| “ | NOT SCIENTIFICALLY POSSIBLE!!! | „ |
| ~ Professor Membrane's famous quote, which became a meme. |
| “ | Why are you wearing those shirts? I'd never hire ANY OF YOU! | „ |
| ~ Professor Membrane comes to his son's aid. |
| “ | Son, you don't have to prove anything. I'm always proud of you. | „ |
| ~ Membrane to his son, Dib. |
Professor Membrane is a major protagonist in Invader Zim and the tritagonist of Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus. He is the father of Dib and Gaz, but he has very little time for his offspring, being one of the most famous and important people on Earth. The Professor, as he is often called, is rarely at home, so he supervises his kids in the form of a floating monitor, which often spews out pre-recorded reminders that are often way out-of-date. Expectedly, Dib and Gaz refer to him as Dad.
He is voiced by Rodger Bumpass who is best known for voicing Squidward Tentacles in SpongeBob SquarePants, Dr. Light in Teen Titans, Flamzer, Nurp-Naut (Naut) and Major Nixel in Mixels.
Personality[]
Although his parenting skills leave a lot to be desired, Membrane truly does love his kids, taking time at least once a year for dinner together—and always remembering to activate the food monitor. However, Membrane is somewhat ashamed of his son's belief in the paranormal, refusing to call it a "proper" branch of science; despite being embarrassed in public, his concern is a genuine desire for his son to have his best possible life, which wouldn't be possible through "insane" notions like supernatural and alien pursuits.
He has an intense passion for science, which borders on fanatical - thus partly explaining his dismissal of theories that challenge his preconceptions. While most of his inventions work well, there are some that have nonsensical, if not pointless, purposes, yet he remains enthusiastic about them due to his love of science and joy experienced through research and creation.
However, despite all of the proof Dib has gathered about the existence of aliens and the paranormal, Professor Membrane refuses to believe any of it is "real" since it's not scientific. In the end, he continues to delude himself into thinking everything he experienced in Enter the Florpus was a hallucination, even after encountering multiple aliens and actively helping his son and daughter thwart the Tallests' destruction of the Earth. Regardless, this doesn't stop him from protecting his children from what he believes to be "fake".
Abilities[]
Professor Membrane is a hyper-intelligent super scientist who has built, among several other things, a lever capable of restoring all of the power on Earth when pulled and a perpetual energy machine, can fire energy blasts from his hands, has the trust and support of all the world's leaders and the resources necessary to easily mobilize large-scale projects on a daily basis. Suffice it to say, the show wouldn't be especially interesting if Dib were to ever convince him that Zim was an alien in need of being stopped. Enter the Florpus pretty much proves this, where Membrane alone is enough to completely destroy Zim's robot army and recalibrate Minimoose to return the earth to its original location.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Due to absence or even mention of a mother, there is a theory that Professor Membrane cloned himself to make his children, with Gaz being made through the removal of the Y chromosome.