Invader Zim
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| Invader Zim | |
|---|---|
 The main character, Zim, and his robot, GIR, with a pig. |
|
| Genre | Animated / Comic science fiction |
| Creator(s) | Jhonen Vasquez |
| Starring | Richard Steven Horvitz Andy Berman Rosearik Rikki Simons Melissa Fahn |
| Country of origin | USA |
| No. of episodes | 27 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Nickelodeon |
| Original run | March 30, 2001 – December 10, 2002 |
| Links | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Invader Zim is an American animated television series created by comic book writer/artist Jhonen Vasquez and aired on Nickelodeon. First broadcast on March 30, 2001 (the same day as The Fairly OddParents), 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. Because of this, ratings for Nickelodeon's core demographic, 2-11 year olds, were fairly low[citation needed]. Disappointed with its low ratings and high production costs, Nickelodeon cancelled the show. One and a half seasons of Invader Zim were completed. It can currently be seen in reruns on Nicktoons Network and MTV2's Sic'Emation lineup; 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.
Contents |
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 as a fry cook for the remainder of his life for destroying a sizable portion of the Irken home planet, Irk, 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, they assign him to a "Mystery Planet" on the outskirts of their known universe, which turns out to be Earth.
The show features Zim trying to conquer the Earth while his human arch-nemesis Dib tries to stop him. Technically, the show takes place in a world of its own, with a present-day Earth more technologically advanced than ours. Because the alternate universe aspect was never emphasized, the result is that the series appears to be set at some point in the near future.
A Nickelodeon Magazine Special printed a four-page Invader Zim comic 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. Another possible ending showed Zim failing to take over the world in the final episode produced, "The Most Horrible X-mas Ever", which has a frame story two million years in the future, where humans are not conquered nor destroyed. Aside from the Christmas finale, story editor Rob Hummel's "10 Minutes to Doom" script was a possibility for the series' conclusion. In the original script Zim did survive, but the ending would have been changed to show him disintegrate.
Main characters
Zim is a short, green, almost stereotypical looking alien from the planet Irk. He is also a narcissistic megalomaniac who several times per show engages in histrionic outbursts proclaiming either his normality or superiority. He is trying to conquer the Earth, and is generally unsuccessful. Zim wears a disguise when in public consisting of contact lenses and a toupee, claiming that his green skin and noticable lack of ears are part of a "skin condition". He is aided in his mission by a robot named GIR.
GIR or G.I.R. is a dysfunctional version of the Irken S.I.R. (Standard-Issue Information Retrieval) units given to Irken invaders, but the meaning of the "G" is unspecified. GIR has a seemingly schizophrenic personality, he jumps in and out of useful operation and this is noticable by the colour of the lights on his eyes and torso that glow red when he is obeying zim, the rest of the time they glow a light blue colour, he rarely helps, but sometimes assists Zim unintentionally by doing destructive things to Dib. GIR wears a green dog suit as his public disguise. This dog suit has a very prominent and oversized zipper in the front, adding to the implausibility of the disguise.
Dib is Zim's main rival, a member of Zim's class at the "Skool" they both attend. Dib is obsessed with the paranormal and supernatural and is often criticized by his classmates for being "crazy" or mentally unstable due to his outlandish theories. He apparently is the only human to recognize and 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 all the children in the show are drawn with large heads and Dib's is no more abnormally large than any of theirs. He features an undershirt of the same design as Squee's shirt from Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.
Gaz is Dib's little sister who also plays a prominent role in the show, but rarely takes an active part in stopping Zim's schemes. 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, and would much rather color pigs or play video games. Although she has aided Dib occasionally, she has only done this to fulfill her own agenda. Gaz displays a terrible hatred for her brother, and will take every chance she gets to inflict pain on him.
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 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.
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 face on Dib's shirt, the "Z?" logo, prisoner 777 (Johnny's house number and the 'number of the moose'), Devi's doll, or the moronic aliens from Squee! #1) have cameo appearances. Also, an alien that appeared in Squee! #2 looked exactly like Zim with human hair and alien eyes. One of Vasquez's comics (titled Happy Noodle Boy) appeared on one episode on a child's shirt while leaving the "Skool" on the bus. 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 meat, pigs, moose, Dib's huge head and constant conversations with himself, dookie, organs (both human and otherwise), as well as the POOP corporation used for the cola the characters drink as well as the candy they sell in the episode Door to Door. The word "doom" also recurs quite often in the show (in fact, the titles of six episodes contain the word "doom" or "doomed"). 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 and to even Fargo. In one episode called "Rise of the Zitboy", 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 "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.
Also, in several episodes, such as "Door to Door" and "Walk of Doom", there is a chihuahua that scares people. This is likely a reference to the Johnny the Homicidal Maniac issue, "A Survey in Hell". Johnny mentions a chihuahua from two nights before that followed him around. Jhonen has also mentioned that he is afraid of dogs at the 2005 Comic-Con.
There is an anime stylism in the episode "Hamstergeddon" where a scene shows Ultra Peepi raging down a hill in the same fashion (and with the same angles) as one of the Evangelions did. There are also "giant robot" style fight sequences in the "NanoZim" and "The Most Horrible X-mas Ever" episodes.
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" were not aired in the U.S. until after the DVDs were released. A sample episode of these unaired episodes is "Zim Eats Waffles". There were also over 10 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 (assigned to Invader Tenn).
There were also plans for a TV movie special, "Invader Dib", which would have possibly carried on from the finale.[1]
However, on January 4, 2007, Nicktoons Network announced on their website that they would soon be showing Invader Zim episodes "never before seen on Earth."[citation needed] Whether they will air only a few of the unaired episodes or the remainder of the series remains to be seen. For now, Zim can be seen on YTV at 12:00 PST[citation needed] and at 10:00am eastern (on weekends) on Nicktoons Network.
DVD collection and merchandise
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[citation needed], 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.[2] 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 are made 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.[3] In addition, the majority of the show's episodes are available for download on iTunes.[4]
Attempts to put Zim back in production
Creative differences with Nickelodeon drove Jhonen Vasquez from the show. Even if the show is ever picked up again, a key staff member, Steve Ressel, has already expressed that he won't return to the show. In an IGN interview, Vasquez has claimed that if he were to get creative freedom on Zim, he may possibly continue it, but if he does it will most likely be on another TV network. Since the cancellation, Mr. Vasquez and the other crew have moved on to other projects.
"New" episodes of Invader Zim began to surface on the Nicktoons Network starting on June 10, 2006, although these so-called "new" episodes had already been released in Europe and Latin America years earlier and are on the last DVD. They were never previously aired on Nickelodeon's flagship station in the U.S. because the show was put out of production.
There has been several petitions to bring the show back. Online and physical petitions alike, have failed. Vasquez openly stated he will not be making any more episodes. This contradicts with the above statement, however he said this only shortly after the cancellation of the show.
See also
- List of planets in Invader Zim
- List of vehicles in Invader Zim
- Invader Zim merchandise
- List of Invader Zim episodes
References
- ^ Zim guide with airdates Buzzyworld
- ^ Palisade Toys sells its assets
- ^ Invader Zim to be on the XBOX Live marketplace
- ^ Invader Zim comes to iTunes
External links
- Invader Zim at the Internet Movie Database
- Invader Zim at TV.com
- Invader ZIM at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- YTV Invader Zim page
Categories: Temporarily protected | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | 2000s American television series | 2000s Nickelodeon shows | 2001 television program debuts | 2002 television program cancellations | American animated television series | Invader Zim | Science fiction television series | Cult television shows
