Invader Zim

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Invader ZIM
The main character, Zim, and his robot, GIR, with a pig.
Genre	Animated comic sci-fi
Starring	Richard Steven Horvitz Andy Berman Rosearik Rikki Simons Melissa Fahn
Country of origin	United States
Production
Running time	22 minutes
External links
IMDb page
TV.com page

Invader Zim is an American animated television series created by comic book writer/artist Jhonen Vasquez for Nickelodeon. First broadcast on March 30, 2001, the same day as The Fairly OddParents, Nickelodeon desired a show aimed at their older viewers. The show never found a time slot that the creators of the program thought suitable and suffered in the ratings. The show crew requested that Invader Zim be moved to MTV in a similar way Ren and Stimpy had been, but this never happened. Before two seasons were completed, it was canceled by Nickelodeon. It can currently be seen in reruns on Nicktoons and in Canada, YTV began airing the series on its Bionix programming block on September 8, 2006. 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 alien life forms 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, Purple and Red, who are exactly the same height). Zim was banished to the planet Foodcourtia for killing all the other Invaders during Operation Impending Doom I.

Upon hearing of Operation Impending Doom II, Zim "quits" being banished and arrives at the Great Assigning where Irken 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, they assign him to a "Mystery Planet" on the outskirts of their known universe, which turns out to be Earth.

Main characters

Zim is a member of the alien Irken race, who believe that stature is determined by height. As Zim is one of the shortest Irkens alive, he is considered defective. Zim, on the other hand, believes that he is a mighty warrior and is superior to his own people. Since his actions usually lead to disaster (he nearly destroyed the Irken homeworld during Operation "Impending Doom I") his leaders, the Almighty Tallest sent him on a "secret mission" to Earth, in order to keep him away from "Operation Impending Doom II." Zim's PAK, due to his actions after Impending Doom One, has him encoded as a Food Service Drone; this was part of his banishment to the Irken snacking planet Foodcourtia, and is confirmed by Frylord Sizz-Lorr during the episode "The Frycook What Came From All That Space." Interestingly, the episode "Career Day" also shows that the job that is the most suitable for Zim is fast food services. Although he is the protagonist of a children's show, Zim is, morally and ethically, a villain (though occasionally considered an antihero), being overall a fairly unsympathetic character and usually only causing chaos and destruction for either himself or his own race. The Nicktoons know that is a alien but in Zim's world Dib and Gaz are only ones who knows Zim is a alien.

Zim is an Irken with megalomaniacal, sadistic, sociopathic and narcissistic tendencies. He usually ends up being a danger to himself and his own people. Zim is held up as a complete laughing-stock, a scapegoat, or a figure of contempt by his own species. Despite this, Zim is innocently loyal and obedient to the Tallest and Operation Impending Doom II, to the point that he is zealously willing to endure pain or hardship in order to gain their respect. In the episode "Planet Jackers", Zim even willingly undergoes a rather severe beating in the name of protecting his mission and Irken interests.

File:Zim.jpeg

Zim, without disguise

His self-absorbed nature prevents him from seeing his failures, past and present. He claims to be proud of all the past disasters he has caused, and rarely acknowledges his defeats in his present mission on Earth (often blaming them on other characters, or other factors, or completely changing the subject). When he is told by Tak that his "mission" was really an attempt to get rid of him, he simply rejects her statement as a lie, in "Tak: The Hideous New Girl". It is not clear whether Zim is aware of his failings in the eyes of his leaders and is desperately trying to compensate for them, or whether he really is just completely oblivious to the opinions of others - the series is not consistent on this point. It's clear that Zim is highly intelligent (in his own crafty sort of way) and is a keen manipulator of tools and devices, but has absolutely no apparent interest to think things through to their logical conclusion. Zim clearly is more than capable of destroying Earth, but he hardly ever uses this capability correctly. For instance, when he is accidentally sent a Megadoomer robot, he decides to use it to kill Dib, when the robot obviously has the destructive power to do better things. He has often come very close to taking over the planet, only to be thwarted by Dib or Gaz.

Zim with disguise

Zim shows no remorse for people that are harmed due to his actions and almost never takes responsibility for his mistakes, priding himself on causing destruction in the name of the Irken Empire, even when said destruction is aimed towards other Irkens (as Zim responded about his destruction of Irk, "... But I blew up more than all the other Invaders!" with Tallest Red responding "You BLEW UP all the other Invaders!" Zim replies with an lighthearted "Pffft!"). More or less he considers everyone else but himself (even members of his own race) expendable for his goals, often exploiting them to reach his own goals with apparent disregard for their safety or well-being. For example, in "Hobo 13", Zim sends the soldiers under his command to their dooms when other, safer methods could be taken (even using Throbulator, the last soldier in his unit, as a battering ram), causing Sergeant Hobo to fail him automatically despite the fact that Zim manages to survive the obstacle course. Another example is when Zim destroys a candy machine in Tak: The Hideous New Girl, ending Tak's mission to become an Invader and he either doesn't realize that she's trapped or, more likely, he doesn't care.

Zim usually shows little to no affection, often claiming to "need no one", but he occasionally lets a softer side of him slip, probably by accident. In Parent Teacher Night, when Zim thinks back to when he was born, he remembers that the first thing he ever said was that he loved the "cold, unfeeling robot arm" which nurtured him. This memory triggered him to sub-consciously hug Ms. Bitters in the same way that he hugged the arm when he was a smeet. And while he frequently yells at Gir and orders him around, he seems to have taken a liking to the robot, even if he doesn't want to admit it. In the episode "Walk of Doom", after seemingly reducing GIR to tears with a harsh reprimand (although GIR was only crying over the fact he ate his cupcake), Zim appears remorseful and quickly forgives the robot, also acknowledging that his feelings would not help them, stating "I can see that you understand your mistake, GIR, and me being angry will get us no closer to home." Additionally, in the Halloween special, Zim expresses concern for him when he leaves him behind upon entering the Nightmare World, stating that he "only hope[s] poor GIR is all right by himself". He probably views Gir as a little brother.

Gir with disguise

GIR GIR's creation takes place in the series' first episode, when Zim requests a SIR Unit (Standard issue Information Retrieval Unit) ("it is also a thermos") from his leaders, the Almighty Tallest. The Tallest, not wanting to give Zim a fully-functioning unit, offer him a new "advanced" model, which they claim they made just for him. They then assemble a robot with parts from a garbage can, and put whatever they happen to have in their pockets (Irken monies, a piece of bubblegum, a screw, and a paperclip from Almighty Tallest Purple's pocket) into its head, including a paperclip, a marble, and some change, instead of a brain. Upon activation—which surprises even the Tallest—the robot introduces itself as "GIR," appearing as functional and serious as the SIR units. When asked what the "G" stands for, GIR replies "I don't know," his eyes quickly fading from the standard SIR red to teal, then starts hitting himself. The robot's eccentric personality is then further demonstrated when he sings "The Doom Song" the entire 6-month voyage to Earth.

Gir without disguise

Other than the manifestation of personality in GIR, the only differences between GIR and regular SIR units are the unique coloration of the luminous parts of GIR's body (teal instead of red), a different configuration for the eyes, and his cross-hatched mouth.

Unlike Zim, GIR doesn't mind getting involved with typical Earth culture; in some episodes he admits to loving Earth. GIR has a strong love of Earth snacks, such as tacos, taquitos, candy, chocolate bubblegum, waffles, CUPCAKES, tuna, biscuits, chicken with mayo, pizza, Suck-Monkeys, mashed potatoes, muffins and corn. He can eat and enjoy them, even though he is a robot. He is also shown becoming fat in "Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom" after stealing all of the Halloween candy from trick-or-treating kids. Despite his sub par disguises, GIR is actually quite good at blending in with the humans due to his behavior being similar with theirs.

GIR also likes to eat action figures, as revealed when he stole and ate action figures (or possibly rag plush figures) from kids in Megadoomer.

Dib He's 10 Earth years old and his father Professor Membrane is rich, according to Jhonen Vasquez. Although Professor Membrane is his father, Dib lacks a last name. Dib often appears to fulfill the role of either antagonist or protagonist depending on the perspective of an episode. Jhonen Vasquez states that none of the 4 main characters are actually evil.

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Dib Membrane

Dib is often called "crazy" or "insane", and is constantly being mocked for his theories and big head (first mentioned in Door to Door). It became a re-occurring gag, even though his head seems normal in comparison to everyone else in the show. Overall, most of his classmates try to ignore him and all his uncoolness, but with Zim always causing strife, it's hard not to make a scene. Besides the host of Mysterious Mysteries, Dib's also known by NASAplace and the FBI for his paranormal-related antics. He's been on the front page of the newspaper twice, so it's possible that a good deal of the city is aware of the trouble he frequently ends up in. He believes Zim and GIR are the "bad guys" while he and Gaz are the "good guys" who are Earth's last hope against alien invaders. He makes every effort to stop the two at every possible turn. This often leads to increased social difficulties at school.

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Dib Membrane

Agent Mothman is Dib's secret agent name for The Swollen Eyeball Network. It is unknown how long he has been a part of the network, but all the other operatives seem to know who he is and his reputation for being crazy. Dib seems on better terms, however, with the leader of the Network, Agent Darkbootie. Darkbootie has helped Dib at least once in Battle of the Planets, and gave him a chance to present the Network with all of his findings on Zim in Battle-Dib. Dib is also less ridiculed by Agent Tunaghost who helped him in Gaz, Taster of Pork. The rest of the agents either find him annoying, crazy, or a disgrace to the Network.

Gazlene (always referred to as Gaz) is Dib's younger sister. She is the daughter of Professor Membrane, but it is assumed, however, that had the series continued it would have been revealed to be Dib she is actually a creation of the professor and not his actual birth child. Gaz is a very scary Girl.

Her foul temper and love for pizza and video games makes her an unpleasant person to be near - she is one of the reasons why Christian Parenting Today blasted the series in the first place. When she isn't eating pizza or [1][2] Gaz playing her Game Slave 2playing video games, Gaz is usually beating Dib up for just talking. She usually serves as a side character, but has participated as a main character in several episodes.

Her biggest appearances were in the episodes "Game Slave 2" in which Gaz attempts to buy the new Game Slave unit and "Bloaty's Pizza Hog", in which she'll do anything to go to Bloaty's.

Gaz is the only one, with the exception of Dib, to realize that Zim is really an alien. In the episode "Gaz, Taster of Pork" she acknowledges Zim's an alien. But, unlike Dib, she doesn't think that Zim is a big or serious threat. In "Bloaty's Pizza Hog", she replied to Dib's comment that Zim was trying to enslave all mankind with the phrase, "But he's so bad at it...". As the show goes on Gaz gets taller, and actually has some facial differences by the end of the show.

Gaz, like most modern children, loves to play video games on her Game Slave, and she enjoys sketching piggies and other monsters (including pig-monsters), and is obsessed with pizza, soda, and various other junk foods. She also seems to hate anyone who comes in between herself and one of those things. Examples are in the episode "Game Slave 2" in which a character called "Iggins" took the last Game Slave 2, causing Gaz to stalk him until he gave up the game to her. She seems to enjoy yelling at her brother, though it would seem that even that's a hassle for her.

Though her dress style is reminiscently Gothic in appearance, she is, oddly enough, never established to be an actual goth. This evidence was supported by Jhonen Vasquez himself.

The most unique characteristics about Gaz are her hair and eyes. Her purple hair is cubic and fashioned into five spikes, and takes on the ominous appearance of a set of jaws. Also, her eyes are almost always closed or squinting, but when they are open her eyes are an amber color. With the exception in the Original Pilot, where it was shown in a few scenes that she originally was supposed to have light blue eyes except for the mistake in a scene of her having amber eyes.

Although, in Season two of the Show, Gaz's head was remodeled to be more angular, like her brother's head, when facing forward towards the camera, rather than having a round shape. Her head seems to be large compared to normal human beings, but she calls Dib (like almost every character) of having a big head.

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Gazlene (Gaz) Membrane

Throughout the show it is demonstrated, but never actually said, that Gaz has amazing powers. Incredible strength, the ability to fix, pilot, manipulate, and in general control anything electronic, the ability to get any place she needs, the demonic ability to levitate on pure rage alone, to create fires at will, to generate spookiness in a tangible manner, etc. She is also shown to be capable of using Irken technology and her piloting skills seem to be on par, if not greater than Zim's, as she was able to pilot one of his ships with ease. It is possible that these powers, being completely unnatural, are actually a result of her being a creation of Professor Membrane, just as it is rumored that her older brother, Dib is. She, despite her demonic power, has a sort of connection to the holy, as shown in Game Slave 2, when upon getting her game back, the stormy night turns to a bright sunny day, and her hair returns to its natural shape. She comments on how "The rightful order has been restored". In Mopiness of Doom, she comments "All is right with the world again." These are obvious references to horror movies like "The Ring" and "The Grudge", which also contain creepy girls, as well as the plot of Game Slave 2, which somewhat parodies the aforementioned movies

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 and arranged by Manthei. Manthei, however, did the music for the end credits and all the music for the actual episodes.

In September 2002, 7 months after the cancellation of the series, Anime Stuff-R, an internet radio website, broadcasted the Zim-phony, a 5 hour broadcast of all the music from the 26 episodes of Invader Zim composed by Kevin Manthei. This session, presented by DJ Richard Rae is the most popular that Anime Stuff-R has broadcast. Also included in this session was an interview with Kevin Manthei by Richard Rae in August 2002, where Kevin talked mostly about how the music of Invader Zim was composed and inserted in the show.

Because of the popularity of the broadcast, Anime Stuff-R made 100 MP3 CDs with the entire broadcast. They made only 100 because of copyright and financial reasons.

Kevin Manthei also released a Promo CD containing some music from Invader Zim. This Promo CD is still available but one needs to get in touch with composer Kevin Manthei to acquire it.

Episodes

Main article: List of Invader Zim episodes

Two seasons of Invader Zim aired. In Season 2, the animation style is slightly different from Season 1. Also, all episodes in Season 2 except "The Most Horrible X-mas Ever" was not aired in the U.S. until after the DVDs were released. There are also 13 partially finished second season episodes and a few which were still in the outline stage when the show was cancelled (some of which have been leaked to various fan sites). These unfinished episodes include a two-part finale in which Dib was to fight the Irken Armada by going to the aid of the planet Meekrob.

There were also plans for a TV movie special, "Invader Dib", which would have possibly carried on from the finale.

DVD collection and merchandise

List of Invader ZIM DVD's

In May 2004, Nickelodeon and Media Blasters released the first volume of an official Invader Zim DVD collection. Within weeks of its initial availability it became one of the top 100 currently selling items on popular online retailer Amazon.com, giving fans hope that Volume 2 would be released with minimal delay. By late 2004, the other 2 volumes had been released. A boxed set in the shape of Zim's house has also been released which includes an extras disc with interviews and a sample soundtrack. The three DVD volumes were re-released in late 2006 as a low-priced box set.

Two series of Invader Zim figures have been produced, including Zim, GIR, Dib, Ms. Bitters, and Almighty Tallest Purple in the first series and Human Disguise Zim, Doggie Disguise GIR, Gaz, Almighty Tallest Red, and the Robo-Parents in the second. A third series was planned with Santa Zim, Elf GIR, Professor Membrane, Tak, and Nightmare Bitters, but the manufacturer, Palisades Toys, ceased operations in early 2006. A multitude of other toys were produced such as the Voot Cruiser and a 12 inch "Mega GIR" with a removable dog disguise. Also, many non-licensed products exist such as iron on transfers, stickers, and keychains.

As of November 25, 2006 both seasons of Invader Zim are available for download on Xbox Live marketplace. In addition, the majority of the show's episodes are available for download on iTunes.

See also

• List of Invader Zim episodes
• List of Invader Zim characters

External links

• An Invader Zim wiki.
• Invader ZIM at the Internet Movie Database

• Invader ZIM at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• YTV Invader Zim page

References

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The article or pieces of the original article was at Invader Zim. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Nickipedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.