Zug (TUGS)

Zug is a fictional character who appeared in the 1988 television series TUGS, created by the producers of Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends.

Zug is Captain Zero's fourth tug, a 'harbour switcher' who is used for a wide variety of tasks around Bigg City Port. Zug's capabilities range from the towing of barges to liner docking operations. Like the rest of the Z-Stacks, Zug is based on the tugs of the Moran fleet from the 1920's. He speaks with an Eastern European accent (thought to be Estonian).

Zug is a scheming and vindictive tug, he mainly works with Zip and is the "brains" of the operation, whereas Zip tends to be rather, herm, slow. Zug is obviously intimidated by the main Z-Stack Zorran and has a tendency to be somewhat nervous and jittery around him. Zug and Zip are the Z-Stack equivalents of Ten Cents and Sunshine, in that they are the smaller tugs of the fleet, who work together, and they are often plotting against the other two. Zug seems not to be all that smart, but compared to Zip he's a genius!

As first heard in the episode 'Pirate', Zug's whistle has a hooting quality that sounded very much like a squeezy horn, but deeper.

Zug has a major roles in most episodes, and a majority of stories focus on him as a major character in some way, usually concerning Zip! Zug is believed to have been voiced by British actor Mike Mulloy.

In the American children's TV series "Salty's Lighthouse" he was voiced by two different actors. First Scott McNeil and later Kirby Morrow.

In the Japanese version he was voiced by Taro Arakawa.