Nibbler (Futurama)
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| Futurama character | |
| Lord Nibbler | |
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| Age | 1000+ |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Species | Nibblonian |
| Planet of Origin | Eternium |
| Job | Ambassador Of Eternium Leela's pet. |
| Relatives | Snowy |
| First Appearance | Official: Love's Labours Lost in Space Real: Space Pilot 3000 |
| First Line | Sound: (Love's Labours Lost in Space): (Sniffs and Chirps) Speech: (The Day the Earth Stood Stupid): Thank you. I bear many receipts for reimbursement. |
| Voiced by | Frank Welker |
Nibbler is a fictional character from the animated television series Futurama. He is voiced by Frank Welker who provides not only the speaking lines but also the various noises he makes when not speaking English.
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[edit] Name
This character's true name is not revealed, as "in the time it would take to pronounce one letter of [his] true name, a trillion cosmoses would flare into existence and sink into eternal night". Leela took him for a pet when she found him on the soon-to-be-destroyed planet Vergon 6 in the episode "Love's Labours Lost in Space" and named him "Nibbler", just before observing his ability to rapidly consume animals far larger than himself.
[edit] Abilities
Nibbler is intelligent and capable of speech, but for most of the series he masquerades as a rather unintelligent animal in order to avoid suspicion while he goes about his mission of protecting the Earth in general and Fry in particular from the evil Brainspawn, a mission he only reveals to anyone else when expecting to wipe their memory of it afterwards, something only done twice so far. He wipes people's memories by emitting a bright flash of light from his third eye. Its immediate after effects are strange as, according to Fry, it makes "everything just taste purple for a second". This flashing effect may be a reference to the memory erasing Neuralizer device used in the 1997 movie Men in Black.
[edit] Dark matter
Nibbler produces feces made of dark matter which can be used as starship fuel. In "The Why Of Fry", when taking Nibbler for a walk, Fry is confronted with picking up Nibbler's dropping, a tiny sphere of immense mass (Prof. Farnsworth states, that "one pound of it weighs ten thousand pounds"). Fry is unable to pick it up, and is promptly fined for "failure to scoop".
[edit] Eating ability
Nibbler, much like the rest of his species, is capable of devouring life forms much larger then he is, as shown he was able to eat every animal onboard the Planet Express ship. He is, according to Leela, "An unstoppable killing machine."
[edit] Species/Race
Nibbler's race, from the planet Eternium (located at the "Exact Center of the Universe"), is referred to as the Nibblonians, after Leela's name for him. However, just as with "Nibbler" itself, the name is only a convenience for outsiders as the real name is much too long and complicated.
Nibbler's voracious appetite is shared by other members of the species, who commemorate great events with feasts, such as "The Feast of a Thousand Hams" or "The Feast of a Thousand Beasts". Nibbler, and presumably the rest of the race, have a pair of bat wings under their arms, which may have been used to slow Nibbler's fall when he jumped out the window in "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid".
According to the Nibblonians, their race is ancient and powerful, because when the universe was formed with the Big Bang, their race was already 17 years old. Individual Nibblonians "live long", according to Nibbler, who himself is at least 1000 years old, though a human veterinarian once incorrectly speculated that the number of rings within a tooth extracted from Nibbler might indicate his age (five) ("I Second That Emotion").
Some Nibblonians also display a cat-like behaviour, purring when their heads are scratched or playing with simple toys. This is distressing at times, as it discourages outsiders (as well as each other) from taking them seriously.
[edit] Purpose
Nibbler only reveals his intelligence and true origins in two episodes, "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid" and "The Why Of Fry"; other than those episodes, there is no way of knowing that he is actually intelligent. However, a clue to his purpose is seen in the first episode of the series, where you can briefly see his shadow as Fry's chair tips back, implying he may have always been intended to have a secret meaning. However, without this reference, there is no way of knowing Nibbler's purpose outside of the two episodes in which it is revealed.
Nibbler was initially shown to have pushed Fry into the cryogenic freezer that resulted in him showing up in the year 3000. However, in "The Why Of Fry", it was Fry himself, with encouragement from Nibbler, who did the actual deed. Nibbler then spent the next thousand years on Vergon 6 until being picked up by Leela.
[edit] Trivia
- Although Nibbler is not officially introduced as a character until "Love's Labours Lost in Space", evidence of his existence can be seen as early as "Space Pilot 3000", the series' first episode. Just as Fry falls backwards into the freezer, a seemingly pointless shot of under the desk is shown. Upon further inspection, however, a mysterious shadow shaped exactly like Nibbler can be seen. This supports the assertion made in "The Why of Fry" that Nibbler pushed Fry into the freezer. In Anthology of Interest I, during which Fry sees what would happen if he was never frozen, Nibbler's shadow is absent from the shot under the desk. Additionally, in "Jurassic Bark", in a flashback to Fry sitting in the chair right before getting frozen, Nibbler's third eye is seen popping out of the trash can. Also, not only is Nibbler's shadow shown, what appears to be Fry's shadow is shown alongside it. In the audio commentary for the first episode the show's creators exclaim "Secret!" when his shadow becomes visible.
- When Nibbler pretends to be Leela's pet, his third eye remains expressionless, even while he is asleep. When not in Leela's presence, it synthesizes its expression with his other eyes, just as the other Nibblonian's third eyes do.
| Futurama | |
|---|---|
| Media | |
| Episodes • Comic books • Video game • Bender's Big Score | |
| Characters | |
| Fry • Leela • Bender • Professor Farnsworth • Doctor Zoidberg • Hermes • Amy Zapp Brannigan • Kif Kroker • Nibbler • Cubert • Calculon • Mom Recurring human characters • Recurring robot characters • Recurring alien characters • Secondary characters |
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| Universe | |
| Planets: Amphibios 9 • Eternium • Omicron Persei VIII Alien races: Cygnoid • Decapodian • Neptunian • Omicronian Politics and religion: Earth Government • Robotology • D.O.O.P. Technology: Gadgets • Suicide booth • Planet Express Ship • Nimbus Other: Timeline • Blernsball • All My Circuits • The Scary Door • Slurm • Products • Locations • Animals |
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