Zoidberg

Dr. John A. Zoidberg, often referred to only by his last name, is a fictional character from the animated series '' Futurama''. He is a Decapodian, a crustacean-like species of alien, who works as the staff doctor for ''Planet Express'', despite his woeful understanding of human physiology and allusions to his questionable credentials. His character parodies the supposed wealth and automatic respect of modern doctors—for example, his incompetence at human medicine makes him extremely poor despite his profession, and he is implied to be frequently homeless when not at work. The Decapod (named after the actual Decapoda order of ten-footed crustaceans) are an extended parody on Jewish culture —the bigger joke being that shellfish are not kosher. The writing riffs on the marine theme in a playfully absurd way, with just about any marine Arthropoda or Mollusca being implied to be akin to Zoidberg. He is voiced by Billy West, who performs the character with a Yiddish-inflected accent inspired by actors George Jessel and Lou Jacobi.

Character creation

Zoidberg is named after an Apple II game that series writer David X. Cohen created in high school called ''Zoid'', similar to the game ''Qix''. The game was rejected by Broderbund. One of Cohen's inspirations for the character of Dr. Zoidberg was the fact that ''Star Trek'' character Leonard McCoy, the ship's doctor, frequently administered medical treatment to aliens such as Spock, so Cohen wished human characters in ''Futurama'' to be in the uneasy situation of being treated by an alien doctor.

During the first season, jokes surrounding Zoidberg usually focused on his poor understanding of human anatomy and his resulting incompetence as a doctor, and the fact that all of his co-workers hate him. His incompetence is aggravated by the fact that he believes himself to be an expert on human anatomy, and will blithely attempt to treat human patients as he would his own species. One of his running traits is his pronunciation of the word "robot", pronouncing it rather than . His use of English grammar and idioms resembles the stereotypical speech of Jewish people living in the northeastern United States, and elements of Jewish humor, and playful reversals on it, are a theme. As the series progressed, writers gradually introduced the themes that Zoidberg is also poor, homeless, friendless, smelly, undignified, and repulsive—comically opposite the idea that a doctor stereotypically occupies a respectable, wealthy, and romantically desirable role. Regardless of these traits, Zoidberg is good-natured and means well, and will help the crew when the situation calls for it. Zoidberg also generally attempts to make himself look refined, successful and important in front of others, though this illusion is quickly dashed when pointed out.

Biography

Zoidberg is the company doctor at Planet Express. Although he claims expertise in human medicine, particularly internal medicine, his knowledge of human anatomy and physiology is atrocious. He has been shown as unable to tell the difference between robots and humans (or human males and females), believes food is digested in the heart, and that humans have multiple mouths and a dorsal fin. His only knowledge of humans seems to come from television advertisements, although his skills as a physician generally vary: in " Put Your Head on My Shoulders" he manages to successfully transplant Fry's head onto Amy's body after Fry's body incurs massive trauma in a vehicular accident, that he caused, that requires extensive repair, but in ''Into the Wild Green Yonder'' he incorrectly declares Fry dead only for him to wake up a few seconds later. In '' Bender's Big Score'', he performs several limb reattachments to moderate success. It may be assumed that advances in medical technology have made limb and head reattachment a simple process, as in '' Bender's Big Score'' head reattachment is shown to be little more than applying a paste to the area and placing the head back on (a process that works even if the head is on backwards, as shown). In "Parasites Lost", due to his incompetence as a physician, he comes to the conclusion that Fry, who is frequently injured, is a hypochondriac, an accusation he makes when Fry sits before Zoidberg with a pipe through his chest. He claims to be an MD, but states, unconvincingly, in "A Clone of My Own" that he lost his medical degree in a volcano. However, he later states in " The Duh-Vinci Code" that his PhD is in art history (as opposed to medicine). Other intimations to his dubious medical training include the episode " Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles", in which he comments, "I'm no doctor, but this machine guy could really use a lozenge." Although he is shown to be incompetent at treating humans, the episode "The Tip of the Zoidberg" shows he is a competent doctor for alien species, such as the Yeti

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