The Futurama Character That Had Producer Eric Kaplan 'Desperate' To Work On The Show
Who doesn't love Dr. Zoidberg? Everyone! Everyone doesn't love Dr. Zoidberg. At least that's one of the running gags of "Futurama," the undying sci-fi sitcom created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen. Dr. Zoidberg, voiced by Billy West, is a pathetic dumpster-dwelling lobster monster whose body is lousy with parasites and who sprays his peers with ink when startled. He's grievously awkward and doesn't have any friends. What's more, he's a terrible doctor, completely baffled by the anatomy of the mammals he works with; his diagnoses tend to be for fish-related ailments like fungi.
Naturally, the "Futurama" writers love writing Zoidberg scenes. It's actually astonishing how much humor the "Futurama" writing staff has been able to mine from having a big lobster on the show. There are more gags and jokes about sea life than one might think. For example, when Zoidberg vomits, he ejects liquid from both his freshwater stomach and his saltwater stomach, filling one bucket with frogs and reeds and the other with tropical fish and kelp. There have also been multiple gags about Zoidberg shedding his carapace and walking around as a blobby invertebrate.
On a vintage website called Ultimate Futurama, a blogger named Brian interviewed Eric Kaplan, one of the show's chief writers. Kaplan is the author of seven episodes of the series, including the fan favorites "Jurassic Bark" and "Hell is Other Robots." He also penned the Zoidberg-centric episode "Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" (an episode about the big red lobster man going through a hormonal mating cycle). Naturally, Kaplan loves Zoidberg and even admitted that writing for "Futurama" became all the more attractive when he first saw sketches of the nebbishy arthropod.
Everyone loves to hate Zoidberg
When asked what his favorite character was, Kaplan was quick to answer:
"My favorite Futurama character is Dr. Zoidberg because he is the all-purpose comedy crab; he is all of us; he looks weird. When I interviewed for this job and saw the picture of Dr. Zoidberg (long before the first episode aired) I desperately wanted to work at 'Futurama.'"
Zoidberg has a lot of personality. He is mildly inscrutable, given that his mouth is blocked by several dangling tentacles. One can read a lot into the fact, however, that he is a medical doctor who wears sandals in the office.
"Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?" follows Zoidberg and the rest of the Planet Express crew back to his home planet of Decapod X, where the good doctor must find a mate. Being a lobster, he is dispassionate about romance, and Zoidberg's mammalian co-workers have to teach him how to romance lobster women. When Fry (West) recommends that Zoidberg compliment a woman by calling her thin, Zoidberg misinterprets the intent and says to his paramour that she looks malnourished and that she might have a parasite. She says that she does, and thanks for noticing.
Naturally, the episode ends with Fry and Zoidberg in a gladiatorial arena fighting to the death. Zoidberg even clips off one of Fry's arms. Comedy gold. Luckily, Zoidberg is a doctor and reattaches Fry's arm without any issues. Although, because he is a bad doctor, he reattaches the arm on the wrong side. Kaplan certainly knew how to do a lot with the character.