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Invader Zim is an animated television series created by Jhonen Vasquez and aired on Nickelodeon on March 30, 2001 - December 10, 2002 first season, June 6, 2006 - August 19, 2006. Invader Zim is an alien from the planet Irk (who is thought of as a joke by his fellow Irken soldiers for messing up the first "Operation impending doom"). Zim gets into the second "Operation Impending doom" despite the tallest (Leaders of the Irken Armada cause they are taller than everyone else) not inviting him, in an effort to get rid of him they send him far away with a broken robot (GIR) to a distant planet... which is earth where he attempts to fulfill his Irken duty to prepare Earth for the coming invasion of the Irken Armada.
While on earth he enrolls in a "SKool" to try and figure out the filthy earth beasts weakness and blends in enough that no one around him notices that he is obviously an alien (despite his cover he is still green) he attracts the attention of Dib, his arch enemy, a big headed boy who is obsessed with paranormal activity and Dib is the only defense who thwarts Zim's attempts to take over the planet.
"ZIM"
Voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz & Billy WestThe title character of the cartoon, Invader Zim is a short Irken defective, but despite his size he feels that he is superior to and unchallenged by the other Irkens and universal creatures, due to his intelligence, ingenuity, skill in many applications, and destructively inclined nature. He can be a very irritable, impatient, and anger-driven character, but enjoys a good snack and loves to invent and create new things.
Some fans think that because of his occasional displays of naivety that Zim is a complete, incompetent moron, but this assumption is incorrect and merely derived from a somewhat superficial examination of the character. Jhonen Vasquez, the creator of the show, states in an IGN interview: "I always imagined Zim as just being utterly unaware of his shortcomings, to a dangerous extent even. He's not really stupid, but he's got some problems getting priorities straight. He's this alien from an incredibly advanced race (technologically anyhow), with access to a universe of power. And yet he stays in school all day, enduring it, hating it, fearing it and freaking out about it. The thought of sneaking out or setting a robot in his place never crosses his mind. He gets so caught up with the most unimportant details, he ends up getting nothing done; He gets a giant robot, and his plan is to go beat Dib up. It was cool to remind people that he really was in control of some impressive stuff, but that his sense of control was so horrible that it didn't matter if his plans were foolproof."
Zim is extremely loyal to the Irken Empire throughout the series but his instability renders this loyalty somewhat unreliable. Zim is held in contempt by most of the Irken race, primarily by the Almighty Tallest, Red and Purple, whose empty opinions matter to nearly all of the Irken race. Sometimes, especially during one small moment when he is insulted by Tak, it seems as though he knows his mission is a lie, and that his race hates him; but he either seems to be in denial of these facts or possibly he still tries to do it so he can prove himself to the Almighty Tallest.
All Irkens, including Zim, do not have families or relatives. This fact is proven in the episode, "Parent Teacher Night," and shows Zim as having been created in an Irken birthing facility, and removed from an incubation cylinder by nothing more than a "cold, unfeeling robot arm."
After ruining Operation Impending Doom 1, Irken Invader Zim was demoted from the actual "Invader Class" to "Food Services" and banished to Foodcourtia, a planet that exists as the galaxy's biggest food court. When the Almighty Tallest began assigning new Invaders, Zim sped to Conventia, the convention hall planet, to be assigned a planet to conquer as well as "a robot slave" of his own, known as GIR. In response to his urgent pleas for a second chance, the Almighty Tallest sent him to a far away, backwater planet shown as a sticky note on the edge of the map of a section of the universe. This was merely to rid themselves of him, and six months later, they're surprised to receive a transmission from the planet we know as Earth.
Having already exceeded the expectations of the Almighty Tallest by even arriving on this planet, Zim continues by establishing a base of operations, arranging disguises for himself and GIR, and even creating the Robo-Parents. To go a step further, he enrolls himself in the nearest "Skool", where he hopes to attain information concerning this planet's weaknesses and possible destruction. During his first day in class, he is recognized by and becomes instant enemies with Dib, a young Paranormal enthusiast who had overheard a satellite transmission of the Great Assigning from his rooftop one night, and knew SOMEONE was coming. From this day on, Zim attempts to take over this insane, diluted planet, though Dib stands alone to stop him at every turn.
Zim often wears various personally manufactured disguises in an attempt to conceal his identity from the humans that he plans to eventually conquer. Although some of his disguises appear to be lacking in judgement and quality, they rival even many of his peers' attempts at "fitting in". Some examples are briefly demonstrated at the beginning of the episode, "Planet Jackers". Considering the fact that no Irken until Zim even knew that the planet Earth existed, his disguises are considerably convincing, though little effort is required to deceive such clueless subjects as the humans.
Zim's usual disguise consists of some contact lenses and a black hairpiece. When interrogated by Dib in the first episode, "The Nightmare Begins," concerning the flaws in Zim's disguise, Zim quickly explains away his clearly visible green skin as merely being a "skin condition". In the episode "Vindicated!", when one of his contact lenses becomes dislodged, he claims that his red eye is due to pinkeye, "...a normal human illness." He's been known to wear other costumes as well, like an old man disguise, an elderly woman disguise, a bear suit (actual purpose unknown), a parent costume, and a Santa suit made from a Vortian liquid material (he assumed that if he imitated Santa, he would be able to rule the Earth).
His catchphrases include "Silence!", "I AM ZIM!", and "You lie!".
"GIR"
Voiced by: Rosearik Rikki Simons, Wasabi Mizuta (Japanese dub) GIR is the small, hyperactive (yet, happy-go-lucky) robot best friend, sidekick, and henchman, GIR is also a supporting villain/hero in the series.
GIR is a dysfunctional version of the SIR (Standard-issue Information Retrieval unit) given to Irken invaders. In order to avoid wasting a functional SIR unit on Zim, GIR's body was constructed from spare parts found in the Almighty Tallest's parts bin. GIR regularly speaks in non sequitur. Zim blames him for most of the problems on the mission, regardless of whether or not it is his fault. One example being that when a poorly thought-through plan went wrong, Zim responded, "That was your fault GIR. You're bad," despite GIR just standing there and doing nothing. GIR's features change from teal to red when being obedient. He often disguises himself as a green dog. He regularly replaces his brains and other important devices with food, such as cupcakes or tuna. GIR's love for tacos gets him into plenty of trouble in many episodes, claiming that he will explode without them. GIR has said many times, "Must obey the Taco Man."
Occasionally, GIR displays brief moments of sanity and functionality. In this state, named "Duty Mode," GIR's eyes narrow malevolently and glow red, and his personality becomes cold, efficient, and absolutely ruthless. When Zim tried to lock him in Duty Mode permanently for the sake of the mission (in the episode "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff"), GIR observed Zim's actions and determined that Zim and his incompetence was the greatest danger to the mission. This led the now ultra-powerful, fearsome GIR to personally try to conquer the planet by absorbing all the information available to humans, and trying to kill Zim.
GIR was once voted favorite character in 2009 by the Invader Zim Website. He is a "modified" SIR (Standard-Issue Information Retrieval) unit, but nobody knows what the "G" in GIR stands for (several fans think GIR stands for Garbage Idiot Robot or Garbage-Issue Information Retrieval, but Jhonen Vasquez has said that the "G" doesn't stand for anything). In some episodes, a "Bloody GIR" (A picture with GIR covered in blood, hence the name) is seen in one of the frames. It has been said that the show was cancelled for this, however, this is simply not the case. Or is it some would say to differ or maybe bring other conclusions to the facts that the show was stopped with unjust cause.
"DIB"
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Dib is Zim's primary nemesis throughout the series. Voiced by Andy Berman
Dib has been obsessed with the paranormal and supernatural since an early age. Because of his obsession and outlandish theories, Dib is often criticized by his classmates and family for being "crazy" or mentally unstable. Dib, however, is one of the only humans to recognize or care that Zim is an alien, and has devoted himself to thwarting Zim's plans of conquest. The FBI apparently has a history with Dib and his hasty reports, thus his attempts to alert the authorities of Zim's actions go largely ignored. One group that does take him seriously is the mysterious Order of the Swollen Eyeball, composed of paranormal enthusiasts like him. His obsession with exposing Zim and proving true his own theories borders on psychosis, which is ironic, considering that one of his motivations is to finally prove his sanity to the world.
Although Dib is the nemesis of the titular character Zim, he could be considered the series' main protagonist (as he usually defeats Zim and his diabolical schemes). Like Zim, he has rather high technology at his disposal, and can at times be very resourceful. For instance, he tricked GIR into planting a camera in Zim's house and commandeered planet Mercury (at the time, a planet-sized ship) to fight Zim, who had taken control of Mars.
Although Dib's head is of average size compared to other characters, he is often mocked for having a big/huge/large head (though he constantly denies it). In the Halloween special, Dib learns there is a "spooky" dimension in his head.
(note: his name is apparently "whatever" when two aliens greet him as "dib whatever your last name is" and Dib replies "thats right.")
"Gaz"
Gaz (Voiced by Melissa Fahnis) Dib's short-tempered, anti-social, vengeful younger sister. She has a penchant for video games and a fixation with "Bloaty the Pizza Hog" and the pizza he advertises. She is hardly ever seen without her handheld video game console ("Gameslave" and "Gameslave II"). Although she is well aware that Zim is an alien with ghastly intentions to obliterate/enslave her planet, she shows little concern. Mainly because she knows that Zim is incapable of doing so and frankly doesn't care at all, considering his laughable incompetence when it comes to world domination. Because of her explosive nature and dark attitude, Gaz finds it easy to intimidate and manipulate others. Despite her rough exterior, she is a genuinely clever girl with a smart head on her shoulders, a head which may be superior to even that of her elder brother. Although possibly the smartest character in the show, Gaz, like the others, has shown some obvious signs of insanity. As mentioned above, she has a specific love for video games and pizza. When someone or something stands in the way of her getting those things, she won't hesitate to thrust them into "a nightmare world from which there is no awakening."
Gaz is voiced by Melissa Fahn, who is known for playing Ed in Cowboy Bebop.
"The Almighty Tallest"
The Irken Empire has a hierarchal class structure, where shorter individuals are both figuratively and literally looked down upon. The tallest Irken alive takes command of the Empire as "The Almighty Tallest," but since Red and Purple, the two current tallest, are the exact same height, they share equal power. Both share a great disdain for Zim, as do the rest of the Irken race, and gave him his "secret mission" as a means of getting rid of him. The Tallest are generally lazy (sitting around eating snacks all day), and sometimes appear a bit foolish, though both seem to be at least less delusional than Zim. Red seems to be the smarter of the two, though both have their share of intelligent and silly moments. They also seem to be levitating.
The Almighty Tallest Purple is voiced by Kevin MacDonald, who was in Kids in the Hall and plays Pastor Dave in That 70's Show. He also voices Pleakley in Lilo & Stitch and Waffle in Catscratch.
The Almighty Tallest Red is voiced by Wally Wingert, who portrays Renji Abarai in Bleach, and Rufus Shinra in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
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Part two