In the spring of 1984, the film Police Academy was released. The audience liked it so much that in subsequent years its numerous sequels appeared regularly.
In the second picture of the franchise: “Police Academy 2: Their First Mission”, a character named Zed first appeared, which later became one of the movie’s favorite characters.
"Police Academy"
This epic consists of 7 films. The first 4 parts shot by the directors Hugh Wilson and Jerry Paris are considered the most successful. It was in these paintings that the classic characters of the Police Academy participated: Mahoney, Hooks, Hightower, Tackleberry, Harris, Callahan and the inimitable Eric Lassard.
And in the second and next franchise tapes, additional characters appear in the plot: Switch, Bad, Kirkland, Nogata, Proctor and Zed.
“Police Academy”, starting with the fifth film, for unexplained reasons, “lost” many bright characters, replacing them with others. Perhaps that is why viewers gradually lost interest in the project, and in the late nineties it was closed.
The main antagonist of the second part of the Police Academy - Zed
The Police Academy actually revealed to the world the comic talent of American Bobcat Goldthwaite. He played Zed in three parts of the epic.
For the first time, this hero appears as a villain in Police Academy 2. He is the leader of a gang of scumbags terrorizing the whole city. It is with Zed and his accomplices that the brave graduates of the police academy have to fight.
The Bobcat Goldwate character is an unusual criminal. On the one hand, he is a bastard, keeping the whole district at bay; and on the other, an infantile and naive man who likes to watch children's films about love.
By his behavior, this hero causes both hatred and pity. Because of this doubleness, Zed fell in love with the audience and was returned by the scriptwriters in the next two films.
Zed in the movie "Police Academy 3: Retraining"
In the third part of the epic, former cadets become teachers in their own educational institution. Since the law allowing everyone to join the police academy is still in force, the former Zed convict may become a guardian of order.
Despite the fact that he has changed and wants to become a good cop, his strange habits have not gone away. If most of the characters simply do not respond to the oddities of the cadet, then his roommate Svitchak (who previously held the store and suffered from the attacks of the Zed gang) makes the hero’s habits crazy.
The fact is that although the re-educated criminal has long forgotten about all past grievances, the former shopkeeper does not and continues to treat him with distrust. Just in the face of a common misfortune, they begin to work as a team Switch and Zed.
Although the Police Academy changed the worldview of the former convict, the hero retained his punk style. As in the last part, he wears long hair, an earring in his ear, a leather jacket with numerous metal jewelry, torn t-shirts and jeans.
Despite the apparent inability to serve in the police, in a decisive situation, Zed shows himself to be a very worthy servant of the law and helps Lassard neutralize criminals and save the academy.
Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol
This film is the last in the franchise in which Zed appears. This time the Police Academy is participating in the CPC project. Its purpose is to recruit and train volunteers from among ordinary citizens who will assist police officers. Among those officers who undertake to train volunteers, there is also Zed.
At the beginning of the film, he is instructed to conduct a lecture on CPA. He comes there in his traditional punk outfit, as he believes that the police uniform will strain the audience.
The former convict begins his lecture with an incredibly emotional reading of rather specific verses. Listeners perceive Zed's poetry without enthusiasm, but with their behavior the man manages to win favor, and after that the heart of romantic Laura.
The girl becomes a participant in the program and draws closer to the former prisoner.
In the fourth part, the hero demonstrates the ability to play the guitar and harmonica (this instrument is considered by Americans as an attribute of prisoners).
A lot of time in this tape is devoted to the interaction of Zed and Switch. The latter, despite everything, continues to be wary of his partner and tries to strangle him in the finals.
Unfortunately, after this part, the character of Zed disappears from the project “Police Academy” without explanation.
Zed - actor Bobcat Goldthwaite
This hero was embodied on the screen by an American comedian Robert Francis Goldthwaite, acting under the pseudonym Bobcat.
Unfortunately, his work is little known to the domestic audience, since Goldwait is known for comedy productions and television shows not broadcast in the CIS.
But the fans of the rock band Twisted Sister know his face. In 1985, Bobcat played one of the roles in their film Come Out and Play, and also starred in several clips of the group.
The epic "Police Academy" was able to survive on the air and a half decades. Many viewers attributed the decline of such a popular project to the fact that the scriptwriters gradually removed from the plot the most interesting characters, among whom was Zed. Fortunately, Bobcat Goldthwaite, who played this character, managed to succeed in his profession even after leaving the Police Academy.