- For other uses, see Emperor Zurg (disambiguation)
Zurg is one of the main characters in the 2022 Pixar film, Lightyear. He is the realistic robot version of the Emperor Zurg action figure from the Toy Story franchise. Later, he is revealed to be Buzz Lightyear from an alternative future.
Appearance[]
Zurg looks quite like his original counterpart, with bull-like horns, red eyes, an angry grimace and purple coloration but looks much more threatening and thuggish. His tiny head, huge, broad chest, along with his thick, bulky arms and tree-trunk legs give him the appearance of a wrestler or robotic hulk. This befits his more "warrior" like personality and eagerness to get into brawls with his enemies.
Personality[]
Little is known of his personality, but differences from his original counterpart is that he is less of a cowardly evil genius and more of a bruiser. While the original Zurg hid in his lair, sent out troops and only shot at Buzz Lightyear from a distance, this version of Zurg seems very happy to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the space ranger, trying to punch and trample Buzz to death with brute strength alone. This suggests this incarnation of Zurg really enjoys physical violence and only uses his lasers as a fallback strategy.
Lightyear[]
Prior to becoming Zurg, he started off as Buzz Lightyear from an alternate timeline. Feeling guilty for a mistake that he committed after crashing the exploration vessel that left himself and the rest of his crew stranded on the planet T'Kani Prime, Buzz spends 62 years doing hyperspace tests as a colony is built on T'Kani Prime so that they can return back to Earth. Following the death of his best friend and commanding officer Alisha Hawthorne, Buzz was told by his new commanding officer Burnside to end all hyperspace tests, as Burnside decided that the colonists will have to get used to living on T'Kani Prime for the rest of their lives.
Still wanting to fix his mistake, Buzz learns from his robotic cat assistant Sox that a new fuel composition might work, but Burnside orders for Sox to be deactivated. Because of this, Buzz saves Sox and steals the XL-15 ship to complete an unofficial yet successful hyperspace test that resulted in another 22 years. At first, Buzz is delighted that he can use the fuel to have the colonists leave T'Kani Prime, but an older Burnside refused to see this feat and orders Buzz's arrest for stealing the XL-15. Realizing that Burnside and the colonists didn't care about going back to Earth, a hurt and angry Buzz escapes with Sox in the XL-15, and they fly as far away from T'Kani Prime as possible at hyperspeed. As a result, they travel centuries into the distant future thanks to the effects of time dilation.
In the far future, Buzz and Sox find a giant abandoned vessel equipped with advanced technology, including a massive purple mecha suit. Donning the mecha suit, Buzz uses the ship's technology to build himself a massive army of powerful robots known as the Zyclops, and adopts the name Zurg as the Zyclops can only pronounce him as such. Zurg also modifies a machine that will allow the vessel to time travel as long as it is powered up by the fuel.
Using the remaining fuel to travel back into the present with the giant vessel, Zurg, the future Sox, and the Zyclops try to invade the colony, forcing the colonists to activate a barrier to shield themselves from Zurg and the Zyclops. Around the same time, the original Buzz Lightyear arrives with the original Sox at T'Kani Prime, where they meet up with members of the colony's defense forces composed of Alisha's granddaughter Izzy, elderly convict Darby, and naïve recruit Mo. Taking refuge, Izzy explains to Buzz and Sox that Zurg is trying to get the Zyclops to invade the colony, and the only way to deactivate the Zyclops is to destroy Zurg's vessel.
However, Zurg catches hold of Buzz's presence, so he sends several Zyclops to track down Buzz and his team. Eventually, one of the Zyclops is able to nab the fuel while Zurg himself captures Buzz, allowing himself and the Zyclops to transport themselves back onto Zurg's ship. Zurg then reveals his true identity to Buzz before explaining his backstory. Zurg then reveals his actual true plan: he intends to use the new fuel that the original Sox created to go back in time to prevent his past self from crashing the exploration vessel on T'Kani Prime in the first place so that the crew can escape back to Earth. At first, Buzz is delighted at finally correcting his mistake, but then realizes that a possible temporal paradox would result from such actions, which will wipe out the current timeline and everyone from it (including Izzy and her comrades). Knowing that the Hawthorne family and the rest of the colonists had a great life in T'Kani Prime despite what happened, Buzz realizes that his intent to fix his mistake will make things worse and finally decides to let it go, but an angry Zurg retaliates by having two of his Zyclops detain Buzz while taking the fuel for himself.
A restrained Buzz tries to reason with Zurg by pointing out that his plot will wipe out everyone in the current timeline, including Alisha's family, but Zurg is too deluded to even care or listen, still thoughtlessly believing the plan to bring everyone to Earth is more important than the future of innocent lives. Just as Zurg is about to activate his machine with the fuel to go back, he ends up being darted by the future Sox, impressed by Buzz's decision to move forward with his life. Setting Buzz free, the future Sox allows Buzz to take back the fuel and directs him to the controls to Zurg's ship, where Buzz has a future I.V.A.N. set it to self-destruct. However, Zurg, donning his armor again, furiously destroys the future Sox, much to Buzz's horror, and engages in a fight against Buzz, swearing to kill him for his refusal.
Eventually, Izzy and her team (including Sox) managed to hijack Zurg's ship to rescue Buzz and set Zurg's ship to self-destruct after it was cancelled earlier. Buzz and his team all escape as the ship explodes, deactivating nearly all the Zyclops. However, Zurg, having survived his ship's destruction, arrives and attacks Buzz while stealing the fuel. Declaring that he can still use the fuel to go back in time, Zurg prepares to kill Buzz with a single blast. However, using a jet pack and a laser gun, Buzz shoots the fuel canister, causing it to seemingly destroy the shocked Zurg in a massive explosion.
In the post credit scene, Zurg's robot suit is shown drifting through space, undamaged, but seemingly inactive. However, the eyes on Zurg's robot suit suddenly power on, indicating that he survived the explosion after the fight with Buzz.
Weaponry and Gadgets[]
- Ion Blaster: He uses his Ion Blaster to try to kill Buzz and his teammates.
- Zyclops: Zurg created his robotic minions to defeat Buzz.
Weaknesses[]
Despite his many dangerous attributes and the powerful technology at his disposal, Zurg does have a few exploitable weaknesses. For example, he is arrogant and overconfident, as shown when he decided to taunt Buzz before trying to shoot him, which gave Buzz enough time to eject, extend his wings and shoot the fuel canister in Zurg's hand, thus defeating him.
Furthermore, while Zurg's suit is almost indestructible, it does have at least one weak point; the chain that extends his right hand. This was demonstrated when Buzz was able to temporarily shoot through the chain with his laser.
Trivia[]
- Zurg does not adopt the name Zurg (which is just the gibberish the Zyclopses speak), technically, which explains why he was confused as to why the younger Buzz called him by that name.
- Originally Zurg was meant to be Buzz's father just like in Toy Story 2, but instead he was changed to Buzz himself as an old man, because the filmmakers feared that the audience would find the plot twist predictable.
- It's currently unknown who or what Zurg or real Zurg was originally.
- According to Angus Maclane, Zurg's design was changed was purely for practical reasons. In MagLane's words: "The Darth Vader skirt we jettisoned for functionality reasons," "We needed him to move differently, not wheel around. I didn’t want it to be a regal, king-like character. I wanted him to move like a robot."[1]
- MacLane put in that post-credit scene of Zurg to intentionally tease what happens next in a possible sequel for the film.[2]
Gallery[]
Screenshots[]
Promotional[]
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