Dr. John A. Zoidberg



Dr. John A. Zoidberg is Staff Doctor at Planet Express and an honorary Globetrotter. He has been employed at the company for the past ten years. It is uncertain whether he is technically and legally qualified for this job, for he seems to be a bit hazy on details of human anatomy and frequently mixes up human organs, orifices and genders and can't even tell a human from a robot.

There is evidence that he doesn't even have a medical degree (he claims that he lost it in a volcano), but Zoidberg has never let himself be stopped by this, and it is not known whether he is actually a competent doctor when dealing with his own species. In fact he has occasionally shown extraordinary medical skills, although this was perhaps only by accident. He is desperately poor (while referred to as an employee of Planet Express, there is no evidence that he is actually paid anything at all for this job) and most of his meals come from garbage cans or dumpsters. He seems able to eat and digest almost anything, including clothing (but not pixellated video game sprites), and will do anything for a free meal.

Biography
Dr. Zoidberg was born on Decapod 10 and seems to have visited high school there, apparently Edna was a class mate or at least on the same school. During that time, his face was covered in barnacles, for which he was laughed at. He wanted to become a comedian but was looked down on for it so he developed an interest in medical science, which was looked down on because he gave up on his dream of being a comedian. Eventually, he went to medical school and left his home planet to seek his fortune on Earth, although it is not known whether he studied on Decapod 10 or on Earth. For this, he had to give up his life-long dream of stepping into the footsteps of his uncle Harold Zoid, the famous master comedian of earlier days, and becoming a comedian. He has tried to be a freelance comedian nonetheless, but somehow seems to lack the necessary talent. Zoidberg is sometimes referred to as the Professor's oldest friend, which could mean that he is a lot older than he looks, but also might indicate poor social skills on the Professor's side, which is much more likely.

Zoidberg once saved Fry's life by transplanting his head onto Amy's shoulder when his body was severely damaged in a car crash on Jupiter's moon Europa. On another occasion, he tried to kill Fry in the Decapodian tradition of Claw-Plach. He has served as a military doctor in the conflict with Spheron 1 and defeated the Decapodian oppressors who had occupied Earth in response to Zoidberg being sentenced to death for eating an Earth flag. On one occasion he travelled through time to 1947 Roswell, was captured by the US army, met President Harry Truman (it is unclear which of them was more baffled by the other), and was partially dissected before being rescued and returned to the future.

Personality
Zoidberg seems not to be hugely intelligent, but is rather nice and friendly despite the fact that most of his co-workers look down on him, especially Hermes likes to make his life even more miserable than it already is. He lives in the constant illusion that the rest of the Planet Express crew are his friends. Zoidberg is Professor Farnsworth's oldest friend, which indicates that they must have known each other for quite some time and that maybe he is a lot older than he looks. He is a citizen of Earth and loves his chosen home planet for the personal freedom it provides. He is also apparently the only intelligent organism on planet earth deemed to be nice by the Robot Santa.

Family

 * Norm, Sam and Sadie, parents (mentioned in 3ACV08), presumably one is the woman who raised him (seen in 4ACV05), the other two are deceased biological parents. He referred to one of them as a saint, which was most likely just an expression.
 * Harold Zoid, uncle
 * His brother Norman and up to nine other siblings that budded from Zoidberg during the coral stage of his larval stadium. A duplicate Norman dies when he is sucked into the Fountain of Aging, but all other siblings are never mentioned again.
 * Zoidfarb, cousin - Zoidberg received an Xmas card from him in Xmas Story

Trivia

 * As the show progresses, Zoidberg's apparent use to Planet Express becomes less and less obvious as the staff shun his presence from one instant to another.
 * As with all Decapodians, Zoidberg's mannerisms, speech, and personality is representative of dry East Coast humor readily seen in communities of New York such as Bensonhurst and Queens.
 * He allegedly lost his medical degree in a volcano.
 * In earlier episodes he is animated with teeth, but in later episodes he is drawn without. His mouth frills are prehensile and can move independently, although most of the time they remain loose.
 * Zoidberg has a top fin in his head that appears during times of emotional duress, such as Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love? and Bender's Big Score.
 * His greatest fantasy is to be a grandmother.
 * Hermes, starting in early episodes seems to have a bitter hatred toward Zoidberg that is never really explained or given a reason for. This starts around Hell Is Other Robots When Hermes states that someone's been using a lot of hot water then he blames Zoidberg to which he exclaims "MEEE?"

Voice
Billy West has often stated that the voice of Zoidberg was inspired by profile actors from Yiddish theater such as Lou Jacobi and George Jessel.

Quotes

 * Zoidberg: In my experience boxes are usually empty, sometimes with a little cheese stuck to the top, and one time peperoni, what a day that was!
 * Bender: I got a busted ass here, I don't see anyone kissing it! Zoidberg: Alright, I'm coming.
 * Zoidberg: Leela's problem is purely medical, soon she will lay her eggs and they will hatch and all will be well.
 * Zoidberg: Oh, the hypochondriac's back! So what is it this time? Fry: Well, my lead pipe hurts a little. Zoidberg: That's normal. Next patient.

Catchphrases

 * (At inappropriate times) Hello
 * Sometimes he will (with a moronic grin) exclaim "What an honor!" (Roswell That Ends Well).
 * Excellent, excellent!
 * Woop woop woop woop!? (This sound effect is based on sound effects made by The Three Stooges.)

Also, he is usually shown to be highly unintelligent when it comes to being a doctor, such as claiming Amy the father of Leela's baby, humans having multiple mouths, and Fry being a robot. The closest he has ever been to showing competence in the field of medical science was in Parasites Lost, but only because he saw it in a commercial.

Appearances
While Zoidberg appears in almost every episode/film/comic, only missing the episodes Space Pilot 3000 and Mars University, these categories may be of interest:


 * A plots focusing on Zoidberg
 * B plots focusing on Zoidberg