Lightyear: What Emperor Zurg Looks Like Without His Helmet
Emperor Zurg will reappear in Lightyear as Buzz's archenemy, but what the Toy Story villain looks like under his helmet has long been the subject of speculation. Zurg was first mentioned in Toy Story but doesn't physically appear until Toy Story 2. His most memorable moment comes when the movie parodies The Empire Strikes Back as, like Darth Vader does to Luke Skywalker, Zurg reveals he is Buzz's father.
The similarities that Emperor Zurg shares with Darth Vader do not stop there, as his appearance is clearly a purple take on the Dark Lord's iconic look. Zurg and Vader both wear classic, villainous capes, and have helmets with red-eye lenses and a prominent, triangular mouth grill. But while Vader's true form under the mask was revealed in Return of the Jedi, the identity of Zurg is still a mystery in the Toy Story franchise.
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One original concept for Emperor Zurg shows him as a tiny alien inside the imposing purple suit. A rare sketch of what this version of Zurg would have looked like (below, bottom left) comes from the collector's edition of Disney Pixar’s Toy Story: The Sketchbooks Series, which was limited to 2500 copies. Zurg would have been the typical Sci-Fi «little man in a can», a trope that has been used in other popular franchises, including Doctor Who's Daleks and Men In Black's Arquillians. An alternate universe version of Emperor Zurg appeared in the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command cartoon series, where beneath the mask is an evil Buzz Lightyear. But in the upcoming Lightyear, it's unknown what Zurg will look like under the helmet.
In the trailer for Lightyear, Emperor Zurg appears to be mechanical with Buzz describing him as
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