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Last updated 5-jul;25,24,5,4,3-jun;24,04-may-2001
Animated, two eps per half-hour, Friday nights 21:00, Nickelodeon. Title logotype dots each "I" with a cyclopean eye. Sometimes spelled "Invader ZiM" or "Invader ZIM".
Defining features of Irken technology: colors (red, purple, grey, black), non-physically-articulated sections (typically legs), size-collapsibility.
All names in the credits below should be taken as provisional; they're transcribed from the fuzzy low-res end-credits. The crew changes slightly between eps; each set is separated by a slash.
Ep 2 Cast Richard Horvitz: Zim/Scientist Rosearik Rikki Simons: Gir/Squeek Andy Berman: Dib Melissa Fahn: Gaz Rodger Bumpass: Prof.Membrane Danny Cooksey: Keef/Melvin/Dirge Joan Garry: Mysterious Mysteries Narrator Antoinette Spolar: Popular Girl/Gretchen/Reporter Mr.Scolex: Computer Voice
Ep 3 Cast Kerri Keavey: Bus driver/woman in clown suit/bank teller Michael McDonald: Robodad/electronic voice Diane Michelle: Avon lady/?Mrs.Slounch/Earth mother Dwight Schultz: Announcer/?Mr.Slounch/Earth father Lucille ?Bliss: Ms.Bitters/Woman #2 Scott Bullock: Mr.Elliot/pedestrian/policeman Rodger Bumpass: Prof.Membrane/Deep voiced man Mio Collins: Robomom/Woman #1
Ep 5 Cast Rodger Bumpass: Prof.Membrane Frank Conniff: ?Bollyfrank Mary Scheer: Trudy/Yoa/Giggling Club Girl Mr.Scolex: Computer voice/cop Fred Tatasciore: Flapp Richard Horvitz: Zim/Radio Rosearik Rikki Simons: Gir/Kid/Bystander Andy Berman: Dib/Kids Melissa Fahn: Gaz/Kids Lucille ?Bliss: Ms.Bitters
Ep 6 Cast Richard Horvitz: Zim Andy Berman: Dib/Busboy Melissa Fahn: Gaz Lucille Bliss: Ms.Bitters ?Brad Abbel: announcer ?Matt Ballard: Gate Guard/fan ?Roger Bumpass: Prof.Membrane/Slup ?Danny Cooksey: Melvin/Customer/Crex ?David Mephan: Slepter/Smirky Quad ?Janus Kawaye: Sara/Child/Autograph kid ?Adam Paul: Pill/Spoo ?Mr.Scolex: Shunk/Simon/Brian ?Andre Soliuzzo: Shift captain/Count Cocofang/Clerk
Created by Jhonen Vasquez
Executive producers: Mary Harrington, Jhonen Vasquez
Producer: Steve Ressel
Line producers: Monique Beatty, Christine Griswold
Head writers: Jhonen Vasquez, Frank Conniff
Original music by: Kevin Manthei
Main title theme music by: Mark Tortorici
Additional music by: 0/Jean-Paul Bondy, Jon Drukman/?
End credit music by: Kevin Manthei
(Cast listed here)
Casting director: Donna Grillo Gonzales
Casting coordinator: Anna Henry
Original character design: Jhonen Vasquez
Character design: John Fountain, Aaron Alexovich
Storyboard supervisor: Louie Del Carmen
Storyboard revisionists: ?/Joseph Daniello, Miyuki Hoshikawa/Joseph Daniello, Miyuki Hoshikawa, Maureen Mascarina
Original character design: Jhonen Vasquez
Character design: John Fountain, Aaron Alexovich
Prop design: ?/3 Eric Brown, Taesoo Kim, Jeff Wong/Eric Brown, Jeff Wong
FX design: Kathleen Quaife
Design clean-up: Aaron Alexovich
Background design: Spencer C. Davis, Jairo Lizarazu, Maurice F. Morgan II
Background clean-up: Laura Cragg, Jin Sur
Color director: Jean-Paul Bondy
Color designers: Addis Hachnazarian, Chris Haynie, Kersti Myrberg, Ron Russel, Rosearik Rikki Simons / " / Chris Hayaio, Merril Myrberg, Roa Russel, Rosearik Rikki Simons, Addie Hahguzarian
Timing supervisors: Ken Bruce / 1/2
Sheet timers: Charlie Cooper, Juli Hashiguchi, Elizabeth Kwon, Soonjin Mooney
Animatic supervisor: Paul Finn
Animatic editors: Ted Machold, Kevin Zelch
Track readers: Michael Edmonds, Marc Honess, Judy Montes
Final checker: William K. Exter
CGI animation by: Nick Digital
Special thanks to: Alison Dexter, Joel Krasnove
CG supervisor: John Sore / 1 / 2
CG animation: ?/5 Rob Baldwin, Ernest Chan, John Sore, Donny Sorvala, Hanzhi Tang/Ernest Chan, Donny Sorvala
Supervising recording engineer: Krandal Crews
Recording engineer: Justin Brinsfield
Production dialogue supervisor: Tony Ostyn
Dialogue editors: Matt Brown, Devon Bowman
Production coordinators: 4 Brent Crowe, Sean Schelberg, Lisa Yang, Brandi Young/"/2
Script coordinator: Danielle Koenig/"/1
Production assisant: Sandra Mohr/"/1
Executive assistants: Matt Doughery, Candice Ginby, Anna Henry
Interns: Dominique Brown, David Bruggeman, Heather Chavez, Maria Giffen, Christina Paulos, Dameon Pearson
Post productions supervisor: Jason Stiff
Supervising picture editor: Christopher Hink
Audio post production: Salami Studios
Sound design/sound effects editor: Paul Menichini
Foley mixer: Jeremy Ritts
Foley artist: Sanaa Cannella
Re-recording mixer: Gregory Cathcart
Color timing: Encore Video
DaVinci colorist: Dexter P.
Post production faciltiy: Hollywood Digital, Barry Cohen
Animation services: ?Sotwoo Entertainment
Overseas supervisor: ?Derek Eversfield
Overseas layout directors: ?Young Chae Kim, ?Dunc Hman Oh
Overseas key animation directors: ?Chebl Kang, ?Chang Keon Now
Overseas studio managing director: ?Kin Joo Suk
Executive in charge of production: Lolee Aries
Prodcution executive: Eric Coleman
Invader Zim
Nicktoons logo "Invader Zim" and all related logos, titles and characters are trademarks of Viacom International Inc. 2001 Viacom International Inc. All rights reserved.
(C)2001 Viacom International Inc. All rights reserved. "Invader Zim" and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarkes of Viacom International Inc.
Abstract: In the alien IRKEN society, height determines social status, and what three-foot ZIM lacks in stature he overcompensates with in enthusiasm -- but not competence. Accordingly, his superiors (THE TALLEST) honor him with a solo mission, packing him off in a single-seat scoutcraft; they even provide him with G.I.R., supposedly a superior model of Standard Intelligence Retrieval unit, but actually an insane pile of junk. Unfortunately for all concerned, Zim actually discovers a planet ripe for conquest (EARTH), and decides to handle the job himself.
Landing one night in the space between two suburban homes, Zim quickly devises disguises for himself and Gir, then programs and plants the mech-seed that grows into a disguised hanger and entrance to his new underground base. His interpretation of Earthen customs is a bit faulty -- Gir's dog disguise is green, the toilet is in the kitchen, there's a poster that reads "I EAT FOOD", and his robotic pseudo-parents have wheels. Regardless, his neighbors somehow don't notice the mech-roots penetrating their walls.
Location: amphitheater aboard an alien space station. The assembled elite of the IRKEN ARMY wait in anticipation of their two leaders, THE ALMIGHTHY TALLEST (TAT), to preside over this ceremony, THE GREAT ASSIGNING. At the front of the theater, a pair of spindly projector booms unfold from the ceiling, and a starmap appears between them. A platform drops from the proscenium inverted-dome and hovers towards the floor; riding it are the Tallest, RED and PURPLE. They're arguing stagecraft: "Everything is lasers with you. I'm telling you, smoke machines is what -- aah!" screams Red(?) as a laser hits him in the eye.
TAT welcome the throng as the finest examples of Irken military training. A dozen soldiers are arrayed on a crescent-shaped platform behind them; these are the selected superior for OPERATION IMPENDING DOOM II. "These less-superior-than-us but still-quite-superior soldiers," have each been chosen for a solo mission; to travel to a target planet, blend in with the population, and assess its weaknesses.
The first soldier steps forward: INVADER LUR. He had been assigned to the PLANET BLORCH, home of the slaughtering rat people, but due to his increased height, TAT reassign him to PLANET VORT, home of the universe's most comfortable couch. Next is INVADER SPLEEN...
(Outside the station, a small purple craft rushes madly into the traffic pattern, barging in between two huge battlewagons. Its pilot enters the crowd and shoves his way forward to the stage.)
...and finally INVADER SCOOGE. "Oh, this is just sad," TAT say, regarding the short, wide soldier with food stains on his tunic. They notice the approaching commotion in the crowd. "That voice -- it can't be," they breathe. "*Zim*." INVADER ZIM mounts the platform, and tells them they're lucky he arrived despite his invitation being lost. "You *weren't* invited. Weren't you banished to Foodcourtia?" TAT asks. "Shouldn't you be *frying* something?" Zim explains that when he learned of the Great Assigning, he quit. "You quit being banished?" He reminds them of his role in Operation Impending Doom I...
(Flashback: Zim, commanding a giant attack walker, executing carnage and destruction, laughing maniacally -- despite the protests of its crew that they're still on the home planet.)
..."I put the fires out," Zim defends. "You made them *worse*," disagrees TAT. "Worse? Or *better*?" he stresses. They try to dissuade him -- no invader has ever been so *small*, but he begs: "Invader's blood marches through my veins, like giant radioactive pants! The pants command me! Do not ignore my veins!" They give him a sandwich, and still he protests.
Suddenly, a plan: they will send him to a planet so mysterious, no one has even heard of it. And those who have, dare not speak its name. "What's it called?" he asks eagerly. "Oh, I dare not speak it." TAT hovers over to the starmap and finds a note taped to the extreme edge: "Planet?" Now that it's decided: retire to the equipment hall.
(On Earth, human DIB crouches on the roof of his house, dish antenna feeding distant signals to a laptop PC analyzer. He overhears the plot of invasion. "They're coming," he realizes. He leaps off the roof, slides down a gutter pipe, and falls through the kitchen window into the sink. He rushes to his father, PROF.MEMBRANE, dressed in high-collared labcoat and goggles. "Dad! They're coming! I actually heard them!" he insists, tugging at the coat's hem. "Not now, son, I'm making--" there's a zap of lightning, "--toast!" His little sister GAZ is equally uninterested.)
In the equipment hall, TAT extol the virtues of the STANDARD-ISSUE INFORMATION RETRIEVAL (SIR) unit with which each Invader will be paired. "It's also a thermos. Who wants one?" He slings it into the crowd. A narrow track snakes out from an upper-level equipment pod to the dais, and a supply of SIRs slides down, in collapsed mode. The first Invader walks up, and the first SIR drops from the line, unfolding, red eyes aglow, and rushes to do its master's bidding.
Zim steps up; nothing happens. "We have a top secret model for you, Zim," TAT1 promises him while TAT2 rummages in a garbage bin. He screws together some parts, then tosses it to the floor. It lies there, inert. "It looks kind of -- not good," says Zim, skeptical. "Oh, that's what you're *supposed* to think," TAT1 assures him. It wakes, calls itself GIR, starts punching its own head, then hops around upside-down, humming happily.
Zim and GIR launch in Zim's vootrunner, the Invader ready to bring doom upon the puny aliens.. "I'm gonna sing the doom song now," says the robot. "Doom doom doom doom, doom doom, doom doom doom..."
Abstract: To maintain his covert status, Zim enrolls in the local "Skool", where he's assigned to the class of the snakelike and hyper-bitter MS.BITTERS. The only person to notice anything amiss is fellow student and alien conspiracy theorist DIB.
Six months later, Zim is slumped in his seat drooling with boredom, while Gir is still singing the doom song. They've finally reached the target world, Earth. "...doom doom, doom doom, the end," Gir sings. They drop into the atmosphere, and based on Gir's high-speed observations of what is normal for the natives, they will make their disguises and home.
Gir lands the vootrunner between two houses on a suburban cul-de-sac. They get out, and the ship reconfigures into a disguise-maker. "I saw a squirrel," says Gir. "I want to be a mongoose." Zim selects a disguise, and steps forward into the device. "Aaaah! Why does it hurt!?" He steps out with contact lenses and a wig. Now Gir's turn: "Can I be a mongoose dog?" He emerges as a green dog with a leash.
Zim pulls a cylindrical device from his pocket, unfolds a screen and stylus. He quickly sketches out a house, restows the GUI, and twists the device; a drill emerges. He places it on the lawn and it quickly spins out of sight. He rushes out to hide behind a fire hydrant, and warns Gir, "Be quiet! We can't afford to make a sound!" The drill stops, and begins to sprout. Metal roots shoot from the ground, lifting the vootrunner into the air. Other tendrils form the frame of a house, and energy beams trace the walls. Further runners punch into the houses on either side. An underground complex of spheroid modules expands. Onto the front lawn emerge four garden gnomes, two pink puffer fish and a pink flamingo. And all the car alarms in the neighborhood go off.
Neighbors open their front doors to stare at the commotion. Zim takes Gir's leash and nonchalantly strolls to his front door (labeled with a triangular MENS ROOM sign). It opens and a pair of robot humans roll out. "Welcome home, son!" they spark.
Zim enters the kitchen (which contains a toilet under a poster reading I EAT FOOD) and steps into the garbage can. He descends to his lab, and starts searching for the fastest way to learn about this filthy planet...
***
Location: a classroom in a building labeled SKOOL. "Class, I would like to introduce the newest useless appendage to the student body," says MS.BITTERS, an ancient, snakelike crone. Zim steps forward. "I am a perfectly normal filthy human worm baby -- just pay no attention to me." In the front row, Dib stares at him, jaw hanging open, arm pointed and quivering.
"Today's lecture is about outer space and how it will eventually *implode* upon itself," Ms.Bitters begins. Zim raises a hand and asks about the planet's defenses. She pauses. "As I was saying, the universe is just *doomed*," and a bug crawls across her face.
Dib stands up. "Am I the only one who sees the alien here?" His classmates look vaguely around the room. "Over there!" Zim reaches nervously for his self-destruct cuff, but relaxes when it becomes obvious no one believes Dib. "What about his horrible green head!" Dib asks. "It's a skin condition," insists Zim. "And he's got no ears! Is that part of your skin condition, Zim, is it?" Zim looks sadly at his desktop. "Yes." His classmates scoff; he's always going on about aliens, ghosts, Bigfoot in his garage. "It was using the belt sander," says Dib quietly. The bell rings. "--Doomed, doomed, doomed," finishes Ms.Bitters, having completely ignored the exchange. "Go home now." Kids flow out the classroom windows.
On the front steps of the school, Dib confronts Zim, tells him he's the vindication of his search, and brandishes a pair of ALIEN SLEEP CUFFS, ordered from a UFOzine and guaranteed to render any alien lifeform unconscious. He lunges -- Zim dodges. They chase away from the school, past cars, through streets and alleys, over a crate of oranges. Zim crashes into an ice cream truck, which is solemnly proclaiming (in an Austrian accent) that "your existence is meaningless without ice cream." The onto the roof of a schoolbus, which stops suddenly as tosses Zim onto a nearby fence. "See you, Dib," Zim waves. "Pitiful human," he sneers. A dog attacks him. He crawls out of the bushes, cut and bruised, then kicks Dib in. Using the distraction, he contacts GIR, who flies over. Dibs climbs aboard, and they rush away at dizzying speed, leaving an obvious exhaust trail.
GIR crashes into the door of the house, and they rush in. Dib appears out of the slowly-dissipating vapor trail, and stalks up to the door. "You can't hide forever!" he calls. "And if you can, I can wait forever! I've been preparing all my life!" Guns emerge from the eyes of the lawn gnomes, which turn to track him. The invaders listen from inside. "Okay, I'm gonna go home now. And prepare some more."
***
Aboard the Irken flagship, the TAT oversee operations. The bridge techs report an incoming transmission from Earth -- it's *Zim*, who reports the invasion goes well. TAT1 drops his drink, shocked silent. "You're alive?" "Yes, so very alive," answers Zim, Gir hanging above him. "and full of goo. Mission goo! Don't be surprised if I conquer the planet before the armada even gets here." He signs off, and Gir falls from the ceiling onto him. "Ah! My spine!" The TAT look at each other.
Credits: Written by Rob Hummel, Roman Dirce, Jhonen Vasquez. Directed by Steve Ressel. Storyboard by The Graham Bros.
Richard Horvitz: Zim/Scientist Gir/Squeek Andy Berman: Dib Melissa Fahn: Gaz Rodger Bompass : Prof.Membrane Danny Cooksey : Keef/Melvin/Dirge Joan Garry : Mysterious Mysteries Narrator Antoinette Spolar: Popular Girl/Gretchen/Reporter Mr.Scolex: Computer Voice
Abstract: The other students are making snide comments about Zim having no friends, and he fears discovery. He selects a best friend from the rejects at the corner table, who are flattered -- until he unveils the tests. "We begin by testing absorbancy," spilling a carton of milk on a table and using their heads as Downy. "Next, electrical conductivity." Finally, something involving a beaver and toy taxi. Then tries to discard Geez, but he won't go. Arranges a surprise party for Zim. Gives him a gift-wrapped box -- which plucks out his eyeballs and replaces them with cyborg implants. Zim then hypnotically convinces him the squirrel in the yard is him.
Peas. Shoved into food. The girl notes that he's been here long enough to at least make some loser friends -- like that creepy kid Dib (who looks up at his name), or the losers in the corner. "What kind of kid doesn't have any friends? It's unhuman." Zim thinks, looks around, searches. "I'm looking for a friend. Would you be--" "I was born with webbed fish-toes. Like some kind of horrible fish boy. Would you like to see?" Squealy boy. "Who among you feels they are worthy enough to be my best friend?" Tests absorbancy, electrical conductivity; final test involves a squirrel and toy taxi. "We have a winner! What is your name, friend?" KEEF. Keef hugs Zim. "Don't touch me." Drags him along floor to girls, who tell him to get lost. "Very well. I am going to get lost. But notice I am getting lost with my best friend." Uses him as bat in tether-ball. Art class portraits. Walk down corridor, waving to the crowd. Go to Zim's house: Keef suggests tomorrow, the circus. "But now that the world seems satisfied with you, my need for companionship is over. Good job, soldier. Away with you." Picture, Keef on phone -- and on other line. Impulsively ulls it out of wall. Sees him pass on sidewalk on bike. "Gir!" He falls from the ceiling. Goes to lab: don't let anyone in. Down toilet. Ring. "Leprechauns!" says Gir, and dons suit.
Zim returns -- and sees Keith in the kitchen, cooking bacon and waffles. Throws him bodily out. Gir follows, takes the bacon. Can walk to school; Keef figures Zim is sick. Tells Gir: throw a surprise party to cheer him up. Important that it be a surprise. "Meow."
Gir enters, dumps bag of party supplies on table. "What are you doing?" asks Zim, and Gir denies it. "Nothing? Or *something*?" Must bake cake. "He's bringing all the children to our secret lair?" Something must be done, or the whole population of Earth will appear on our doorstep!
At lunch, Keef handing out invites, including the girl. "Oh, you mean the freak, with that one friend that makes him even freakier? I don't think so." Crumples and throws it. He looks at other four loser kids.
In lab, Zim works feverishly on device. Keef can bring nothing but trouble -- imagines crowd with torches. He's imprisoned in a vertical tank, in the center of his living room, around which kids ring-dance; others ride a roller coaster through the house. He looks at the clock and works faster.
Class lets out. Slo-mo run led by Keef. Slo-mo Zim. Slo-mo Gir baking.
"I've never been to a party before," says one kid. "Do they hurt?" asks the girl with braces.
Keef runs up to the house first, and Zim admits him. Holds out a wrapped gift. For me? Tears it open, and robot talons yank out his eyeballs, replace them with cyborg implants. "Silence! When I snap my fingers, the next living thing you see you will believe to be your best friend." Zim unfolds his legs, hides in ceiling. Squirrel outside. "Humans and their *friendship*," he sneers. "Invaders need no one. No one!" He falls.
Keef points the squirrel out to his friends, runs after. "Forget this weirdo," says fish-boy. Keef follows the squirrel onto the fence, up onto a house, then falls off the roof. "You don't like waffles?" he asks. Inside, Gir continues to bake.
Written by Jhonen Vasquez, Rob Hummel. Directed by Steve Ressel. Storyboard by Kyle Menke, Shawn Murray.
Abstract:
Returning to THE HOUSE, Zim's robot GIR carelessly leaves the front door open. A ninja-clad figure (DIB) sneaks in and climbs across the walls and ceiling, and when ZIM appears from his UNDERGROUND LAB to scold him, Dib snapps photographic proof of him without his human disguise. He escapes through the window (also left open).
Gir comes home, slurping. Leaves door open. Lab. Sec breach reported. Zim's bkpk work on, levitate to. Endtable "I got chocolate bubblegum!" "With an entire planet waiting for our guard to drop, we can't let our guard get all - droppy." Laser weasel experiment -- "I think they're ripe by now." Intruder alert. Leap-evades, out window. Evades gnome-guns.
Next day in lunch, Dib gloats Zim not in class. Game, 13 levels.
The next day, Dib prepares to mail the photo disk to the TV program "MYSTERIOUS MYSTERIES OF STRANGE MYSTERY" ("Are there aliens among us? ... and that answer is a resounding: maybe"), when he suddenly loses control of his arms. Distracted, Gaz threatens him. "I'm letting you live this time, Dib, but only because I'm getting through this last level." She leaves.
A picture of Zim appears on the LIVING ROOM TV. He gloats that he's infiltrated Dib's body, piloting a tiny submersible (it was hidden amid the peas at lunch). "Arm control nerve?...in my *belly*?" Funny story: tells, cafeteria. He forces Dib to crush the disk -- but Dib sneers, you think that was the only copy? The original is hidden in a safe place. Zim adjusts his plan: he'll erase Dib's memory of that location -- and then destroy his intelligence, just to be safe. "And as an added bonus, I might as well make your entire brain - not smart - no more." Prof.Membrane-shaped lamp.
Dib rushes to the BASEMENT LAB of his father, PROF.MEMBRANE, and asks for the MICROSCOPIC NANOSHIP and REMOTE-CONTROL UNIT he'd created. "There's an alien in my guts and he's trying to destroy my brain." He carries them back to the living room, swallows the nanosub, and starts piloting. Follows flags. "With Dib reducd to a drooling moron, nothing will stand in my way, not even drool!"
His younger sister GAZ enters, mistakes the controller for a handheld video game. Is that Zim -- an online game?
Spleen, trachea. Inhales, and fall into lungs. Quarter-circle-back to transform. "When you die, can I play?" and starts asking to play criticizing his technique.
Dib and Zim battle through the body. Both nanosubs transform to robot mode. Zim fires a paralyzing spike into a neural nexus, and Dib loses coordination. "Arms - like - noodles!" Zim rushes off to the brain, while Gaz takes over the game. "He's in my head! Knowledge - losing - brain - poop." She arrives, just after he's eradicated the disk memory, as he's charging to destroy Dib's mind. "And now, to unleash stupidity upon your entire brain ... I'll finish the rest of your brain after I destroy your junky - junk thing." Wham! Bang! Dib flops all over the couch, tears at it with his teeth. The game master delivers a series of stunning blows to the alien, severing the control pod from the robot; it spirals away.
Gaz enters her name as high-scorer. "That game was stupid." Dib regains control of his body, and gloats at Zim, still on the TV screen, reeling from the shock of defeat. "Now, for my finishing move." He heads for the bathroom. A flushing sound is heard.
Credits: Written by Jhonen Vasquez, Rob Hummel. Directed by Steve Ressel.
Kerri Keavey: Bus driver/woman in clown suit/bank teller Michael McDonald: Robodad/electronic voice Diane Michelle: Avon lady/Mrs.Slouch/Earth mother Dwight Schultz: Announcer/Mr.Slounch/Earth father Lucille Bliss: Ms.Bitters/Woman #2 Scott Bullock: Mr.Elliot/pedestrian/policeman Rodger Bumpass: Prof.Membrane/Deep voiced man Mio Collins: Robomom/Woman #1
Abstract: Zim is forced to attend Parent-Teacher Night, but his robotic surrogates lack the necessary social skills. He seats them before a bank of monitors and pops an Earthen culture tutorial into the player, then leaves Gir to oversee -- and he promptly switches to his dozen favorite TV programs. Dib's father, famous scientist Prof.Membrane, attends via hovering telescreen from his lab.
"Mary, where your head is, there was nothing. And outside, where that squirrel is, there was - nothing! And under your chairs - nothing! And by that tree, where that dog is - NOTHING!" Never agreed. "No. You lie. You lieeee!" He claws at the air. She puts in disk, screen slides down over blackboard. Where he's fiddling with pencil. Dib. "I bet he doesn't even know what parents *are*." Tube, break, backpack, zip. "Welcome to life, Irken child. Report for duty." "I love you, cold unfeeling robot arm." MB threaten: you will be here tonight. "Yes. Oh, I will bring my parents. And they shall be the greatest, most *parental* parents, ever!"
House, Blonde, "Take Makeup". Ring. Systems: dad decoy rolls out. "Welcome home, son!" She asks for lady of the house. "That's me. I am house lady. Brush your teeth!" Gir strolls over, sees bag. "I SAID, brush your teeth!" tackles her. "It's not called parent-teacher night; it's called Zim doom parent, Zim doom, Zimmy doom doom night. Watch out for that pothole." Trips over dog. "No, wait, come back, I need stuff!" Dad crashes backwards into wall, mom spills flour onto him. Sits with legs. Interactive skills too limited. Gir! Jumps over, wearing makeup. Need to program them.
Lab, bank of monitors, eyelid clmaps. Gir's shows -- scary monkey. Proper Earth Parenting. Slots the disk. All mon show. Leaves: make sure they watch the whole video. "The fate of our mission depends on it." Gir fiddles with remote. "Are you plagued by grass stains?" "I sure like burritos" "Diarrhea" "Poke of doom". "I love this show," Gir says, entranced.
Prepare to go. React well.
Gaz and Dib. Screen. MR.ELLIOT, Gaz's teacher. BOOM! across town. "Please stand by." Zim stomps in. Clears throat at MB. Head lolls. Dad sparks. "I must have punch now!" Dib intro dad to Zim. "And what country is the little green boy from?" Zim splashes punch in D's face. Zim to boy: "My mom won't shut up about me." Shows to mom: "Now here's Billy crying when he was kicked off the soccer team for crying too much." React. Dad; TED offers cookies. "Oh no. Honey, is it...?" "Yup! Diarrheaaaaaaa." She throws punch in his face. Rolls across the room. "Who does your hair?" Starts poking mom. Zim tries to get them to leave. "You go to your room!" and droops him in punch bowl, Dib splashes. Dad smashing against wall. Left arm flies off. Mr.Elliot screams. "Nothing to worry about. My dad lost his arm in, uh, the war." "They took my *squeezing* arm!" he screams. Zim drags Dad across room to where Mom still poking, begs to go. "I know what will cheer you up," and they start dancing. Dib enjoying, points to where still dancing; but everyone else occupied "Can't you see that this woman is suffering from severe poking trauma!" Fakes his spine, go home, jets, wall. "Let me guess. Nobody saw that, right?" Throws punch in frustration, crowd notices. MB.
Credits: Written by Jhonen Vasquez, Rob Hummel. Directed by Steve Ressel. Storyboard by Ron Brewer, Kyle Menke.
Abstract: Zim upgrades Gir's guidance chip, then gets them lost in the nearby city to test it. Unfortunately, Gir removed it to make room for a cupcake. Zim attempts a magnetic compass, solar bearings, the bus (learning to mime in the park for tips). His current disguise exactly resembles a bank robber from that night. He evades the SWAT team, but Gir can't fly him home because he's replaced his jet fuel with cake frosting.
Gir is running around house, falls down trash chute, peels out of disguise. "I'm naked!" Upgrading guidance box. Opens head. Bees, beehive. "Now, if we could just work on your behavior." School, planet Blorch (2 moons), planet Irk. Field test: go get lost in city. Gir scary monkey show. "That monkey". Turn off chip. New disguise "Be alert, Gir. On this planet we are surrounded by danger and MADNESS!"
City, sidewalk, people. Scary monkey show wall of tvs in window. Looks around anx. Bus. Chihuahua - "Madness!" Park, mime, coin hat. Done: order activate guidance ship. Points up. "How could you not know? I just upgraded your guidance system?" "Oh, that." Cupcake. "You've left us stranded in the middle of enmey territory." Tear; relents. Will have to use innate Invader survival skills; digs in trash can. "I miss you, cupcake." "Now, WITNESS the power of my COMPASS!" "Aw. He likes me." Why not ask Information Humans? across street. Or bus, with "What about the bus?" on side. "Now mind your business, bus slave!". Bus fare. "You expect me to PAY to be on this filthy machine? Have you the BRAIN WORMS?" Use the sun. "Are we gonna ride the sun home?" Sets in the west. Eyes sizzle, melt. "Waitaminit. I'm blind!" Runs in circles, pigeons and passerby scatter. "They've boobytrapped their sun somehow!" A minor setback -- just wait till the skin grows back on his eyeballs. Night falls, Gir asleep. "Getta job, ya bum" Yes! Job, money, bus. Park - snakecharmer-eater, bee face man, breakdance. Gir and Zim mime. Man -- who looks like Zim's disguise -- with bag, drops roll of bills.
Bus. "I'm gonna eat a rat!" Finally, heading home -- traffic jam. Drooling infant. Gir can't take it. Sees taxi, takes sidewalk. Buz, nosepick, flies on face. "Freeaaaak," says clown lady. "What is WRONG with this place? These people are just BEGGING to be destroyed!" Next plan -- use standar-issue ocular implants, from top of building see neighborhood. Police. Zim steps under police tape. Clerk recognizes him as robber. SWAT team from sec cam photo. Run. Zim screams. Out door, up stairs. Zim uses legs. Hide beneath ledge. He looks around, sees. "Gir, use your jets!" Helicopter spotlight. Miss net. Flameout, crash into dumpster. KRIXPY CEREAL. Fuel? "Emptied it? Why?" "To make room for the tuna, duh," Get into taxi. Rants. "That way!"
Lets him off: Mexico. Dancing man, pig head in butcher shop, pinata, girl selling candy.
Credits: Written by Jhonen Vasquez, Rob Hummel. Directed by Steve Rssel. Storyboard by the Graham Bros.
Abstract: Zim develops a Howard Hughes-like obsession with germs.
Aliens atk. Sci to other. Space station! Lady, bug in tank. "Right! We'll destroy them with pepper!" She sneezes in hose. Boom! "The aliens are allergic to germs!" / Soldiers go out, sneeze at the alien bug who explode. Earth flag flying. "Hooray for Earth. The End."
Gir and Zim. "Stupid human propaganda... do they really belive that could happen?" He runs off.
In lab: comp: Germ-spotting microgoggles. "Click here for a free five-second demo." "Ooh, neat!" Sees swarms all over. Screams. Vanish. "Wasn't that neat? Thank you for trying Microgoggles."
PLANET COLLONOWIA. Guns. Fire meteors. Crashes into Zim's lawn. Hand reaches out, punches doorbell. Meteorite shell crumbles away. He picks up box with cloths, brings it it, unpacks, dons. "So - much - FILTH!" Steps ginerly. Gir enters, carrying a pig. Mop, bucket, "Germ Away" "Hear me now, germs! Prepare yoursleves for destruction!" Arms from ceiling help to scrub, dust, spray. He stands on toilet bowl, scanning. Clean. Breathes in. "Ah. The stink of clean." Sees one last bacterium crawling between two tiles. It coughs and dies. "Whyyyyy? Aah!" "Clean, lemony-fresh VICTORY is MINE!" He looks at Gir (letting out the pig) and spreading swarm. Rolls around floor. He's covered with them. "I'm gonna huggg you," Zim exists, screaming. He looks back at house. "Enemy - regroup - worse than I thought!" Neighbor amputee listens. Sprays his way back to door. "I've still got a hug in me." Scream. Outside, gnome retracts, replaced by tree with Gir tied to it.
In lab, rubber waders, tissue box shoes, shower cap, gloves, goggles. "I can't let these germs distract me," They'll be wondering about him at school. The TAT, too.
Report to TAT. "We shoulda really given him a mission on a sun or one of those planets of broken glass." -P "Or one of those exploding head planets" -R. Manic, threatens germs offscreen, running low on disinfectant. "Did that scare you?"
Have to go to store, need Gir to help carry supplies.
City, Night. To store 247. Across st: Mac Meaties. Gir runs off with the can. Full of germs. Zooms in on mouth. (Beard Guy). Lady kissing giant germ in high stool. Finds Gir - lost it. "Want a bite?" He dives, then notices -- burger is completely germ free. "You! Burger Lord! How is it this meat is so pure, so perfect?" 1962, NASA, germ-hostile space meat, only recently has it paid off. SPACE MEAT. Operation Meat. End streak of being sued by customers poisoned. "Not having access to that technology, we use napkins." Zim sees a way. "Yes, the answer is in the MEAT."
Class: Zim enters: covered with dripping meat. "How ya doing?"
Credits: Written by Eric Truehart, Rob Hummel. Directed by Steve Ressel. Storyboard by Kyle Menke, Shawn Murray. Story idea by Arthur Montmoreancy?.
Abstract:
"Inferior human organs!" WHOOMP. "Ooh, my squeedly-spooch!" Dib to Gaz. If only a way to look inside his body. Delivery. His personal X-scope, ordered from back of _Crop Circles_ magazine. "To defeat my enemy, I first must study my enemy. Then I must become my enemy, then move in with my enemy, then wear my enemy's clothes -"
Ms.Bitters is explaining how the game of ring-around-the-rosie relates to that horrible disease, bubonic plague, when a bird flies in the open window and perches without incident on Zim's head. She stops abrubtly and stares at him. "You have a pigeon on your head, Zim. You have headpigeons. Go to the nurse before they spread to the other children." He gets up, but she reminds him to take the hall pass, a ring-shaped device she fastens around his neck -- and which will explode if he leaves school grounds. Dib gloats after Zim that the nurse will surely notice his inhuman organs -- and then it's only a short trip to the alien autopsy table. Zim thinks not. "I'd bet my squeedly-spooch on it."
Zim comes to a junction in the corridor: a circular cul-de-sac lined with doors: Biology, Taxidermy, Nurse, Chimstry. He's confronted by a hall monitor, wearing an orange sash and head-mounted display. Zim gets an idea. "You're full of organs, aren't you? ... And you wouldn't notice if you were missing a few, would you?" He pulls a transparent dome-shaped device from his backpack...
There's a FLASH! and evil laughter. The monitor staggers off, clutching his belly. The camera zooms into his navel, then inside, to his pulsating viscera... and a gap... and the hall pass.
Ms.Bitters is now explaining about the plague rats, while Dib happily doodles pictures of Zim being vivisected. He has a sudden fear Zim will elude his fate, and snaps his pencil. "...and these weren't the cuddly kind of rats you get in *today's* sewers -" She stops for Dib's raised hand; he has a pencil lodged in his brain. "How far in?" she asks. He thinks. "Pretty far." She sends him off with the auxiliary hall pass (an old-style steel hot water radiator).
Dib reaches the nurse's office, where a sign points to different departments: flu, head wounds, radiation burns, wedgie burns. The receptionist (who's playing with a COW-NOISE CYLINDER) says Zim hasn't been in, but "the green boy" is over there. "He's missing his liver," she explains. "That's how some kids react to the cafeteria food. The lucky ones." Dib activates his X-goggles, scans the hall monitor's gut, and realizes Zim's fiendish plan. "He's stealing their organs and replacing them with - stuff!"
Dib rushes out into the hall. Behind him, above the bored receptionist, a tile slides aside in the ceiling. A transparent dome descends above her head, a can of soda inside. With a flash, the can is replaced by a brain -- and cola-colored foam starts spilling from her mouth.
Dib advances down the corridor, tugging the radiator. "Must - warn - others!" he gasps. He hears a pigeon cooing. "Zim?" The alien is nowhere to be seen. "This is me without fear. And a 62-pound hall pass." He pauses by an air vent, and fails to notice the dome inching out -- suddenly the end-of-period bell rings, and the hall is full of schoolchildren. ZAP! A boy staggers towards Dib, his torso grossly distended into a corrugated rectangle. "I don't feel so good."
Freed of his ballast, Dib pelts to the cafeteria, and is presented by a scene of carnage: kids tripping over themselves and others. "Look at them. And it's not even ketchup and rice day." He moves to his sister Gaz, who's poking at her hip. On the X-scan, he sees her hip replaced by her Gameslave. He surveys the room, and sees a spine replaced by a ruler, a remote control in a belly, an alarm clock standing in for a heart; a carton of milk, a live cat.
He turns, spots a dense concentration of viscera, raises the goggles -- it's Zim! And the pigeon. "You've gone too far!" the boy accuses. "You're a hideous blob of stolen organs!" The swollen alien shrugs nonchalantly. "I've been working out." A length of intestine uncoils from his mouth. You'll never fool a trained medical professional, Dib points out, but Zim is confident. "Heart?" Dib asks. "Six." Zim answers. "Intestine?" "Large or small?" "Spleen?" "Three colors." "Lungs?" Zim is taken aback, then unfolds his backpack-legs and vanishes into the ceiling.
Dib finds a burly boy (TORQUE SPACKY) in the cafeteria who seems unaffected, lifting a dumbbell with one hand while spooning with the other. (His shirt reads TORQUE 0.) "You look like you still have all your organs," says Dib, and follows him into the hall. "I have to, like, lift stuff." Dib tries to warn him, and becomes engrossed in the story of his obsession -- so doesn't notice when Torque is dragged off, ZAP.
Spooked, Dib backs into a storage room -- a dark place full of preserved specimens, anatomic skeletons, a fluoroscope. There's a CLUNK and Torque's dumbbell rolls across the floor. He backs away, trying to watch every shadow at once -- is that Zim behind the stuffed mammoth? Or among the birds? He falls over a set of radioactives-marked drums, upsets a file drawer, and flees back into the hall. Ceiling tiles pop in rapid succession, trailing him. He reaches a brick-walled dead end, turns, shrinks from a sudden storm of feathers from a vent. The cooing! He enters the STAFF ONLY boiler room, descends the spiral stairs, crosses a catwalk through veils of steam -- and suddenly Zim is there before him, dropping from the ceiling on his backpack legs -- and there's the transfer dome -- and ZAP.
Zim and Dib are sitting in the school infirmary waiting room, thermometers dangling from their lips. Zim has replaced Dib's larynx with the secretary's cow-cylinder. Ms.Bitters enters with instructions for the unresponsive receptionist. "That one has headpigeons. The other one is just annoying. Fix it." Dib is still certain this will never work. The nurse enters and examines Zim first. "So healthy. And such *plentiful* organs!" she gushes. She moves to Dib, pulls his tongue; he moos. She leaps back, screaming. "It isn't human! It's horrible!". Photographers instantly arrive, and the headlines read: HIDEOUS MOOING COW-BOY DISCOVERED.
Credits:
Ep 5 Cast Rodger Bumpass: Prof.Membrane Frank Conniff: ?Bollyfrank Mary Scheer: Trudy/Yoa/Giggling Club Girl Mr.Scolex: Computer voice/cop Fred Tatasciore: Flapp Richard Horvitz: Zim/Radio Rosearik Rikki Simons: Gir/Kid/Bystander Andy Berman: Dib/Kids Melissa Fahn: Gaz/Kids Lucille ?Bliss: Ms.Bitters
Abstract:
Zim pilots his VOOTRUNNER, studying the capabilites of human law-enforcement vehicles. A passing bee collides with him, downing the craft, which crashes into a park. "Surely that was no HUMAN bee!" he scowls. Gir doesn't respond to his calls. He sneaks back to his house to retrieve the rescue carrier -- not noticing the man hanging a banner from the trees, who hastily amends it: UFO CONVENTION NEXT WEEK to TODAY. Zim gets the carrier and disguises it as a giant spherical pig balloon. He returns to the park -- and finds a crowd of UFO nuts surrounding the vootrunner. His disguise slips, and they start to worship him. They're creeping him out. Gir arrives in a clunking metal robot suit shaped like a government agent, and declares Zim is merely a "government aircraft". They escape (the pig swallows the vootrunner) and run -- then meet the bee again. They spiral out of control and crash into a convention center, onto stage. The banner above: ALIEN LIFE CONVENTION.
Abstract:
Examines paste componnetss, begins countdown. D designs, G pic eat. Z scans, simulates paste around cube water. D detail. Z paste, goggles, shower, 3 balloons, laughts. Weld. Baloon. Weld. Sunday paper- stormy. Hosit, saw, hammer, measure, grind. "Hey genius, it's Monday. And tape your hair down."
Kids at skiool, float, see him with dvc. "Zim! Zim you coward, come out here and face me." Sees him, posed on sidewalk. No reaction to taunts. "Zim! Get up already! Serious, Zim!" Looks at crowd, formed into two lines. Making fun of me? Leaves flow plast. Activates. Bolus of water, fills, extend, handles extned ar rubber band. Fire! Clips relase. Passes thru. Huh? Vanish: holo proj. Thunder. Boom! Shower, pool, lake, fishtank (glass, drink,gag!), school fountain. A bldg collapses, waterspout. To space stn high above earth. In command pod, Zim. Lever, throat tighers. Waldos. Huge hands unfold, tie nknots. Targets the exact bridge of D's nose. Thrusters fire, turn station over. Rleease bwlloon. Through sats. Falls into atmos, flaming with fric. Shadow. Kids scream, run. D realizes. Hits flagpole, poses -- bursts. Window washer. Hot dog Man. Swept away. Explosion across contient. Wreckage, flotasm, blds. D to surf: "the wettening. the wettneing!" G walks over, drops balloon on him. Z wihistsle past duck. Door. Whale. Gir and pig. "Helloooo". "Gir, I'll be in my lab, bathing in paste. Don't disturbe me... help! My head is stuck!"
Credits:
Ep 6 Cast Richard Horvitz: Zim Andy Berman: Dib/Busboy Melissa Fahn: Gaz Lucille Bliss: Ms.Bitters ?Brad Abbel: announcer ?Matt Ballard: Gate Guard/fan ?Roger Bumpass: Prof.Membrane/Slup ?Danny Cooksey: Melvin/Customer/Crex ?David Mephan: Slepter/Smirky Quad ?Janus Kawaye: Sara/Child/Autograph kid ?Adam Paul: Pill/Spoo ?Mr.Scolex: Shunk/Simon/Brian ?Andre Soliuzzo: Shift captain/Count Cocofang/Clerk
Abstract:
"I will be -- lord of all humanity!" I once wanted to be an astronaut, Melvin. Then my ship imploded in the vacum of space. The lesson here is that dreams inevitably end in hideous implosions." Identify blotches. All 3 human slave. Ghost, Bigfoot, -- Dib notices neck irritation. Machined rops from ceiling (POS 2000) "Quiet! The machine has spoken" Dib - paranormal investigator, gets it. Zim - only job he's good for is fast food preparation. "I will prepare food with my iron fist. Then I will work my way up to ruling you all with my iron fist!" Go out to meat adult partner.
Car
"McMeaty - Over 8 billion serve" "That is more than the entire population. And they all serve?" Fries, promo grill, and then how many more until made ruler of the plaent? About 4. Pus onto fries.
Filing - bigfoot, ghosts, dinosaurs, galactic equinox, (that at 5pm, all aliens offplanet will go thru hideous molt for a few secs) reach crop circule. Dowsing dvc. Dob [pomts at cpw that's been rolling.
Zim makes pork shake. Rash spreading. Zim realizes the molt. If take off will be perm rec, never get promoted.
Aliens must be controlling the cow. "I bet you'd be listening to me if I talked about, oh, Count Cocofang." Following him for yrs. At McMeaties. Just like Frankenchokey. But next door -- signing. Gets out, pulls stake.
INside, points "some guys are chasing Cocofant!" Planets align, and Dib skin. Hmm. Then flesh expands. Oozes out of restaurant, drivethru, stack. Meanwhile, Fang on trashtruck. Dib sees ooze. All oozes back. Splattered over interior. "You're fired." says shift supervisor.
Credits:
Abstract:
In his HOME LAB, DIB has received a message from AGENT MOTHMAN inviting him to present his findings regarding the alien Zim to a meeting of his fellow SWOLLEN EYEBALL members -- however, he needs a parental signature to attend (and the PERMISSION FORM is programmed to explode if the signature is forged.) Dib will have to visit his father, PROFESSOR MEMBRANE, who's at work filming his TV show, "PROBING THE MEMBRANE OF SCIENCE".
In the LIVING ROOM, Excited, and carrying the BRIEFCASE containing his evidence (a bit worried that he doesn't have any handcuffs to secure it to his wrist), plus a SPARE PERMISSION FORM, he brushes past his younger sister GAZ and snatches a slice of pizza from her. We know he's distracted, because he would never otherwise incur her wrath. Eyes narrowed, staring at his retreating back, she swears: "Let it be known that from this day, to the end of the day, vengeance will be mine."
Dib arrives at the TV STUDIO'S ENTRANCE, but shooting is in progress; despite his pleas that he's Prof.Membrane's son, the guard insists he use the audience entrance (and shocks him with an electric cattle prod just to remind him who's who.) A huge hose drops from above, and Dib is suctioned into the...
...AUDIENCE ADMISSIONS EXAM. It's a huge room, filled with school desks at which prospective audience members scribble on test forms. A robot screen slides along the ceiling and delivers the exam: science, math, and the personal history of Prof.Membrane. Gaz appears behind him; How--? he asks. "Staff entrance," she sneers. He turns to the exam: what was Prof.Membrane's first sentient thought? How should he know that? His autobiography, obviously. Gaz continues to hover around the desk (up, down, sideways), making him nervous. Behind him, A GIRL finishes her exam. The robot consumes the paper, scores it, reports: "Ninety-four percent is -- UNNACCEPTABLE!" Her desk slides backwards through the room and ejects her. Shaking, Dib hands in his own exam, waits: "Ninety-four-point-one percent is -- acceptable!" Confetti flies, and another suction hose appears, vacuuming him to...
...THE ROUND TWO ARENA. Robot arms shove combat padding and a helmet onto Dib. Gaz watches from outside the hemispherical cage as "Junior scientists, choose your science tool!" a loudspeaker announces. A rack of oversized chemistry implements slides from the floor, and Dib selects a giant rubber bulb dropper. His opponent appears on the far side of the cage: SHUNK THE DESTROYER, a hulking troll-like figure with green skin. Shunk leans close and whispers conspiratorially, in his stilted vocabulary: make it a tie, and we *both* get to the audience. Dib eagerly agrees -- but accidentally pokes the target on Shunk's padding, scoring a point against him. Shunk doesn't take betrayal kindly. Combat moves to the next phase: PYRO CHAOS. Bungee lines snake from overhead and clip themselves to the combatants' belts; Dib secures his all-important briefcase. Suddenly, most of the floor drops away; the players leap between narrow pinnacles, across deep chasms filled with leaping flame. "What does this have to do with *science*?" he screams in frustration, shaking the cage. Goaded by Gaz, Shunk hurls epithets of revenge at Dib, who asks, "How did you pass the verbal portion of the exam, anyway?" Shunk scores, the floor returns, and a tiebreaker is declared, one which will test their knowledge of insects and cybernetic death machines: CYBER-ARRACHNORAMA. Both are shoved into spider-shaped robot suits equipped with eight legs and webbing. Shunk scores again; Dib loses, and three GUARDS IN GREY COATS take him away...
...into the STAFF CORRIDOR. Gaz waves goodbye, triumphantly. It's 8:00pm, and Dib's getting desperate. Still being dragged, he pulls out the spare permission slip, forges a signature -- and it announces a five second countdown. He tosses it into a passing trash can, and the explosion distracts the guards; he escapes. (Meanwhile, Gaz notices a takeout pizza sitting on a table. She gets a slice -- and a running guard brushes past, knocking it to the floor.) Dib pelts through the corridors, and finds his dad's DRESSING ROOM. He pushes the form to him, begs for a signature, but Prof.Membrane doesn't recognize him, and says he doesn't sign autographs outside the studio. The guards catch up and drag him away again.
Dib (and his briefcase) are tossed out into a BACK ALLEY, and the door slams shut. "Nooooo!" he screams to the uncaring sky. "Planet Earth -- doomed!" The door opens again, and the guard tosses out a slip of paper; Prof.Membrane relented and gave him an autograph anyway. Triumph!
Shortly later, Dib stands at the lectern before the assembled members Swollen Eyeball -- and realizes he left his briefcase in the alley. (Meanwhile, the SKULL-SUTURE CHIHUAHUA sniffs at it.) "Uh -- could we reschedule this?"