John A. Zoidberg

Dr. John Zoidberg
Character Information
Gender	Male
Status	Alive and well selling his body for $1 a go
Species	Decapodian
Planet	Born on: Decаpod 10 Current homeworld: Earth
Profession	Doctor for Planet Express
Relatives	Father: Norm Mother: Sam Zoidberg Adoptive mother: Sadie Brothers: Norman, several unnamed Sistеrs: Several unnamed Uncle: Harold Zoid Cousin: Zoidfarb
Background Information
First appearance	"Episode Two: The Series Has Landed"
Voiced by	Billy West

"Whooopwhopwhop "

―John A. Zoidberg

Dr. John Zoidberg was born on the planet Decapod 10 and moved to Earth to practice medicine after giving up his dream of becoming a comedian. He has limited knowledge of human anatomy, once confusing Fry and Bender, even though he is a self-proclaimed expert on humans. He speaks, as all Decapodians do, with a heavy Yiddish accent. He is the nephew of famed eccentric movie celebrity Harold Zoid. On a number of occasions, Zoidberg has made mention of Bender being his best friend.

Zoidberg is actually the alien discovered in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. He lives in Professor Farnsworth's Alien Cross-Species Genetic Analyzer. A conversation Zoidberg has with the Professor suggests that he is only staying with Planet Express because he is a slave, and must "earn his freedom." He is technically homeless, and very poor, being a very unsuccessful "internal medicine doctor". In fact, it is revealed that Zoidberg does not actually have a medical degree (his doctorate is in Art History). Despite his professional incompetence, he has been drafted into the DOOP army as a MEAT surgeon. In addition to his fake medical degree, he has degrees in murderology and murderonomy.

He is extremely poor and has stated several times that he has no home. He usually eats from the trash or a dumpster and is envious of even the smallest amounts of money. He is excitable about his friends and is very trusting with the crew. The crew, meanwhile, shows signs of hating Zoidberg for no reason, though they all seem upset when they believe he has died in the fountain of aging.

A composite of numerous sea creatures, Zoidberg's features have been myriad. His known attributes include a removable exoskeleton, a retractable head fin that indicates arousal or aggression, an ink gland, a "stink gland", a gland that emits foul odors when he's bored, an empathy bladder, a freshwater stomach, a saltwater stomach, four hearts, a throat that apparently produces psychedelic blue pearls, and a "wazoo". This last item is apparently some sort of sex organ, the place where the "male jelly" comes out for the mating of his species. It has been revealed that passing on genetic material is a life terminating event for these lobster people, so while the good doctor once informed Leo Wong that he "took the liberty of fertilizing his caviar" for him, which remains ambiguous as to what, exactly, transpired.

Zoidberg reverted through several of the early "larval" life cycle stages of his species after being exposed to a youth tar. He seems to have started off as a small immobile creature from which asexually fragmented "brothers" could separate (each with a distinct personality). A later stage was a parasitic lamprey, followed by a large clam inside which his head was visible. The next oldest form resembled a trilobite. Other stages included a sea urchin and a cuttlefish.

In addition to being despised by the Planet Express crew (and almost everyone he meets), Zoidberg is responsible for a number of disasters and misfortunes which befall Earth's people, including their enslavement by the Decapodians. Due to his alleged overacting in a TV series finale, the people of Earth are denied the Omicronian secret to eternal youth. He is also nearly responsible for the sale of Planet Express to MomCorp, due to trading all of his stocks to That Guy for nothing more than a sandwich.

Romance(s)

Even though Zoidberg is usually disliked by everybody he comes into contact with, he did manage to find a little romance with a lobster at the Hipster Club when Amy took Leela out to find a man, walking out with the lobster in his arms after the bar closed. He also had fallen in love with Edna, but the feelings weren't mutual; Edna fell in love with Fry instead. He and the Jellyfish Monster (who also served as his field nurse during the war) were seen sharing a glass of wine on the Titanic.

Trivia

• At one point it was revealed that Dr. Zoidberg always thought that Fry was a robot and not Bender.
• Zoidberg's birthday is the day after Amy's.
• Zoidberg is one of the one's who went inside Fry's body in Parasite's Lost.
• Zoidberg is the only person to be deemed good by Robot Santa.
• Zoidberg's medical speciality is declaring people medically dead.
• Zoidberg played a minor role in "The Magnificent Three"
• His doctorate is in art history
• Even though he is poor, he somehow obtained the money to buy the new eyephone in 'attack of the killer app'
• Zoidberg often mispronounces words, such as on several occasions, he calls Bender "Robot" but pronounces it Row-bit.
• It is revealed in "Bendless Love" that he has a pet Slinky.

Behind the Scenes

In the development process for the show, David X. Cohen looked to the the original Star Trek series for inspiration. Dr. Leonard McCoy often operated on alien species, so they decided to have an alien doctor that served the human crew, and as the series unfolded it became clear that Zoidberg's medical ability was lacking. Additionally, Zoidberg's character also took on other running jokes; he became poor, lonely, and a failed comedian in addition to being a horrible doctor.

The name "Zoidberg" comes from a game for the Apple II, that Cohen developed when he was in high school. Although Zoid was never picked up, it became the basis for Zoidberg's name.

The voice for Dr. Zoidberg was developed by Billy West, influenced by actors Lou Jacobi and George Jessel

Appearances

"The Series Has Landed" "I, Roommate" "Love's Labours Lost in Space" "A Fishful of Dollars" "My Three Suns" "A Big Piece of Garbage" "Hell Is Other Robots" "A Flight to Remember" "Mars University" "When Aliens Attack" "Fry and the Slurm Factory" "I Second That Emotion" "A Head In The Polls" "Xmas Story "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" "The Lesser of Two Evils" "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" "Raging Bender" "A Bicyclops Built For Two" "A Clone of My Own" "How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back" "The Deep South" "Bender Gets Made" "Mother's Day" "The Problem with Popplers" "Anthology of Interest I" "War is the H-Word" "The Honking" "The Cryonic Woman" "Amazon Women in the Mood" "Parasites Lost" "A Tale of Two Santas" "Luck of the Fryish" "The Birdbot of Ice-Catraz" "Bendless Love" "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" "That's Lobstertainment" "Where the Buggalo Roam" "Insane in the Mainframe" "The Route of All Evil" "Bendin' in the Wind" "Time Keeps on Slippin'" "I Dated A Robot" "A Leela of Her Own" "A Pharaoh to Remember" "Anthology of Interest II" "Roswell, That Ends Well" "Future Stock" "30% Iron Chef" "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch" "Love and Rocket" "Less than Hero" "A Taste of Freedom" "Bender Should Not Be Allowed on Television" "Crimes of the Hot" "Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles" "The Why of Fry" "The Sting" "Bend Her" "Obsoletely Fabulous" "The Farnsworth Parabox" "Three Hundred Big Boys" "Spanish Fry" "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" Bender's Big Score The Beast with a Billion Backs Bender's Game Into The Wild Green Yonder "Rebirth" "Attack of the Killer App"