Mira Nova: Disney’s First Extra Terrestrial Princess

The new Lightyear film is taking quite a different take on the classic space ranger we all know and love. Pixar has said that this is meant to be “The Buzz Lightyear the toy was based on”. Well that technically isn’t true, as the television show, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, was established as an in-universe show for the world of Toy Story: Meaning that this was what the version the toy was based on.

The series did more than just give us an action packed Saturday morning cartoon with tons of adventure, comedy and great visuals. It also gave Disney their first female protagonist who was a princess to be from outer space.



Princess Mira Nova is from the planet of Tangea, a race of beings that can “ghost” through solid objects at will. She was inspired to join the Space Rangers when Buzz saved her planet from Zurg. She was initially meant to be Buzz’s replacement partner after the supposed death of Warp Darkmater, but he turns down having a new partner.



Eventually Buzz decides to not only have Mira join him, but also the robot XR and the rookie Booster as a team of rangers keeping the galaxy safe. On more than one occasion Mira has shown excellent skills in combat, even saving Buzz and friends on multiple occasions.

Despite not a more “traditional” Disney Princess who sings songs and dreams of bigger things, she does have a genuine love for her people and her planet. Not to mention she can really rock it in a dress.



As for the reason why Mira was a princess series producer Tad Stones stated in an interview:

“When we created her it wasn’t in the mind of Disney Princesses as they are now. It was that we wanted a variety of backgrounds for these characters and a way to get into other types of stories. So that’s where the Princess thing came from.”



Mira Nova is voiced by Nichole Sullivan. While her live action roles include MADtv and The King of Queens many 2000s kids may also recognize her as the voice of Shego in Kim Possible, Franny Robinson in Meet the Robinsons and Drew Saturday in The Secret Saturdays.

Now while this show is fondly remembered by kids who watched it in the early 2000s, along with its direct-to-video film, the show has seemingly been forgotten by Pixar and Disney. Outside of an appearance in tie-in game for the original PlayStation, Mira has not been seen since.

Tad Stones said that John Lasseter and the other people at Pixar really didn’t like the show. As of right now neither the television show or the direct-to-video film are available on Disney Plus. Perhaps that is on purpose.

A possible example of this can be seen on the theme park ride Buzz Lightyear: Space Ranger Spin. Tad said in an interview:

“When they put a Buzz Lightyear ride in Disneyland, there’s a mural outside the Buzz Lightyear ride. I look at it, and they used our uniforms… and here’s this female character, but she’s got three eyes. It was basically ‘Yeah, somebody put Mira Nova there’ and that was *uh-uh* and they took it out. Which to me is just silly. Because like, wait a minute, how many millions of people have seen this show how many times? There’s been more minutes of animation on this than the two movies combined. But that was like ‘Here’s this slap in the face’“.



In closing Mira Nova is a very well rounded character. She left the life of luxury in favor of helping protect the galaxy from Zurg. It would honestly be nice to see her return someday, be it in a sequel to the 2022 Lightyear film or another television show.



With Disney touting how progressive they are nowadays it would probably be very revolutionary to add her to the Disney Princess lineup as the first alien princess. How progressive would that be?

What did you think of Mira Nova? Should she make a return? Should she be considered a “Disney Princess”?