Posted: 9 August 2018
Basic series summary: Zim, a green alien from planet Irk, is sent to Earth to blend in with the humans and destroy the planet.
Invader Zim (Nickelodeon, 2001-2002; Nicktoons, 2006) will always be a great show/comic/anime (whatever media you want to make it). It faced a tragic and unfair cancellation. Thanks to home media, I thought I would lose it forever.
My initial experiences
When the show first aired on 30 March 2001, I wasn’t too sure if I should watch it or not. It did not seem like the other shows Nick put out at the time. That night, I gave Zim a try and I thought it was OK. It took until September of the year for the liking growth to be obvious. After 9/11, things started to change. Nick began to show Zim less and less and kept shuffling the show all over the schedule from week to week. Just as I was expecting Zim to air, another show kept taking its place. New episodes were sporadically and irregularly shown and they were unannounced (i.e. Gir Goes Crazy and Stuff/Dib’s Wonderful Life of Doom was a surprise for me). The DVDs made me happy to have the show back into my life. I could watch any ep anytime.
Overall thoughts
The high cost of production really shines though the show’s animation and episode quality. The animation is beautiful, robust, and shows no signs of aging. Even though I have seen each episode dozens and dozens of times and each storyline has become slightly stale to me, there is something in this high degree of quality that makes me want to watch again. I’d watch again no matter how many times I watched, say, one night 14 years ago. I swear I watched Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot 6 times in one night that long ago and it’s still something I reach for sometimes.
Yeah! A revival movie!
With all the politics that went on between creator Jhonen Vasquez and Nickelodeon, I was convinced Zim had no chance for being revived. Later on, I became all for some revival to be done. When I found out a movie was being made, I wanted to learn more. Over a year later the trailer debuted. From what I saw, the art style is similar to that of the new comics. Years ago, I read somewhere that if Zim were to be revived, the animation would be cheaper and not in the same style to which the original series made us accustomed. All I can say is that if it’s Invader Zim-related, I’m so there. The fact that the trailer had no dialogue makes me want to watch the movie even more.
One question: What’s a “Florpus”? I guess we’ll find out after the movie comes out. Next question: WHEN will this movie come out? I hope it’s sometime this year.
Invader Zim is a high-quality series and I look forward to seeing the new movie.