Invader Zim

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Invader Zim is an American animated television series created by comic book writer/artist Jhonen Vasquez and aired on Nickelodeon. The show's strange animation, quirky humor, and dark, cynical style gave it a devoted cult following, with an audience of an older average age than those of most of Nickelodeon's other cartoons. Disappointed with its low ratings and high production costs, Nickelodeon cancelled the show. One and a half seasons of Invader Zim were completed. It was first broadcast in March 2001. Invader Zim DVD compilations have been released by Media Blasters. The series has since been translated into several different languages for foreign broadcast.

Plot

Zim is a member of the mighty Irken race, a species of aliens whose social hierarchy is based on height. The Irken leaders are the Almighty Tallest (during the course of the show, leadership of the Irken Empire is shared by two Tallest who are exactly the same height). Zim was banished to the planet Foodcourtia as a frycook for the remainder of his life for destroying a sizable portion of an Irken city with a giant robot, known as the Frontline Battle Mech. The robot was part of Operation Impending Doom I, a major galactic conquest venture by the Irkens. Zim was overeager (as usual) and activated his robot before leaving his home planet, much to the chagrin of his leaders.

Upon hearing of Operation Impending Doom II, Zim "quits" being banished and arrives at the Great Assigning where Irken Elite soldiers are chosen to become Invaders, special soldiers whose mission it is to blend in with the indigenous life forms of their assigned planet and collect intelligence. Zim pleads with the Tallest to assign him a planet, and in a desperate act to get Zim as far away as possible, assign him to a "Mystery Planet", which turns out to be Earth.

The show features the exploits of Zim trying to conquer the Earth while his arch-nemesis Dib tries to stop him. The exact year on Earth is unknown, but given some rather striking technological and societal changes, the series is evidently set at some point in the future.

In a Nickelodeon Magazine Special there was a short 4 page comic of Invader Zim that ended the series with Zim taking over the world while Dib wasn't looking, then inviting Dib to go into space with him and ride giant alien bunnies. But another possible ending would end up with Zim failing to take over the world in the episode "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever", which was the last episode made of the series, where we see 2 million years into the future and the humans are not conquered or destroyed. Santa, however, has become an intergalactic chaos beast.

Main Characters

Zim is a short, green, almost stereotypical looking alien from the planet Irk. He is also a narcissistic megalomaniac who usually has enormous outbursts claiming his normality. He is trying to conquer the Earth, and is generally unsuccessful. He is aided in his mission by a robot named GIR, who is a dysfunctional version of the Irken SIR (Standard Information Retrieval) units given to Irken invaders. GIR rarely helps, but sometimes assists Zim unintentionally by doing destructive things to Dib. Zim's main rival is Dib, a member of Zim's class at the "Skool" they both attend. Dib is obsessed with the paranormal and supernatural and is often criticised by his classmates for being "crazy" or mentally unstable due to his outlandish theories. He apparently is the only human to recognize or care that Zim is an alien and makes it clear that he will live to stop Zim at every turn. Seemingly everyone he comes into contact with claims Dib has an unusually large head, even though does not appear abnormal. Dib's sister Gaz also plays a prominent role in the show, but rarely takes an active part in stopping Zim's scemes. She knows and admits that Zim is an alien, but doesn't care because she thinks he's too stupid to take over the world.

Blorch

Known as the home of the slaughtering rat people, this planet is seen in Episode 1 and is assigned to Invader Skooge during the great assigning for Impending Doom 2. It is later dominated by Invader Skooge. The Tallest, quite off-handedly, christen it to be a planet composed solely of parking structures.

Vort

Home of the universe's most comfortable couch. Also part of the assigning from Episode 1, this planet is assigned to Invader Larb, who was originally assigned Blorch, but reassigned to Vort due to his increased height. In the episode "Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars" Vort is further explained to have been a former ally of the Irkens, and provided Irkens with advanced technology. However, this did not stop the Irkens from invading Vort and converting the planet into the Irken Empires most advanced research prison.

Foodcourtia

A planet consisting of nothing but restaurants. Invader Zim was banished here and forced to work under the rule of Sizz-Lorr until he decided to quit being banished.

Hobo 13

A planet used only for Irken military training. The Almighty Tallest would not send heavy weapon supplies to Invader Zim. When asked why, the Tallest tells Zim he first needs military training. Zim takes command of the other trainees and completes the camp by sacrificing a member on every part of the training.

Callnowia

A huge computerized planet seemingly devoid of life, Callnowia serves as a delivery center for a galactic tv-shopping network. Callnowia is seen in the season 1 episode "Germs" where Zim orders a pair of germ spotting micro-goggles, which is fired from Callnowia to Earth disguised as a meteorite. Upon landing on Zim's doorstep, a robotic hand emerges from the meteorite, rings Zim's doorbell, then the meteorite's outer shell crumbles leaving a cardboard box.

Devastis

Devastis is the training center for the elite Irken troops, specifically Invaders. Both Zim and Tak are seen to have been trained on Devastis in the episode "Tak, the Hideous New Girl".

Dirt

This planet appears to be nothing more than a landfill for garbage and scrapped military equipment. Tak is assigned/banished to a janitorial squad here in the episode "Tak, the Hideous New Girl" when she couldn't complete her Invader training.

Irk

The home planet of the Irken Empire. It is a technologically advanced planet of bipedal insectoids known as Irkens, a very aggressive and arrogant race bent of universal conquest and enslavement.

Conveyoorus

This planet is composed of giant inter-connected conveyor belts that wrap around the planet. It was never named, but shown in the episode "Megadoomer", it appeared to be a planet of small greenish creatures who, after being subjucated by the Irken Empire, had large screws driven into their heads and forced to ship packages throughout the universe.

Boodie Nen

A planet of creatures with large nostrils. Currently on the Irken's list of planets for conquest, lead by Invader Slacks. Seen in "Walk For Your Lives"

Meekrob

A planet apparently inhabited by beings of pure energy that can change their forms at will. Two Meekrob visit Dib in a hologram in "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom", but whether or not the real Meekrob are actually pure energy is unknown. The planet itself is under conquest by Invader Tenn.

Earth

A planet of hideous chihauhas, dumb primates, and scary monkeys, Earth is blissfully unaware of the painfully obvious threat the Irken Empire poses. Though Zim's human disguises are extremely bad (most often a elvis type wig with lavender contacts,which only hide his antennae and large red eyes, not his three fingered hands, lack of ears or his green skin), most humans don't notice or simply accept his poor excuse of having a skin condition.

Mars & Mercury

The episode "Battle of the Planets" shows that Mars was once populated with advanced aliens who worked themselves into extinction converting their planet into a spaceship (because it's cool). Zim planned on rolling Mars on Earth's surface to squish the human-race, and probably wouldn't have succeeded. Dib never-the-less hijacked Mercury (which the Martians tested the technology on) and used it to foil Zim's plan.

Music

The music for Invader Zim was composed by Kevin Manthei and is in a digital techno style. The title music was composed by Mark Tortoroci, but Manthei arranged it. Manthei, however, did do the music for the end credits and all the music for the actual episodes.

Criticism

Despite its strong core of devoted fans, many find Invader Zim to be lacking in appeal. The main reason for this is its overall dark, dreary, unpleasant atmosphere. Indeed, the show seems to delight in emphasising everything disapproved of or ungenteel in its depictions of today's world, showing children bursting into manic fits with enlarged neck arteries and bulging, veiny eyes, depicting buildings and cities as dirty and unkempt, and portraying children as neglected and mentally unstimulated and adults as tools of a corrupt society. As a whole, the human race is often portrayed as being mind-numbingly idiotic or just plain ignorant. Sometimes the show even goes one step further and includes mildly disturbing content (a group of baby-like aliens mutate into a creature composed of their flesh; Gir dips a live chicken into mayonaise and eats it off-screen; a boy has his eyes ripped out and replaced with a pair of mechanical ones). There have also been a few references to or innuendos made about feces in the show, and the show is considered by some to be lacking in inspiration on the whole in its humor and plots.

References and "inside jokes"

Fans of Vasquez's pre-Zim comic books will instantly identify Zim as "his" work; the show is suffused with the same highly-developed visual style and unique sense of humour that are showcased in series like Squee! and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Furthermore, some characters—such as schoolteacher Miss Bitters—are direct adaptations of similar characters seen in those two series, and even some of Vasquez's lesser known characters and symbols (like Filler Bunny, the giant-toothed vampire, the "Z?" logo, Devi's doll, or the moronic aliens from Squee #1) have cameo appearances. Also appearing in cameos are Vasquez himself and many members of the show's cast/crew (e.g. director/producer Steve Ressel).

Recurring gags include frequent references to meat (of various types), pigs, squirrels, moose, snacks, the large size of Dib's head, stuff, and doom. The show also makes occasional references to classic works of horror or science fiction, ranging from Dawn of the Dead to Fantastic Voyage, and from Jurassic Park to Alien. In one episode called "Rise of the Zit Boy", Gaz is seen sitting on the steps to the school's back entrance reading a book called "Punch Club" which also has an image of a clenched fist on its cover, doubtless a reference to Fight Club.

The biggest reference to Vasquez's work, aside from Ms. Bitters, is the brief appearance of what appears to be Johnny C. in The Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom wherein one of the Halloweenies looks exactly like a shadow form of Johnny during the period of his life where he had two locks of hair shaped like a rabbit's ears (Specifically when he returns from hell).

Some of the references are hard to miss for those who read the comics. For instance, Gaz wears the same clothes as Pepito, the antichrist, from Squee!. Also, the episode Gaz, Taster of Pork is based off an idea from a Meanwhile comic with the Tickle-Me-Hellmo doll.