories, we're now looking at the memories of several generations of the people of Mexico. And yet the rules are pretty much the same, once a year as long as your family puts a picture of you on their ofrenda, you're able to cross over into the living world to receive gifts. This is similar to a memory being called up to headquarters. ♪ TripleDent gum ♪ ♪ Will make you smile ♪ - But either way, a friend or not, as long as just one memory orb of you exists in the mind of any person anywhere, you'll still be allowed to wander around freely in the City of the Dead. One orb is all you need to keep you alive in the afterlife, you know what I mean. But if you are completely forgotten, then much like Bing Bong, you experience the final death. And that right there, the concept of being remembered is the very point of the Pixar theory to actively remember those who came before you to look to the past as a guide for the future because those who are not forgotten are not really gone. And once you're aware of it, you'll start to notice this theme permeates basically every single Pixar movie. In "Toy Story", the toys greatest fear is being forgotten by their owner because if they are, they'll die. I mean, look at Wheezy, he's sick because he's nearly forgotten and the prospector is seeking a kind of immortality by being in a museum. Bob Parr is afraid that if everyone just forgets the old days, then Mr. Incredible, his former self will truly die too. Marlin's quest to save Nemo is as much about remembering his wife as it is rescuing his son. Then we have Dory who has short term memory loss and spends an entire movie showing just how tragic forgetting can be. I mean, she could have found her parents and not even realized. Arlo is controlled by the guilt and memory of his father's death and fears he'll never make him proud until his ghost appears and tells him he's him and more. Barley is also controlled by his worst memory of not saying goodbye to his dad. While Ian is driven forward by the desire to have any memories with his dad. In "Ratatouille" Gusteau's memory is being trashed and dragged through the mud and Remy is out to set it straight. Joe is convinced the only way he can matter to anyone is as a great piano player and instead isolates everyone who matters to him. Carl can't let Ellie's memory die and carries it around as literal baggage until he's saved by remembering what he loved about her and how she'd want him to live. The cars on the other hand, as machines, are starkly not concerned with being remembered. Doc and Lightning both scoff at legacy and it almost seems like AUTO is going out of his way to prevent humans from remembering where they came from. But then there's also Wall-E whose love of humans and active remembering of them brings to life a little plant. I mean, how else are you gonna explain to me that the only plant anywhere near him managed to grow inside of a refrigerator with no access to sunlight or water? It's almost like Wall-E has a soul. Oh, you think Wall-E is who 22 landed into? Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. I mean 22 was on Earth for one day and they spend the entire time just collecting junk. And what does Wall-E do all day? (laughs) Actually, on that note, as soon as the captain starts remembering Earth and all the passengers on The Axiom start remembering Earth, guess what happens to Earth? Plants everywhere. But while they had forgotten about it. (ominous crashing) But finally that brings us back to "Brave" right where we started, where the greatest memory of them all lives in the witch's hut. On the back of her door exists a carving that has absolutely no business existing in medieval Scotland and yet there it is, a carving of Sully. This is because the witch is not just some random old lady, the witch is Boo. (epic rumbling) Oh, you need more proof. Well, for one, she's obsessed with bears and Sully looks like a giant bear. And that might be how she remembered him if you only ever knew him as a little girl. Two, she has a carving of the Pizza Planet truck right here. And like what? (laughs) How would she even know what that is if she isn't from the future? And three, where did Sully come from when she was a little girl? A magic door. And what does the witch have on her hut? A magic door. What a weird memory to chase your entire life, right? You'd probably think you were going crazy, but part of you would always remember your adventure with a giant talking bear. But like was it just a dream? It must have been because giant talking bears don't exist, right? - [Meilin] People still talk about Panda-pocalypse 2002. - Oh right? But they do. And can you imagine how the news of Panda-pocalypse 2002 would affect the then adult Boo? Discovering that this kind of magic was in fact real? Boo would be roughly 47 around that time, just the age to have a teenage child, likely of Asian descent, probably dressed in flowers like her door because that's how people dress their kids, right? But I gotta tell you, sounds a whole lot like Meilin's friend Abby. Which bad news, means that adult Boo not a fan of 4*TOWN. - Mine called it stripper music. - Which it gets to be fair, doesn't mean she doesn't like it. But it does likely mean she would have tons of liberty to ask Meilin's family about the events of Panda-pocalypse 2002, since her daughter would've been very directly affected by it. I mean at bare minimum she would be able to learn a lot about bear magic, which is the exact kind of magic we are interested in. I mean, going back to her wood shop, does the amount of wood carving not kind of resemble the giant red panda shrine? And if she discovered time travel as well, which not for nothing is neatly laid out for her in the in universe film of that time "Lightyear." - Sox, how long were we gone? - Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow. 22 years, 19 weeks, and four days. - Then she could have actually been the one who went back and gave Sun Yee the ability to transform into the panda in the first place, thus ensuring an infinite loop where her future self would always learn about the magic. And she is good with this trick. In fact, it's the very trick she uses to make sure that Sully himself never experiences the final death. To ensure that Sully is never forgotten. Because again, all you need is one memory orb, right? But so how do you ensure that never fades by going into the past and remembering something from the future, thus creating a permanent loop. As long as she stays here and sets the events of "Brave" in motion, she ensures the future will always happen. She'll always go on to be a little girl again and meet Sully, who will grow up to go back in time and ensure the memory never dies. And believe it or not, this exact same trick also explains where the sea monsters came from. We're finally there. (clapping) (water splashing) Here's how it works. We mentioned earlier that while the humans were gone, the sea monsters were able to thrive under the water. Once the humans returned, the sea monsters would likely outnumbered them and eventually they could interbreed with them and create an entire race of monsters. But so how did the sea monsters arrive on Earth to begin with? Well, it's pretty simple. The first sea monster was just a banished monster from the future. In fact, we already know for sure of at least one banished sea monster in "Monsters Inc." - Lochness, Bigfoot, the abominable snowman. They all got one thing in common pal, banishment. - Indeed. Now granted Lochness is obviously in Scotland and we're in Italy and those are different places, but that's not much of a problem 'cause obviously you can be banished in just different places. - Welcome to the Himalayas. - Thank you Abominable. Yes, the Himalayas, which is where Mike and Sully are banished to, proving that the monsters are happy to use the same door and location to banish multiple monsters. But even so, you must be thinking, wow, they must have had to banish a lot of sea monsters, like were they just all breakin' the rules? No, don't forget, the sea monsters all share one particular condition that would likely be a massive concern for the people of the monster world, which is that above the water, they look like humans. And we all know how the monster world treats humans. - 2319, we have a 2319! (dramatic music) - So really, banishment might not be the right word. It's more like relocation, which then would also be explained why you'd be banished to the Italian Riviera. They're not trying to punish you for looking like a human above water. The people at the top know you're not actually a threat, but obviously you can't live here. So just live in this nice place. We'll even send everyone else who's just like you to the same place. But once again, it's an example of how the future ensures the present or the past, depending on how and when you wanna look at it. But the point is, it all leads to the same future and that future is Sully and his memory will never be forgotten. And that is the Pixar theory. Woo. Thank you guys so much for watching our updated Pixar theory video. Not gonna lie, that was a really long writing session, but I hope you all enjoyed it. The Pixar universe is so massive, it's so fun to like fill in all the gaps on. Every time we get another movie, I'm like, I don't know how this is gonna fit. But then it always does, so perfectly, and it is like my favorite thing. (epic crashing) If you have any other questions or fun Easter eggs you've spotted in the Pixar universe. Or just wanna let us know, what is your favorite Pixar movie? Let us know in the towel section down below. But Ben, otherwise, until next time, I will see you in another life brother. Oh, oh, also, at some point there was a colony of ants that lived next to a tree.