| “ | A new day has come! And that day is Zartog! | „ |
| ~ Zartog attacking the other Malgorians in the probe. |
Zartog is the main antagonist of the 2008 animated science fiction film Space Chimps and its 2010 direct-to-video sequel Space Chimps 2: Zartog Strikes Back. He was a tyrannical alien dictator to the other aliens of Malgor, and he wanted to live on Earth like the people do. He is the archenemy of Ham III, Luna, Comet, Kilowatt, Houston, and Titan.
In the first film, he was voiced by Jeff Daniels. In the sequel, he was voiced by John DiMaggio, who also played Bender in Futurama.
Biography[]
Space Chimps[]
Zartog is a grumpy and wicked alien from Malgor who likes to torture and kill animals for his amusement by dipping them in a substance called freznar, petrifying them. When the unmanned NASA space probe Infinity is pulled into a wormhole and lands on Malgor, it is discovered by Zartog when it crushes his house. From the probe, Zartog learns much about the culture of Earth, and wants to live like people. After discovering how to operate the probe, Zartog uses it to enslave the population and puts them to work, building his palace to resemble a casino. Those who resist or fail his expectations are dunked into freznar, and decorated as statues in front of Zartog's palace. He also built dams surrounding the freznar volcano to protect his palace and direct the flow towards the village, where he will force everyone to live in his dungeon once it is destroyed.
When the Space Chimps (Ham III, Luna, and Titan) arrive on Malgor, Zartog makes his minions forcefully attack them, resulting in Titan's imprisonment along with their spaceship. Eventually, Ham and Luna rescue Titan and find their ship, only to be caught by Zartog and his minions. As he prepares to dip them into the freznar, Titan tricks Zartog into activating the eject mechanism of the Infinity probe, causing him to fall into the freznar and become a statue himself. Zartog, as a statue, is used by the chimps as a nosecone for their ship when they evacuate the planet using the force from the freznar volcano with the Infinity probe. Zartog falls off the shuttle when it enters Earth's atmosphere. The post-credits scene reveals Zartog survived the fall and is used as a lawn decoration. A dog walks up and pees on it, much to Zartog's disgust.
Zartog Strikes Back[]
Zartog, still petrified and used as a lawn statue, manages to free himself when the force from a rocket lifting off breaks away the freznar covering his body. He manages to raid the NASA base, determined for revenge against the chimps for depowering him, only to be caught by Titan. Being the dimwit he is, Titan allows Zartog access into the headquarters as long as he doesn't touch anything. Not only does he break Titan's promise, Zartog gets his hands on a departiclizer remote and goes on a rampage, erasing the senator, scientists, and Kilowatt when she and Comet return to Earth. While the other chimps manage to distract Zartog, Comet uses a jetpack to snatch the departiclizer from Zartog and uses it against him, before bringing everyone back to life. Zartog is also brought back shrunken and powerless, before being chased off by the dog that peed on him at the beginning of the film and Ham's guinea pig.