Dr. John A. Zoidberg

Dr. John A. Zoidberg is a Decapodian employed as staff doctor at Planet Express and an honorary Globetrotter. An extremely poor man and a bad doctor without a real degree, he is still lovable by many and hated by others. He is also noted as the only alien member of the Planet Express crew.

Personality
Desperate for acceptance, Zoidberg lives with a continuing delusion that he is well regarded by the rest of the Planet Express crew. He does not seem to be very intelligent, but is rather nice and friendly. This is despite the fact that most of his co-workers look down on him, especially Hermes, who likes to make his life even more miserable. Zoidberg is Professor Farnsworth's oldest friend, which suggests that Dr. Zoidberg is much older than he appears. A citizen of Earth, he loves his chosen home planet for the personal freedom it provides. He is also apparently the only intelligent organism on Earth deemed nice by the Robot Santa Claus. It is unknown why, but it may be because of a glitch in Santa or because of Zoidberg's kind and innocent personality.

Early years
Dr. Zoidberg was born on Decapod 10 and seems to have visited high school there, going to school together with and having a crush on Edna. During that time, his face was covered in barnacles, for which he was laughed at.

As a youngster, Zoidberg wanted to become a comedian, following the footsteps of his uncle Harold Zoid, but he was discouraged by his parents, whereupon he developed an interest in medical science. In spite of trying to win his surrounding's respect, he was then looked down on because of giving up 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. He never received a doctorate in medicine, but in art history, but started practicing medicine nonetheless.

It is unclear when Zoidberg started working on the Planet Express crew under Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, but it was at the very least before the year 3000, when Fry, Leela and Bender started working there. At several occasions, the Professor has said that Zoidberg is his oldest friend, meaning he has probably worked long before Amy Wong started there in 2998.



Later years
Although his medical career meant giving up his dream of becoming a comedian, Zoidberg has since tried on occasion to be a freelance comedian of some sort, but lack the necessary talent and sense of humour. In his biggest try, he even had a minor part in his uncle's film "The Magnificent Three" in 3003.

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 vivisected before being rescued and returned to the future.

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 (his mother) 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"
 * Cubert, godson

Production
The original inspiration and the basic traits and characteristics were developed by David X. Cohen, while the cartoon design was created by Matt Groening. The later refinement and addition of various traits came from the various writers.

Cohen's name for Dr Zoidberg came from a video game he had developed during the 1980s, called "Zoid", which was largely inspired by the popular arcade game. Cohen tried to get the then famous publisher to publish the game. Unfortunately, Brøderbund refused to published Cohen's assembly-written game, and he shelved it. Dr Zoidberg was thus named to honour those wasted years in college.

Cohen's inspiration came from from Star Trek, the doctor on the . Bones was often faced with treating aliens and other non-humans, including. Cohen's idea for Zoidberg was the exact opposite, where an alien would perform on humans. Zoidberg's trait of being a bad doctor was then established.

Later traits, such as his lust for seafood, became apparent in "A Fishful of Dollars". More demeaning traits such as being poor and lonely came in "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"; eating garbage and being homeless appeared later as well.

Certain contradicting situations can be seen in "A Flight to Remember", where Zoidberg is seen being given a suite, something that the writers would not give him in the later course of the series.

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.

Trivia

 * As the show progresses, Zoidberg's apparent utility becomes less obvious, and the Planet Express staff shun his presence from one instance to another.
 * As with all Decapodians, Zoidberg's mannerisms, speech, and personality are representative of dry East Coast humor readily seen in Jewish communities.
 * He claims to have 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.
 * Is apparently his own medical corporation, as described on the door to his office.
 * Zoidberg has a top fin or crest on his head that appears at times of emotional duress, such as "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" and Bender's Big Score. It seems to be linked to his species' equivalent to testosterone, as it appears to be linked to both aggression and arousal, as shown in Bender's Game and "Attack of the Killer App".
 * His greatest fantasy is to be a grandmother ("Subjugated yet honored!").
 * Hermes from the earliest episodes seems to harbor a bitter hatred toward Zoidberg, never explained or given a rationale. This starts in "Hell Is Other Robots", when Hermes states someone (in fact Bender, who was addict to it) has been using a lot of electricity, then blames Zoidberg who exclaims "MEEE?". Hermes later removes the office's salt-water cooler to save money, prompting Zoidberg to blurt out, "This is a witch-hunt!"
 * An alternate version of him as a blob-like creature appears in Bender's Game, although he begins as an innocent Dungeon Monster.
 * In the Halloween 2008 cartoon of Homestar Runner, the Poopsmith is dressed as Zoidberg. Also, if you click him a the end of the toon, the King of Town uses the phrase "Good news, everyone"
 * Apparently likes Barbados Slim (Although he says he likes a lot of people, possibly a catchphrase).
 * He has been shown to cough up colorful beads after eating copious amounts of dirt, which can be sold to make money. This is only seen in the episode "Bendin' in the Wind".
 * It is revealed in "The Duh-Vinci Code" that his doctorate is in Art History.
 * His birthday is the day after Amy's.
 * His claws and exoskeleton are incredibly strong and resilient. His claws can cut through human flesh, bone, and even some metals while his exoskeleton is impervious to knives and swords.
 * He is first mentioned to be desperately poor in the episode "Put Your Head on My Shoulder".

Catchphrases and Running Jokes

 * (At inappropriate times) Hello
 * Sometimes he will (with a grin) exclaim "What an honor!" ("Roswell that Ends Well").
 * Excellent, excellent!
 * (Famous person)? I love that guy!
 * Woop woop woop woop! (This sound effect is based on sound effects made by The Three Stooges.)
 * Hooray!
 * I'll take eight! (in reference to Fry's Holophonor record, and the newspaper declaring "the world's greatest opera" sucks). This phrase is only used in the original series finale
 * Dibs on...! or alternative forms of calling dibs on something. Zoidberg usually comes late to Bender (for Leela's iPod in Into the Wild Green Yonder and the ship's shotgun in "Parasites Lost") or Amy (for Leela's maid of honor in Bender's Big Score)
 * (Depressed, after being insulted, ignored, or one-upped) Awwww...

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 poppler, humans having multiple mouths, and Fry being a robot. More so, he often mistakes the human penis for other objects, especially that of Hermes. 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