Zapp Brannigan
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| Futurama character | |
| Zapp Brannigan | |
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| Age | 30 |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Species | Human |
| Planet of Origin | Earth |
| Job | Captain of the DOOP starship Nimbus |
| Relatives | |
| First Appearance | Love's Labours Lost in Space |
| First Line | These new uniforms are pretty snappy, eh, first officer? |
| Voiced by | Billy West |
General Major Webelo Zapp Brannigan is a fictional character in the television series Futurama. He is also referred to (mainly by himself) as "The Zapper," "The Velour Fog," and "Big Z".
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[edit] Profile
Brannigan is a senior member of the military of the Democratic Order of Planets (D.O.O.P.) though his title varies; he has been referred to as a "25 star General" and "General Major Webelo." Kif Kroker is his beleaguered lieutenant and personal assistant, whose many duties include keeping Brannigan's schedule stored on an Etch A Sketch, shaving Brannigan's armpits, pointing to his medals ("Show them my medal, Kif.") and informing the crew of his sexual conquests. Brannigan's flagship is the Nimbus, which though severely damaged in "A Taste of Freedom" was back in service for the later episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before." His quarters aboard the Nimbus are garishly decorated in velour and contain a hovering heart-shaped bed, hanging over which is a portrait of him in a pose mocking Aaron Shikler's posthumous portrait of John F. Kennedy.
Brannigan envisions himself a "ladies' man" yet is completely clueless in matters of romance (one entry in his book of pickup-lines is "I find the most erotic part of a woman is the boobies" - "Amazon Women in the Mood"). On first meeting Leela, on or about April 13, 3000, he ended up having sex with her (she was motivated by pity). In later encounters, he invariably refers to this interlude, at one point even implying Leela was the first woman he'd slept with ("Brannigan Begin Again"). He remains convinced that Leela lusts after him and will eventually return to him, despite her (often literally) violent opposition to the idea. His overconfidence in this is such that he does not hesitate to hit on other women in the meantime, even in Leela's presence. He is also frequently seen with female companions who are obviously prostitutes, or even men in drag.
Brannigan's pretensions of being suave are belied by his ignorance of how to properly pronounce words such as champagne, bravo, encore, and guacamole, though, strangely, he has no problem with chutzpah. He claims to have a "very sexy" learning disability, "sexlexia". He is not mentally disabled.
Brannigan is arrogant, incompetent and cocky. His battle tactics are impulsive, generally stupid, and almost always unnecessary. He takes delight in sending his men to die in ridiculous, easily avoidable altercations, viewing this as proof of their loyalty. Notable examples include an (unseen) battle with "Killbots," a battle which Brannigan won by sending wave after wave of his own men at the killbots until they reached their pre-programmed kill limit. He employed similar tactics in defending Earth during the first invasion of the aliens of Omicron Persei VIII "(When Aliens Attack)," ordering all the ships under his command to "line up and fly directly at the enemy death cannons, clogging them with wreckage!" His fleet managed to destroy the Hubble Space Telescope (while suffering heavy losses), but was powerless against the actual alien mothership.
He once provoked an invasion of Earth after leading a military force to storm the embassy of Dr. Zoidberg's home planet, Decapod 10 (in "A Taste of Freedom"). Later, he was duped by the Decapodians into handing the codes for the Global Defence Network to one of their agents, disguised (just barely) as "Hugh Man." This led to their ridiculously easy conquest of Earth, for which Zapp then blamed Kif.
Brannigan's victories tend to come from using excessive force to subdue lesser opponents, such as:
- Carpet bombing Eden 7.
- Defeating the pacifists of the Gandhi nebula
- Conquering the Retiree People of the Assisted Living Nebula
- Defeating the "weak and womanlike" Spiderians of Tarantulon 6
- Driving the native population off the planet Spheron 1, during which he is seen "riding" his horse Felicity (who happens to be a male horse) whilst brandishing a sword - the horse, though, simply stands on a hovering disc ("War is the H-Word").
- Sending wave after wave of his own men at a horde of rampaging killbots in order to force them to reach their preset kill-limit and shut down.
Brannigan briefly took leave from the DOOP to serve as captain of the luxury space cruise ship Titanic, which ended up destroyed after he altered the direct, safe flight plan for an indirect, more challenging one, believing that in doing so "we might just get some kind of gravity boost, or something." He was indifferent to the danger posed by comets ("the icebergs of the sky") and black holes ("that blackish holish thing")—at least, until they actually become dangerous to him. This episode also shows Zapp transferring the blame for the incident to Kif (again), giving him the Captain's badge, and disappearing in a small escape pod. The incident serves to illustrate the apparent cowardice of the monumental space "hero". Brannigan, thanks to his exaggerated or ill-won conquests is considered a hero by the general populace (such as Amy Wong's parents) and government, frequently praised (even Leela was initially "thrilled" to meet him), but anyone who is around Brannigan too long rapidly develops an extreme dislike for him. When Brannigan tried his hand at karaoke (in his "suave" style, an apparent reference to William Shatner), the audience immediately booed and jeered, then fled from him, with one patron stating, "He disgusts me!" Brannigan's own crew shares this opinion, evident during a meal in the Nimbus mess hall when he raised a glass and called for support, met only by a stony silence and one anonymous crewman yelling "You suck!"
Brannigan was once dismissed (though later reinstated) from the DOOP along with Kif (after Zapp attempted to transfer the blame once again to his loyal lieutenant's shoulders) for his role in destroying DOOP's new $400 billion headquarters ("Brannigan Begin Again"). While showing off, Brannigan used his ship's tactical laser (set on Hyperdeath™) to cut the ceremonial ribbon to inaugurate the new station. He accomplished this, but did not deactivate the laser in time to avoid destroying the station.
Brannigan has expressed on several occasions his fondness for being choked and spanked by strong women, though during an encounter with the warrior-women of the planet Amazonia ("Amazon Women in the Mood"), his personal limits were rapidly met and exceeded. After escaping and despite his pelvic injuries, he looked back on the experience fondly, sighing happily, "I had snu-snu!"
Despite all his arrogance, he has shown in a few occasions to have a genuine fondness for Kif. For example, when Kif was pregnant, with Leela's babies, Brannigan helped him reach the pond of his birth, with very few off color comments. When the birthing process was over, he made a playful dance and congratulated Kif. It is possible that on some level Zapp recognises he is only popular because of his high rank, good looks and vast amount of luck, and thus has a degree of respect for Kif's loyalty.
As is apparent, Zapp Brannigan does not wear any pants. From the disgusted reaction of Kif while following Brannigan up a ladder, he apparently eschews underwear as well.
[edit] Origins
Brannigan is based on the Star Trek captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner (the two actually meet face-to-face in the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before"). The creators of the series envisioned Brannigan as being similar to what Shatner himself would be like as a starship captain. On the DVD commentary of Zapp's first appearance, the creators describe him as being "40% Kirk, 60% Shatner," and that the initial premise for the character was "What if the real William Shatner was the captain of the Enterprise instead of Kirk?" In the episode "Amazon Women in the Mood" the DVD audio commentary describes Zapp Brannigan's reinterpretation of "Lola" as a spoken word song is a reference to what William Shatner did with "Rocket Man." Brannigan also wears a girdle to appear thinner ("Brannigan Begin Again") and in another episode nearly loses his toupee, seemingly a parody of similar accusations aimed at Shatner.
[edit] Brannigan's Law
Brannigan's Law states that one cannot interfere with an undeveloped world, a take-off of the Prime Directive from Star Trek. Brannigan himself does not pretend to understand it, he merely enforces it, and even fails to uphold it on at least one occasion. Brannigan's Law is officially called Directive B10.81. According to Brannigan, his law is also like his love; "hard and fast."
[edit] Production
Zapp Brannigan is voiced by Billy West, though it was originally intended to be voiced by Phil Hartman. Hartman auditioned for the role and "of course, just nailed it" according to creator Matt Groening. However, due to Hartman's death, West was given the role. On the Futurama DVD commentary, Groening reveals that Zapp's character and mannerisms were established in Billy West's original audition for the character, and any similarity to Phil Hartman or his other well known cartoon characters (Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure), is simply coincidence. On the other hand, in an interview for the web site TVsquad.com, Billy West states that his Zapp Brannigan is indeed based on Hartman's characterization:
- JK: Did Zapp Brannigan change much? Because I saw the first episode he was in and it sounded pretty much like how he sounded later.
- BW: Did he change? Um, I don't know, I try to keep it pretty consistent. Phil Hartman was supposed to do that character, and I was imitating Phil Hartman. I knew Phil Hartman; when I came to work with him on some commercials and stuff out here in Hollywood, we both had this real fascination and love for these big, old-time dumb announcers. You know, the guys who have their balls in a wheelbarrow and think that every word is so precious that it's hard to give birth to it, like everything comes out in four syllables instead of one. Guys who think far and away that of everything else in this universe, he loves his voice. So that's what was going on with him. He's modeled after a couple of big dumb announcers I knew. Fry was named after Phil. Phillip Fry.
| 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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[edit] External links
- Zapp Brannigan Soundboard - Soundboard created by Chris Pickering with over 90 Big Z quotes. (Approx. 1.6 mb)
- Brannigan's Web Page - collection of nearly all Zapp information online, made into his personal website as referenced in "Amazon Women in the Mood".
