Professor Membrane
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Invader Zim character | |
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| Professor Membrane | |
| Gender | Male |
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| Race | Human |
| Relatives | Dib and Gaz (children) |
| First appearance | The Nightmare Begins |
| Voice actor | Rodger Bumpass |
Professor Membrane is a character in the Nickelodeon cartoon Invader Zim voiced by Rodger Bumpass. He is the father of Dib and Gaz and also world's smartest man, host of the popular television show "Probing the Membrane of Science" and inventor of SuperToast. Membrane's scientific abilities are offset by incredibly poor parenting: his primary method of managing his children is by way of a floating digital projection screen - and his messages to them are often not only pre-recorded but woefully out of date. Also, he rarely, if ever, calls Dib and Gaz by their names (instead calling them 'son' and 'daughter'). He even refers to them as 'roommates' in the episode Future Dib.
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[edit] Appearance
Similar to Dib, Professor Membrane has black, slicked back hair. His face is mostly hidden by large goggles and the collar of his coat. In The Most Horrible X-mas Ever, he possesses the power to shoot energy out of his hand. Though "Membrane" seems to be the last name of Dib's father, it's actually his first name rather than the family name. It was mentioned on DVD commentary that they wanted the cliché of a cartoon character with no last name. Also, in Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom, Zim's simulation of the Meekrob referred to Dib as "Dib... whatever your last name is" and Dib replied "That's right" instead of correcting him with the name of his father.
[edit] Personality
Professor Membrane is obsessed with the progression of science and technology. he doesn't believe in the paranormal, and frequently refers to Dib as his "Poor Insane Son". (Likewise, he sometimes refers to Gaz as his 'funny, sane child'). He sees Zim as a foreigner (misconstruing Dib's statements that Zim is an alien). Inventing is Membrane's primary goal in life and rarely makes time for anything not related to his experiments. Membrane hates Santa Claus with the same vigor that his son despises Zim: when Membrane was a child, he wanted 12 cases of Uranium 238, but Santa merely gave him a seemingly endless supply of socks. Vowing "a portion of his life" to the defeat of Santa, Membrane created a massive polar fortress full of anti-Santa technology, which he allows Dib to access in The Most Horrible X-Mas ever. This is one of the very few times he takes his son's devotion to paranormal activity seriously.
[edit] Past
According to a commentary on the Invader Zim DVDs, Dib was going to find out that he was an experiment created by his father, thus explaining why his life stunk so much. Gaz is also believed to have been an experiment, though many fans believe she was Membrane's "real" daughter, with speculation as to her mother's identity. Also, it seems that both Dib and Gaz are light weight due to the ease with which Membrane can pick them up.
