It's here, O Monsters maniacs, the show Nickelodeon decided was "too weird" for their network. Piffle. What's not to love about a series where a dim-witted, hyperactive (yet surprisingly short) alien and his idiot robot servant attempt to integrate themselves with the populace in order to study our planet as a means to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!! Yeah, I can see the six-to-nine years olds really getting into it…So now finally, uncut and uncensored and free of "The Man", is INVADER ZIM VOLUME ONE: doom doom doom…

Episode 1: The Nightmare Begins… It is the time of the "The Great Assigning"; the latest wave of galactic conquest by the insectoid Irken Empire. The Irken leaders, the Almighty Tallest, arrive at the gathering - they are rulers because they're…well…tall. The Almighty Tallest have hand-selected their best soldiers for "Operation Impending Doom 2" - these invaders will be assigned to a planet where they will blend in with the enemy, learn their weaknesses, and leave them defenseless when the Irken Armada arrives! However, in this hour of glory comes a late arrival - Zim. Zim (probably the smallest Irken) is well known to the Almighty Tallest - he almost destroyed the Irken home world during "Operation Impending Doom 1". To appease the pathetically pleading Zim the Tallest decide to send him to a 'secret' planet, so secret no one dares speak its name.

Zim is given a 'special' robot assistant - Gir, who is so incredibly stupid it makes Zim seem like Einstein. After a six-month journey (Gir sings "The Doom Song" the entire way) Zim arrives at the secret planet - Earth! Zim and Gir set up a base of operations (a crooked house atop a vast underground complex) and disguise themselves to blend in (which doesn't quite work). Zim goes to 'skool' to learn the habits of the filthy 'hu-mans', where he encounters Dib, a science geek who is obsessed with Bigfoot, UFO's and all that X-File stuff. The other kids ignore his accusations that Zim is an alien, but the wily invader knows he has meet the enemy - the battle lines have been drawn…

INVADER ZIM is the creation of Jhonen Vasquez, known for his underground comix SQUEE and JOHNNY THE HOMICIDAL MANIAC (a personal fav). The series is animated to reflect Jhonen's unique style - strong lines, dark colors, and nothing is ever quite straight. The use of lighting and shadows is beyond any other cartoon I've ever seen. Every cel seems to be filled with something unusual. The basic story premise of "Zim vs. Dib" reminds me of 'Road Runner' cartoons; the main characters have been already established but their situations just get weirder & weirder as we go. The episodes in INVADER ZIM vary widely; one's like or dislike of an individual show depends on how much grossness one can tolerate. Some of my favorites in VOLUME ONE are:

DARK HARVEST - an exceptionally animated chase sequence of Zim attempting to make Dib an organ donor…for Zim.

THE WETTENING - revenge is having a bigger water balloon than your enemy

PLANET JACKERS - where Zim has to save the Earth…so he can destroy it.

RISE OF THE ZITBOY - Zim's pimple may be the means to rule the world! (I told you things get pretty gross)

INVASION OF THE IDIOT DOG BRAIN - Gir transforms into a house that needs a taco fix

BAD, BAD RUBBER PIGGY - only a moron would use a 'Temporal Object Replacement Device'…so guess who's just build one?

ROOM WITH A MOOSE - a moose who eats walnuts. Scary stuff, kids.

As you can see, there is no consistency with INVADER ZIM. Each episode has to really be considered on its own; the poor Earth is destroyed three times in the first season alone. If you dig the characters, then every episode will have something for you to like about it…no matter how far 'out there' it gets. The picture quality is excellent, with the deep dark color tones saturating the screen. Audio is fine, although they do yell. A lot. The music enhances the animation, and the theme song is out of this world (sorry.) INVADER ZIM is a cartoon on the edge - which I'm sure is where the execs at Nick wanted to put it once they realized it wasn't another 'Spongebob" If you're a fan of the films reviewed here at Monsters and havent' seen Zim yet, you need to get with it and get INVADER ZIM now!

Media Blasters have released INVADER ZIM VOLUME ONE as a nifty double DVD set. There are 9 half-hour episodes in this series, each episode having two shows except for the pilot. (That's 17 unique shows, if you're counting) The voice cast and production crew have a commentary track available for most of the episodes - it's like listening to a party, but you do get bits and pieces of what went on behind the scenes, so it's worth at least a cursory listen. Animatics are also included for many episodes if you want to see how the animation developed in the series. Also available are Irken subtitles, if you can read them…

INVADER ZIM is the best cartoon to come out in the last ten years. Yes, 'Batman's' pretty awesome and there's some exceptional anime, but Zim is unique among these fine cartons in both style and story. There is always something new and different going on in every episode of Zim, and it's just so wild I can wait to see how Zim screws himself (and everyone else) up next! If such a thing existed, INVADER ZIM would be the patron carton of the horror/cult genre; it's dark, intense and weird. Really weird.

And that's a good thing…