Futurama's Nibbler Shares A Voice With Some Of The Best Disney Renaissance Characters
Nibbler the Nibblonian first appeared on "Futurama" in the episode "Love's Labours Lost in Space" (April 11, 1999), wherein Leela (Katey Sagal) assumed he was a poor, lost animal that merely needed a home. She put an adorable red cape on him and outfitted him with a diaper. Nibbler had a voracious appetite and could consume many, many, many times his own body weight in pork products in a single day. Nibbler would then poop out perfectly round spheres of solidified dark matter that, quite conveniently, could serve as starship fuel.
It was later revealed that Nibbler was, in fact, Lord Nibbler, an impossibly ancient being — born around 274 BCE — who could speak in a clear, deep voice. He belonged to a species that possessed fleets of tiny, adorable warships and who were occasionally kidnapped and farmed for their fuel-pooping abilities. For years, whenever someone saw Nibbler speak, he could activate his third eye and erase their memories. After a while, Nibbler forgot to erase people's memories and would speak to them regularly.
For both his snuffling animal noises and clear-as-a-bell speech, Nibbler was played by the legendary Frank Welker. Welker is a giant in his field, having appeared in literally hundreds of TV shows and movies in his 40-year career. He provides animal noises and grunts for many, many movies and TV shows, and, as of 2011, was the third-highest-grossing actor of all time. The films Welker has appeared in have, collectively, earned over $17 billion.
Helping beef up that number were Welker's appearances in several films in the 1990s Disney Rennaisance. Welker appeared (sometimes as animals, sometimes with speaking parts) in "The Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," "A Goofy Movie," "Pocahontas," "Hercules," "Mulan," and "The Emperor's New Groove."
The Cave of Wonders: Frank Welker's mouth
Animation aficionados might be able to recognize Welker's voice. He had a very specific growl, a very specific wail, and a very specific monkey noise. Those who grew up watching the 1984 animated series "Transformers" likely recall his raspy performance as Megatron, the evil robot. Welker has spoken in the past of achieving his unique growl by employing what he called his Cave Voice. His Cave Voice seemingly unlocked vocal chords he didn't know he had, allowing him to produce what sounded like multiple voices simultaneously.
The nickname "Cave Voice" was certainly apt for "Aladdin," as he literally played a cave. In that 1992 film, seekers of magic and treasure could, with the right key, open up a living cave that appeared in the shape of a tiger's head. The cave would eat those who weren't morally worthy of entrance. Also in "Aladdin," Welker provided the chittering monkey noises for the fez-wearing primate Abu, as well as the growls and roars for Raja, a normal-sized tiger.
Welker's first high-profile film job for Disney came in 1988 with the release of "Oliver & Company." In that film, Welker played a hot dog vendor who gets splattered with mustard. It was the first step in a long wave of Disney films that would pull the company up out of a decade-long animation slump. In 1989, Welker was brought on board "The Little Mermaid" to provide the barking and slobbering noises for the dog Max. No one can slobber better than Welker.
In 1990, Welker turned up in "DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp," playing a stuffed tiger, as well as various background vocals. One needs to listen closely to hear him in "DuckTales."
Eagles, lizards, dogs, mice, hummingbirds, and Bigfoot
That same year, he played both the majestic eagle Marahute and egg-hungry lizard Joanna in "The Rescuers Down Under." Those films aren't typically considered part of the Disney Renaissance, but they are worth a look.
In the Best Picture nominee "Beauty and the Beast," Welker plays Sultan, a small dog that had been magically transformed into a barking footstool. I like to think a director told Welker that he'd be playing a barking footstool and he immediately got into character without questioning the oddness of the part. He also lent his voice to some of the sound effects in the movie, likely aiding in the beast's roar.
Welker also got to roar in "The Lion King," providing the feline noises for multiple characters. He also chittered as a mouse and played other animals as well. Listen closely, and you still may not recognize him. Some of his animal impersonations are indistinguishable from the real thing. In 1995, he played the chirping hummingbird Flit in "Pocahontas" and the grunting sasquatch in "A Goofy Movie." Welker's same chirping might be heard from some baby birds in 1996's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." His grunts and neighs were put into the mouth of Pegasus in 1997's "Hercules." In 1998, he plied his craft as a cricket for "Mulan."
After 2000's "The Emperor's New Groove," in which he played llamas, jaguars, and bees, Welker's closeness to Disney began to vanish. He wouldn't be in a major Disney feature film until "Alice in Wonderland" in 2010.
He was, of course, never hurting for work. Now 77, Welker remains prolific to this day. He recently played Scooby-Doo in "Scoob!" (a role he took over from Don Messick in 1997 after already playing Freddy for years).