Kif Kroker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Futurama character | |
| Kif Kroker | |
 |
|
| Age | At least 24 |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Species | Amphibiosan |
| Planet | Amphibios 9 |
| Job | Lieutenant. First Officer of the DOOP starship Nimbus |
| Relatives | Girlfriend: Amy. |
| First Appearance | Love's Labours Lost in Space |
| First Line | I suppose, Captain. I'm not as big a fan of velour as you are. Now what do you want to do about that unidentified ship? |
| Voiced by | Maurice LaMarche |
Lieutenant Kif Kroker is a fictional character in the animated television show Futurama. His surname is a pun on "croaker", a reference to his obviously amphibian appearance and biology[citation needed]. He is the assistant to Captain Zapp Brannigan and first officer of the Democratic Order of Planets (DOOP) starship Nimbus. Especially shown in Season 1, he is frustrated by Brannigan's arrogance and general incompetence. Kif's portrayal in Season 1 is a disaffected, indifferent, sardonic lackey, although his personality differs greatly in later seasons.
Kif has three nipples, and is able to shed his skin when necessary. His skin can also change colors to blend in with his surroundings like a chameleon, and is somewhat elastic. He can inflate his head to gargantuan size to frighten away predators. His hands and feet are equipped with suction cups, allowing him to climb walls like a gecko. Kif has no skeleton and his body has a system of fluid-filled bladders instead of bones.
He is also shown in "A Head in the Polls" as a member of the Green Party, which is a political party that apparently plays on the name since all members shown at the booth have green skin.
In Season 3, Kif begins dating Planet Express employee Amy Wong, whom he met aboard the starship Titanic in "A Flight To Remember."
While dating Amy, Kif's character is fleshed out a great deal, and it is revealed that he is actually an extremely sensitive, shy, and timid man. It took him a year to work up the courage to ask Amy out for a date, and even then it was only through Zapp that a date was finally arranged. His non-confrontational personality makes it difficult to stand up to Zapp, and so he complains about him to Leela (much to her consternation) and anyone else who will listen. He is also revealed to be a very romantic man, if somewhat lacking in self-confidence, and it is shown that he and Amy truly do love each other. Amy's parents don't much care for him, referring to him as "squishy" (which, he later reveals, he literally is, as his body is made of a series of fluid-filled bladders). In contrast, an earlier episode (in which the two met) actually showed Amy's parent's approval of Kif, resulting in a story inconsistency. They most likely originally overestimated his masculinity due to his rank, unaware of the circumstances that put him there. He is not very manly, which also bothers Mr. and Mrs. Wong, as they want their daughter to marry their ranch hand, a buff, macho cowboy (along with every other male they happen to come across).
The males of Kif's species can carry and bear young, as Kif did in "Kif Gets Knocked Up a Notch." Kif explains that his species can exchange genetic information even through simple touch. This occurs during a "receptive phase", which happens when a member of his species is deeply in love. (It is unclear whether this is their only form of reproduction, or just an ancillary method.)
Professor Farnsworth's inter-species DNA paternity testing machine ("even I laughed at me when I built it," he explains) reveals the "father" of Kif's young to be Leela, though Kif explains that the true parent (the smizmar) is the one who inspired the original feelings of love, regardless of the DNA donor. Amy faces a deep conflict over the sudden unexpected prospect of parenthood and the end to her freedom. At the baby shower held for Kif, she leaves him suddenly, finding herself unable to make the sacrifice of her lifestyle for parenthood, only to change her mind in the end and return to him in time for the ancient birthing rite on Kif's homeworld. He gives birth to a spoor of tadpoles, and Amy and Leela together fight off predatory creatures to aid in their short journey to the swamp where they will grow up as Kif did. The closing scene is of the newborn tadpoles swimming about. Some of them are clumsy, like Amy; several of them are cycloptic, like Leela. Kif explains to Amy that the babies will return in twenty years, and Amy decides that by that time she will be ready for parenting.
[edit] Trivia
- In an early interview, show creator Matt Groening claimed that the inspiration for Kif partly came from Star Trek's Mr Spock, with the important difference that this version of Spock would detest his captain.
| 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 |
|
| Media | |
| Episodes | Comic Books | Video Game | |
| 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 | |
| Other | |
| Timeline | Blernsball | All My Circuits | The Scary Door | Slurm | Products | Locations | Animals | |
