50 Fun Facts About Invader Zim

In Invader Zim, what disguise does the robot GIR wear in public, despite looking nothing like the real thing?

A green dog suit fools most humans, even though GIR looks and acts nothing like a real dog.

Which Star Wars actor was originally hired to voice Zim for the Invader Zim pilot, only to be replaced?

Mark Hamill was dropped before Nickelodeon executives ever saw the pilot, because Jhonen Vasquez felt his voice was not right for the character.

Which planet is the home world of Zim and his conquering alien empire in Invader Zim?

Irk was the subject of a $2,000 Jeopardy! clue about the show in 2013, and none of the contestants could answer it.

Which company threatened to sue over the original name of Gaz's handheld game console in Invader Zim?

Nintendo objected to Game Slave Advanced, a spoof of its Game Boy Advance, so the handheld that Gaz is always playing was renamed the Game Slave 2.

Which holiday figure does Zim impersonate to take over the world in the series finale of Invader Zim?

Santa Claus proves too much for Zim when his data-packed costume malfunctions and engulfs him, until Dib defeats it and launches it off the planet.

Bryan Konietzko, an art director on Invader Zim, went on to co-create which Nickelodeon series?

Avatar: The Last Airbender owes its hero to the earlier job: Aang grew out of a character Konietzko first drew while working on Invader Zim.

Which streaming service released Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, a film first made for Nickelodeon?

Netflix picked up the distribution rights, a deal that the president of Viacom revealed on a conference call in May 2019, three months before the premiere.

Why do the Almighty Tallest assign Zim to a far-off mystery planet in Invader Zim?

To get rid of him was the whole idea: the Tallest assumed the planet did not exist, and were dismayed when Zim reached Earth and set up a base.

How does Invader Zim spell the name of the local school where Zim spies on humans in disguise?

Skool is where the undercover Zim spends his days gathering intelligence, while he plots the conquest of Earth from his base at home.

Which everyday liquid does Dib find is harmful to Zim, starting a soaking feud in Invader Zim?

Water is so harmful to Zim that after Dib splashes him with a puddle and a balloon, Zim vows to drench Dib in revenge.

In Invader Zim, what does Zim wear to pass as a human child?

A wig and contact lenses hide his antennae and alien eyes, and almost no one except Dib and his sister Gaz realizes that he is an alien.

In Invader Zim, the Almighty Tallest hastily build the robot GIR from spare parts found in what?

A trash can supplied the parts, yet the faulty robot was handed to Zim as though it were a top-secret advanced model.

Which grim teacher of Zim and Dib's class in Invader Zim is often shown emerging from people's shadows?

Ms. Bitters hands out unreasonable punishments of her own invention, most often to Dib, and slinks around to the sound of a cicada.

In Invader Zim, Zim infects Dib with a virus that slowly turns him into which lunch meat?

Bologna thrown by Dib had hurt Zim at lunch, and once both rivals catch the virus they are forced to work together on a cure.

In Invader Zim, what does Zim steal from other children so the school nurse will think he is human?

Their organs start vanishing in Dark Harvest once Zim is sent to the school nurse and fears an exam will expose him; the director recalled a child fleeing a test screening in tears.

Which classroom pet does Zim turn into a colossal, city-wrecking monster in Invader Zim?

A hamster seemed ideal because Zim believed its cuteness could control minds, but he lost command of it and had to team up with Dib to stop the rampage.

Which SpongeBob SquarePants cast member voices the scientist Professor Membrane in Invader Zim?

Rodger Bumpass, best known as Squidward, returned as the father of Dib and Gaz in the 2019 film, where the professor finally tells his son he is proud of him.

Which dark comic led a Nickelodeon producer to ask its creator to pitch what became Invader Zim?

Johnny the Homicidal Maniac caught producer Mary Harrington's eye for its art style, though Vasquez was 22 and had never worked in animation.

Which breakfast food does GIR keep serving Zim while Dib watches by spy camera in Invader Zim?

Waffles fill an episode that the animators first planned as the longest single shot in animation history, and most of it does play as one scene.

The two Almighty Tallest who jointly rule Zim's empire in Invader Zim are named for which pair of colors?

Red and Purple share the throne because they are exactly the same height, in an empire where the tallest of each generation takes command.

Which vengeful rival joins Zim's class in disguise and plots to hollow out Earth's core in Invader Zim?

Tak blames Zim for an accident that cost her the chance to become an Invader, and it takes Zim and Dib working together to stop her.

In Invader Zim, which clingy classmate does Zim befriend to seem normal, only to regret it almost immediately?

Keef was meant to meet a far grimmer end, but Nickelodeon vetoed it, so he is attacked by a squirrel and falls off a building instead.

Which floating sidekick appeared in only one Invader Zim episode because his debut story went unfinished?

Minimoose is voiced by creator Jhonen Vasquez and was due to be introduced in Nubs of Doom, a story the crew never got to finish.

To which planet was Zim banished before he abandoned his punishment to join the invasion in Invader Zim?

Foodcourtia is a planet-sized food court where Zim served as a lowly food service drone, until news of a second invasion made him walk out on his exile.

What is the name of Zim's small spaceship in Invader Zim, later a cameo in a Universal Studios ride?

Voot Cruiser is also the vehicle Zim drives as a playable racer in the 2008 arcade game Nicktoons Nitro.

What codename does Dib use in the Swollen Eyeball, the secret paranormal society of Invader Zim?

Agent Mothman once had to get a permission slip signed by his famous father before the society would hear his presentation about Zim.

What is the name of Gaz's favorite restaurant, her pick for the Membrane family night out in Invader Zim?

Bloaty's Pizza Hog matters so much to Gaz that when Dib goes missing while fighting Zim, she rescues him herself to make the dinner on time.

Which lawn ornaments guard the yard of Zim's house in Invader Zim, firing lasers from their eyes?

Gnomes on the lawn are robots, part of a base that also includes two badly built parents meant to make Zim seem more human.

In Invader Zim, how does the disguised Zim explain away his green complexion to the humans around him?

A skin condition is all the cover story he needs, since the mindless populace of the show's satirical Earth rarely questions him.

Which actor, the original Doug Funnie and Stimpy, voiced Zim in the Invader Zim pilot?

Billy West lost the part once the series was ordered, because Jhonen Vasquez thought he was too well known and wanted an unfamiliar voice.

Which actor, also Daggett in The Angry Beavers, voices the title alien in the Invader Zim series?

Richard Horvitz had earlier been the voice of the robot Alpha 5 in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and his Zim earned an Annie Award nomination.

Lucille Bliss, the voice of Zim's teacher in Invader Zim, also played which 1980s cartoon heroine?

Smurfette was one of many famous roles for Bliss, who also played Crusader Rabbit, the star of the first cartoon made for television.

Kevin McDonald, an Almighty Tallest in Invader Zim, belongs to which Canadian sketch comedy troupe?

The Kids in the Hall member is a busy cartoon voice, also playing the alien Pleakley in Disney's animated Lilo & Stitch films and series.

Which actress, also the hacker Edward in Cowboy Bebop, voices Dib's scowling sister Gaz in Invader Zim?

Melissa Fahn got her first voice role, in a Betty Boop featurette, after a casting director noticed her voice while she was working as a receptionist.

Rosearik Rikki Simons, the voice of the robot GIR, also held which behind-the-scenes job on Invader Zim?

Colorist Simons helped color the pilot in the same month he auditioned, and Vasquez said he gave him the role because he was bad at it, which suited a broken robot.

Invader Zim's director asked the crew of which sci-fi cartoon how to blend 2D and CGI animation?

Futurama's crew were in turn very impressed when they saw how seamlessly the newer show had merged the two techniques.

Before settling on a darker alien invader, Invader Zim's creator briefly considered a show like which sitcom?

Mork & Mindy was his model for a zany alien who misreads Earth customs and learns a lesson, an idea he soon dropped as a poor fit for his writing.

When Invader Zim struggled to fit in on Nickelodeon, to which sister network did its makers ask to move it?

MTV was the makers' hope for reaching older viewers, but the move never happened and Nickelodeon kept shuffling the time slot instead.

Which part of Dib's outfit did Nickelodeon want cut from Invader Zim, fearing it recalled a real tragedy?

His trench coat stayed in the end, because Nickelodeon lost that fight; executives had feared it would remind viewers of the Columbine shooters.

When Zim steers Mars toward Earth as a weapon in Invader Zim, which planet does Dib pilot to stop him?

Mercury turns out to be a huge spaceship as well, just like Mars, in the episode Battle of the Planets.

Unable to travel through time himself in Invader Zim, what does Zim send into the past to injure young Dib?

Rubber pig toys worked at first, until Zim learned that every change he made to the past brought unwelcome results in his own present.

In Invader Zim, Zim simulates an entire heroic lifetime for Dib just to learn whether Dib threw what at him?

A muffin hit Zim during lunch break, and the fake lifetime of fame ends only when an elderly Dib confesses to throwing it during a television interview.

After Dib tests a leftover spell on his sister Gaz in Invader Zim, everything she eats tastes like what?

Pork is all Gaz can taste until she faces a creature called the Shadowhog and correctly answers its three questions.

In Invader Zim, what grows on Zim's face and gives him hypnotic control over his classmates?

A giant pimple sprouts after GIR smears his face with greasy food, and it swells to monstrous proportions before exploding and leaving Dib to clean up the mess.

Fed up with GIR's uselessness in Invader Zim, Zim switches the robot into which hyper-competent setting?

Duty Mode makes GIR so efficient that he decides Zim himself is the biggest threat to their mission on Earth.

Which Invader Zim episode was pulled from the schedule for six months after the September 11 attacks?

Door to Door originally showed a demolished virtual city resembling New York; the scene was changed, though the uncut version aired once by accident.

Which publisher launched the Invader Zim comic book in 2015 as a continuation of the series?

Oni Press kept the monthly comic going for fifty issues before switching it to a quarterly schedule in 2020.

In the film Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus, what is the Florpus that appears when Zim teleports Earth?

A rift in space-time, the Florpus can swallow a planet and merge it with alternate realities, which is the fate that befalls the invading armada.

Which Jurassic Park star did the makers of Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus try, without success, to cast?

Jeff Goldblum never joined, and Vasquez otherwise kept the cast small so that newcomers could follow the film without knowing the series.

Rebecca Sugar, who wrote Invader Zim fan fiction as a teenager, went on to create which Cartoon Network series?

Steven Universe creator Sugar later wrote the foreword to The Art of Invader Zim and has called the series a gateway to independent comics.