- Should not be confused with Zerg
Evil Emperor Zurg is a prominent evil crime boss and the sworn enemy of the Galactic Alliance. He rules over the largely automated Planet Z, and has a minion of evil robots and at least two enslaved species (Grubs and Brain Pods) working for him. His main opponent is Buzz Lightyear, a space ranger of Star Command.
Although he is a powerful and utterly evil character, Zurg is also a comical, flamboyant figure who often breaks the seriousness of otherwise purely evil statements. He enjoys mocking his opponents by videotaping awkward moments of them.
It is still a mystery to which species the evil emperor belongs. He appears to be some sort of cyborg or fully artificial lifeform, though this has never been confirmed (or denied). On more than one occasion Zurg did mention being Buzz Lightyar's father (which would make him human), but these statements were later denied by Zurg himself, who explained that he was simply attempting to temporarily astonish Buzz.
Notes
- An Emperor Zurg action figure is featured in the second and third installments of the Toy Story movie franchise.
- Zurg's line about being Buzz's father is possibly a reference to the evil Darth Vader from the original Star Wars trilogy.
- Zurg is voiced by Andrew Stanton in Toy Story 2 and related video-games, and by Wayne Knight in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. Knight had previously voiced Al McWhiggin in Toy Story 2.
- Emperor Zurg is mentioned in Toy Story. Buzz states that he (Zurg) has a super weapon able to destory an entire planet (reference to Death Star).