| “ | Hey, hey, hey! Watch the spikes! That's soft tissue! | „ |
| ~ Zoe. |
| “ | Zoe: And what is a family? None of us have ever had one before. We don't even know what it means. Maddie: Um, maybe it just means being with people who love you no matter what. |
„ |
| ~ Zoe and Maddie about the family. |
Zoe is one of three tritagonists (alongside Frank and Nigel) in the 2021 animated film, Back to the Outback. She is an intelligent Thorny Devil escaped from the Sydney zoo where along with her friends were treated like monsters by humans and are now trying to reach the Outback for a better life.
She is voiced by Miranda Tapsell who also voiced Kerry Ringtail in The Wishmas Tree.
Personality[]
| “ | And Zoe's so smart, she's always figuring out clever ways to escape. | „ |
| ~ Jackie about Zoe's intelligence. |
Zoe is an outspoken, unimpressive reptile, almost always jaded and sometimes mocking. She doesn't like inappropriate remarks about her, responding to them with taunts. She openly despised Pretty Boy for his obnoxious behavior as well as the times he used her as a comb, though the two would eventually become friends towards the end of the journey. She gets along well with Maddie, Nigel and Frank while also seeing Jackie as a mother figure, although she initially doesn't know what a family really is. When Maddie comes to save them and openly describes them as her family, Zoe is very touched by it.
She is also particularly intelligent, having by herself got everyone out of their vivariums with ease and has had several brilliant helpers who managed to improve the gang's situation on the trip to the Outback. Zoe is not a very optimistic person either.
History[]
Zoe first appears observing Jackie scaring a little girl before the show on security videos, amusing her enough to say that it will be fun when Maddie is seen. Frank suggests waking Maddie up, but Zoe prefers that she see things for herself. The trio are then taken away uncomfortably for the show about to begin. At the time of the show, Zoe appears under Chaz's hat, referred to as a filthy thing and then is taken along with Niget and Frank as Maddie is about to be introduced for the first time.
After dark, Zoe and the arachnids notice that Maddie has been unhappy since she was called a monster by the mob. When Jackie asks for Maddie's first impression, the three nod to the alligator that it's not going well, prompting Jackie to try to cheer Maddie up by bringing up the qualities of each, like Zoe's intelligence which proceeds to skillfully lower the lamp from the vivarium with just a small pebble. Maddie doesn't feel any better though, as she would like to be loved like the Pretty Boy who Zoe just finds disgusting just by looking at him through the cameras. Zoe then listens to a story about Jackie on the Outback before going to sleep.
The following days, Zoe continues to scare visitors to the zoo and occasionally gets popcorn in the face. After Jackie is wrongly accused of wanting to attack Chazzy and is being taken away, Maddie tries to get out of the vivarium by bumping into it until Zoe tells her to calm down and then leaves the reptile house only to witness to her great sadness Jackie's expulsion from the zoo, exchanging one last look with her mother figure. After that everyone, especially Maddie was saddemed because of Jacky's loss.
Following this event, Maddie cheers up, refuses telling a story about the Outback and convinces her three friends that it is time for them to give up their miserable life as zoo freaks and go to the Outback where they can reunite with their families. As the four animals manage to cross the zoo without having arrived, Maddie declares that she is sure they will get there, but Zoe advises her not to say that when a noise calls out to them. They notice Pretty Boy deliberately making a noise so that the runaways get caught. The obnoxious koala then accidentally gets stung by Nigel and falls to the other side of the wall, followed by the four animals whose landing is cushioned by Maddie.
Arriving at the seaside, Zoe comes up with the idea of using a raft to cross to the coast of town, while also asking what to do with the still unconscious Pretty Boy they eventually take with him. them so that he doesn't alert anyone. Frank finds a bird's nest which he uses as a raft, although Zoe criticizes the choice. As soon as they admire the stars Zoe notices a shark, but they don't have time to flee. Lucky for them, the shark turns out to be a nice female named Jacinta who explains to the runaways that she is a member of the U.S.S. (Uglies Secret Society) and give them a password so that other members can help the five animals at any time.
Dropped on the shore by Jacinta, Zoe remarks that the humans will kill them when they see them before Pretty Boy dares to use her as a comb and obnoxiously leaves the gang, causing Zoe to call him a jerk. As they sneak through the alleys hiding in the garbage with Zoe forced to share a Chinese lunch box with the two arachnids, the gang find themselves surrounded by an angry mob chasing Pretty Boy. With no way out, the animals try to remember the U.S.S. as humans approach them hostility. The moment Maddie says the password, the humans cover the animals in a suit and apparently begin to stomp on them only to discover that they are missing, leaving only the manhole cover they were standing on.
Now in the sewers, the gang is approached by their saviors, redneck spiders whose Frank tries to flirt with the female boss, only for Zoe to slap him in exasperation and then when Nigel asks Pretty Boy if he can wipe his fur, Zoe tells him to stop before the tape is carried away by the water channel to the treatment plant. At first frightened, Zoe and the other fugitives quickly take pleasure in the aquatic descent, the thorny devil having fun surfing on the pipes and the walls before then expelled through the ventilation duct onto a window washer platform. They barely have time to breathe when Chaz and Chazzy disembark and try to capture them until the animals cling to an ice cream truck.
The gang goes down to an elementary school where they meet two duck toads that Maddie releases despite Zoe being wary of their toxicity because of the posters on the walls. The toads then inform them that one of the buses is heading for the Outback. Aside from the brutality of the children, the gang manages to get on a bus but Zoe realizes it's not the right one as they start to move. Fortunately, the horned devil at the idea of using a skateboard and a flag to reach the roof of the other bus.
Later as the bus goes deeper into nature, Zoe takes the opportunity to feed on the bees passing near her. When Maddie claims that they will all be happy in the Outback with their families, Zoe admits her skepticism about it since neither of them have ever had, not even knowing what it really is until Maddie claims. that they're the ones who love them exactly the way they are and then hug them. Their pleasant moment is brutally interrupted by Chaz and Chazzy chasing them in their jeep, forcing the fleeing people to hide inside the bus where they are almost attacked by the frightened children. A little girl unexpectedly helps them escape, realizing that they just want to find a place to live.
After falling off the cliff, Zoe witnesses an argument between Maddie and Pretty Boy more heinous than ever before Chaz accidentally runs into them, trapping Maddie. Zoe, Frank and Nigel try to charge the human but fall into a crevasse they hadn't seen before being blocked by Chaz's hat. Against all odds, Pretty Boy uses the password to summon three Tasmanian devil who pushes Chaz back and frees the trio by tearing the hat to pieces, allowing the journey to resume.
Successively guided by other members of the U.S.S. through the Australian wilderness for three weeks, the band climbs not far from Ayers Rock where Zoe asks Maddie to sing her mother's lullaby then falls asleep. The next day, Pretty Boy separates from the group after finding a Koala tree and again using Zoe as a comb and toothpick. At dusk, the four friends finally reach the Jackie Stories Mountains and meet other members of their respective species. Unfortunately, they are captured by Chaz accompanied by bikers, although Maddie is freed by a remorseful Chazzy.
The next day, Maddie and Pretty Boy come to their friends' rescue in a fire truck while taking on the bikers. During the assault, Maddie admits to Zoe, Frank and Nigel that she considers them her family before Zoe comes up with the idea of making Nigel scream by making him believe he was turning beige so that her way would break the unbreakable glass of their cage. Once again reunited, the gang flees towards the canyon in a motorcycle sidecar, still being chased by the humans. Following the sudden ambush of the Outback animals against the bikers, the gang find themselves with Chaz and Chazzy on the firefighter's ladder holding onto rocks like a seesaw above the void but survive by helping each other at the end. Chaz do then made peace with the animals for saving his son.
Definitely free, Maddie, Zoe, Frank, Nigel and Pretty Boy are acclaimed as heroes by the animals of the Outback while being reunited with Jackie and finally settle in the Outback.
Quotes[]
| “ | Frank: Did Jackie scare another kid? Zoe: Yep. She's such a ham. The show hasn't even started yet. Nigel: She didn't bite anyone, did she? Zoe: Nah. Just gave some whiny kid a bit of a scare. Probably the first time she's seen a croc close-up. Wait till they get a peep at Maddie. Frank: Showtime, guys. Nigel: Do they have to blast that horn? Why can't they play panpipes? Zoe: You're a deadly scorpion, Nigel. Forget the panpipes. Nigel: I hate showtime. Frank: Should we wake Maddie and tell her what it's like out there? Zoe: Nah. Let the poor thing sleep. She'll know soon enough. |
„ |
| ~ Zoe. |
| “ | Chaz: Hang about! What's this disgusting thing under my hat? Zoe: Ugh! Your face? Chaz: A thorny devil lizard! |
„ |
| ~ Zoe. |
| “ | Frank: What? Why is that so funny, Zoe? Zoe: I thought you needed a partner to be a dancer. |
„ |
| ~ Zoe. |
| “ | Maddie. Maddie! I'll take a closer look, okay? [...] Oh, Jackie. | „ |
| ~ Zoe. |
| “ | Maddie: I think we're gonna make it. Zoe: Don't say that! Every time someone says that, something always... |
„ |
| ~ Zoe. |
| “ | I hate to break it to you, but there's a lot of water between us and those lights. And none of us know how to swim so how are we gonna...What's wrong with Frank? | „ |
| ~ Zoe. |
| “ | Zoe: That's a lot of humans. Nigel: Maybe some of them are nice. Zoe: They're gonna kills us. |
„ |
| ~ Zoe. |
| “ | Hey, watch it! What a jerk! | „ |
| ~ Zoe exasperated that Pretty Boy was using her as a comb. |
| “ | Whoo-hoo! Look at me. I'm surfing. Ha-ha! Check it out! | „ |
| ~ Zoe. |
| “ | Zoe: Maddie? Quick word. Just playing thorny devil's advocate, but maybe there's a reason they've been locked in separate cages. Maddie: Zoe, they're cane toads who love each other. Where's the harm in that? |
„ |
| ~ Zoe tries to talk Maddie out of releasing the cane toads. |
| “ | We're on the wrong bus! | „ |
| ~ Zoe realizes they're on the wrong bus. |
| “ | Guess they're not all like Chaz. | „ |
| ~ Zoe changing her mind about humans. |
| “ | Nigel: Isn't the universe amazing? Frank: It makes me feel so small and insignificant. Zoe: We are small and insignificant. |
„ |
| ~ Zoe, Nigel and Frank look at the stars. |
| “ | Can you sing us the song, Maddie, the one your mum used to sing when you were in the egg? | „ |
| ~ Zoe asks Maddie to sing her lullaby. |
| “ | Jackie: Hello, my babies. Maddie, Zoe, Frank and Nigel: Jackie! |
„ |
| ~ Zoe and her friends reunites with Jackie. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In real life, Thorny devils aren't dangerous.
- She is very attached to her quills.
- Zoe is surprisingly big for a Thorny devil who in real life fits in the palm of a human hand while Zoe is bigger than that.
- She had a male voice in Japanese dub while the other dub are females.
- Halle Berry, Mandy Moore, Rebecca Romijn, Jessica Lange, Courtney Love, Christina Ricci, Jennifer Lopez, Mia Farrow, Rebeccah Bush, Camryn Manheim, Elizabeth Hurley, Bonnie Hunt, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jada Pinkett Smith, Kate Mulgrew, Jenna Elfman and Jennifer Tilly were all considered for the role of Zoe before Miranda Tapsell was cast.
[]
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