Invader Zim
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | Invader Zim |
| Original title | Invader Zim |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Year (s) | 2001-2002 |
| length | 22 minutes |
| Episodes | 27 in 2 seasons |
| genre |
Animation , science fiction |
| idea | Jhonen Vasquez |
| production |
Mary Harrington Jhonen Vasquez |
| music | Kevin Manthei |
| First broadcast | March 30, 2001 (USA) on Nickelodeon |
| German-language first broadcast |
December 3, 2005 on Nick |
Invader Zim (Eng. Conqueror Zim ) is an American cartoon series developed by Jhonen Vasquez . The series was produced in the years 2001-2002 for the television station Nickelodeon , which belongs to the Viacom group .
In the US, the series ran since March 2001. Only two seasons were produced. Even before the end of the second season - after 27 episodes were produced with 46 episodes - the series was canceled again in December 2002 and many episodes remained unproduced despite the finished storyboard. In Germany, the series was to be seen from December 2005 on NICK and in Switzerland since November 25, 2006 on SRF Zwei in two-channel sound . Finally, the series was in the Pay TV transmitter Nicktoons aired.
A 71-minute follow-up film called Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus was released on Netflix on August 16, 2019 in several languages, including German.
Brief description
All alone, the megalomaniac Zim ruined Operation Impending Doom , which was supposed to secure domination of the galaxy for his race (the Irks ). Zim is therefore banished to the planet Fressotopia. There he hears about Operation Impending Doom, Episode Two, and returns for a second chance. In order to finally get rid of Zim and at least ensure the success of Operation "Impending Doom, Episode Two", his leaders, the "Almighty Greats", who can't stand Zim for death, send him to a place where no planet is suspected . Coincidentally, there is a planet there after all - Earth. Zim, however, would never dream that one really only wanted to get rid of him. Since the Almighty Biggest Zim do not want to equip Zim with a functioning SIR (Standard Information Collection Robot, in the original Standard-Issue Information Retrieval ) unit as support, he gets the psychotic, hedonistic , little robot called GIR (not even GIR itself knows , what the G in its name stands for), which was hastily assembled from a pile of rubbish by the Almighty Greats and sold Zim as a particularly advanced model.
Once on earth, Zim tries to behave as inconspicuously as possible. He adapts his base to the style of the people, it becomes a house with a toilet sign with a man on it (believing it is a sign that a person lives here) on the front door. GIR is camouflaged in a green dog suit with a clearly visible zipper. Zim himself disguises himself as a person (mostly a school boy), but forgets to hide his green skin and the absence of his ears. To find out the weaknesses (in their defense system against alien invaders) and secrets of the Earthlings, he infiltrates the school ( Skool ). Everything seems to be going according to plan. However, he did not expect his rather eccentric classmate Dib, who saw through Zim and his rather bumbling masquerade from the start. Lucky for Zim: his classmates don't believe a word Dib says, as many simply consider him a crazy psychotic. Basically, that's not relevant, because even without Dib, Zim's plans usually fail mercilessly, due to the excessive self-esteem of the little Irken and his enormous streak of bad luck and not least because of his completely crazy robot GIR
synchronization
| character | Original speaker | German speaker (series) | German speaker (film) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Room | Richard Steven Horvitz | Björn Schalla | |
| GIR | Rosearik Rikki Simons | Sabine Manke | |
| Dib | Andy Berman | Tobias Müller | |
| Gaz | Melissa Fahn | Yvonne Greitzke | |
| Prof. Membrane | Rodger Bumpass | Norbert Gescher | Erich Rauker |
| Almighty Greatest "Purple" | Kevin McDonald | Tilo Schmitz | |
| Almighty Greatest "Red" | Wally Wingert | Jan Spitzer | |
| Robo mom | Mo Collins | Rita Engelmann | ? |
| Robo Dad | Michael McDonald | Detlef Bierstedt | |
| Ms. Bitters | Lucille Bliss | Barbara Ratthey | - |
| Iggins | Paul Greenberg | Hannes Maurer | - |
Characters
Zim : Zim is pretty small and belongs to the alien people of the Irks. He is bursting with self-confidence and is prone to megalomania. Zim is so taken with himself that he does not tolerate any contradiction. Even when the facts speak clearly against him, he prefers to make up half-silly excuses than admit mistakes. Only his misguided trust in his leaders, the Almighty Most Great, seems to be stronger than his ego. Zim was exiled to Earth on the pretext that he should scout her for an impending invasion. Firmly convinced that this is true, he goes to work diligently, making one mistake after another. He disguises himself, his assistants the robot GIR and his base more badly than right and pretends to be a foreign child with a skin disease ("green skin and no ears"). His biggest adversary is the boy Dib, who constantly tries to expose him. However, even the Almighty Very Greats dismiss Zim as a "crazy weirdo". Zim has tried several times to get rid of Dib (including time travel, combat robots or a genetic virus), but each time it failed in an extremely funny way. Like all Irken, Zim carries a multifunctional tool called PAK on his back, which he hands out as a schoolbag in his human form. In a planned but never implemented episode with the working title "Ten Minutes To Doom", Zim should have been separated from his PAK and slowly lost his personality, since the body of an Irken is only there to serve as a host for the brain-like PAK. Against this idea, however, the fact that Zim briefly decreases his PAH in some existing episodes and in the episode "The Evil Rubber Pig" accidentally swaps his brain, which sits in his head, for a rubber pig, which makes him a drooling idiot.
GIR : GIR is Zim's robot assistant. In contrast to the "real" conquerors, who all received a standard information collection robot (SIR), which is also a thermos, Zim got GIR. What the "G" means is not known. The “almighty greatest of all” assembled it from a few scrap pieces and handed it over to Zim. GIR rarely works properly and behaves like a hyperactive toddler. He also seems to be prone to schizophrenia, as he follows direct commands for a few moments (mostly regardless of who is commanding him), only to fall back into incoherent demented behaviors. He likes to eat tacos and burritos, drink slush ice drinks , watch TV a lot and play with rubber animals . He also keeps a rubber pig as a pet and friend. GIR has no moral awareness and usually behaves very strangely. The fact that as a dog he often buys things, can talk or walk on two legs has only been seen as special by Dib so far. In one of the later episodes, GIR was said to be covered in blood, but this was forbidden by Nickelodeon. After that, images of Bloody GIR were inserted into 14 Invader Zim episodes.
Dib : Dib is the son of the great scientist Prof. Membrane and has dedicated his life to clearing up paranormal phenomena. All over the world he is considered crazy and even insane and has already been in the asylum (for boys). Although he tries relentlessly to prove that Zim is an alien, he is dismissed as a crank. As agent Mothman ( moth man ) he belongs to the "Organization of the swollen eyeballs", which deals with the paranormal. In addition, he was lucky enough to get the Irkentechnologie when Tak's spaceship crashed in his front yard. Dib is considered paranoid because he once chased a sloth himself because he thought it was an "alien". Jhonen Vazquez suggested in interviews that if the series had continued, it would have turned out that Dib is not Professor Membrane's biological son, but an android constructed by him.
Gaz : Dib's younger sister. She is the only one besides Dib and the school psychologist Mr. Dwicky who knows (or notices) that Zim is an alien. But Gaz does not care that this is trying to conquer the world. She is of the opinion that he is too stupid and incompetent to ever carry out his plans. Gaz is a very egocentric, unbalanced and unsocial girl who feels disturbed by almost everyone and likes to see others (especially Dib) suffer. She also has a keen passion for video games, pizza, and pigs, and fears few things. Gaz thinks Dib is crazy and she can't stand his voice. She is considered an extremely strong-willed and obnoxious child. In some episodes you can also see that Gaz is at least as intelligent as her brother Dib.
Prof. Membrane : Prof. Membrane is the greatest and best scientist on earth and the father of Dib and Gaz. He is constantly busy with some kind of scientific project and is rarely at home. Among other things, he built a generator that consumes no energy and is the inventor of "Supertoast". He is particularly concerned about his "poor insane son" and hopes that his crazy ideas will grow together over time. While Professor Membrane is undoubtedly awesome, he doesn't care about paranormal phenomena like Dib. "Membrane" is only the professor's first name and not Gaz and Dib's surname, which remains unknown.
The almighty all- greatest : The almighty all-greatest "Red" and "Purple" are the leaders of all Irks. The main reason for this is apparently only their towering body size, which plays a decisive role for the Irks (but they too have to bow to the decisions of the control brains, which means that the very tallest are only figureheads - what by Jhonen Vasquez has been confirmed.). They're constantly stuffing themselves with snacks and enjoying themselves in all possible ways. Above all, the deeds of Zim, which they hate, often make them laugh. They seem like good leaders because they rule half the galaxy after all. They provided Zim with the greatest junk the Irken Empire has ever seen. Most of the time they stay on the Irken mothership and control the military campaigns of their empire.
Ms. Bitters : Miss Bitters is Zims and Dib's class teacher. Her teaching is characterized by the fact that she prepares her students for a meaningless life as failure. Even bitterly disappointed in her childhood ("dreams inevitably end in painful implosions"), she gives her students no hope of a happy and successful life. She has a terrible sun allergy and occasionally seems to float around the room like a vampire or ghost without legs. Her favorite word is "Ververben" and she prefers a very strict parenting style ("Your parents will all get a phone call with instructions to be less loving you in the future").
Tak : Another Irkin who wanted to take her final exam to become an elite soldier 50 years ago (or at least temporarily to become a conqueror). However, she could not show up because she was stuck in her home due to a power failure caused by Zim. Tak was not allowed to catch up and had to wait another 70 years for the next chance. So she was looking for the person in charge (Zim) to take on his mission to impress the “Almighty Most Great” and yet still be appointed as a conqueror. Tak had a self-constructed spaceship and the SIR "Mimi". She disguised her base as an oversized sausage stall and, like Zim, pretended to be a school child. By working with Dib and Gaz, Zim was able to drive her from the earth. In the end, their ship fell into the hands of Dib (who shortly thereafter lost it himself). Although Tak has only appeared personally in one double episode, there were plans to have her perform again. There were plans to have their SIR robot Mimi in the form of a cat compete against the dog GIR during an animal show. It first appeared on Valentine's Day, when everyone gives each other heart-shaped pieces of meat. Zim thinks Tak is in love with him and gives her gifts that Earthlings are actually enthusiastic about.
publication
Turbine Media confirmed on Facebook that the series will be released on DVD in 2014. The series was finally released on DVD on October 17, 2014.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article on Bloody GIR
- ↑ Invader ZIM - The Complete Series ( Memento of the original from August 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Invader Zim in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Official German language website at Nick.de
- EPisodeWorld.com: Invader ZIM episode guide
- Good fansite "Room with a Moose" ( room with a moose , English)
