Invader Zim is in this September’s Loot Wear and because of that, we’ve got Zim fever! So, let’s do a quick little rundown of some fun facts that maybe you didn’t know about everyone’s favorite psychotic little alien.
1. The slurping noises that Gir would make that would send him into a coughing fit were actually due to his voice actor’s inability to do said noises without breaking into coughing himself. It happened so often that they just slid it right into Gir’s quirkiness!
2. Originally, the name of the ship Voot Cruiser was originally Spoot Cruiser but The Angry Beavers had coined the term ‘Spoot‘ which then made sure the writers went back to the well and found a new fun word to interchange it with!
3. The main characters of Invader Zim all have names with only three letters in them: Gaz, Dib, Zim and Gir.
(Nickelodon)
4. It was mentioned on a podcast by Richard Horvitz, that audio recording for Invader Zim would get so colorful and loud that it would often interrupt the recording of Dora the Explorer in the studio next to them.
5. That tall man with orange spiked hair and thick glasses? That’s none other than creator Jhonen Vasquez animated into the episodes!
6. The word ‘doom’ is uttered 100 times in the very first episode of Invader Zim. Can you think of how many times that must be for a short 22 minute episode!?
7. Jhonen Vasquez actually told his animators and writers to stop involving cameos in the episodes as he was concerned it was drawing attention away from the bulk of the story and making people think it was just referential humor rather than plot. Man, that’s not the case nowadays. People looooove their references!
(Nickelodeon)
8. If you can believe it, Mark Hamill (Yes, that one), had tried for the role of Zim but Nickelodeon felt that he didn’t bring the youthful vibe they were going for. It’s fine, it let him go focus on other things like The Joker!
9. According to details in the show’s ‘Pitch Bible’, they had wanted Invader Zim to be more in line with shows like Animaniacs where there would be episodes with short cut-aways and interludes all throughout. This didn’t actually settle in as more complex stories became something they wanted to take for the episodic appeal.
10. Of typical merchandise, it’s noted that Gir is the most popular character for clothing and it’s not hard to see why. The fella is a cute little alien puppins with a lot of mischievous appeal!
