#iz rewatch

[koopazap]

Invader Zim Rewatch Thoughts

Enter The Florpus:

We start with some very good sound design, and the dramatic anime opening here really is impressive (and funny)

I don’t take these as canon “realistic” designs for Irkens, just an interpretation. Partly because of the inaccuracies everywhere else

Or, as we see later, since this is just a totally different reality we don’t have to apply any of this to the main universe either way

If you’re reading this you probably already knew, but Foodio is what Membrane is working on in 10 Minutes to Doom (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker there) and that’s not the only reuse of things from the unfinished episodes so that’s fun

There’s a little family portrait in the hallway which is so cute :)

There’s a lot of Membrane family stuff in this movie but still no evidence of a mom to be found. I’m still in support of clone-Dib

The Dib and Gaz picture is cute too

Dib’s drawings of Zim are so funny. Now in the real world, I’m curious who specifically drew them

The way he just has “ZIM” written on the wall over and over (I guess it’s a little understandable when Zim is his best chance to be recognized and/or could be doing something crazy in secret/in space)

“Human brains: control, mind meats, spooky?”

“ZIM: evil alien monster”

An impersonal “Thanks for being a fan!” On his signed Membrane poster (it’s actually really cute that he even has that)

The little music cue goes “Zim!” And then “stretches!!” You can hear it better by finding the soundtrack on its own

I get why it would’ve been too long of an official title, but the movie opens as “Dib Membrane vs Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus” and of course it really is a Dib movie.

There’s more you can do with human characters who have people they love and care about, any conflict about Zim is always going to be about himself. Zim needs X thing, Zim needs to get out of X situation, Zim wants the approval of the Tallest (and is still too delusional to comprehend that they hate him; seriously, It would be a LOT harder than people think to get Zim to believe his mission is fake)

So I get it; the stakes were pretty much as high as they could go with the threat of Zim being captured and killed/experimented on, or Dib/the entire human race being in danger of death/enslavement. So everyone’s already in life-threatening danger, and because of that, the only way to make the movie feel “bigger” than the series was to raise emotional stakes.

The stuff we got from Zim’s emotions is basically the most we’re gonna get. He’s sad for himself and never worried about anyone else. So with what they were trying to achieve this time I understand why it’s the Dib movie. I still really wanted a Zim movie though and now we’ll never get one :(

With all that said, the opening “Invader Zim” logo is SO COOL the music and animation for it is great

That one angle where Zim is in shadow while walking in front of the camera is neat

Something about his PAK looks really nice in the movie. The art style here makes things feel very solid and I like that

“No Irken would ever become a chair.” This movie came out after issue #25 where Zim does in fact become a chair, in a much more literal sense too

In these new backgrounds, Zim’s dumb alien saucer wallpaper is now much more distinctly alien saucers. I’m just curious why that’s on his wallpaper at all lol

The hologram sticker things on the Super-Massive are a very cool feature; I’d like to see them better up close

In the show we see a lot of variation in Irken skin tones, so it makes me sad that every Irken we see on here, including Zim and The Tallest, has the exact same skin tone. In the show, Zim’s skin tone leans to a more yellow-y green, The Tallest are often more neutral-green (or at least a little less yellow than Zim), and Skoodge is blue-green. In ETF everyone is the same pale blue-green

These cheap-looking rigged animation parts make me so sad; they stick out so badly dude like this part looks terrible to me (the only thing saving these visuals is the still-image hologram picture of Zim in the background). Now to be clear, I’m saying that based on the high animation standards that this movie has set. Obviously if this was a fan animation it’d be impressive

Notice how in the very next shot everything looks way better? No matter what they’re doing, I no longer feel like I’m watching cardboard-cutout puppets. Tallest-puppets foreshadowing?

‘HUMANDIB.JPG’ where did he get such an exaggeratedly happy picture of Dib anyway?

“We don’t care, Zim.” See they’re done, they’re not even interested in humoring Zim anymore

Undisguised Zim and Gir pictures on the fridge? If it’s just more drawings then I guess that’s not supposed to be a big deal, but now I’m left wondering whether it was Zim or Gir who put these drawings on the fridge lol

Also you can hear Flibba Dibba Hoinka Smeedge in the background of the recording, but it sounds like it’s a much more chill version

“Besides reminding me how cool I look and sound that was of no help.“ Amazing level of self-obsession; he does look and sound cool

Zim is still so sure that he’s the greatest, but in holding himself to that standard (at least mentally holding himself to that standard), he is actually terrified of failure.

As the audience, it’s hard to tell whether Zim is just lying to himself or if he’s actually that delusional. He definitely lies about some things, but most of the time he seems to have genuinely convinced himself of the reality that he wants

“I don’t think they heard anything!” Is at least one example where he is lying to himself; we can see after Gir corrects him that Zim definitely does know that they heard him

I remember these two shots were in the teaser trailer, and at the time I got my hopes WAY too high because of this; absolutely a sick joke <\3

And ignoring the trailer, it’s generous that we got a scene like this animated at all so we can be teased again with some ideas of what The Trial could’ve looked like

Zim’s fantasy includes The Tallest saying that Zim used to be their “best, most amazing invader,” so even in this worst-case scenario we can see that his version of reality is in fact incredibly delusional

“But now you’re dumb.” “Also stupid.” Now that’s not far off from reality; I just learned in my rewatch of The Frycook that Zim’s wanted sign said “wanted for multiple counts of stupidity”

Now we do get some almost-lore from this sequence. Re-encoded as nothing is very interesting. Is that actually something they do? Or is Zim just terrified of being “nothing”? Maybe both

Also “stripped of your Invader rank.” In The Frycook, Sizz-Lorr shows Zim to his face that he’s still encoded as a food service drone. But maybe, much like one of the delusions he has in this very movie, Zim decides that the undeniable truth that he is an invader is higher than what anyone can do or say. “I know I’m an invader; therefore, that’s just a mistake. or therefore Tak is lying,“ etc., even if the logic behind holding onto that belief does not follow at all and at times is completely contradictory.

Shading on Zim’s face implying form :D

Some very sick sound effects on the re-encoding part

It’s fun seeing the crowd of Irkens in the background, but it also just makes me wish we got a Zim movie with a bunch of Irken stuff

“The Tallest could be here any day now!” It’s interesting that he thinks he’s running out of time; I wonder what he’s actually basing that on. In Dib’s Wonderful Life of Doom, the armada didn’t come for like 40 Earth years or something, but I don’t really hold a lot of stock in that. And in Battle of the Planets, Zim tells them to bring the armada tomorrow and he expects it to happen

You know what? I think this is another example of the times I’ve mentioned where Zim will get stuck on one idea and will NOT stop to reevaluate. Instead of taking advantage of Dib’s current absence by just thinking up something to do, he’s so hung up on figuring out what he had originally planned that he wastes all his time. Why is that kinda relatable?

I like how you can already see the cloning-pod-whatever thing that Clembrane is in; it’s kinda in the middle of the screen, so I’m sure they specifically wanted the audience to notice it

“Access The Tallest’s computers and retrieve their flight plan.” I would bet this is something he’s not allowed to do

Every part of Zim’s base looks amazing in this movie. There’s a handful of scenes with a very good sense of scale, and this big holo-room is one of them. It feels so big and cool in here it’s like a dream

“Hmm. I’m sure it’s there, somewhere.” I adore this line SO much; the little beginnings of doubt here and the seriousness is something I don’t think we ever saw Zim exhibit before.

The line delivery is also perfect

In terms of colors and hair I do prefer specifically Dib’s movie/comic design

I like the updated logo on Dib’s alien-hunting briefcase, very clean

“You saw those sting marks, and you know I eat a lotta honey now!” This isn’t a laugh-out-loud thing to me but I really like this bit (and Andy Berman’s voice and line delivery are amazing)

I don’t need to mention all the references in Dib’s garage because I’m sure there’s already sources on those, but it is very interesting to have pilot Dib’s food launcher there

I love that he’s painted his name on the side of the ship over the Irken logo, that’s such a human detail and very in-character for Dib

It’s crazy that we’re retconning Dibship Rising’s erasure of Tak’s AI, but I do think it’s a way better choice to stick Dib with a ship that has a mean computer. It’s very funny in contrast to Zim’s apathetic computer, and as shown in the comics, it gives him a reason to talk out loud

The vampire bee sighting doesn’t do it for me. It’s fine, I just thought it was funnier as something that’s only mentioned

It’s pretty hilarious that Dib never refers to Gir by name. It’s always “Zim’s evil robot” or something similar and I like that they were consistent with that here too

The kids in the Bloaty’s commercial are behaving too normal for my liking and there’s no terrifying music, for that I prefer the Bloaty’s commercials in the show

“Dib’s Master” is hilarious and fitting with Zim’s knowledge of human families

Zim’s eyeball gets squished into the floor after he falls off the couch and I enjoy that level of physics in cartoon characters

Zim sees being an invader as his only purpose, and the hard evidence he was given for why his mission isn’t real were all from secondary sources, albeit ones that usually are almost undeniable (The Planet Jackers, Sizz-Lorr), but The Tallest kept humoring him to some extent. Therefore, when he sees undeniable proof directly from the source that The Tallest aren’t going to allow him to complete his mission, he has to believe it.

In some deleted animatic dialogue for this scene, Zim says: “They must’ve found out I forgot what phase two is,“ which is still a delusional thing to say. The Tallest are “shmillions of light-years away,” and if hypothetically they were coming to Earth, and if Zim forgetting phase two did change their minds, they would still be WAY closer to Earth; it’s just physically impossible for this to be the reason

“You know, my dad doesn’t respect what I do either.” I am genuinely curious if Dib thinks The Tallest are in some way Zim’s parents/parental figures. Like maybe some kind of queen bee/bug situation. I only ask because he emphasizes the “my” in “my dad,” and he says “either.” Along with that, does Dib know that Zim is an adult?

Also very interesting here for him to start kinda maybe trying to show how he relates to Zim? He’s kinda just saying “well I have that problem too” and then it’s pretty much just him venting for a second

“The world I just saved without anybody knowing.” There’s some of that proper Dib characterization; he had nothing to do with Zim giving up but claims to have just saved the world lol

Zim on the floor is so sad

Zim is such a doomed character, man. With the Irkens’ pre-programmed lack-of-love-and-friendship thing he could never even have a chance to care about or relate to others; the way he is he doesn’t know what he’s missing and thinks it’s a gross and weak thing. So when Zim is depressed, all he can do is mope around and eat, alone.

Now, just like they had to make Membrane less neglectful, or it might’ve been a lot more serious to explore; when this movie is changing the formula and taking a deeper look at the characters and how their situations affect them, then Zim’s doomed state definitely feels a lot more sad. They can’t tweak or balance it like they can the human characters by applying human nature or loved ones, so in this movie he just becomes a much more pitiable villain lol

Oh, and if you haven’t seen that lore then here it is; it‘s from comic issue #50, which was written by Jhonen (this lore is also implied in Nubs of Doom and in issue #20 which was also written by Jhonen):

The fact that Dib is so confident that Zim will agree to help him with all this is very funny to me. Zim had given up on life and even put himself in Dib’s handcuffs, so I guess with him being that done trying Dib is assuming that he’d be willing to do whatever at this point. It’s just funny that he asks him the way that he does, removes Zim’s handcuffs, and offers a handshake lol

Cool robot thing, dunno why it’s not typical Irken colors

Zim’s depressed voice is funny I’m sorry

We get Dib complimenting Zim because Zim is helping him. This scene is VERY interesting to me actually. I don’t know if it’s the bizarreness of them interacting in such a non-hateful and cooperative way, and it almost feels sad? Maybe something about how similar they are and how they almost feel like friends here? When we know they would never actually be friends, for many, many reasons (especially since Zim inherently can’t). It’s kinda cute the excitement Dib shows at getting help from Zim, a little messed up when that’s paired with him getting ready to use it to expose Zim, but still.

But again, Dib’s characterization is very different here. This movie actually had no mentions of alien autopsies or scooping Zim’s insides out, so maybe movie-verse Dib is intended to be a little less aggressive in that regard? Who knows

He definitely feels much more like a real kid; he’s naive and was put in kind of a scary, irresponsible position. Obviously being the self-proclaimed “sole defender of Earth” from the moment he met Zim meant he was already facing a danger that he should not be facing. But I dunno, something about how he had no supervision and no second opinion in the decision to try getting help from Zim just feels so wildly out of hand if that makes sense?? Like I feel scared for him lol

“Childergy” kinda kills me

I love how Zim can’t help but flash the Irken symbol around everywhere, like he wouldn’t still do that if he was invading the planet of a space-faring race, right?

Dib’s modified bracelet restraining and moving him like that is terrifying; the speed and the metal clanking of it really complete the scene

Also Zim prepared ALL THIS in like one day and one night, while still depressed, and to some extent probably under the nose of Dib. He can be pretty impressive, but especially when he’s got nothing left to lose.

What kind of coordination did Zim and Dib even have with this? Was Dib seriously confident enough to just go home until he needs Zim?? Because that seems to be the case, he appeared to be completely ignorant of what Zim was going to do to take over the keynote stream: “Did you use your alien stuff to take over the control room?” I love that line too

Once again Zim is good at working a crowd (even if he throws in random hateful insults)

[Children sing, people rejoice, fatalities minimal]

I pretty much thought every big-head Dib joke in the series was funny, but this one does too much in my opinion. Everyone’s got their own opinions on comedy, but to me it would’ve been SO much funnier if Dib had looked exactly the same on the TV

They animate Gir’s mouth moving for all of his singing on this part, and that’s not my preference. When he’s in his dog suit I like it more when, like in the series, they only show his mouth open for things like screaming and eating

Minimoose’s dramatic theme is amazing

The little Irken-branded nanochip thing is really cool to me. I love how everything has to have the Irken logo. How do you make such tiny tech anyway?

“Iiiiii- teleported the Earth to a part of space directly in the path of the Irken Armada.” One of my favorite lines in the movie—I just love his delivery so much; he does this funny up-and-down thing with it. Also the way he says “Irken Armada” with such aggression

“Now the Tallest have to visit me next.” [He says in a somewhat desperate tone]

I love the theme for when the florpus shows up

What’s funny is in all this stopping-to-write-my-notes I completely forgot about the florpus

“Is that part of your brilliant plan, Zim?”

“Eh, probably. I mean, I’m so incredible even I don’t know everything I do!” From his expression and hesitation that’s clearly not an excuse he believes yet, and I’m once again curious how much of Zim’s confidence is him lying to himself vs how much is genuine belief

“He’s only a shmillion light-years away on Moo-Ping 10!” This is the second time in the movie Zim’s used “shmillion,” which is a measurement he also used in The Trial :D

“Why don’t you hop in your spaceship and go rescue him? Oh wait, you don’t have a spaceship!” Is another favorite line, incredible line delivery. It’s also so petty; this is a grown alien making fun of children for something horrible he’s putting them through lol

I love the Comms Officer (played by Fred Tatiscore, who is great)

Poor guy is the most reasonable one on the ship (or the only one brave enough to make suggestions anyway)

Upon this rewatch and analysis, a lot of the jokes have not been hitting for me (is there also just fewer jokes in general? Compared to the series?) but Gir horrifically stuffing himself with pudding does land for me, that made me laugh out loud

I know it’s a reference (my dad has told me about it because it’s not something of my generation) but the ham isn’t funny to me either

I know I’ve got some issues with this movie but the Tak escape stuff being cut is one of the biggest things that really sucks. I know we know secondhand what happened and why, but the ship having the secret motivation of going to break Tak out of prison makes it a lot more believable that the ship would seem to cooperate so fast. Without that scene, it feels a little cheap that they’d be able to convince the ship so easily

One of Gir’s signs says “YeY TALLiTS” and I never saw that one before

This throne part is decently funny, but I can’t help but wish Zim had something to actually do here. I understand why they’re essentially doing nothing; Zim thinks he’s fully won and is waiting for The Tallest to get here, but he just feels isolated, and the scene feels a little pointless to me. Maybe if it was more funny, I wouldn’t feel that way

The Tallest: [making fun of the guy who just doesn’t wanna die]

You guys have all listened to the full version of Flibba Dibba Hoinka Smeedge, right? I’ve seen a few people say they legitimately like it, but to me this is so intentionally bad (in a good way.) Obviously it has a good beat, but all the sounds and uncanny singing is almost scary lol

Again, this part with Dib singing would be a lot funnier if the movement from this sudden cardboard animation wasn’t so bizarre

The guards are singing the song haha

Yeah, so the ship’s diversion was rescuing Tak, and casual viewers don’t get to know that :[

“Normally” Dib crying on the floor is hilarious? Does he do this often? Because I wouldn’t blame him

Why are all these guys in the same cell anyway? How many of them are Zim’s prisoners? He’s got a lot in the comics (where does he get the money to keep them there? That’s another can of worms. Maybe that’ll be a separate post lol)

I adore Minimoose being used as a balloon. One of my favorite things about this series is the way the characters are just doing stuff

I like the detail that the control gloves from Tak’s ship are made for Irken 3-fingered hands

This Dib and Membrane falling scene is very good to me. The narrative parts, yes, but also the animation for Dib like kicking the button to unlock Membrane’s seat and grab his hand—it’s so frantic and good-looking

Wait. How does Membrane drink tea through his lab coat collar? How did I not notice that until now??

We got a sick PAK legs use before Zim evilly floats away with Minimoose (slowed down so we can see how cool it is)

It’s interesting that they changed the color of his PAK legs; they look really cool like that

“Then why are you ugly!?” Is so funny and so iconic. Thank you Richard Horvitz, for your improv

Very good music for Membrane’s dramatic entrance

Im sorry, but this fight part takes me out of it so bad. It’s the same rigged animation that looks so strange and cheap. I’m sure it was a budgetary thing, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it

I understand that there’s technically more movement and flourishes and little physics things you can add with this kind of animation compared to hand-drawn (because it’s faster and cheaper), but I think that makes it worse too. The way it looks like stiff cardboard while simultaneously moving far too much compared to how the rest of it is animated. Almost like the (wrong) idea that more frames = better animation

If I could describe these later action bits in one word, it would be: overstimulating. It’s SO much SO fast and SO loud, and depending on my mood, it can be genuinely too much for me to watch. There are some funny jokes, but a lot of them feel like they’re talking over each other if you know what I mean?

Because of that, and because of the Tak stuff and whatever else was cut for time (and it sounds like they had to cut a good bit), this movie SERIOUSLY could’ve used like 10 more minutes at least

Again, the ham joke: it’s not as much a joke as it is a reference (and the inclusion of a random object, trying to seem funny just because it’s a random object) That’s why it’s not funny to me. Zim getting hit with the ham and making a pathetic little sound when he does is funny, but the “references for the sake of references” doesn’t do it for me. I could see how it could theoretically be funny even if you don’t know the references, but it’s not my thing

Remember the Jurassic Park reference in Megadoomer? That blended in, and I found it funny (It also was understimulating lol)

Zim getting snatched by his head hahahaha

“I did my best :)” that lands for me

This is a good time to address Zim’s current state. Since he teleported the Earth away, he doesn’t have access to his space station. He didn’t leave the Earth in preparation for the organic sweep; he sees the Armada’s lasers pointed at the planet and doesn’t seem concerned about the fact that he’s still on it. (In fact, he’s still cheering on his victory.) He’s also not comprehending why it’s a problem that they’re in the Florpus??? Lunatic

“The Irken Armada is already here!” Was delivered SO well

I’ve seen people use this as proof that Zim is a child; it’s a pretty typical swap AU, and if Zim were his real age as a human, he would be a pile of ashes. If Dib and Gaz were their real ages as Irkens, they’d be WAY tinier. And besides that, we know Zim is an adult, so there’s no reason to try and reinterpret established canon through the lens of a swap AU.

Side note: I wish we could’ve had a shot of human Zim not screaming for a better look at his face. He looks cute, like look at his hair

The live-action dog bit isn’t funny to me either </3

Zim really does have an insane amount of confidence with which he asserts to Dib that “I won actually!” He’s like a kid who changes the rules to a game when he’s losing

When there’s so much damage to the Earth, it’s hard to suspend your disbelief that Membrane is still in... disbelief. Like I don’t know how I feel about their handling of it, but obviously it is a requirement for status quo; if Membrane genuinely found out about him then Zim would be donezo

The Tallest have been killed; that’s 4 accidental regicides for Zim (although this one was more Red and Purple’s fault let’s be real), but Zim himself has died before in the series, so we know death doesn’t have to be a permanent change to canon

“Thaaat sounded like a yes to me.” Does he really believe that?

This is my interpretation of Zim throughout this movie, which I’m pretty confident about;

Zim came up with this big drawn-out plan, so drawn out that he forgot what the next part was, and he let that slip in front of The Tallest.

When he finds out The Tallest aren’t coming, he assumes it’s because he “failed.” In some deleted dialogue, it sounds like he specifically thinks he lost The Tallest’s respect because he forgot phase two of his plan, he thinks that is the entire reason they aren’t coming anymore.

“I truly felt I had failed the Tallest, but then you told me about the power of the bracelet, inspiring me.” So we don’t get all the details about what Zim is thinking during his plan, but I think that he’s decided that teleporting the Earth is his new phase two. That now means in Zim’s mind that 1: he’s now not failed The Tallest, and 2: in carrying out this plan; he’s also made it way easier for The Tallest to bring the Armada to Earth. (Won’t they be so glad he took care of that?)

Then we get to the ending. He doesn’t need to cover for his plan of teleporting the Earth, because it sounds like he never called The Tallest to tell them about it (maybe he just wanted to “surprise” them? The same way he wanted to in Backseat Drivers?) but in the end he does still feel the need to assure The Tallest that he hasn’t failed, that he actually did carry out phase 2 of his plan, which he’s now decided is: stealing Dib’s ceramic clown-puppy. Obviously this wasn’t ever his plan, just a last-ditch effort at having done something. That still reflects that fear of failure, and it’s interesting that he’s confident he can cover with something like this when stealing a random useless trinket does nothing in furthering his mission. It’s like the illusion of productivity.

So why is he no longer worried about The Tallest not coming? Because he “proved” to them that he didn’t fail at his plan, he did something, so now there’s zero reason for them not to come.

Some extra thoughts: I liked the Membrane family’s emotional beats, but at times it seemed a little hard for them to balance the humor with it. More to say in the Dib section.

I think Zim’s depression was perfectly done. The fandom wants Zim angst, and I think the writers did a great job at avoiding a more fan-service-y take on this exploration of his character. They made sure that it was at least somewhat funny. Kinda like how in the DVD commentaries, you often see Jhonen emphasizing how the action needs to be funny; it can’t just be action.

Some of the changes are a bit much; Gaz might be the one who changed the most. She’s closer to a normal kid now because this story wouldn’t have worked out the same if Gaz had been the way she is in the show. I don’t assess Gaz’s character much, but in the movie she feels so different that, to me personally, I have trouble finding it believable when she’s being genuinely nice, but I also have trouble believing that she’d carry out threats the way she would’ve in the show. They’ve immensely stripped her of her previous apathy for sure.

Membrane is also different; obviously he’s always loved his kids, but they were pretty consistent about how neglectful busy he is, so it’s pretty strange how much more present he seems to be. Almost feels too normal.

Now who I don’t think was tweaked was Zim. The character stuff I was analyzing about him here compared to the show actually feels like we picked right up where we left off, with Zim being a criminally insane little guy living in his own version of events.

I was very sad at how much less funny I found this movie to be upon rewatch; Zim himself is still very funny. Gir is still funny, but I do feel they leaned away from unhinged and more on the cutesy side with him (despite one of his lines earlier in the movie). Exactly why I think characters like Zim are still funny and a lot of the rest of the movie wasn’t is the distinction between character humor and gag humor. (I don’t know if those are actual terms. That’s just what I like to use.)

The way I define character humor is: “X characters being funny, the involvement of traits specific to (often expected, but sometimes unexpected of) X character, or something that wouldn’t be nearly as funny if it wasn’t X character doing or saying it.”

Gag humor is like that cat being arrested during the Peace is Nice song. It’s not character-specific; it could be from any other cartoon, and in this case it wasn’t funny to me. Not that IZ doesn’t have good gags; upon this rewatch, I’m appreciating even more how the show’s got some truly AMAZING gags, but most of the ones in the movie didn’t land for me at all. Almost everything I did laugh at was specifically character humor (like Gir being gross, Zim being egotistical, or The Tallest making fun of the Comms Officer for disagreeing with them.) What I’d say is that the series’ main goal was to be as funny as possible, and I think the movie’s main goal was to explore the characters in a deeper way than usual.

That’s a good segue into: “This movie was very lighthearted.” Obviously this was quite different in tone, a lot less cynical, and the (human) characters actually feel like they care about each other. I know there’s a handful of little dark jokes, but overall there’s a sense of safety in this movie that wasn’t in the series, and I don’t prefer it. “Safety” as in this feeling that nothing could ever go too wrong, that “we know the heroes will win and we won’t be surprised when they do” kind of safety. And maybe something about all the subversions just being little random things instead of something startling, bizarre, or scary happening. Maybe that feeling also comes from the far more distinct hero/villain roles for Dib and Zim, kinda makes it more predictable.

And actually one more reason: there’s a way in the series that the main characters feel physical in how they interact with their environments. Dib getting poked with a tack, Zim having to adjust his wig when it gets askew, hair falling wet in the rain, bodies shredded, bones (apparently) broken, etc., and not all cartoons have that solid feeling. I don’t have that feeling when I watch this movie. I know Dib has messy hair and eyebags later, but that’s about it. You’ve got when Dib gets crushed by robots and is fine right after being rescued, Zim is dazed after being crushed into the sidewalk by his throne but is fine a second later, or when Dib crashes through a chunk of concrete in a humorous manner.

Now the series does bend and break the physics of things, but they seem to know how often to hold back. In the movie I haven’t been convinced that these characters can be hurt by their environment. I genuinely think that some of this would’ve been fixed if they showed Zim get burned by human food or drink again. And I know that sounds dumb but those parts always feel like they were given a lot of attention, and they give Zim that sense of physicality or something to me. A visceral sense of tangibility.

To be clear, it’s not like a show can’t be more cartoony and less physical. There’s plenty of cartoons I love that lean more into cartoon physics, but I’m used to and I love that feeling in IZ’s series, it’s strange to not have nearly as much of it.

So about Dib: like Gaz, Dib feels a lot more like a normal kid too, and his mistakes definitely feel like ones a real kid would make.

Dib’s character arc is set up with him expressing he wants his dad to believe him. Later we see that what that desire really stems from is wanting his dad to love and be proud of him, which makes sense. He says earlier on that Membrane thinks he’s crazy, which supports the idea that he must be ashamed or disappointed in him. Membrane’s response is very sweet :)

Dib’s goal of exposing Zim would mean forever upsetting status quo, and we obviously can’t do that. So giving Dib some closure in that he doesn’t need to prove he’s right for his dad to be proud of him is actually a VERY strong conclusion to his character arc in this movie, super well done. (Especially considering just how many episodes end up horrible for Dib.)

[koopazap]

Invader Zim Rewatch Thoughts

NanoZIM/Germs/Dark Harvest:

“An entire planet of enemies waiting for us to drop our guard” Again, Zim seems to think that most humans are aware of the possibility of an alien invader, when in fact, they are not. The average human wouldn’t be wondering if someone’s an alien, because the average human doesn’t believe in aliens of this sort

Bugs when you lift up a rock:

“Your Zim-guts” this isn’t the only episode where Dib doesn’t know what Zim’s race is called yet, but we know he knows later, so I’m curious to see if I’ll be able to tell when he found out or if it’s just an off-screen discovery

You’d think Zim’s house would have the ability to close the windows and door on it’s own but I think that’s an oversight on Zim’s part lol he seems to have manual windows and a manual door in order to blend in

At this point I don’t think Gaz knew that Zim was an alien? And I’m not sure she was paying enough attention to notice later in the episode either? I like that very quickly in the show it becomes “Gaz knows Zim’s an alien, but she doesn’t care”

How can Zim see Dib through the tv? Does it double as a monitor that they can make video calls with?

Actually “what are you doing in my tv?” Might imply that it is not normal to make video calls on there? Maybe?? So I’m back to confused

“Humans don’t have arm control nerves” well clearly he is controlling your arms somehow Dib. But once again, Dib is taunting the alien that he still doesn’t know much about

Normal-colored Zim error :(

Why does he look so cute here?

Also that whole cafeteria sequence and all the microscopic zooming in and out is very impressive imo

Sure Dib, brag to the alien while he’s still in your body.

“Delete the knowledge” more of Zim being an artificial, somewhat-mechanical little guy

Maybe Dib could’ve asked Membrane to come look at the tv so he’d see Zim out of disguise. Although I’m sure either he wouldn’t be able to pry him from his work, or Membrane would think it was some impressive special effects or something lol

The way planting microscopic Irken flags inside Dib’s body does quite literally nothing, like Zim expected to be the only one to see it. Maybe he would’ve bragged about planting flags inside the enemy, I dunno. And anyway it doesn’t look like they get removed, so maybe that’s still something Zim could brag about. I’d love to see Zim bring it up sometime like “yeah but I marked your organs as conquered one time” (unless of course Dib took the nanoship and went in to remove them, which I can absolutely see him doing literally only because of the very idea of Zim planting flags in his body)

“With Dib turned into a drooling moron, nothing will stand in my way-“ I mean so far the most threatening thing Dib’s done was take one picture of Zim out of costume

“My piloting skills are unmatched” we have many examples that show that he’s legit just saying that (he’s saying it based on his own opinion of himself, but still)

“I’ve been flying ships since before you were born” I like when there’s sort of an acknowledgment of Zim’s age

Zim suddenly knows what things like a trachea are

Maybe it’s because it’s the only part where it’s 2d animated, but Zim’s ship thing looks so cool when it’s trying to grab on with the little claws

Not much more to say about it, so here is;

Dib’s role and impact: he got into Zim’s base for the first time and it was because of Gir’s incompetency, then immediately gave himself away during and after taking a picture of Zim. He was able to dodge the defenses, but it was still ultimately Gir’s fault that he was able to escape. Dib went on to give vital information to the enemy, essentially because he wanted to let Zim know that he hadn’t won yet. We don’t know for sure if it was already Zim’s plan to wipe Dib’s brain? So there’s at least a tiny chance that that part was Dib’s fault too. Grabbing the nanoship was a good idea, however Dib is not a real gamer, and thus fails to save himself from Zim. I do understand why he didn’t wanna trust someone else with the controls tho.

This probably comes off a little unfair since it’s just assessing Dib, but that’s what I’m doing.

Should I be scoring him?? 4/10. He got lucky and made a lot of fatal errors.

Germs:

Obviously the aliens in the move are based on the xenomorph but to me they actually look a little creepier just because their limbs are so insect/spider-y and VERY long

“Stupid human propaganda” “do they really believe that could happen” and he says the idea of this happening is “sheer fantasy.” Ive already said this again and again, but Zim thinks most humans are aware of the possibility of an alien invader. He doesn’t realize how fictional this movie is supposed to be, like it’s not “propaganda” it IS fantasy lol

Technically the ad says “invading lifeform” and not specifically “Irken,” I’m not sure what I think of the idea of Irkens being able to get sick, in the dvd commentary for Dib’s Wonerful Life of Doom JV says “Zim’s body is mostly artificial” so I don’t even know. This is still early on so not everything is gonna be 100% accurate to later lore

“Mighty human threat” I always love how he slaps “human” on any Earth thing, the same way we would describe anything from planet “Irk” as “Irken”

Why does the “thank you” voice sound so creepy?

I only just noticed the little Irken symbol next to planet Callnowia’s name, I guess to indicate it’s an Irken-controlled planet, and not just any alien shipping planet

The package is labeled Earth, I would’ve called that into question earlier, but again, Zim’s probably uploaded the info he’s getting somewhere, right?

I love how the mist from the cleaning spray is drawn all sharp like everything else

For some reason after Zim’s got all his anti-germ garb on they often miscolor his sleeves to be the same as his uniform color instead of the light pink

Is that supposed to be the sound of a cow being slaughtered????

The horrible eating sounds inside macmeaties pleaseeee nooooo my headphones are so amazing it’s making this a very unpleasant experience

I really love in this shot how Gir’s reflection moves into view in Zim’s goggles

Why are the burgers like the size of Zim’s head?

You know the cow slaughtering(?) sound effects are a little less fitting when you find out the meat is made of napkins

I know sometimes they use this power for evil, but this show really does have a lot of amazing sound design, like the little rubber sound of Zim dramatically tensing his gloved hands lol

At least one of these scientists in this past-scene was already used in the alien movie from the beginning

Later on meat always burns Zim and fuses to his flesh, so I like that we can take the loophole that this specific meat is made out of napkins. Although later on (in Battle of the Planets, I’m pretty sure) the tallest start talking about an incident that sounds pretty similar to this and how the meat all fused to his flesh? So I don’t knowwww, did he do it again but with REAL meat???? Did macmeaties switch to real meat? Probably not.

Dib’s not in this one so he gets no assessment, we can’t even see him in the classroom at the end lol

Dark Harvest:

The title at some point was “The Heart and Lungs of Zim.” I like that better and I honestly think it’s a little less scary, basically because it’s kinda funny

Painfully obvious Richard Horvitz as delivery man

“To defeat my enemy I must study my enemy, then become my enemy, then move in with my enemy, then wear my enemy’s clothes, then-“ I managed to completely forget about Dib’s tangent here WHAT is he talking about????

The one single window panel out of many, conveniently open for that pigeon to fly in

I really love the music when Zim’s walking out of the classroom

I absolutely HATE the corridor Zim’s in here, It looks cramped and nasty like a prison with horrible colors. It’s like way dingier than their classroom somehow. Also technically these rooms are an architectural impossibility. If they were all this close together, then there wouldn’t be space inside. Zim peeks in the biology room, so we can actually see that these rooms are breaking the laws of physics. This setting is what’s bothering me, not the rest of the episode.

While Zim’s talking to the hall monitor there’s like scary banging sounds in the background that I never noticed??

You know it gets pushed aside what with all the organ harvesting, but one of the worst things Zim actually does here is probably teleporting into someone’s body something that will explode if they leave the skool???? He should be rushed to the hospital but that’s gonna kill him faster

Dib’s freaking drawing bro

“Nobody’s come in with head pigeons” how acknowledged is head pigeons as a disease? Especially when the nurse just shoos it away at the end?? Doesn’t really matter because all it truly is is an amazing way to have an unsettling noise follow Zim (and subsequently Dib) during his horror-movie-esque misdeeds

Really just spectacular music this whole episode

I think it’s a little sad how everyone only talks about how “this episode is so messed up” when it’s also just a VERY good episode. I think it’s funny, and there’s a lot of quick scenes that are VERY well done. For example:

Would it have been better if Zim just didn’t replace what he stole?? Because a lot of these “replacements” seem pretty detrimental. It’s actually insanely funny that he thinks they won’t be missed if they’re replaced, and then he goes on to choose the worst replacements possible

Alright when I wrote that note I forgot that he uses DIBS HALL PASS. Idk what I was talking about, and we already went over the horrors of the OTHER hall pass. So yes, of course, obviously it would’ve been better to not replace them. You could argue for some of these kids that replacing the organ was worse than stealing it in the first place.

Speaking of scenes that are incredibly well done: the reveal of Zim is FANTASTIC. It catches you off guard as you expect to just see more and more afflicted children

The line delivery and Zim’s confidence here??

“you think you can fool a trained medical professional?” “Yes.”

This interaction alone is what makes this a funny episode to me, it’s PERFECT

Dib stop asking him these questions pleaseeee you’re giving him more information

It’s a pretty funny (but also horrific) detail that Zim is able to recognize human organs by name, but he doesn’t know enough to make sure he has the right amount of each. Six hearts? SIX????

I know Dib is a main character, but MAN does he have main character syndrome. He’s not even paying attention to Torque bruh. Is he aware the vents, which he saw Zim go into, are on the ceiling???

Anyway it sounds like Dib thinks he got his smarts from some aliens instead of his brilliant scientist dad

X-ray scene is another part that is SPECTACULARLY done, so cool, and it’s impressive for them to draw out all those organs yet again

Are those barrels of toxic waste? In the taxidermy room?

Zim doesn’t actually utilize his PAK legs that often. It’s creepy enough for him to use them to get around this whole episode, but him using one to turn off the light switch is yet another amazing scene. I also love the music/sound cue they use on that part

Along with needing a second lung, I think it’s pretty clear Zim is also just enjoying terrorizing Dib at this point. Which is just a teeny bit understandable considering all the fear and paranoia Dib’s instilled in Zim, not even just in this episode

For some reason I haven’t questioned the mammoth taxidermy until now

The swinging door casting light on Zim and then him disappearing before the light is on him again???

The horrifically lowering gigantic blob that is Zim, and then the weight that comes across as he falls to the ground onto his PAK legs?????

“The other one is just annoying. Fix it.” See this episode’s funny

This isn’t important but the episode description I’m seeing on Paramount says “Zim is sent to the nurse when a teacher thinks he is ill” which feels inaccurate. It comes off like something about him being an alien causes someone to think he’s sick, when that’s not what happened. It also says “thinks” he is ill but according to the receptionist it sounds like head pigeons is treated like a real disease lol

Dib’s role and impact: is this Dib’s worst episode yet? Should we cut him some slack since he’s a child???

He taunted Zim in the first place, almost certainly being one of the main things to put this idea in his head. He does good in figuring out what’s happening, and then once Zim seems satisfied with his amount of stolen organs, and confident in his plan, Dib lets him know that he forgot one. What was the plan here? Why are we giving the alien information that’s gonna make him continue his organ-harvesting spree????

Dib deduces Zim’s next target in Torque Smackey, a small accomplishment.

Dib proceeds to follow him around, info-dump to him about himself and his interests, all while almost never looking back at him.

So to recap; Dib did what he often does and went in without a plan. This instance in particular was way worse, because he couldn’t even see Zim a majority of the time. I really don’t know what he could’ve done, but I think poking the bear was probably the worst option. I think another consistency across a lot of these is Dib horrifically underestimating Zim. Like yes, Zim is incompetent, but he’s also willing to do way worse things than the average human, and his incompetency tends to specifically lead to destruction and suffering for others. (Including but not at ALL limited to; Zim’s very own allies.)

Dib gets like a 1/10

[koopazap]

Invader Zim Rewatch Thoughts

Tak: The Hideous New Girl:

Funny that anyone at all was trying to gift meat to Zim, considering his reputation seems to be somewhere as abysmal as Dib’s

Gretchen’s crush in this one lol too bad Dib is socially unaware/expects all his classmates to hate him

I actually like the design of the deelishus weenie jet

He’s SO disturbed

Tak’s poem is funny because it actually never says anything romantic, what it essentially says is “I’ve been looking for you, and you’re gonna pay”

Poor Zim just running around suffering the rest of this scene

I like Zim apologizing to the Tallest for his beat-up appearance, just those dynamics and how Irkens are supposed to act and present and stuff ya know?

The way Zim yells at Gir for being loud and Gir just smiles at him obliviously actually kills me

Then Gir waves to The Tallest, and I think Red waves his puppet’s arm back??

“Filthy beast of meat and hair” with the whole “Zim’s body is mostly artificial” thing and the way Zim talks about meat/the way meat reacts to his body, I assume whatever Irkens are made of is just that far-removed from being “meat”

Honestly the montage is hilarious. Zim’s trying so hard lol

When Tak is dumping slop on Zim’s head in the cafeteria, they accidentally animated her arm as her undisguised, gloved, Irken arm

I wonder how long exactly the montage is supposed to be? Because we see at least 2 different lunch periods

You can see the Acne Blast commercial on TV, and you can hear it while Gir’s getting into his disguise

You don’t always notice it with these tiny little hands but I love Gir’s thumbs up here

Her note literally has a doodle of her Irken face on it. What is that, a taunt?

“Heh?” With his tongue hanging out

“50 years ago” write that down, write that down!

Do you guys realize how cool Devastis looks? What also funny is Devastis breaks the “-ia” naming conventions (conventia, callnowia, judgmentia, etc.) and has a much cooler planet name

Also based on this scene it looks like Irkens can use digital currency with their PAKs and I think that’s neat

Does Tak realize this is not at all the worst-case scenario from Zim? She could’ve been one of his many Irken casualties lol

“The mysterious person who caused the blackout” so did nobody find out that was Zim’s fault? Was it because Irkens look so similar and there’s so many of them? Or was Tak somehow the only witness? I guess it did look like he got out of that mech pretty fast (justifiably, he had to go get his snack after all)

Sometime during Tak’s story Zim got a soda, I’d never noticed that because Zim’s soda disappears in the next shot lol

Gir was ready, he had popcorn before she started her story (and it looks like he decided it was fine to take off his disguise while she was talking?)

“Yes, yes, I’m a master of comedy-“ [when Tak starts laughing again] is another one of my favorite Zim-lines (in the DVD Commentary, Richard Horvitz says that JV wrote that line in the booth, which makes me like it even more)

The robot bee is cute

So where exactly do British Irkens come from?

Tak’s PAK legs are neat, the Top of the Line script mentions her using them and I forgot that we did get to see them animated, if not fully-extended, and only for a second

Dib thinking Zim is jealous is funny, is this a lack of social awareness again? Or does he just not know Zim as much as he thinks he does? Did he think Zim’s fake-dating of Tak was him trying to be at least a little genuine?? Because that’d be funny. Once again I’m wondering if Dib knows that Zim is an adult

“And when the Earth is a smoking ruin you’ll wish it’d been me who did it!” Yeah I’m sure they will

Zim frantically jumping out the window (and opening it first) is insanely funny

Dib using a climbing grapple-gun whatever thing to walk up the “weenie stand” while eating a hotdog is very entertaining. He looks cute here

That poor pigeon noooo this is Dib’s fault

I like Gir’s quick little duty-mode salute after jumping off Dib’s head, he did a good job this time

MAN is that a long chute Dib got thrown down

Also Zim snickering about it after

I’m serious when I say this is one of my favorite bits of animation in the show, Mimi’s claw is so cool and the way Gir collapses after getting snatched looks and moves so perfectly. It reminds me of one of those wooden animals that collapse when you press the button

Zim hitting the memory disc because his tech isn’t working kills me

This is the second major time that Zim gets proof his mission is fake. And this isn’t specifically because of this scene, but I’m kinda not sure he’d listen even if the Tallest themselves told him? (In ETF they tried to tell him that they didn’t care, but he tuned them out because he thought they were on hold)

Zim looks very good and silly during this mission report part, I like a lot of his faces and how he’s animated

It’s forever horrifically sad that we were denied some of the best content in the show due to cancelation. Dib didn’t make it to space until the comics/movie, and the comics are a lot more episodic than it sounds like it would’ve been. Plus we go without Skoodge, Tak, the Resisty, the comics were just never gonna be what the show was planned to be. (Not that they utilize Dib being able to go to space very often anyway.)

Dib’s role and impact: for priding himself in noticing things, he didn’t notice Tak, it’s sad we didn’t get to see more of how they were interacting. It looks like she was pretending to be friendly by feigning interest in the paranormal, (or Dib was talking about Zim and she was interested?) and so Dib was receptive. But either way, it’s a shame that there wasn’t more Dib. We don’t get to see any of the impact of Dib seemingly making a friend who believes him, and then having that person turn out to be an Irken. Or how he feels about not having noticed that fact.

He seems not to care for almost anyone unless they’ll hear him out. Which I get, like if you can’t talk about your core beliefs that’s a pretty surface level relationship. (And furthering that, it wouldn’t be fun to hang out with someone who you know assumes you are crazy, even if that person is acting nice and pretending not to think that about you.)

Dib took the initiative in investigating the weenie stand, and through that Gaz was able to join the plot, and then Zim was able to track him there. After that he bargained with Zim to get in his base, and then he was the one who shut the pump off, that is all. If we’re assessing Dib as a threat to Irkens he wasn’t one, he needed Zim’s tech the way Zim needed the memory disk.

Truly Gaz won the day for us, by utilizing Zim’s technology in ways he often neglects to do.

The things Dib is saying at the end about exploring space highlight something I haven’t mentioned about him, Dib is pretty determined, he has to have SOME level of optimism to justify this level of determination. He’s clearly not surprised when everything goes wrong for him, but he does keep at it, and he is very (probably overly) confident about himself and his abilities. I think the space exploration thing is also optimistic, because the only aliens he’s encountered thus far have been terrible (including the ones on Abducted who thought he was a weasel lol.)

[koopazap]

Invader Zim Rewatch Thoughts

The Nightmare Begins:

The Vort lore is crazy because they assign an invader to it on the first episode, they were still allied at the time

Zim’s flying his voot into conventia, I didn’t remember if he had it already, but they really never tell us much about it. Was it always his ship? Some people think he stole it from Foodcourtia, but I’m not sure. In the comics, Takship describes Zim’s ship as “made of garbage”

There’s also this other comic part:

So it seems like they might be trying to imply that this is another piece of junk that The Tallest gave Zim for his ‘mission’? So is it a mistake, or a retcon for him to be flying it to Conventia?? Who knows

If they had a piece of art made up of Larb dying on blorch, and according to the dvd commentary it IS drawn up, (it’s not something they can just generate in an instant) why did they also have one ready of Skoodge?? I guess for the sake of The Tallest, the Irkens are ready for every eventuality

Zim gets more insane and immature as the show goes on, but man. He’s already really crazy at the start. Like you really do just feel like you’re watching someone who’s in their own little fantasy, he feels like that even before getting his mission, he’s just so unaware of so much. Does Dib know he’s fighting someone who should absolutely be in a mental hospital??

Imagine if Dib got all freaked out by this broadcast and then, as was originally intended, no Irken invader showed up to Earth

How is the voot even able to show him that this is planet Earth?

Maybe she’s too caught up in her monologue, but ordinarily Ms. Bitters would’ve shut Dib down pretty quickly by now, he was able to speak to the class and draw a little diagram on the chalkboard

“No one will believe you.” I love this line, feels kinda scary. Zim’s basically outing himself here too

So dib just carries around the alien sleep cuffs he bought? Just in case??

It would’ve been funny if they didn’t work, and honestly they probably wouldn’t. Either because it’s unlikely that this UFO magazine was able to test this technology on actual aliens, or, my headcanon, that since Irkens are weird organic machines that don’t need to eat sleep, and more; these wouldn’t work on them

“I know where you live now” during Gir’s “oh your friend’s at the window”

Once again, the computers on The Massive can tell them the transmission is from planet earth. This instance I would let slide a little, on the assumption that maybe Zim has been storing/uploading data on the planet or whatever?

During this rewatch I also wanted to assess how much of a threat Dib actually is, how useful he is throughout the series. So;

Dib’s role and impact: he saw through Zim’s disguise immediately, then tried to out him to the class, this failed because of a combination of human ignorance + Dib’s reputation.

Also tried his best to get close enough to use the alien sleep cuffs, there wasn’t much of a plan and he maybe should’ve been more cautious when going after a very unpredictable alien. Although with how incompetent Zim was in the class, (terrible disguise, saying dumb and painfully obvious things) maybe he just didn’t expect much from him?

He lost his sleep cuffs, but he learned where Zim lives, which is pretty important for the series. He still wasn’t very threatening yet (especially since, again, it’s not likely they’d even work)

[koopazap]

Invader Zim Rewatch Thoughts

Battle Dib/A Room With a Moose/Hamstergeddon:

Battle Dib:

“Kid here” what?

Dude Dib getting electrocuted this whole opening scene??? They make sure you know it hurts too

3d Zim head so bizarre. I’m pretty sure 3d Zim in The Planet Jackers looked a lot different than this but we’ll see

I’m curious what findings Dib even has by this episode

The alien-hunting brief case?

“I can’t believe I don’t have handcuffs to lock this thing to my wrist.” Foreshadowing?

Why would he steal Gaz’s pizza? Is it a sense of entitlement??? This attitude about himself and the importance of what he’s doing/disregard for others is something that I have more on in this batch of episodes

The impact sounds from Dib are so over the top while he’s getting pulled up into that tube, and then again when the brief case falls on him

I think it’s hilarious how fast this Membrane fangirl starts screaming before they wheel her desk out of the room

It satisfies me that Dib chooses the dropper tool, because that’s what I would’ve done

“I don’t know what kind of test this is Gaz, but I seem to be doing okay.” So did Dib genuinely decided to change his mind about trying to get a tie just because he accidentally got a point? So overly confident and for what lol

The spider robots look very cool, but we’ve seen Zim’s PAK legs, so we already know things like that will be very cool and well-animated.

Like when Dib kinda stumbles here and catches himself?? People underestimate the animation on this show.

“All losers leave the arena. Now.” It’s so fast and mean I love it

“I’m sorry about your tacos or whatever-” so Dib has caught on to Gaz having ulterior motives, but he doesn’t pay enough attention in general to be able to figure out or remember what he did wrong, and that’s why he probably deserves it lol

Dib forging a signature on a copy of his self-destructing permission slip as a distraction is actually a very clever use of something that you expect to be a one-off joke from the beginning

Dib talks about “when the aliens have won and we’re all slaves to their alien evil-“ and I think that establishes that Dib still does not know that Zim is specifically an Irken. So once again I’m curious what “findings” he was gonna show off.

Dib’s role and impact: despite that this is one of 3 episodes where Zim doesn’t appear (unless you count his 3d hologram head) Dib is actually posing a threat to Zim by hoping to present his findings on him. We just don’t know how extensive these findings actually are, or how convincing they would be, even to the Swollen Eyeball Network. It still means something though.

Dib probably posed more of a threat here than in previous episodes, but twice (and maybe 3 times) in this episode his unawareness was his own downfall.

I’m gonna assume unawareness of others is what caused him to take that pizza from Gaz?? And then when he realizes that Gaz was mad at him he either cant remember that instance or didn’t see anything wrong with it?

Then he again sabotages himself by managing to forget his briefcase was on the ground. I guess he just got distracted because he finally did what he had technically sought out to do, in getting the permission slip signed.

I’m sensing a pattern wherein Dib gets so focused on one thing that he tunes everything else out.

A Room With a Moose:

[Drops the ball after catching it] Nobody taught him how to play earth sports </3

Did Zim and Dib specifically challenge each other to play tetherball? If that is the case, it was probably Dib who issued the challenge

Dib kicking Zim and then just standing there smiling at the camera

I can’t help it this montage is kinda hilarious. The humor is compounded by Zim being a fully grown adult alien soldier, who could easily have been doing something better than attending school, and thus wouldn’t be getting bullied lol

Zim finally has both his rounded “teeth” and 3-fingered hands :]!! I’ll watch out for animation errors though

It’s always funny when Gir gets to speak for a long time at once, you’d think Zim would’ve disguised Gir’s voice in the intercom like when he was operating the Government Man mech suit

‘Oooo Dib, you can’t call the new kid an alien just because he looks different!!’ [treats him like this later]:

“It hurts me to see all you.. dirty monsters go off to have so much fun.” Do not blame Zim at all for saying this

So Zim and Gir are using a teleporter here to get from the Skool to Zim’s base, and you’d think Zim would use those more often.

I remember later there are some in his base that seem to just have set locations, at least one of them being just for going to and from his inexplicable space station. I’m pretty sure the only other time was when he was building those giant teleporters while posing as Santa

Never noticed Melvin with a lollipop (no this isn’t cornplating, this is analysis)

I can tell Richard Horvitz is the robot bus driver

I also never noticed Gir eating a bag of walnuts, a background gag which you could argue is plot-relevant

“Your fellow bus-mates all smelled their fates the moment they stood in the way of my mission of doom,” Zim equates bullying to standing in the way of his mission.

It’s genuinely hilarious that this isn’t a fate of the mission plot (just cause he says it is doesn’t make that true) but it’s not just a “getting rid of Dib” plot either, he hates ALL the kids in his class. This is made even better because Dib hates this entire class too, as we see later

There’s a little mistake with Zim’s eye while he’s talking here that ends up looking like a weird twitch, it stands out enough and is paired with dialogue so I always remember exactly where it is and what Zim’s saying during it

“Where are my walnuts?” I see many times where IZ successfully sets up and pays off jokes, but the setups themselves are often funny enough on their own that you can’t always tell what’s a a setup or not

Melvin still has the lollipop

Gir is still eating walnuts, so is this a continuity error?

“There, see? You can’t really tell but that stuff’s really itchy.” Very good gag

“My walnuts!!” Well if the 3d walnuts were in the bus the whole time, then now I don’t think it makes sense that they ever showed Gir eating walnuts.

Look I know in concept it’s funny, and I know the dramatic animation for the moose eating these walnuts is beautifully done for some reason, I also know it’s the basis for the episode, but I’m not entirely sold on the execution of this gag.

When a character on IZ is freaked out by something unreasonable, it’s usually either because it’s a background or side character being dumb or weird, or it’s Zim reacting to Earth things.

Dib is often more of the “straight man,” he tends to have some level of sense, so for him to go from unbothered to horrified because he’s watching the moose eat walnuts?? It kinda feels out of character and doesn’t have enough reasoning to be funny for me.

I love breaking down humor, so the joke here specifically is, I guess, that it doesn’t make sense to be afraid of a moose eating walnuts. And that can absolutely work, it just feels like it doesn’t work for Dib. And “he wasn’t afraid of it until he watched it eating walnuts” is probably a part of the joke too, but it just feels like they’re trying to have two contradicting jokes at once. (The jokes being; “Dib isn’t scared when Zim expects him to be” and Dib is scared of the nut-eating moose”)

Even further than that, maybe another subversion is that Dib of all people is afraid of the moose, but that doesn’t do it for me either.

I almost think this would’ve worked better if Dib was just scared of it from the start? Or that he’s just upset on the principal that this is Zim’s plan?? Something like that.

Disclaimer and acknowledgement that everyone has their own opinions on entertainment value, so if the moose is good enough for you then I’m happy you’re happy :)

Zim indulging Gir with “moosey fate” lol

The loud horror music that has no buildup when they show the moose again

Dib considering (technically) dying in order to make sure he’s not rescuing all his classmates in the process, he might actually hate them more than Zim does because I feel like Zim would save himself at all costs.

Or maybe Zim does hate them more, and he just cares for himself even more than that

Before Zim’s screen cuts out, you can hear Dib in the background saying “moose! moose! moose!” And that’s something I never noticed

Gir changing it to a dumb cartoon (and then getting yelled at for it) is so funny, a quick little gag like this is really helpful for still utilizing characters even when they’re supposed to be “doing nothing” (Zim’s just watching the cameras)

This last bit is amazing. Zim’s tantrum and hitting things while Gir copies him??

Comedic timing is also great because it wouldn’t have been as funny if Gir hadn’t sat in awkward silence for a second before turning on the TV

Dib’s role and impact: a definitive root-for-Dib episode. Dib is rightfully suspicious of Zim and his concerns get ignored or shamed the whole time. He still doesn’t get to make many choices in this one, but he’s definitely solidified and singled out as Zim’s archenemy by this point. (Probably before this point.)

Since the show often endears Zim to the audience, it’s hard not to be on his side when you watch the montage of Dib attacking him at the beginning, then you switch up later as they get put in distinct hero-villain roles for the conflict of the episode.

Obviously not a perfect hero, with Dib considering dooming himself so he won’t be saving his classmates, but in the end he decides himself plus the whole Earth, is worth the pain of rescuing his classmates too.

Obviously Dib knows what his classmates think of him, and maybe trying over and over is just something he does, but it seems really crazy how many times he’s still trying to convince his classmates. This feels a little like his pattern of expecting certain treatment or thinking himself more important than he actually is? Like he’s given them zero evidence to question this field-trip, he thinks his word alone should be convincing enough. (Even after seeing how often that doesn’t work.)

Anyway good for Dib in the end for being able to smile at his victory even while his classmates are glaring at him.

Was Dib a threat to Zim in this episode? Well he easily thwarted his plan thanks to what was probably an oversight on Zim’s part, a threat to Zim’s current goals, but not to Zim himself.

Hamstergeddon:

I’ll see what I think after paying intentional and detailed attention to this one, but from what I remember I think this episode is boring.

I can so distinctly hear Richard Horvitz in the crowd of concerned children

Zim seems unfamiliar with cuteness, but the crowd of Irkens in The Trial thought that one random smeet was cute (though this was before sending him to to dungeon for no reason, so that isn’t something that makes Irkens genuinely care for each other) so.. I don’t know, we can’t always have consistent lore

Zim, in his fantasy, makes these people kneel and then still kills them

One thing I do like on this one is how in Zim’s fantasy it’s just an upscaled model of Peepi, but when Zim actually enacts his plan Peepi quickly becomes a big Godzilla looking guy with different colors and proportions

Dib is suspicious of Zim. But unluckily for him, Zim doesn’t have to sleep and can go scheme during the night

This shot is really cool >:) aided by Zim’s super cool alien hands

Either Zim’s characterization is a lot different as it goes, on or he picks and chooses what to believe about situations (I’m kinda leaning towards the second option based on some ETF stuff that I’ll discuss when I get there) because in this he’s upset at first that people are clearly scared of Peepi and he wants them to be fearing him, but in ETF when he’s getting ignored in favor of the florpus and all the space-chaos, he hand-waves it away as “a show of respect.”

So does this general guy believe Dib about the “alien tampering” part?

These guys aren’t even kicking Dib out, they’re just pushing him to the ground and beating him up?? You can hear punching sound effects and everything while Dib is yelling???

ICONIC scene, so cute and funny. We all love Irken fun-dip thing

“Irken Elite” there’s a lot of things that Zim just says, but this is one that IS true

This scene is good material for those with “Irkens heal fast because alien stuff and PAK stuff” headcanons, it’s also interesting to see him knocked out considering Irkens don’t need to sleep Like what exactly does it mean in like a technical sense for an Irken to be knocked out? He sure did get back up quickly

It’s a quick shot, but Zim looks really funny riding on Gir here

They had a “crazy-bucket” on hand while on a mission to go take down a giant mutated hamster

I do love Zim adjusting his wig to show the audience that he just put it on

This wasn’t even about him he just hates Dib

“I dunno.” “Out there. In the stars.” You don’t often hear Zim speak so bored and monotone and it’s so funny here

(Why is he saying all this anyway? Was he just wanting to contradict Dib?)

I think there’s a lot that’s really great about this one, I’m just often not inclined to watch it. My current theories are: I just don’t think the joke that’s essentially “people saying Peepi a lot” is that funny? Maybe once or twice but not an entire episode (in my opinion)

This also feels pretty disjointed to me sometimes? It was hard to pay attention even for this, it’s like my brain starts shutting down in the final 3rd of the episode. (And then it tunes back in for things like Zim kicking Dib and having amazing line delivery) if I think really hard on it I may be able to figure out what the bigger issues I have with this one are.

I hadn’t checked until now but Career Day was the first episode where Zim is technically trying to enact a plan to take over Earth, the plan is just “get promoted to ruler of the planet at Macmeaties,” but it was really just circumstantial and him trying to take advantage of a convenient situation. In terms of actually using his tech and forming a plan himself, Hamstergeddon is more like the real first attempt we see from Zim. (That doesn’t mean he didn’t try anything offscreen and between episodes.)

(Paramount+ has these episode in the wrong order, I noticed that before but I didn’t realize to what extent, looking at the wiki though what I said about this being his first “conquer Earth” plan is still true.)

Dib’s role and impact: Dib is a 12 year old human child and thus has limitations in the narrative, this is one of the episodes where that’s apparent. He acts like he’s on even footing with Zim, and it only comes off that way due to Zim’s incompetency and pride. The level of what Zim could be actually doing with his resources is insane, and his flaws tend to hold him back from doing so, but from time to time we see how capable Zim is... capable of being. In episodes like this one, Zim’s choices (and tech) matter, and Dib’s really don’t.

So Dib: got suspicious of Zim but couldn’t stop him or warn people in time (not that it probably would’ve helped)

He gave the info he had to the army-whoever guys, but it was based only on stuff he observed, and thus wasn’t very helpful.

As part of breaking down Dib’s character; I’d say he often pats himself on the back for noticing small things (which you could argue is a symtom of growing up around people who don’t seem to notice anything). I’d also say he places WAY too much importance on himself. He’s more self-aware than Zim is, but this is still a trait the two have in common.

We have Dib’s dilemma of wether to kidnap Zim while he’s unconscious or save him so he can stop the hamster. It’s a pretty simple one, that turns out to not have ever been Dib’s choice in the first place. He asks for confirmation that Zim is going to take down ultra-Peepi, and he gets it, but again the things he does and says in this one seem to come from a place of importance that he just doesn’t have. If Zim says “no I’m gonna let the hamster kill everyone” then what would Dib actually be able to do about it? There are clearly episodes where Dib has an upper hand, but this isn’t one of them.

Dib, in his continuing of the role he believes himself to be in, tries to get the army guys to not attack Zim. It doesn’t work, and Zim has it handled. It’s really salt to a wound that Dib ends up in a “crazy-bucket,” that Zim then kicks over.

Was Dib a threat to Zim in this one? Absolutely not. I’m pretty sure this episode would’ve played out almost exactly the same if he wasn’t in it.

Dib was inconsequential, but at least he didn’t make anything worse.

[koopazap]

Invader Zim Rewatch Thoughts

Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars:

Richard Horvitz’ voice is just amazing and the intense emphasis on certain words is one of my favorite things ever

His face hahaha

[Stands there starting blankly ahead for 1 hour] I’m not sure when it started exactly, but there’s a point where they make it more and more obvious that Zim is defective. Even if they wouldn’t have put a word to it until The Trial, something is just very clearly wrong with him, he is a broken little machine-man.

“Once let loose on the surface It’ll eat the brains of all humans!” He appears to have only one of these things, so I don’t really see this plan working even if he did get to execute it

“I was the turkey! Meeee!!”

“Yes, so you were.” It’s hilarious when he humors Gir like this just for a second

“He’s not trying to raise the dead again is he?” Was Dib trying to bring back Galileo’s haters or something?

I guess it’s another indicator to the audience that Dib is in Zim’s computers, but they show some kind of diagram on Dib’s computer, and then the same diagram on one of Zim’s screens during the flashback

I love language barrier stuff so I really enjoy seeing Dib get this Irken text and then have it translated to English onscreen :] it’s just neat

Vortains and their lore is so cool, I’m still SO upset we never got more. Their designs are super good too

I love 777, he’s played by Wally Wingert :)

Also is he helping Zim with the hope/expectation that Zim will cause some horrible accident for the Irken empire? Or is he just accepting his fate? (I know Zim has his kids, but that only became canon in the comics)

DVD commentary says the resisty would’ve come back, and that in Dib’s space exploits he would’ve teamed up with them at some point, words cannot describe my sorrow at the cancellation of this show like there’s actually nothing else I can say about it.

Irkens don’t even need to eat, the resisty really need those snacks lol

I like how distinctly different every alien race’s stuff is like you immediately know when something’s Irken (even without the obvious logo) and in the case of the Resisty ship you can tell how distinctly different Vortian tech aesthetics are

The puppets again lol and I love how this little gag contrasts Red’s very serious “Identify yourselves.”

It’s so funny to me that all the Irken technicians are laughing too, we have many outside and inside sources that establish what the Irken race as a whole is like, but it’s always fun seeing more direct examples of how they really are just like that

Zim sure put that command chair together awful quick

Very neat lighting here

Good on Red for being on top of things honestly

It’s very fun when stuff is reflected in Zim’s eyes

Zim doesn’t seem to realize that it actually is normal for humans to just not answer the door, he didn’t need to send the roboparents

I think one of the other reasons we know there’s something wrong with Zim is how often he trusts Gir with something that he obviously shouldn’t be in charge of

“Tak’s ship must be really powerful if it’s more than a match for your entire base!” That’s actually a very good observation, but it could just mean Zim’s stuff isn’t very good (by Irken standards)

Zim activating the ai in Tak’s ship is really cool I love this part

Oh I didn’t notice that was like their logo, it says “resist or don’t”

“Royal audience” is funny when royalty is definitely not what The Tallest actually are (even if they’re addressed as my Tallest).

Who knows though, maybe there’s an argument to be made there about bug-stuff, or about random tall genes being some kind of equivalent to “royal blood”

“I’ll land the massive right on top of your landing-pad-sized monster of a head which is disturbingly large!” might be one of my favorite big-head Dib jokes

I’m assuming in all this confusion Dib was just too panicked to noice that this is a different spaceship

It’s very cool that they have a mobile ship-repair thing. We also know this must be HUGE. And that this is a comically large sponge:

Dib’s role and impact: alright, I’d say Dib did quite a good job, he had major extra resources this time and used them to the best of his ability. There wasn’t anything he could do once Zim activated the ship’s computer, but Zim and Dib weren’t the only ones involved and things could’ve been bad for the Earth if Dib hadn’t been trying to pilot the massive away this whole time.

Not a lot of Dib character stuff in this one (we see a more Zim-insight than Dib I’d say). We learn he planted a spy-bug in Zim’s base during Tak’s invasion. Which was a good chance to take, assuming at the time that they’d be able to defeat Tak.

We also learn that’s apparently he’s raised the dead before??

[koopazap]

Invader Zim Rewatch Thoughts

Attack of the Saucer Morons/The Wettening/Career Day:

Attack of the Saucer Morons:

Deelishus Weenie sighting except this time it’s spelled “Deliscous Weenee” (pretty sure that’s what I’m seeing, it’s very blurry and hard to make out)

Look how cute and clearly innocent he is

I think it’s hilarious that they give the bee like a normal face

“Surely that was no human bee” again he uses that descriptor like everything from Earth is “human-blank”

Zim’s computer choosing things that are in its database as normal human/Earth things, like pigs, and then utilizing those things in completely the wrong place feels reminiscent of modern ai

(I didn’t get to say this on my Nightmare Beings post, but the creation of Zim’s house is like that too. Gir, or Zim’s computer, or whoever, observes that every Earth house has a toilet, but doesn’t actually know what that is. Hence why it ends up in the kitchen. It’s a lot like how modern ai doesn’t actually know anything, it’s basically making (un)educated guesses.)

Good sound design for Zim pushing a guy outta the way

I’m not sure I noticed the big heels on Zim’s shoes in this disguise, is it so he can be just a teeny bit closer to human adult’s height?

Accidental lack of gloves miscolor >:0 he would never

I love how it looks when his other contact lens falls off

His faceeee D:

The little fear sequence really is terrifying, and for a guy who’s definitely killed many people they really make Zim endearing in this. Im like “aw poor guy, please don’t dissect him :(“ and the next time you see him he’s like flooding the entire city

But also uh, the fork?? Is that just to make it like “dw guys it’s silly we can show this” Or is this a case of Zim not understanding Earth things/somehow blowing things further out of proportion?

I still felt bad for Zim earlier, but I did completely forget that he almost ran over some children here. One of which seemed like it was gonna be completely intentional???

Gir’s interactions with Zim add a lot to this episode and it’s just a really great one in overall. It still feels like something’s missing since Dib has way less involvement early in the series, but Zim and Gir are very strong on their own.

6 or 7 years ago me (last time I was in my Zim phase) was too picky and would often want to avoid the episodes where Zim’s teeth and finger count hadn’t been changed yet, obviously I still prefer the 3 fingers thing, it’s just so much cooler, but girl get over it there’s still VERY good ones early on lol

No Dib, so he gets no analysis.

The Wettening:

It’s not consistent throughout this episode, but first sighting of Zim with 3 fingers :O!! His teeth are still squared lol

You can’t blame Zim at all for being concerned by thunder

Yeah Zim’s already got 4 fingers again, and throughout the episode it switches over and over

Zim not paying enough attention to just steal Gaz’s umbrella is a great gag, very in-character for him to be blinded by his own ideas. It’s also a great touch that he wasn’t even listening to her threats lol

“Score nothing for the Zim-thingy race.” I’m still keeping track of when Dib does and does not know about things like “the Irken race,” so once again with this part they’re establishing Dib’s knowledge (or lack thereof)

What kind of un-subtle binoculars are those? It’s interesting the eye on it has a distinct pupil considering Irkens don’t have that, but I guess it might’ve been confusing to the audience if it was just an orb

Also; since he dropped it, Dib has some Irken technology. I know they don’t show him take it but like he MUST have? I’ll be disappointed in Dib if he didn’t take those.

“Pretty obvious who the superior being is here” The way Dib steps forward here is one of many random bits of animation that stick in my brain (also Dib you couldn’t be more wrong)

Dib: [warns nobody to stand back from his slingshot that extends very far]

The sound effects when Zim’s hologram turns off are so cool

I often don’t like 3d parts in 2d shows/movies but something about the stuff in Zim just really fits and often looks really great, this part in particular is amazing I’ve always been obsessed with this part. What’s funny about it though is that since it was animated separately, Zim’s got his very sick gloves with the right amount of fingers, but the 3d robo-hands still have 4 lol

It really is the best part that he has to aim the balloon to drop precisely on Dib

The model and color for this guy’s drink is exactly the same as the ones that The Tallest had at the end of The Nightmare Begins, they also have the same ones again during the flashback to Zim’s re-encoding (I literally only noticed this because I was looking for “Irken snack” references while drawing The Tallest the other day)

Truly what is wrong with Zim? He’s not even phased by the destruction of his house. I guess just because he won?? And then he drowns. first impermanent death in the series (of a main character.)

Dib’s role and impact:

He watched Zim discover rain and its affects on him. Zim would’ve been scared of the rain either way, and I’m not sure I’d say Dib made it much worse, but he did use it against him.

Dib’s focus on his goals means that he tends to ignore others, he was so focused on going and attacking Zim that he didn’t seem to notice or care when he splashed Gaz too.

Dib also hypes himself up for discovering Zim’s weakness to water “I swear even I scare myself with how amazingly I can-“

Which is not impressive. It’s not hard to stand there and watch Zim start screaming when he walks into the rain lol If the Skool kids weren’t so dumb I’d say they probably noticed too

Dib also promises vengeance after Zim startles him into falling in a puddle. Which is funny, because I’m pretty sure everything he puts Zim through the next day is stuff he would’ve done regardless.

“Now that I have access to your, waterballoon technology-“ yeah great job Dib, you showed him water balloon technology. /s

In all seriousness I’m sure Zim could’ve found some other plan. It’s possible that he wouldn’t have drowned the whole city, but I find I can’t really blame Dib for this one. It wasn’t the usual taunting, which tends to spur Zim on to do something horrible, he just threw a water balloon at him.

Dib seems embarrassed in front of the class later when Zim doesn’t fight back, but he also isn’t paying enough attention not to hit someone in the face with his balloon launcher.

Was Dib a threat to Zim in this one? Well he was causing Zim pain, but it’s not like he was trying to use it to expose him or anything, he was more just antagonizing Zim with it lol

It is the case that if Zim didn’t discover the water-repelling properties of paste then Dib would’ve continued to antagonize him with it even on days where it doesn’t rain, so in that way this was a looming threat. But once he did figure it out, it wasn’t hard for him to go overboard in getting payback, there was nothing Dib could’ve done.

Career Day:

Zim’s got his updated teeth design now too but I feel we’re still gonna see some inconsistencies with his finger count

I love when they give him the evil triangular pupils (it’s very fun to draw him with those)

JV’s performance as Simon the MacMeatie’s employee is one of my favorites

Zim riding on Simon’s bike handlebars

Bill’s scathing “you think those things are real?” After Dib listed Bigfoot and DINOSAURS is SO funny to me and his line delivery is amazing

I’m not really sold on the galactic equinox alien molt thing, I can see some equivalent being funny but it was probably hard to think of something like this that Dib would be able to find out about second-hand (considering no human would know anything about Irkens by this point.) It just doesn’t make sense to me that Irkens, who have “mostly artificial” bodies, would be affected by something like this. And what even qualifies as an alien in this case? Would this happen to Dib if he were on, say, Mars during the equinox? I just can’t include this in my mental repository of Irken lore. It’s a shame because the rest of the episode is really funny

Wait he says “living off their own planet?” Is that different than just being off their own planet?

“We have to catch the ALIEN!” Amazing Dib line delivery. His voice actor Andy Berman is part of my mental list of “guys who have great voices but the have like 3 voice acting roles max and so I wish they did more voice acting”

The sound that alien plush makes is another thing that’s been stuck in my brain for years.

(Also as an update; I’m pretty sure Zim consistently has 4 fingers the whole episode, which is funny since he kept the new teeth design. I’m curious how this miscommunication could’ve come about lol)

There’s really not a ton to talk about in this episode? There’s not a lot of note about the characters or anything, and I think it’s because Zim and Dib don’t do as much as usual to push the plot along. It’s mainly things happening to them, and so their choices do almost nothing throughout. That makes this not a character-driven story, as this series usually tells.

Dib’s role and impact: I’d say this one is more of a Dib episode, good for him for getting what he wanted from the career machine.

Again, there’s not a lot to analyze in this one. Dib basically acts how we’d expect him to. I don’t think I’d call him much of a threat because he didn’t seem to have a plan. He wanted to get there before the molt, but then what? And why was it too late to catch Zim when it was already happening?

[koopazap]

Invader Zim Rewatch Thoughts

Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain/ Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy:

Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain:

It’s very funny when Zim gets flustered in front of The Tallest, it’s really great for his character to be as self-idolizing as he is and still have someone he’s worried about impressing

The irony of Zim telling GIR that the house must have a “defective ai brain” that needs replacing.

Because of The Trial, “defective” is like a trigger word in the fandom, so it’s funny to hear it being used in regards to other Irken technology

Where does he get things like a spare ai brain for the house? For someone who was banished twice, he has an insane amount of tech at his disposal. It gets more farfetched all the time lol

(But maybe this is a low bar for Irkens and their stuff is just that good)

We all know it’s insane for Zim to put up with Gir, but seeing Zim dumb things down so Gir will pay attention means he knows there’s a problem here. Somehow Zim works around Gir’s defectiveness, instead of trying to fix it (at least until Gir Goes Crazy and Stuff)

How did he float over there? Do we actually know?? There’s a little accompanying hover sound so was he supposed to be using some kind of thing from his PAK and it just isn’t animated?? Or is it another nonsensical cartoon thing we’re meant to ignore?

Noooo 4-fingered Zimmmm they’ve let me down!! (he goes back to normal literally immediately after this)

This whole sequence is VERY well done, Gir’s face as his brain gets downloaded, Zim’s screams are really funny here, the animation for the smoke pouring out of the machine is great, and his antennae doing the little forward surprised thing??

I don’t think I can describe to you how funny (and kinda creepy) it is to me, how Gir is conscious and in the house, but sits there in total silence until Zim tries to use the elevator. This is enhanced by the lack of music until

It’s killing me how hard he throws Gir’s body down

I’m obsessed with the chaos music that starts the moment Gir starts bringing out appliances, and even more so the stuff that plays when he turns on all the TV screens

Little guy in the window

I’ve seen someone talk about it before, but this show has some impressive camera angles sometimes. There’s a shot I love that seems to be from the pov of Zim’s ceiling, and you can see the wires swaying as Gir walks

Zim’s still yelling while Gir is ordering food, and this is the only part I can distinctly hear: “Gir! I can’t even begin to think of the punishment for this unspeakable act of insubordination!”

And, uh, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t punish him. It looks like he just puts him back in his body and lets him eat his tacos lol

Zim taking the tacos hostage is a good way to restore any power at all to Zim in this situation. And it’s a good thing that could hold Gir’s attention long enough not only to get home, but to cooperate and let Zim put him back in his own body

They get across so much personality just through these faceless parts of the house that Gir’s controlling, it’s very well done

Cute little smile

I saw this episode as a kid FAR more than any other (because my siblings and I liked Gir and nobody else) so this one is so ingrained in my brain it feels like a weird dream whenever I rewatch it.

No Dib analysis because he’s not in this one, do you think he checked in on Zim, who was sitting still in his house for a year? (I’m joking, we’re not getting into that, we all know it’s just a gag, one of those “it happened but also it didn’t happen because it has no consequences” things.)

Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy:

Membrane’s ADR here is amazing, I keep reciting this entire scene

He didn’t have to go so far in the past to send the hunter-destroyer machine, please, this boy must be like 6 years old at the very most

Zim’s having such a good time planning the extermination of such a young child like this decision takes zero deliberation for him

Zim gets in his own way so much he won’t utilize all his tech to just kill present Dib, the way he very easily could, he always needs it to be some convoluted “brilliant plan”

THIS GRAPHIC I completely forgot about this broooo he’s so ready to kill that baby. Look how small Dib is, his little hair spike is so cute

The worst that Dib has done against Zim by this point is to get one picture of him out of disguise. (Torturing him with water was pretty bad too, but we saw how Zim was able to deal with that.)

So far, Zim tends to overestimate Dib, as well as mankind in general. His mission as an invader is to “discover the planet’s weaknesses,” or in some way “make sure the planet is vulnerable for the armada.” However Earth, in so many ways, is so ill-prepared for something like that, that if Irkens actually wanted it, they wouldn’t need Zim to do anything. They could just show up

“Leave a nasty note on his door” is tragic and Gaz is giving him brutal honesty about it

I love Gir’s infinite head storage

[Gir walking outside without his disguise] Zim please keep your dog in check

Gir staring blankly out the window at Dib while he bangs on the door is INSANELY funny and I forgot about it so it caught me off guard

I love how ideas on IZ are approved and then made FAR more violent with the use of sound effects, it doesn’t look like the paramedic is hitting Dib that hard with the piggies but it definitely sounds like he is

Does this guy really look like he did anything wrong?

Amazing camera stuff again with the up-close shot of the monitor’s pixels when it’s showing Membrane

The family picture pleaseee

The way the use of more pigs is adding more artillery to Dib’s mech suit is such a great addition

It’s pretty fun how Membrane is technically opposing Zim and foiling his plan, even while Zim still perceives it as himself vs Dib (kinda like how Gaz intervenes in Nano-Zim)

Now that Dib is in a full mech-suit he appears to have a far more useful robot hand than the claw-hand he had before

PLEASE help Zim bruh I guess he deserves it for almost succeeding in murdering a little kid

Also Zim putting “love,” in a letter to himself

Dib’s role and impact: most of the plot was out of his own control, it is fun to see little snippets of Dib’s younger childhood (even if it’s to watch Zim ruin it.) We see Dib being a hypocrite to his sister (a very typical sibling dispute) but we also see his resolve to follow his passion even after all these “accidents.”

We already knew this, but here’s proof for everyone that Zim and Dib are both 100% willing and wanting to kill each other