- "You're a team, the best, the better looking, more powerful, and dare I say, more devious!"
- — Captain Zero describing his fleet, Sunshine
Zero Marine Bigg City (affectionately known as the Z-Stacks or the Zero Fleet) are one of two tugboat fleets that work in Bigg City Port. They are led by Captain Zero. Throughout the series, they act as arch rivals to the Star Fleet in many ways, such as business competition and a strong dislike for one another. The series mostly portrays them as the main antagonists of many episodes, commonly using them to show a narrative message to the viewer(s) about right and wrong.
The fleet all dock and receive orders from their captain at the Zero Dock, which is adjacent to the Star Dock. The Z-Stacks are based on the Moran fleet of New York City waters from the 1920s.
In Salty's Lighthouse, they are known as the Zero fleet, and are depicted as friends of the Star Tugs. However, members of both fleets have been shown to strike up rivalries with each other at times - most notably Zorran.
Description
The tugs in the Zero Fleet blend with each other with very minor differences. All the Z-Stack tugs have names starting with the letter Z, hence the name Z-Stack. The Z-Stacks also wear hats typically associated with urban gang members, mainly to reference their anti-social attitudes.
However, there are some instances where they are portrayed as frenemies or even allies to the Star Fleet. Such cases include the actions of Zebedee in High Winds, and the two fleets teaming up to find the thief in Pirate, as well as sharing a mutual dislike for Bluenose in Munitions. Zip wanted to help Ten Cents secure Izzy Gomez from being capsized in Warrior. Zug was also forced to work on a plan with the Star Fleet in Trapped after he and Zorran accidentally jammed a tramper across the river, trapping both him and the Star tugs.
In the annuals, it is implied that the Z-Stacks are more successful than the Star Fleet and Captain Zero plans to get further ahead. In Treasure Hunt, the Star Tugs are very low in business and resort to asking the Z-Stacks for work, in which Zorran cons them, but his plans do not work out as he hoped when his Captain realizes he has lost the treasure he was supposed to collect, forcing him to offer some unimportant jobs for them.
In Jinxed, Boomer once assisted them with a munitions contract, but after an incident where the munitions barge exploded, Captain Zero angrily expelled him and returned him to Captain Star.
Contracts
- Ocean Liners
- S.S. Vienna (shared with Star Fleet)
- Ballantine's
- Municipal Garbage Corporation (shared with Star Fleet)
- Big Boulder Rock Co. (lost contract to Star Fleet)
- Steel Company (lost contract to Star Fleet)
- The Navy (shared with Star Fleet)
- The Logging Camp (shared with Star Fleet)
Members
- Captain Zero - the captain of the fleet
- Zorran (#1) - the leader of the tugs
- Zebedee (#2)
- Zak (#3)
- Zug (#4)
- Zip (#5)
Former
- Boomer (on trial)
- Johnny Cuba (former ally)
Trivia
- Johnny Cuba was once a friend of Captain Zero, but after they got into an argument and lost each other as allies, Captain Zero gave strict orders to avoid the gangster tramper.
- All five Z-Stacks (plus Boomer) have been sold to TUGS - The Exhibition (formerly The Star Tugs Trust/The Star Tugs Company), making it the only fleet in the series to have all models sold and accounted for.
- Zebedee is the only member of the Zero Fleet whose face masks are known to still exist to this day.
- Zebedee, Zug, Zip, and even Zorran have all shown there is more personality to them then just being devious to everyone, (including the Star Fleet), in Trapped (Zug), Munitions (Zorran), Warrior (Zip) and High Winds (Zebedee). This makes Zak the only member who is fully devious with no other traits.
- It is possible that had Zak had more screen time, or Season 2 happened, more of his personality could've been revealed.
- In early scripts, the Z-Stacks are referred to as "The Black Stacks". It is likely that this was changed to avoid sounding racially offensive.
- Additionally, concept art reveals they were originally to have lightning bolt patterns on their stacks, which is where the name Z-Stacks originated.
- Originally, the No. 4 and 5 of the Z-Stacks were Zeus; a harbour tug and Zob; a switcher.
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