Dr. John A. Zoidberg, MD, better simply known as Zoidberg, (born May 5, 2914), is the heptagonist in Futurama. He was born on the Planet Decapod 10 and moved to Earth to practice medicine after giving up comedy once. Despite being a self-proclaimed expert on Humans, he called Philip J. Fry “young lady” when they first met and has confused Fry and Bender. 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 Hermes Conrad being his best friend.[1]

Zoidberg is actually the alien discovered in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.[2] He seems to live in various places around the Planet Express Building, notably the Dumpster, in which he has been seen numerous times looking for food and shelter. Zoidberg himself confessed to “living in a dumpster” in 3011, presumably the Planet Express building Dumpster.[3]

A conversation Zoidberg has with Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth suggests that he is only staying with Planet Express because of a life debt to the Professor. A series of flashbacks reveal that Zoidberg first met and befriended Farnsworth in 2927, during a mission to kill a Tritonian Yeti for Carol Miller. During the mission, Zoidberg was attacked by a Tritonian Yeti but is saved by Hubert, who is scratched by the Tritonian Yeti. Hubert now fears that he has contracted Hyper-Malaria, a painful, fatal, incurable disease that can either strike instantly or remain dormant for years. He asks Zoidberg to perform a mercy killing if he ever exhibits symptoms of the disease. Grateful for the Professor having saved his life and killing the Tritonian Yeti, Zoidberg agrees. As a result, Zoidberg is employed by the Professor for the purpose of carrying out the task.

He is technically homeless and very poor, being a very unsuccessful “internal medicine doctor”. Although claiming it was lost in a volcano, it is very likely that Zoidberg does not actually have a medical degree but rather has a doctorate in art history.[4] Despite his professional incompetence, he has been drafted into the Democratic Order of Planets army as a MEAT surgeon.[5]

He’s always poor, and has stated several times that he has no home. Even worse, he is treated like a social pariah by most everyone around him. Hermes considers him as practically a slave (even more than he views the others) and does not hesitate in treating him like one.

When seen eating, Zoidberg does so with extreme urgency and a variety of disgusting sounds. Almost invariably it’s ‘scavenged’ food that has somehow “gotten away” from others: food stuck to the wall or floor, a bridal bouquet, even a ten-gallon western hat dipped in barbecue sauce.

Zoidberg seems to be an employee sometimes, yet other times his presence is merely tolerated. This ambiguous situation seems to be connected with his constant poverty, yet later we find out he has a long-standing arrangement with the professor, so there must be some kind of payscale, however small.

Zoidberg is awed at even small sums of money, due to an apparent lack of knowledge of human currency and economics. When eight million bucks falls in his lap, the true value of the money seems totally unimportant to him. Money “comes and goes” according to a high-rolling Zoidberg.

So probably his poverty is just as insignificant to him.

He is excitable about his friends and is very trusting with the Planet Express Crew. He appears to be rather fond of all of them, but loudly calls Bender “My old friend!!” on many occasions, sounding more desperate than sure. Bender certainly does NOT reciprocate Zoidberg’s affections.

Zoidberg on one occasion got himself in a fix, and asked himself “What would the robot do?” He’s aware that Bender is a criminal by nature, and a good one too.

Most of the crew (except possibly Fry, Hubert, as well as Amy) finds John (or at least his species) to be disgusting as he will eat almost anything and his extreme “incompetence” as a doctor has done nothing for his popularity. Although, sometimes the rest of the crew will be nice or care for him, except maybe Hermes.