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Concept
Zoidberg
Summary
Dr. John A. Zoidberg, often referred to mononymously as Zoidberg, 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.
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 ˈroʊbət rather than ˈroʊbɒt .
Official source
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