The
movie
Gir:
I love this show!
If that line doesn't make you laugh – or at least bring a smile
to your face – then you clearly have not been exposed to the
maniacally funny, wackily inventive show that is called Invader
ZIM. Amazingly enough, a few short weeks ago I had never even
heard of the show, until a friend pressed a copy of Invader Zim
Volume 1: Doom Doom Doom into my baffled hands. "You have
to watch this!" he assured me. Okey-dokey... I popped it into my
DVD player, to discover a true gem of animated humor. Clearly, I
absolutely had to get my hands on Volume 2: Progressive Stupidity.
You see, Zim is an alien who has been sent to conquer Earth as part
of the Irken Empire's Operation Impending Doom II. Well, not quite.
Actually, he (and his hastily cobbled-together robot companion Gir)
have been sent to this little backwater planet to get him out of the
way, because while Zim has a monomaniacal belief in his own superior
intellect and abilities, in truth he... well, he tends to screw
things up.
Volume 2 picks up where Volume 1 left off, with episodes from Season
1 (2001). In terms of air dates and episode sequences, it gets a bit
messy from there on, as this set includes most (but not all) of the
Season 2 (2002) episodes that actually got aired, plus one of the
episodes that was never aired in the US. The order that the episodes
is presented on the DVD also differs from the air date, as far as I
can tell from my research. In any case, we'll hopefully get the
balance of the Zim episodes in Volume 3.
The brilliance of Invader Zim shines most brightly when
creator Jhonen Vasquez sets up ordinary circumstances for Zim to deal
with, and develops them in utterly bizarre ways. The gem of this
volume is probably "Battle of the Planets," a half-hour
episode in which Zim has the brilliant idea of investigating Mars for
possible weapons to use against the Earth... and it all gets really
weird from there. Other highlights are "Bolognius Maximus"
(featuring a bizarre DNA fusion between human, alien, and...
bologna), the delightfully wacky "Door to Door," which will
hit a particularly funny note with anybody who had to sell candy at
their school, and "Mysterious Mysteries," in which Zim and
Gir make it onto TV in one of Dib's attempts to expose Zim as an
alien.
One thing is, I think, quite evident: Nickelodeon's boneheaded ideas
about the show's audience aside, Invader Zim is a show
primarily for adults, not kids. Like The Simpsons, there's
material here that the younger set can laugh at, but the skewed
perspective that Invader Zim takes on everyday life is most
certainly aimed at adult viewers. The world of Invader Zim is
a dark, twisted place, populated by parodies that hit dangerously
close to the truth, from the warped schoolteacher Ms. Bitters to
Bloaty the Pizza Hog.
The episodes here have a tough act to follow, considering how
insanely funny Volume 1 was, and although there are some definite
highlights, overall they're not quite as good as those on the earlier
volume. I think we can see some effects from the see-saw of
cancellation threats and reprieves (sadly too few of the latter) that
Invader Zim went through. The show's focus seems to shift
slightly in the episodes here: while the very best Invader Zim
episodes focus on Zim (and Gir!) dealing with life on Earth, some of
the later episodes seem to shift to a more purely science-fiction
premise; for instance, we see a lot more of the Almighty Tallest, who
don't really work all that well. Episodes along these lines, like
"Hobo 13" or "Abducted" are still funny, but they
don't represent Invader Zim at its best. Similarly, the
"Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom" and "Game Slave
2" have their moments, but they're missing that certain spark
that comes from our alien friends. We want Zim! (And Gir!)
Even accounting for a slightly lower level of delightful insanity
than in Volume 1, Invader Zim Volume 2: Progressive Stupidity
is still amazingly funny and creative. The thing is, it's almost
impossible to just describe why Invader Zim is so memorable
and fun to watch... you basically have to experience it to see what I
mean.
The following episodes appear on Volume 2:
Plague of Babies / Bloaty's Pizza Hog
Door to Door / FBI Warning of Doom
Bolognius Maximus / Game Slave 2
Battle of the Planets
Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom
Mysterious Mysteries / Future Dib
Hobo 13 / Walk for Your Lives (unaired in the US)
Megadoomer / Lice
Abducted
/ The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot
The
DVD
Invader ZIM Volume 2: Progressive Stupidity is a two-DVD set,
packaged in a single-wide keepcase. It's pretty clearly a
continuation of Volume 1, as the DVDs are labeled "Disc 3"
and "Disc 4." There's an insert booklet, but unlike Volume
1, it's just stuck in the middle without anything to hold it in
place.
Video
This show looks great. And I do mean great. Colors are bright and
vibrant, blacks are solid and dark, and the image overall is
extremely crisp and sharp. It's also squeaky-clean, with no noise at
all. Animation is perhaps the most unforgiving of all styles in terms
of image quality, as any flaws tend to show up very distinctively,
but the flip side is when it looks just right, as it does here, it's
downright stunning.
All the episodes are presented in their original television aspect
ratio of 1.33:1.
Audio
Given the absolutely (and delightfully) over-the-top voice acting
featured in Invader Zim, it's a good thing that we get a nice
soundtrack to handle it. Any hint of harshness or tinniness would
surely be revealed the first time Zim proclaimed his greatness to the
world at the top of his lungs, but in fact we get a nicely handled
soundtrack that does a great job of reproducing all the actors'
voices quite naturally. I do tend to miss the occasional line here
and there, but I think that's more to do with the actors sometimes
speaking very quickly (or in odd accents) rather than anything to do
with the soundtrack itself. The theme music sounds great, too.
The soundtrack is a Dolby 2.0, which works fine as there's no real
need for surround channels here. A Spanish language soundtrack is
also included.
Extras
The special features here consist of commentaries and animatics, and
are divided between the two discs. 13 of the 16 episodes have a
commentary track from the cast and production crew; "Game Slave
2," "Hobo 13," "Megadoomer," and "The
Sad Sad Tale of Chickenfoot" have multiple commentary tracks.
All the episodes except for "Megadoomer" also have the
option to view the episode as animatics. In each case, the opening
and closing sequences are presented in the normal format, with the
rest of the episode presented in animatic form, with the regular
soundtrack continuing to play. This feature is mildly interesting for
about 30 seconds if you're just a fan of the show. I can imagine,
though, that for budding cartoonists this would be a very
illuminating feature.
We also have optional Irken subtitles, which rather annoyingly are on
by default.
Final
thoughts
I've
never seen anything quite like Invader Zim. This animated
television series has a truly off-kilter and bizarrely funny way of
looking at the world, and if you're looking for something fresh, new,
and surprising, then look no further: Invader Zim fits the
bill. While in terms of pure comic brilliance Volume 1: Doom Doom
Doom comes out ahead, Volume 2: Progressive Stupidity is
no slouch, offering fans a nice selection of wacky episodes.
Especially when I consider the superb transfer, Invader Zim Volume
2 gets a "highly recommended."
Buy: