Torque is a recurring antagonist in the Disney/Pixar animated series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.
Role in the series
In his first appearance in the series, on planet Trade World, in a pub, Torque resisted arrest from Buzz Lightyear and his team until he finally got captured by them and vowed revenge on Buzz after that. However, on the way to prison, Torque was rescued and brought to Planet Z by Zurg and his Hornets. At first, Torque seemed reluctant to cooperate until Zurg promised him "powers that will enable him to defeat Buzz Lightyear." As it turns out, Torque was given a cell-separating device attached to his chest that allowed him to create clones of himself after going through some excruciating procedures involving pain. With such technology, Torque was able to capture Buzz and his team and leave them for dead on Zurg's tankers set to destroy Capital Planet. After Buzz and his team managed to escape and foil Zurg's latest plan, they confronted Torque and his clones at the same pub along with an army of their fellow Space Ranger members, leaving Torque and his clones in different series of bad injuries and conditions while on their way to prison again and Buzz literally having the last laugh.
In his next appearance, Torque, somehow having escaped prison, was seen hunting down some V-Class Hyper Bombs that had gone missing on planet Sentilla, without any knowledge that the call was just a ruse to lure them to the planet for the amusement of Rentwhistle Swack and his client Klerm, until he bumped into Buzz and XR. After a brief battle with guns, bike chases, and clones, Torque was finally captured and arrested by Buzz.
In his third appearance, Torque was being escorted to PC-7 prison by XR and Booster until he managed to trick them into letting him escape. During the escape and while avoiding getting zapped by a Freeze Ray gun, which accidentally hit his bracelets, Torque was free to replicate himself and take over the prison while seizing some weapons from the armory in the process. When Torque and his clones held Booster, Madame President, and the warden hostage, he used the warden's latest invention called the U.P.A. (Universal Personality Adjuster) to turn Booster into a partner-in-crime. When Mira Nova entered the prison, Torque's clones managed to capture her and XR. When Torque suggested to either feed them to the inmates or blast them, Booster, who , as it turns out, was never affected by the U.P.A. in the first place since he "doesn't have a brain" and was only pretending to be evil, suggested holding them hostage for ransom, which his clones agreed to. When Buzz came in, Torque and his clones were fooled by Booster and Buzz when they pretended to fight off-screen. Then, Torque used the U.P.A. to turn Buzz into a criminal named Mangler Muldoon and found out Booster's scheme when he blew his cover. As Muldoon, Buzz fought Booster and Torque gave him a gun to finish him off. When Buzz lost the gun and started chasing Booster, Torque and his clones used Booster for target practice. After Buzz defeated Booster, XR managed to slip the U.P.A. on Torque, which turned him into Buzz Lightyear instead. As Buzz, Torque rescued Booster, quoted: "To infinity and beyond!", and began cloning himself to fight off evil Buzz.
Torque made a brief cameo appearance in his fourth appearance along with XL, Warp Darkmatter, Gravitina, and NOS-4-A2 at Zurg's council on Planet Z on screen when Buzz suspected Zurg of kidnapping senators across the galaxy.
In his fifth appearance, Torque was paid by XL to steal a battery from the Omega quadrant that will allow XL to become a more powerful, doomsday machine. Torque managed to escape Buzz and his team through a portal after Booster suffered the bunzel fever while trying to take Torque into custody. When XL finds himself unable to pay Torque at a pub, Torque offered him a deal: the money promised in one hour in exchange for the battery. Then, Buzz and Mira busted in and took the duo down but were able to escape again after Booster suffered another attack of bunzel fever. When Torque was to meet XL in a warehouse in ten minutes, a chase was on. In the end, Torque managed to get to the warehouse, oblivious that XR was on his tail to allow his friends to track him. After Torque found out, he was confronted by Buzz and his friends and ended up trapped in a pile of crates and arrested by Mira.
In his final appearance, Torque and his clones were seen robbing a ship until they were stopped by Buzz and his team including a 150 year-old Buzz Lightyear from the future.
Torque was seen in a flashback in another episode after that.
Gallery
Trivia
- This is Brad Garrett's first role for Pixar as a villain as well as his first role of an alien. Nearly 25 years later after Buzz Lightyear of Star Command premiered, he would later voice Lord Grigon who is the main antagonist of the 2025 Pixar film Elio.
- In "The Main Event", when Torque clones himself again, his clones don't wear the same trench coat he wears all time. At one point, his trench coat was seen having four sleeves for a four armed alien instead of two. At another point, when Torque was about to punch Buzz, Torque was seen wearing a shirt with sleeves when in fact, he usually wears a sleeveless one. In this episode, it is revealed that the clones are unstable as shown when a single laser blast was enough to destroy them all.
- In "The Taking of PC-7", Torque was seen cloning himself without pressing the device on his chest. At some points, clones were seen coming replicating out of the first clone or from each clone as well. At the end, when Torque temporarily became Buzz Lightyear, he cloned three more copies of himself to defeat the real Buzz, who temporarily became Mangler Muldoon, but then, only three Torques were seen attacking the evil Buzz after that. At one point, some clones were seen wearing the cloning device on their chests as well (same as in "Bunzel Fever").
- In "Good Ol' Buzz", Torque doesn't wear his green trench coat and when he tries to escape from Buzz and his team only to be stopped by a 150 year-old Buzz Lightyear from the future, the device is not seen on his chest at all.
- In some episodes, Torque's yellow skin color changes. Also, in some episodes, Torque's two extra arms are seen with gloves, when in fact, he usually doesn't wear any. Additionally, in some episodes, the way Torque's clones are created and destroyed vary.
- The name Torque originates from both physics and mechanics. In which Torque refers to "...a measure of the force that can cause an object to rotate about an axis".[1]
