Zap Brannigan- He often reminds me of the epitome of the ‘idiot manager’, the moron who doesn’t know anything and yet somehow is in charge and in the grand scheme of things, everybody has to swallow their pride and do what he says for the betterment of everybody.
“ChamPAGne?”
Dr. Zoidberg- Zoidberg is pathetic, kind of like Gil in the Simpsons. Not only is he a bad doctor, but he’s always getting in trouble. And every episode where he might be in a position to do something useful or get the spotlight some deus ex machina spoils it.
For me, it’s the Zapper. Don’t get me wrong, I love John Zoidberg, M.D., but Zapp is somewhat more scarce, so it’s always a treat when we’re confronted with that sweet, sweet canday.
<Dr. Z.> Most popular character! We could share the title, maybe?
<Zapp> I’m not sharing my prize with some sort of weird lobster. Kif! Get this sorry excuse for an alien off my bridge!
<Kif> uhhhn We’re at a Wendy’s, sir.
<Zapp> Oh! Then get me a double with cheese. And a frosty.
<Dr. Z.> Perhaps your old pal Zoidberg could have a little nosh?
<Zapp> Kif! Get my disgusting compatriot here a small fry. And you can have a kids’ meal!
<Kif> uhhhn
This exact quote is probably wrong, but here goes anyway…
Leela: Let me tell you about when I was growing up…
Zoidberg: Ugh. Again with the Orphanarium.
And when the gang is at the Blurnsball game (I think?), Prof. Farnsworth puts on his huge glasses to look at the program. It goes through the paper and Farnsworth says, “Dr. Zoidberg, you’re in this!” The look Zoidberg gives is pricelss.
“Just because you say you’re a robot, doesn’t make you a robot. Just like me saying I’m a doctor doesn’t make me a doctor. These fancy clothes do.”
For me it’s a complete tie. Who can choose between Zoidberg’s pronounciation of “robot” and Zap’s willingness to send wave after wave of men to defeat the killbots? How about we all agree that Billy West is a God among men, giant among the ants of the voiceover biz?
I hate Brannigan and Zoidberg and am not sure if that’s a good thing or bad thing.
On the one hand, they’re obviously written as self-absorbed losers so I’m inclined to give the writers the benefit of the doubt and assume my hatred for them is intentional but, on the other hand, so many of the other characters – Fry, Amy, and Bender on Futurama and a score more on The Simpsons – are permutations of the same personality that there could be something about the way they’re acted or written that I especially hate.
WOW! That guy’s been in everything; Transformers, G.I.Joe, Inspector Gadget, everything I grew up with! And I don’t think there’s a single entry where he wasn’t a voice actor. He’s probably like Lorenzo Music, who has never been seen on camera.
Aes, I think Brannigan is supposed to be loathesome in everything he does, from mistakenly blowing up the DOOP headquarters, to his constant hitting on Leela. Zoidberg is just buffoonish, yet strangely likeable.
I can’t stand Zap; he seems like a refugee from another show, and everytime he appears, it’s as if (to me) the whole program has to lurch in another direction to accomodate him.
Zoidberg is not only funnier than Zap, he’s probably the funniest character on the show. OK, maybe he and Bender are tied.
“Call me cocky, but if there’s an alien out there I can’t kill I haven’t met him and killed him yet. But I can’t go it alone. That’s why I’m ordering every available ship to report for duty. Anyone without a ship should secure a weapon and fire wildly into the air.”
In case you are wondering Frank Welker’s real voice sounds a lot like Fred Jones in Scooby-Doo, but not exactly. For someone who is catching up with everyone I give you Hermes.
“Kiff, I have made it with a woman. Inform the men!”
Brannigan is the epitome of the male sleazeball. He’s a total ass, but people follow him because he is confident (abeit deluded) and is good at pretending he knows what he’s doing.
“Now it’s Zoiderg’s turn! Oh, when I was…[credits roll]…awww!”
Zoidberg is always trying to get in the spotlight but always falling flat on his face in the process. Actually, now that I think about it, he’s more like Millhouse than Gil. Hopelessly awkward, and with no chance of permanently becoming ‘cooler’. Whats funny about Zoidberg is episodes like the quote mentioned above, where he starts to try to do something and then the episode just ends, sort of how Daffy Duck has the spotlight stolen by Bugs Bunny
Zoidberg is one of my favourite characters, though Zapp is funny too. Some of my fav. Zoiberg quotes include:
Cuebert: Do you even have a medical degree?
Zoidberg:…I lost it…in a volcano.
President Truman: Are you here to make some kind of alien-human hybrid?
Actually, Brannigan says “Kif, I have mated with a woman. Inform the men.”
It’s the slight drawing-out of his final consonants and the “blowhard, know-it-all” intonation that West uses for Brannigan that makes it work so well…originally, the much-missed Phil Hartman was supposed to voice the role; West is very, very good, though.
How can you not like a takeoff on James Tiberius Kirk?? “Brannigan’s Law is like Brannigan’s love–hard and fast.”
Zoidberg is a great riff on the old vaudeville/Catskills Jewish comedian. Zoidberg’s greatest moment for me? Undoubtedly in the time-paradox episode, where he is captured and held in Area 51, and faces off with President Harry S Truman:
I’m not going to choose; I think they’re both paragons of their genres…
