Invader Zim
Created | Updated Jul 8, 2005
The nightmare begins...
Invader ZIM is an eccentric alien soldier from the planet Irk. He was banished from the Irken Empire after nearly destroying his home planet and being the sole reason for the failure of "Operation Impending Doom".After begging his superiors, the Almighty Tallest, for a chance at "Operation Impending Doom Two", they decide to get rid of him once and for all. They trick him into going on a "secret mission" to an obscure planet at the edge of the universe, a planet with the unlikely name of Earth, in the hopes that he'll die along the way.
But their trick backfires when Zim safely reaches Earth and begins his conquest of it. He disguises himself as a normal green human boy, and now the only person who can stop him is one kid - Dib, a somewhat insane paranormal researcher, who sees straight through Zim's disguise and is intent on stopping his reign of "terror".
Invader Zim is the brain-child of scary human man Johnen Vasquez, who first became famous with his comic-book series of Johnny the Homocidal Maniac, and even more so with his spin-off characters: Squee1, Devi 2, FillerBunny3, Happy Noodle Boy4, and Wobbly-Headed Bob5.
Zim was Johnen's first foray into cartoon animation, and with the help of director Steve Ressel, co-writer Rob Hummel, Roman Dirge6, Inkslinger Rosarik Rikki Simmons, Illustrator Tavisha Wolfgarth-Simons, Musician Kevin Manthei and ... some other people, it first came to air on Nickelodeon's NickToon's channel, on March 31st of... some year not this one.
Episode listing
Apart from the trailer and the unaired pilot, the episodes currently known to me are:
Season one
- The nightmare begins.
- Parent teacher night.
- Walk of doom.
- Germs.
- Dark harvest.
- Bestest friend.
- NanoZim.
- Attack of the saucer morons.
- The Wettening.
- Career day.
- Battle-Dib.
- A room with a Moose.
- Hamstergeddon.
- Invasion of the idiot dog brain.
- Bad, bad rubber piggy.
- Planet jackers.
- Rise of the zitboy.
- Plague of babies.
- Bloaty's pizza hog.
- Balognius maximus.
- Game slave two.
- Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom.
- Door to door.
- The most horrible christmas ever.
- FBI warning of doom.
- Mysterious mysteries.
- Future Dib.
- Battle of the planets.
- Abducted.
- The sad, sad tale of Chickenfoot.
- Megadoomer.
- Lice.
- Mortos, der Soul stealer.
- Tak, the hideous new girl.
- Zim eats waffles.
- Gir goes crazy and stuff.
- Dib's wonderful life of doom.
- Hobo 13.
- Walk for your lives.
- The frycook what came from all that space.
- Backseat drivers from beyond the stars.
- The girl who cried gnome.
- Vindicated.
- The voting of the doomed.
- Dibship rising.
- Gaz, taster of pork.
Season two
The cancelled episodes can be found here, and the episode guide can be found here.
Aparrantly after this point Johnen Vasquez left the production team and some korean guy took over his position. I'm told the episodes created from then on just weren't worth watching, so I'm not going to bother finding anything else out about them either.
Main characters
Zim
Zim was trained from an early age as an Irkan soldier, on his home planet of Irk. His training was rigorous and disciplined, and he was taught to obey all Irkans taller than he - especially the Almighty Tallest.
After the complete failure of Operation Impending Doom - entirely Zim's fault - Zim was banished to work as a food-slave on the planet of Foodcourtia. When he heard about Operation Impending Doom Two, he quit7 and returned to the planet Conventia, where the Great Assigning was taking place.8
The Almighty Tallest, unable to placate Zim's desire for conquest with a sandwich, decided to send him to a mystery planet - Earth - and hopefully to his doom.
Instead, Zim lands unscathed and, with the help of his robot companion Gir, begins his mission of Earth's annihilation.
Gir
Usually the most loved character of the Invader Zim castlist.
Instead of the classical SIR9 robot units used by the other invaders, Gir was created especially by the Almighty Tallest for use in Zim's "Top Secret" mission. Gir is insane - which probably has something to do with the paperclips and half-eaten chewing gum he has for brains - but he likes monkeys and cheese. He especially likes to watch the Scary Monkey Show, and singing the Doom Song.
Dib
Dib is the only human10 to notice that Zim has green skin, no nose, no ears, antennae, and pink eyes. He just happens to be a paranormal investigator, so he knows an alien when he sees one. Unfortunately for him, all the other kids in his class think he's crazy11, so they take no notice. Besides, he has a big head12.
Professor Membrane
Dib's father. Professor Membrane is the world's leading scientist, and as such is very busy, so doesn't spend much time with his kids. But he's there in automata, if not in person. So that's okay.13 He loathes Santa Claus.
Gaz
Gaz is Dib's sister, and Professor Membrane's other child. She doesn't like Dib much, especially when he drinks the last soda. She likes to play portable video games, going to extreme measures to ensure she has the latest one - as seen in the episode Game Slave Two.
The Almighty Tallest
To the Irkan mind; the taller an Irkan is, the smarter and more powerful they are. Since the Almighy Tallest are the two equally tallest Irkan in the universe, they are therefore the most powerful rulers as well. They control the entire Spaceship Armada - known as the Irkan Massive14 - and they like candy. They are unable to grasp the concept that humans can be tall and stupid at the same time.
Sizz-Lorr
The frylord responsible for Zim's containment in the fast-food store Shloogorgh's Flavour Monster, on the snacking planet of Foodcourtia, after Zim's banishment there. After Zim escaped, Sizz-Lorr was trapped without a serving assistant for the entirety of The Great Foodening - Foodcourtia's most horrible food rush; due to the gravitational pull of all that snacking, it's impossible for anything to leave the planet for twenty years.15 He then hunted Zim down for recapture, as seen in the episode "The frycook what came from all that space."
Tak
First introduced in the episode "Tak - the hideous new girl", the new girl in Miss Bitters' class soon turns out to be an Irkan invader as well. Her purpose in life was destroyed when Zim obliterated Operation Impending Doom, and to make matters worse he accidentally locked her in a training pod for ten years when he kicked over a snack-dispenser. Tak's ship gets captured by Dib and used in future episodes. (*)
Miss Bitters
The teacher of the class which Zim and Dib are in. She is unable to survive for very long in sunlight.
Lurt
Another Irkan invader. Was originally assigned to planet Blortch16 for Operation Impending Doom Two, but because of a growth spurth was reassigned to planet Vort17. He also had the misfortune to be assigned to the planet Hobo 13 for extra training at the same time Zim was.
Throbulator
A creature of pure headache, who was also assigned to Hobo 13 with Zim.
Keef
A fellow classmate of Zim and Dib's.
Skooch
For Operation Impending Doom Two, was assigned to planet Blortch due to his height.
(*) Don't quote me on these bits; I'm going to have to check the facts here.
