Nibbler (Futurama)
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- This page is about the Futurama character; for the metalwork tool, see Nibbler.
| Futurama character | |
| Lord Nibbler | |
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| Age | 1000+ (possibly from 17 years before the big bang) |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Species | Nibblonian |
| Planet | 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.
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[edit] Name
This character's true name is unrevealed, 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 aftereffects 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 which are made of dark matter and 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 (he states that "it weighs as much as a thousand suns!"). Fry is unable to pick it up, and is promptly fined for "failure to scoop".
[edit] Species/Race
Nibbler's race, from the planet Eternium at the "Exact Center of the Universe", is referred to as the Nibblonians after Leela's name for him, but as with "Nibbler" itself, the name is only a convenience for outsiders. Nibbler's voracious appetite is shared by other members of his species, who periodically commemorate great events with "The Feast of a Thousand Hams" or "The Feast of a Thousand Beasts". Although very briefly shown and not noticed at times, Nibbler has a pair of seemingly useless bat wings hidden under his arms, seen when he jumps 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 breed was already 17 years old.
Some Nibblonians also have a cat-like behaviour, purring when Leela scratches their head.
[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 eye/antenna 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. This is inconsistent with the episode "I Second That Emotion" in which a Vet gives Nibbler the age of 5. Although the Vet's guess is incorrectly based on the rings in Nibbler's tooth, and may not be a writing mistake.
[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. 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 do you see nibblers shadow you see what appears to be Fry's shadow. In the audio commentary for the first episode the show's creators exclaim "Secret!" when his shadow becomes visible.
| Futurama | |
|---|---|
| Characters | |
| Philip J. Fry | Turanga Leela | Bender | Professor Hubert Farnsworth | Dr. John Zoidberg | Hermes Conrad | Amy Wong Zapp Brannigan | Kif Kroker | Nibbler | Cubert Farnsworth | Calculon | Mom Others: Recurring non-robot characters | Recurring robot characters | Secondary characters |
|
| Futurama Universe | |
| Planets: Eternium | Omicron Persei VIII | |
| Aliens: Cygnoid | Decapodian | Nibblonian | Neptunian | |
| Politics and Religion: Earth Government | Robotology | D.O.O.P. | |
| Technology: Gadgets | Suicide booth | Planet Express Ship | Nimbus | |
| Media | Other |
| Episodes | Comic Books | Video Game | Timeline | Blernsball | All My Circuits | The Scary Door | Locations | Products | Slurm |
