Invader Zim | Understanding A Cult Classic

I can say with 100% certainty that there's only one TV show that has remained in my consciousness with an unrelenting fondness like the Nickelodeon show Invader Zim. Out of the hundreds of animated shows I've watched and the numerous live-action shows, no other show has ever hit me in the same way as when I sit down to watch our euphonious alien's latest attempt at world domination.

It's hard to say that Invader Zim is remembered all that much among the mainstream nowadays. No - really it's last moment in the consciousness of mainstream American media was all the way back in 2006, when Nickelodeon's sister channel Nicktoons aired all completed episodes of the show's planned second season.

It was around that year up until 2010 where the show found a small resurgence amongst the "Emo" and "Scene" crowd. I still remember all the times we would go to the mall and I'd run to the Hot Topic just to look and see what Invader Zim merch they had available.

But what about Invader Zim made it so memorable? What was it that caused the show to have such a low, but still beating and thriving pulse at the core of its fanbase after being cancelled almost two decades ago now?

I believe there was a certain mysticism to the show once it was cancelled. The show had been planned to have 40 episodes aired, but only 27 ended up being fully produced. Those remaining 13 episodes, along with a TV movie (called Invader Dib), lived on as legend with the remnants of production that remained. And it's not like the show was cancelled because its ratings were poor - well that may have some to do with its demise, but that wasn't just it. It was also because of its thematic content.

There was something "edgy" about it. I hate to use that term (and maybe I'll rewrite this bit), but Invader Zim was definitely a show that tried to cross over into the more "teenage-appropriate" realm of animated shows (think Beavis & Butthead). Despite that, it was on one of the most kid-friendly networks, and with that the series' creator Jhonen Vasquez got as close as he could before the network had to reel him back.

The show's setting was very grimy - the buildings and facilities normally contained a "seeping" aspect to it, whether that was grime on walls, or grease stains covering the floor. There was something disgusting about the Earth that Vasquez had created, and I don't think I've ever seen another show really go for that angle in its aesthetic. It was unique. It didn't try to paint the world as a clean metropolis, but as a quasi-warped version of our reality.

It's "edge" didn't just come from its look, however. When you actually sat down and started to follow the plot in some of Invader's Zim's episodes, you'd find a lot of disturbing content in there - especially for a children's show. I remember there being episodes that were just unsettling. The episode "Game Slave 2" sticks out in my mind because it contains more of a "slasher horror" vibe as Gaz stalks and hunts a kid down so she can play a new video game system that was just released.

In spite of the dark and twisted nature that the show often exhumed, Invader Zim also had a lot of humor pumped into it. There was a lot to the characters and the plot of the show that was simply absurd. Everyone's motivations were incredibly exaggerated, and it made them all feel like the butt of a raw joke. I have to give my props to the studio creating the show, as there's a lot that needs to go on from both the dialogue and the visuals for this to work as effectively as this does. Take for example one of the last episodes released, "Zim Eats Waffles". It's an episode that takes place from one angle, Zim's dining room. But despite that, the team manages to pack a lot of visually humorous scenarios within this tiny frame, with dialogue to match it to boot.

Invader Zim always felt like the ideal outcome of throwing shit together after getting at 2a.m. because you're hungry and drunk. It's a show that attempts to be an absurdist black comedy set against a sci-fi/gritty backdrop. Within that comedy were sprinkled in pieces of other genres as well like action or horror. It's an animal I've only seen in one other iteration - Courage the Cowardly Dog. That show had the benefit of being on a network with a less kid-friendly image however

Over the past few years or so, Nickelodeon has slowly doled out new additions to their classic properties. From Hey Arnold! to The Wild Thornberry's to even Legends of the Hidden Temple - Nickelodeon has been really try to revitalize its network. Fast forward to 2019 now, and through some insane miracle I'm sitting here watching an all-new Invader Zim animated film on Netflix.

And you know what? It's exactly how I remember the original show.

The plot of the film "Enter The Florpus" plays out almost like any other episode of the show. A long time since the last episode, Zim has gone dormant. This drives Zim's rival, Dib, to the point of insanity, until through various shenanigans it's revealed that Zim has in fact been working on a new plan to take over the world all along. This plan unravels (in absurd fashion) throughout the rest of the film as Dib tries desperately to save the Earth.

I am going to be the first to admit - there's absolutely nothing standout about this film. It is very by-the-numbers as far as the plot of Invader Zim goes. It hits the same beats as most episodes, only deviates from the formula for self-referential jokes, and doesn't alter the characters in really any way by the film's end. You could totally not watch this film and feel like you didn't miss anything.

Except, you did. You missed out on the small revival of a beloved cult classic that never got the chance it should have. The film gives you a small reminder at just how great the original show really was (and by extension this film). It also sheds some exposure on an old series that many people may have skipped over in the past. It's incredible at how well the story, setting, and characters of Invader Zim hold up over 15 years later. What's more - it still feels relevant and modern.

Invader Zim is a show that I firmly believe to be a timeless classic after having watched Enter The Florpus. It's irreverent and funny with an art style that never feels old or out of place when I watch it. It's setting isn't beholden to any specific time period and its characters are parodies of archetypes from decades before the show was even conceived.

While there are numerous other cartoons from the 90s and 2000s that could be aptly described as "great for their time", Invader Zim just feels "great". And I couldn't be any happier to sit down in my old worn-out GIR hoodie and revel in that fact.