The Fifth Element

The Fifth Element was made in 1997 by Luc Besson. It offered a unique vision of the 23rd century with flying cars crowded into the skies and colourful wardrobe designed by French fashion icon Jean-Paul Gaultier. However, it was a Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg that stole most of the scenes. He was an industrialist with intentions to assist evil and profit at the expense of mankind. He was superbly portrayed by English actor Gary Oldman in one of his lighter roles. Zorg hired the shape-shifting Mangolores at the beginning of the movie in an attempt to retrieve the 4 elements from the Mondoshawans, but his plan failed. He then spends the rest of the movie desperately chasing them.

Perhaps the most memorable prop in the film, and an important part of the storyline, is the “ZF1 pod weapons system” made by Zorg industries. It is an all purpose, multifunction, tactical device that fires bullets (which with use of the “replay” function allows subsequent bullets to follow wherever the first bullet went), flame (“that’s my favourite”), rockets, poison darts, ice gas and a net. It is lightweight and has it’s own carry handle, (“suitable for lefties and righties”) and cannot be detected by x-ray. There is also a large red (self destruct) button on one side which proves to be the undoing of the hasty and rather stupid Mangalores.

In the real world, the ZF1 was ingeniously designed and created by UK armourer Simon Atherton. A number of different versions were built to give the illusion of an all in one weapon. When a different function was required on screen the prop ZF1 was switched each time. The example in the Propstore collection is the hero practical flame thrower. It has a metal fuel line carefully built into the main body which would have originally connected to an external gas supply. The internal structure is metal with the camouflage panels fabricated from fibreglass. There is a black mark on the body by the flame port which can be matched on screen. The red light illuminates. I suggest that no one presses it.