Emperor Zurg

Emperor Zurg, also known as Evil Emperor Zurg, is a character from the Toy Story series.
== Charactah Account ==
Emperor Zurg is the archenemy of the Galactic Alliance and Buzz Lightyear in the latter's franchise. His action figure has a light-up mouth and eyes, and a spring loaded gun that shoots little yellow balls. He is first seen in the Buzz Lightyear video game that Rex is trying to beat.
When the toys go to Al's Toy Barn, Buzz accidentally knocks over a Zurg action figure's box and the toy breaks free. Said toy believes he is the real Zurg, and plans to destroy Buzz. The toys later encounter him in Al's building's elevator shaft, and he gets in a fight with Utility Belt Buzz.
Zurg reveals he is Buzz's father, but is knocked down by Rex's tail, and is last seen playing catch with Utility Belt Buzz.
== Appearance ==
=== Cartoons ===
* Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
=== Movies ===
* Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins
* Lightyear
* Toy Story 2
* Toy Story 3
=== Video Games ===
* Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
* Disney Crossy Road
* Disney Emoji Blitz
* Disney Heroes: Battle Mode
* Disney Infinity
* Disney Magic Kingdoms
* Disney Melee Mania
* Disney Mirrorverse
* Disney Sorcerer's Arena
* Disney Tsum Tsum
* Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure
* Kinect: Disneyland Adventures
* Minecraft
* Shooting Beena Toy Story 3: Woody to Buzz no Daibouken!
* Toy Story 2: Buzz Lightyear to the Rescue!
* Toy Story 2: The Video Game
* Toy Story 2: Woody Sousaku Daisakusen!-!
* Toy Story 3: The Video Game
* Toy Story: Smash It!
== Trivia ==
* Before Zurg made his first appearance in Toy Story 2, he was mentioned in the first Toy Story movie. An earlier version of him is shown in an alternate opening of the first film. Also, in the "Strange Things" song, a partially covered drawing of Buzz shooting at a giant robot what appears to be Zurg, with the giant horns along with a large robe and cape, is seen.
* When asked why Zurg in 'Lightyear' is not Buzz father as was established in Toy Story 2, director Angus MacLane responded that they were unable to figure out how he could properly be established him as his parent. Instead, they changed Zurg to be Buzz himself, so that he would be his own greatest enemy, not just figuratively, but also literally.
** In Lightyear, Buzz briefly mistakes Zurg for his father when he is revealed to be an elderly Buzz from an alternate future.
** However, in the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command episode "Stranger Invasion", Zurg briefly claims to be Buzz Lightyear's father in order to distract him during battle. After doing so, he knocks Buzz over and mocks him for actually falling for it, implying that he isn't really Lightyear's father.
* In 2012, The Disney Store released a talking Zurg action figure that was sold separately from a talking Buzz action figure.
* Zurg's character appears to draw from Darth Vader, the central antagonist in the original Star Wars trilogy, with a similar voice, appearance, and set of mannerisms. A major difference between the two, however, is that Zurg is the absolute ruler of his dominion (hence his title of Emperor), while Vader merely acted as an enforcer for the Galactic Empire.
** In the first Toy Story, Buzz Lightyear mentions that Zurg is building a "weapon with the destructive capacity to annihilate an entire planet," making a reference to the Death Star in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
** As Zurg and Utility Belt Buzz battle, the former lifts the latter off the floor by his "neck," and Buzz uses both hands to try to wrench Zurg's hand off him. A similar manner occurred at the beginning of A New Hope where Darth Vader lifts a rebel soldier off the floor by his neck and the rebel soldier also uses both hands to try to wrench Vader's hand off him.
*** During the same battle, Zurg claims to be Buzz's father, a parody of when Darth Vader reveals he is Luke Skywalker's father in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.
* Zurg's voice actor in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is Wayne Knight, who voiced Al McWhiggin in Toy Story 2. Knight is most famous for playing Newman in Seinfeld and Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park.
* Buzz #2 spending "quality time" with Zurg may be a reference to Kevin Costner's character Ray Kinsella reunited and playing catch with his father in the final scene of Field of Dreams.
* Zurg's species in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command is unknown, as he is never seen without his helmet.
* Zurg appears as a playable character exclusive to the PlayStation 3 version of Toy Story 3: The Video Game, along with his custom-made car.
* When looking at the shot where Zurg is about to finish the Buzz #2 off, it is noticeable that the levels on his gun are numbered to 11, a reference to Nigel Tufnel's amplifier in This is Spinal Tap.
* Zurg was actually to have a slightly bigger role in Toy Story 3, according to the original script. He was one of the recalled toys along with Buzz Lightyear. A quite insane Zurg was the first one to introduce Buzz to his ultimate fate of not being repaired but sent to the toy crusher.
* Zurg may also be based on Emperor Ming in the 1980 film Flash Gordon because he sports a cape similar to that of Ming's and is referred to as "Emperor".
* During Woody's nightmare earlier in Toy Story 2, some of the mismatched toy arms in the trash can Woody was discarded in belonged to Zurg (although there were a couple of color variations).
* Zurg was based partially on Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich's favorite toy, the Six Million Dollar Man.
* The "Zerg" faction in the Blizzard produced computer game StarCraft originally had their name spelled identically to Emperor Zurg's during the game's earlier builds. However, in order to avoid possible copyright issues, the faction later had its name re-spelled with an "e" instead of "u".
* In early concept art, Zurg depicted as just a small alien in robotic armor.
* In the Buzz Lightyear episode "The Lightyear Factor", Zurg enters an alternate universe where he finds an Evil Buzz Lightyear ruling the galaxy. The Zurg from that universe is a burger guy at Cosmo's restaurant, due to not having what it took to be "ultimate evil".
* In World of Cars Online, Zurg has a cameo where he is depicted as a train in an arcade game.
* Zurg's "villainy" may have been due to the fact that Zurg (the toy) actually thinks that he is the real Zurg and not just a toy, very much like how the toy Buzz Lightyear actually thinks that he is the real Buzz and if he ever realized that he is just a toy, he will just remain evil and decides that he can be Buzz's enemy as a toy as well as be the real Zurg. It's implied that the toy Zurg is actually friendly, had he realized that he is just a toy if he chose to.
* A Zurg toy appeared in the 2015 live-action Disney movie Tomorrowland, when Casey Newton visits the comic store.
* Zurg is voiced by James Brolin who is the father of Josh Brolin who plays Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
== Gallery ==
File:Emperor Zurg Render 01.png
File:Emperor Zurg Render 02.png
File:Emperor Zurg Render 03.png
File:Emperor Zurg 01.png
File:Emperor Zurg 02.png
== External Links ==
* Emperor Zurg at Disney Wiki
Category:Characters
Category:Males
Category:Toy Story