Zurg (also known as the Evil Emperor Zurg or Emperor Zurg) is the main antagonist of the series, an imperial dictator in opposition to Star Command and the Galactic Alliance, Buzz Lightyear's arch-nemesis, and the most widely-feared villain and criminal in the galaxy.[1][2][3] His chief goal seems to be to dominate the galaxy, the first phase to this campaign being the conquest of the Galactic Alliance and the defeat of its armed forces at Star Command.[4][5] However, his enmity with Buzz Lightyear and the sabotage of his plans by Buzz and Team Lightyear consistently thwarts this goal.[6][3] While not the only threat to the Galactic Alliance, he poses perhaps the greatest, and often confederates with other villains, ruffians, and dangerous enemies of the Galactic Alliance from across the galaxy.[7][8][9]
Physical description
Zurg is a tall[3], broad-chested humanoid of unknown species clad in silver and red armor and purple robes. Two gray horns[10] top his head, and he has a grill-like yellow mouth and a pair of red eyes beneath a pointed brow. He wears metal chest armor and gauntlets, and his feet[11][12] are shrouded by long, purple robes. At the back he wears a black cape lined with red, which has pointed, upturned lapels. The center of his chest is emblazoned with a yellow Z.
The exact nature of Zurg's appearance is ambiguous, as his species is unknown and it is unclear how much of his body is obscured by armor.[5][13][12]
History
It is unknown how Zurg came to power, and little is revealed about his origins as an individual. He was raised on "evil bedtime stories" told by his mother, his favorite of which were tales of the ancient conqueror Natron, who once ruled the universe.[14] He describes his youth as "carefree", and claims to have had a "Little Evil Emperor playset" which included a missile. He references his mother on several occasions, referring to her as "Ma" in a dream about being woken for school, and "Mom" in another dream when waving to her on TV. He also apparently had a grandmother he refers to as "Nana Zurg", whom he describes as "plenty evil". Whether he still has any living relatives is unknown, although he once claimed to be Buzz's father in a ploy to distract him, then mocked Buzz for falling for the ruse.
He governs a powerful, technologically-advanced empire, ruling from his home of Planet Z, which he refers to as a "grim, oppressive pit" he built with "the sweat and toil of others". Zurg rules his subjects as an absolute monarch, and many appear to serve him unwillingly, perhaps as slaves, though he also employs defectors such as Warp Darkmatter and the Roswellian Major.
The number of planets and sectors within Zurg's empire (referred to as "Zurg space") is unknown, although apparently he possesses his own quadrant, possibly the Zeta Quadrant. His borders are guarded by security satellites and warning buoys. One of his worlds is a barren, rocky colony which mines fusion crystals. He also possessed a subterranean outpost on an uncharted moon in the Zeta Quadrant, and once briefly annexed Roswell, renaming it Planet Z East.
When arriving on Capital Planet to accept the Galactic Alliance's surrender, he claims to have dreamed of that day since he was a "wee evil genius", but little is known about the reason for his grudge against them beyond a desire for power. He is especially fixated on Star Command, and most notably Buzz Lightyear, whom he refers to as his greatest enemy. It is implied Zurg has killed Space Rangers in the past, and he appears to have been opposing Star Command at least since Buzz's academy days, perhaps longer.
Personality and traits
The Evil Emperor Zurg is not your usual despicably evil supervillain. Despite being the most evil and nefarious villain of the galaxy for years on end and a constant thorn in the side of Star Command, Zurg has been known to take himself less than seriously, and actually seems to have a well-developed (if demented) sense of humor. He does, however, pride himself in his showmanship, making strong efforts to present himself as a fearful and intimidating Emperor.
His evil schemes are routinely less-than-stellar in design (such as one scheme to make children afraid to eat their vegetables so that years later they would be too weak to fight when he invades, a plan which only Buzz thought clever), and he is quick to shunt the blame for failures onto others' shoulders (usually his Grubs or Brain Pods). His main downfall whenever fighting against Buzz Lightyear, his nemesis, is the trademark error of every villain: the gloating monologue. Because of this, Zurg has never won out of the 3,247 times he's tried.[15]
He has a strange fear of being touched, mentioning something about "personal space" and "cooties."[11][7] He is also somewhat picky about his manipulative schemes, claiming when politicians were being kidnapped that he would never do something "so obvious." When Team Lightyear disbelieved this, Zurg then called their bluff and said to his underlings, "Is anyone going behind my back? Come on, out with it!" When Gravitina and the others denied abducting anyone from Capital Planet, Zurg's innocence was finally believed, only for him to say to Buzz, "but we do have something good cooking up, just you wait!"
Abilities
Laser Vision: He has laser vision, but rarely uses it in battle, and seems to use it when losing his temper. Whether this is a species trait or an artificial enhancement is unknown.
He is also shown melting a military gun from a distance with no visible lasers, but with his eyes glowing, suggesting something more akin to heat-vision.File:Zurg hand gun.pngZurg using his weapon gauntlet
Ion Blaster: Zurg's signature weapon is a tri-barrel Ion-blaster, which configure around either of his gauntlets.
Claws: In "The Adventure Begins" he has sharp talons capable of cutting through glass.
Electricity Generation: In "The Adventure Begins" he was shown creating a ball of electricity from his fingers to torture the LGMs.
The back box art on the "The Adventure Begins" video also displays Zurg shooting lasers from his fingers, but this ability was never seen on the show.
Flight: Zurg wears a pair of unseen rocket boots under his robe to propel himself through the air and space in the same respect as Buzz's rocket pack.
Super Reflexes: Zurg possesses highly advanced physical reflexes; for example, while invading Roswell, he was able to catch a missile with his bare hands.
Super Strength: Zurg has demonstrated above-average levels of strength, able to destroy machinery with his bare hands, although it is unknown if this strength is natural or the result of his armor.
Master Combatant: Despite his preference for weapons of destruction, Zurg is also highly skilled at hand to hand combat and able to physically battle Buzz Lightyear unarmed, but he is unable to defeat him.
Relationships
Relatives
Nana Zurg: It is mentioned that Zurg may have been inspired to become evil by Nana Zurg, who is described as being "plenty evil".
Allies
Torque: During the events of The Torque Armada, Zurg's interactions with the alien criminal revealed the evil emperor's sadistic glee in warning his patient that the operation would be incredibly painful at a time when the noise from the ambient machinery would drown out Zurg's words. When Torque asked what Zurg said, the horned fiend left the room with a smile on his face chucklingly stating that it wasn't important, all the while knowing the next thing he'd be hearing was Torque's guttural screams of agony. In order for Zurg and his minions to have made the technology and operation that could give Torque the ability to duplicate himself at will, detailed information and biological material would have to have been gathered from the multi-limbed alien ahead of time. With access to massive amounts of resources and skill and technology, it is dubious that the operation would have required Torque to experience such extreme levels of pain. With this in mind, it is clear that Zurg sees Torque as little more than a tool to be toyed and with the exception of killing him, Zurg holds little to no regard for the alien's life or health except as it serves Zurg's purposes.
Enemies
Buzz Lightyear: Zurg's arch-nemesis and at the same time, tragically, his only mortal friend in the galaxy, the relationship between Buzz Lightyear and Zurg is comical yet deeper than it appears at first glance; both Buzz and Zurg seem have been raised primarily by their respective grandmothers from an early age, both men are the peak of their respective mindsets and lifestyles, but while Buzz invested in a life of service which led to him becoming a highly honored member of wholesome communities, Zurg, whether by choice or inheritance, invested in a life of selfishness which led to him ending up alone in the dark.
Quotes
"Curse you Buzz Lightyear!" - Zurg's catchphrase.
The Adventure Begins
"Tell me of your mind link. Tell me your secret."
"I shall destroy the galactic alliance, but first, I shall destroy you! Well, not personally. Hornets, destroy Buzz Lightyear!"
"Not today, Lightyear, for I started the self-destruct sequence on my way out. It is a moon of doom now. (Laughs Evilly)"
"A delightful blend of man and machine... with just a naughty touch of lingonberry! I shall call you... Agent Z!"
"That's just jim-crackin'-dandy!"
"I must have this mystical orb, the Uni-Mind! Launch an immediate assault on the planet of the Little Green Men."
"If you want something turned evil, turn it evil yourself. That's what Nana Zurg always used to say it to me. And she was plenty evil."
"Nana Zurg will be so proud. (Cries happily)"
"Fire Zurg-a-tronic Mega Ray!"
"Target Star Command and fire!"
"And so ends Star Command. Ooh, I'm so evil! I just gave myself chills! Even my goosebumps have goosebumps! (Laughs evilly) I'M A BAD BOY! (Evil laughing)"
"Miss him now?"
"Besides, Mr. Melodrama, I'm not gonna kill you. No. No, I have a much more delicious idea. I'm going to take the galaxy's greatest hero, and turn him... into... me."
"Target Buzz Lightyear."
"Evil rules!"
Stranger Invasion
"Buzz, I am your father."
"Psych! Made you look you dimwit!"
"Not 42, any number but 42, why does this always have to happen to me?!"
"And can't you come up with a shorter name for it, like, 'Evil Take Over Thingy'?"
Zurg's species is a subject of much debate in the fandom, but there is canonical evidence that rules out him being a robot. He requests a glass of water,[4] eats popcorn, and is shown coming back from recently using the restroom. In The Crawling Flesh, he is affected by Brain Pod 26's gas and turns into a blob, a sign that he is organic. Also, the robot vampire NOS-4-A2 doesn’t try to consume Zurg, another sign that he is organic.
According to Booster, Section 5, Subsection Zeta in the Space Ranger Mission Manual is written specifically about him.
When enslaving the people of Roswell, Zurg states that he is an "equal opportunity enslaver", a parody of the phrase "equal opportunity employer."
A few of his hobbies include videotaping Buzz's speeches for his personal entertainment,[6] and evil bowling (with the Grubs as his pins).
Zurg is voiced by actor and comedian Wayne Knight, who had previously portrayed Al McWhiggin in Toy Story 2. In the same film, Zurg was previously voiced by writer Andrew Stanton.
Zurg occasionally speaks in a slight British accent.
Many episodes featuring Zurg often end with him loudly cursing Buzz Lightyear, even if Buzz was not the actual one behind his defeat.
Zurg telling Buzz he was his father is a reference to Toy Story 2 in which a Zurg toy told the new Buzz Lightyear toy the same thing which, in itself, is a reference to the famous "I am your father" scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Zurg himself is also said to be a parody of Darth Vader.
Alongside Darth Vader, the inspirations for Zurg’s character were the Marvel Comics character Doctor Doom, and Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon.
According to Santa Claus, Zurg is the number one on the naughty list.
