Emperor Zurg



Evil Emperor Zurg, Sworn Enemy of the Galactic Alliance is one of the main antagonists in the 1999 Disney-Pixar film Toy Story 2 and the main villain in the 2000 film/TV series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. He is voiced by Andrew Stanton in the film and by Wayne Knight in the cartoon series. Zurg also appears as a villain in the attraction Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (and the variations of this attraction) at the five Disneyland-type parks in the United States, Japan, France, and Hong Kong. He has an initial "Z" which stands for Zurg. His color is purple and he has evil red eyes, silver horns and frowning teeth and wears a cape with a collar around his neck. His weapon is an ion blaster. Andrew Stanton will voice this character again for the video game version of Toy Story 3 as a playable character exclusive to the PlayStation 3 version of the game. For the same version, his car also inspires his personality and with his gun, he fires balls that look similar to the Ion Blaster's ones. {| class="toc" id="toc"

Contents
[hide]*1 Toy Story
 * 2 Toy Story 2
 * 3 Toy Story 3
 * 4 Cartoon series
 * 5 Notes
 * 6 References
 * 7 External links
 * }

[edit] Toy Story
In the first film, Zurg is a referenced character, and does not appear at all. He is simply a character mentioned by Buzz Lightyear, his sworn enemy. Buzz claims that Zurg is building a powerful weapon that could annihilate an entire planet and that he is the only one that could possibly stop him (a reference to the Death Star of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope). Throughout the movie, it is Buzz's only concern to contact Star Command and stop Zurg from his evil doings before he discovers that he is a toy. In early story boarding for Toy Story, Zurg was originally going to be in the opening sequence to the film. The sequence was then removed and revised and placed in the beginning of the second film.

[edit] Toy Story 2
Zurg is first seen in the opening sequence of the second film when Buzz is trying to take his power away from him (Zurg's power is from a AA battery). In the ensuing battle, Zurg vaporizes the top half of Buzz Lightyear's body. The sequence then cuts showing that the opening sequence was a video game played by Rex. As the story progresses, a Zurg toy in Al's Toy Barn bursts out from its box and follows Andy's Buzz Lightyear, who is on the way to rescue Woody from Al McWhiggin. Zurg is deluded in the way the world works similar to Andy's Buzz in the first film. In the second film, another copy of Buzz Lightyear, who also acts similar to Buzz in the first film, escapes from Al's Toy Barn and battles with Zurg using toy components (pin balls and lights). In a reference to the relationship of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, the principal hero and villain respectively of the original Star Wars Trilogy, Evil Emperor Zurg claims he is in fact the father of Buzz. As Zurg attempts to finish Buzz #2 (at point-blank range), Rex accidentally hits Zurg with his large tail, sending him falling down the elevator shaft. The second Buzz then looks over the shaft and reaches his hand out,thinking he has lost his father, while Rex is excited that he has finally managed to defeat Zurg. Near the end of the film, Zurg is seen to have survived his fall and is now playing catch with the Buzz copy. meaning they have made up and become friends. The second Buzz Lightyear then says, "Oh, you're a great dad!" as he rushes to catch another ball fired by Zurg.

[edit] Toy Story 3
Zurg has a brief cameo during a sequence in the end credits, where he is donated to Sunnyside Daycare center.

[edit] Cartoon series
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and its direct-to-video movie Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins, Zurg says he is Lightyear's father during a fight in order to shock Lightyear, before regaining the advantage during the fight and then denying the truth of that previous claim. Whether or not this is actually true, Buzz definitely does not know who his father is. This version of Zurg is also severely lightened up, going from the movie's Darth Vader-esque version to a far less intimidating one; in the TV series Zurg is a flamboyant villain who is just as much a comic relief character as he is a formidable opponent, similar to Skeletor. This Zurg is known for videotaping Buzz's speeches, maintaining a troll doll collection, and various other comedic habits. In the series, he is voiced by Wayne Knight, who voiced Al McWhiggin in Toy Story 2. He is shown to have a bit of a British accent throughout the series. It is revealed in the first episode that there is a Nana Zurg, but she is never seen at all (although he claims that she's "plenty evil").

Zurg would appear to be a cyborg of some description, also much like Darth Vader. However, it has also been discussed amongst fans that his "cybernetic" traits could also very well be because of advanced technology. There is yet to be a clear answer.

He frequently mentions various members of his family, yet no other members of his species have been revealed.

In the TV series he is the warlord-like ruler of an evil empire and is in command of an army of Hornet robots, as well of a minion workforce consisting of Grubs and Brainpods. The seat of which is the hellish Planet Z (standing for Xrghthung). In various media surrounding the film, his planet is said to be called Xrghthung. However, because this is unpronounceable in the TV series it is changed to simply "Z." It is unknown whether Zurg rules over any other worlds, but, if he does, they have not been revealed. Planet Z evidently possesses vast resources and forces enabling Zurg to be a serious threat to the Galactic Alliance. Despite being frequently gullible and bungling, Zurg is evidently highly intelligent, able to concoct sound military tactics and Machiavellian evil schemes. Additionally, he occasionally references stereotypes of typical evil villains and intentionally violates them, showing how aware he is of his similarity to them. For example, when designing a vast prison on Planet Z, he declines building an execution arena, for it simply "gives the captives more time to get away."

Despite his camp nature, he is just as fearsome and ruthless as his movie counterpart. Zurg is frequently mentioned to be the most evil villain in the galaxy and appears to possess authority over all other villains. In fact he would appear to be a physical manifestation of pure evil. He is particularly proud of this and frequently brags of how "evil" he is. In fact, with a touch he was apparently able to turn the Little Green Men's unimind from "Good" to "Evil."

There is much debate over what Zurg's face really looks like; whether he wears a mask or whether it is his true face.

In an official book, it has been stated that Zurg is "Lightyear's alien arch nemesis".

[edit] Notes

 * In the movie Toy Story 2, Zurg says "No Buzz, I am your father.", which is a parody of The Empire Strikes Back in which the villain Darth Vader tells Luke Skywalker that he is his father in a very similar fashion.
 * In Toy Story 2, Zurg is seen holding a gun in the elevator shaft scene. A meter on the side of the gun has settings from "1" to "11". This is a reference to the cult film This Is Spinal Tap featuring the famous quote, "It goes to 11."
 * When he is foiled, Zurg always utters the line "Curse you, Buzz Lightyear!" This has since become his trademark on Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.
 * Just many other character from the franchise, Zurg will appear in the Toy Box Mode of Toy Story 3: The Video Game. He will be a playable character in the Playstation 3 version of the game.
 * Zurg possesses the ability to project beams of energy from his eyes, similar to the Omega Effect possessed by the DC Comics villain Darkseid or Transformers villain Megatron. Whether these are mystical,scientific in origin or an ability possessed by most members of his species is never explained.
 * Evil appears to run in Zurg's family as the Emperor frequently references members of his family when speaking. Examples include his mother and grandmother. He frequently speaks of how equally evil they were and in his most evil moments, has a tendency to enter a dreamy reverie and speak of how proud they would be of him.
 * The weapon Buzz mentions in the first film may relate to the Galactic Empire's Death Star.
 * Whilst Evil Emperor Zurg was never actually seen in Toy Story, it is interesting to note that a villain named Anti-Buzz appeared in place of Zurg in the merchandising for the first film[1] . Anti-Buzz is depicted as an evil robot duplicate of Buzz Lightyear with a spark-driven "laser" built into his right arm, although he too did not appear in the actual film, being a mere spin-off character. Anti-Buzz later appeared as a henchman of Zurg in merchandising for Toy Story 2, but hasn't been seen since, although an evil Buzz from an alternate universe, sporting a goatee, appears in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.
 * Zurg was originally set to appear in the first Toy Story, during an opening scene showing a 2D animated Buzz Lightyear cartoon show. This was later reworked into the video game opening of Toy Story 2.