#she iz 2 cool 4 skool

[dana-chan-the-control-brain]

oh shit. top 5 zim eps :o

Awww man.

I guess I'll just go with my gut and not second guess myself here.

1. Zim eats Waffles.

I wouldn't call this the "definitive" invader zim episode, or even a episode to recommend to someone who's never seen the show.

But it's my all time favorite and I absolutely love that nothing happens in it.

Dib's increasing frustration is halarious and it's probably the boredom he has every day when he spies on Zim.

I love slice of life style/ feels like one shot episodes like this.

There's also a lot of silent humor in this one and long pauses of nothing happening, which IZ doesn't do often.

Also a lot of wholesome slice of life moments with Zim and GIR which is what I live for.

2. Nightmare Begins.

There isn't much to say about the first IZ episode that has never been said before.

But it is such a good first episode. Not just in IZ but in animation and television in general, and I feel this episode needs to be STUDIED.

From the first shot, you know your in for something special and it does something that I don't see done in too many cartoons these days.

It introduces the characters and setting in a very meaningful and atmospheric way. First impressions and appearances are everything, and from the very first line, it doesn't even feel like an introduction.

It just feels like you already know who these people are.

The Tallest's introduction has them bickering with each other.

Zim's introduction has his leaders fear him and have him asset attention and anxiety as the title character.

Membrane acts to busy to spend time with his son, Gaz is annoyed by her brother, Dib is introduced as a dumb kid who watched the matrix once and thinks he's cool, by riding the gutter of the roof and splashing into the sink immediately.

Like it works so well as character introductions, setting introductions and premise introductions.

In some cartoons sometimes I feel the introductions can be... Over the top, or like they try way to hard on a first impression like:

"HELLO, HI! I AM THIS CHARACTER! LOOK HOW QUIRKY I AM! DONT YOU WANTA STAY WITH ME FOR 25 EPISODES?! WAAATTCH ME"

Even Gravity Falls, my beloved, is guilty of this in the first episode.

With Invader Zim, they just have the characters interact with each other and there's not too many pandering moments. Even GIR's introduction is massively understated.

Nightmare Begins needs to be studied for what they accomplish in tone, setting, character introduction, and premise all in less than 30 mins. (I can't even imagine this thing with commercial breaks back in the day)

Just... Nightmare Begins.

It's good. Amazing. And starts IZ so strong then it has any right to.

3. Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars

You forget this episode is only 30 mins.

It honestly feels like a short movie and the chaos in the last act is such (chefs kiss)

It was nice to actually see the Vortians after hearing about them for so long, and other aliens that actually tried to do something about Irken Galatic conquest (although screaming and massive anxiety)

I just love the third act and the ending where every single setup in the first act is blowing up in Zim's face all at once, and they threw in the Robo Parents for good measure too, cause why not? Lol.

4. The Wettening

The episode that actually made me stay and watch more of the show.

Before the wettening, all the episodes felt kinda "samey" to me.

Alien misinterprets a common Earth or skool thing, anxiety spirals out of control, horror and/or chaos insues.

It's why I stopped watching the show at Dark Harvest the first time I watched it.

I just felt there was just so much you could do with Zim as a character.

Boy I'm glad I was wrong.

While NanoZim also had a Dib and Zim fight, this is where I felt it was the most intense and I understood what the show wanted to be.

Skoolyard bully kid fights, on a massive scale.

In a lot of ways the wettening is kind of the pre curser to Battle of the Planets.

But unlike BofP, The Wettening keeps the focus on Dib and Zim's fight and interactions the whole way through.

Even leading the audience to get a bit of sympathy towards Zim, cause Dib is just being a bully.

And my jaw pretty much hit the floor with how the episode resolves.

It's just one of my favorite episodes and it made me stick around and continue to watch the show. And I'm so glad I did.

5. Tak the Hideous New Girl

Now... This isn't because of Tak herself.

While Tak is an okay and interesting character in her own right,

And the Irken reveal genuinely shocked me at the time (cause I was watching the show blind, so I had no idea she was irken. Even despite the obvious spaceship cus that's just how the show is sometimes... Like there's underground classrooms I'm not going to question a private weenie jet.)

What I really like about this episode is in the third act or climax...

Where Gaz, GIR, Dib, Zim (and even Computer) all work together to take down Tak. And there has absolutely been nothing in this entire franchise like it sense.

Dib turns off Tak's machine and supplies Zim with MiMi's memory disc that he got from Gaz.

Gaz in turn, reprograms MiMi with GIR's and Computer's help...

Which in turn causes Zim to win the spaceship battle and defeat Tak..

Just in time Dib puts the earth back to normal.

Tak the Hideous New Girl gave me a glimpse of what can happen when there is a larger threat they need to stand up against...

AND THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT IN THE FRANCHISE SINCE.

A lot of the stuff with Zim trying to romance Tak is halarious and good and Tak's backstory is legitimately pitiful....

But I ultimately come to this episode again and again for that third act high that I know they will never do in the comics or ever again.

[blackjingertee]

Elizabeth (Lee)