Gex (character)
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Gex is a smark alec, wise-cracking gecko that has starred in several of his own games and served as a mascot for Crystal Dynamics. His hobbies are watching late-night TV and quoting from old movies. He is voiced by comedian Dana Gould in the US releases and by Leslie Phillips and Danny John-Jules in the UK releases.
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[edit] Background history
[edit] 1996 events in GEX
Gex is distraught after the death of his father and spends all of his time watching TV. One day his mother inherits a load of money and gives Gex his share. Gex buys a house on the Maui hillside, along with the worlds biggest big-screen TV, enough food for decades, and seals himself inside the house. Things seem fine until one day while watching TV Gex eats a stray fly. Only, the fly was sent by the sinister Rez, the evil overlord of the Media Dimension. Rez wants to use Gex, by bronzing him into his new mascot. The only way Gex can escape Rez's madness is if he collects TV remote controls and finds a way out of the Media Dimension! Gex has to fight his way through five different channel-worlds within Rez's network of bad television and movies to reach Rez's domain and defeat him there.
After the events that take place in GEX the first game of the Gex video game series, Gex retires from his frantic life in the spot-light away from the Paparazzi, the press conferences, the mobs of groupies, the TV interviews as well as those compromising photos in the International Inquirer with Farrah.
[edit] 1998 events in Gex: Enter the Gecko
Since Gex's retirement from the public eye in 1996, Gex resigned himself to a life of peace and solitude, tucked away back in his Maui hillside house with his life partner and true soul mate, Gex's big-screen TV.
For two years, Gex started his day sharing a cup of coffee with Kung-Fu Theater, a donut with his favorite cartoons, and a bag of chips with His Majesty's Secret Service. (In the UK version, he would claim that he started his day by watching Supermarket Sweep.) Days, then weeks, blurred into one long television marathon. Never leaving the house without first checking with Dionne Warwick's psychic friends, Gex found himself on the verge of insanity.
Until things started getting interesting...
Two government goons appear at Gex's home and whisk him away to their headquarters. Apparently Rez is back to his old tricks again and the government need his assistance in order to help regain control of the Media Dimensions and to get rid of Rez. The "old tin can" has returned and he's after the world's TV channels, again. Of course, Gex refuses on all accounts, having already saved the universe once before and preferring to spend his time lounging in front of his TV. Eventually the government manage to bring Gex around after smashing him over the head with a crowbar, dipping his head in squid, burning his toes in cheese, stuffing his eyes with candy bars, forcing to eat rotten po-ta-toes interrogating him and finally bribing him with a briefcase full of cash.
Gex replays the mission in his head as he leaves the building to get into his waiting limo. As he nears the car he meets a beautiful female agent who walks up to him, introduces herself as Special Agent Xtra and wishes him good luck in his mission to rescue television. She really loves television, she says with a giggle.
[edit] 1999 events in Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko
Having saved the world from the events of Gex: Enter the Gecko, Gex once again comforts himself in front of his big-screen TV, putting away all his concerns with Rez (who supposedly has disappeared for good this time). However, the government agency beckons Gex once again, requesting his immediate expertise in a delicate matter. It seems that Rez has kidnapped the lovely Agent Xtra (she is live-acted), whom Gex had briefly made a prior acquaintance in the backstory of Gex: Enter the Gecko. Gex jumps for the opportunity to save Agent Xtra and once again restore the Media Dimension (as well as his hectic TV schedule) back to normal. Gex rushes into his lair which he has made for himself in the Media Dimension, maintained by his trusty butler Alfred the tortoise (a homage to Batman), and begins another adventure. Gex must once again enter the parody that is the Media Dimension and play through each manipulated televised world of Rez found therein. The results of his adventure resolve the situation, ridding Rez once and for all from the world and the Media Dimension. The story ends with Gex beginning a romantic interlude with his new-found love interest.
[edit] Rez
Rez is the bad guy of the Media Dimension, and arch-nemesis of Gex a gecko agent. His one true ambition is to control the entire Media Dimension under his own rule and ensure the longetivity of bad TV shows and Z-grade movies (this was implemented in 2006 for the game Ape Escape 3). His physical appearance throughout the video game series has him appear as a robotoic raptor. Not much is known about the origins of Rez, only that he thrives and lives within the Media Dimension, and that he is incredibly versatile at constantly popping up every few years after Gex has ridded him from the world of television. In Gex: Enter the Gecko Rez remarks to Gex towards the end of the game that Rez is in fact Gex's biological father and that he fell into a scrapheap whilst trying to get free cable - of course this could be taken out of context as a mere quip in homage to Star Wars, and even Gex makes a snide come-back remark to this revelation. The similarities between this storyline are in fact a clear reference to the Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader) and Luke Skywalker relationship. Perhaps there is more information on Rez, however at this present time this is all that is known about the mysterious hybrid robotic-lizard villain.
[edit] Trivia
- Gex contributes to the games with wise-cracking remarks laced with American TV-culture and pop-culture references, paying homage to Duke Nukem and more notably Ash Williams the protagonist from The Evil Dead films.
- Gex also appears in the Xbox game Mad Dash Racing as a secret character. He also appears in Hot Shots Golf 2 for the Playstation along with Sir Dan of MediEvil and Sweet Tooth of Twisted Metal as the final secret character.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ↑ Gex review for the PlayStation. Game Revolution. Retrieved on February 9, 2006.
