n the premiere episode of this Nickelodeon animated series, the Irken hordes are on the march. The "Almighty Tallest" assign their best Invaders to jobs in Operation Impending Doom II, but Invader Zim (Horvitz) isn't exactly one of their best Invaders. In fact, Zim singlehandedly terminated Operation Impending Doom I by going berserk with his giant war machine a little prematurely--in fact, before leaving the Irken homeworld. The Almighty Tallest have no intention of letting Zim foul up the sequel. They cobble together a phony secret mission, located as far from the rest of their forces as possible, and send him on his way. After a long journey deep into the middle of galactic nowhere, Zim discovers Earth.
Once he's located his target world, Zim follows standard Invader protocol: disguise yourself as a native and gather intelligence. With the help of his somewhat defective robot G.I.R. (Simons), Zim sets himself up as a human child. He infiltrates his local elementary school and begins assessing Earth's defensive capabilities. His disguise is remarkably effective, considering it's just a wig and a pair of contacts. The only earthling who realizes what's going on is Zim's classmate Dib (Berman). Think Fox Mulder, aged eight. Unfortunately, Dib has long since exhausted his credibility regarding Bigfoot, aliens and all things paranormal. His protests that there's something different about the new kid, like the fact that he's green, fall flat.
And so, a fierce battle for Earth's future begins. Dib desperately tries to expose the alien threat, despite the fact that even his family just isn't interested. Meanwhile, Zim recognizes Dib as the greatest threat to his mission and feverishly plots his destruction, along with that of all mankind.
Invasion of the sitcom snatchers
Invader Zim's creator, Jhonen Vasquez, has earned a cult following with his indie comics SQUEE! and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. However, his foray into television animation doesn't really work. It's not that there's anything especially bad about Invader Zim. It delivers Vasquez's innovative visual style and is liberally dosed with inventive bits of manic absurdity. A highlight from this episode is an ice cream truck droning its sales pitch in its best Schwarzenegger impression: "You like ice cream, you love it, your existence is meaningless without ice cream."
On the other hand, there's nothing especially great about Invader Zim either. Much of the problem is the surface ornamentation, like that ice cream truck. There are plenty of these bits and they're often funny, but they totally outshine the show's core. Zim, Dib and their raging antagonism are far less interesting than the things that flash by while they're chasing each other around. As a result, the show sort of twitches and honks its half hour upon the stage, and ends without leaving much of an impression behind.
The episode also includes a surprising number of sequences in which the story pauses to watch some alien machine go about its work in unnecessary detail. When a show needs to pad out its premiere episode this much, it doesn't bode well for the future. Nickelodeon's press material for Invader Zim includes capsule synopses for a full slate of 15 episodes, and it's entirely possible the show will find its heart as it develops. However, based on "The Nightmare Begins," it's hard to imagine Nickelodeon renewing the show. And, while viewers may enjoy Invader Zim well enough while it's on, it's just as hard to imagine them bothering to complain once it's gone.
