Battle of the Planets (Invader Zim)
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Battle of the Planets is an episode of Invader Zim. Originally produced as episode 13, "Battle of the Planets" aired as episode 15 on April 5, 2002.
[edit] Plot
This double-length episode begins with an Irken long-range probe landing on Mars and taking pictures of its unusual features, including the Face on Mars, several great pyramids and step pyramids, and an Earth probe.
Meanwhile, the Irken armada's planetary conversion team moves into orbit around Blorch, the first planet to fall victim to Operation Impending Doom II. The Almighty Tallest announce their intention to wipe out the remaining organics (Slaughtering Rat People), and decide to turn it into a parking structure planet. Before they begin though, the Tallest commend Invader Zim for being so far away and unable to wreck their plans again. They bring Zim (who's dressed like a bear) up on the monitor and congratulate him on a job well done. Not realizing their sarcasm, Zim accepts the congratulations without question and reports on his latest plan to investigate the nearby planet, Mars, for potential use. After signing off, the Tallest and the rest of the crew all have a good laugh at Zim's expense.
Back at Zim's lab, the computer informs him that his probes have returned from Mars. As Zim watches the images from the red planet, he decides it's worth a visit. He and GIR hop in the Voot cruiser and head for Mars (and a moment later, GIR is heard crying out, "are we there yet?). They arrive and Zim investigates the structures as GIR stumbles upon the Earth probe—which, he finds to his dismay, is broken. He then starts to repair it.
While all this is going on, Dib is in his room speaking with his contact in the Swollen Eyeball, a secret organization dedicated to proving the existence of the supernatural—especially aliens. He discusses his findings from watching the monitors of the Earth probe on Mars, trying to convince his colleague that it's proof of alien life. His colleague is hopeful and tells Dib to look for more evidence. He then runs to his father to show him the evidence. His father, Professor Membrane, doesn't believe him and tells him to try real science sometime (while holding, strangely enough, a puppet version of himself). Dib returns to his room and sullenly continues watching the transmissions from Mars. Suddenly, a monitor that had been showing only static comes to life, flashing a brief image of GIR squealing. Dib gets in close and waits as GIR appears again, this time dancing a jig because he's managed to fix the broken probe. Dib then watches raptly as Zim complains about his inability to find anything useful on Mars.
As Zim continues ranting he stomps his foot for emphasis and, suddenly, the face beneath him begins to rumble. The stones of the face then begin to move, separating and rearranging themselves. As the structure they're standing on reforms itself, Zim and GIR lose their footing and go tumbling to the ground below. The face then reassembles itself into some sort of control console as huge vents explode across the planet's surface, revealing a lattice-work of gigantic cables criss-crossing the globe. Huge engines then burst through the surface on the opposite side of the planet. Zim and GIR climb back up on to the structure and find a single chair positioned at the top. Zim sits in it and a holographic image of an alien appears. The hologram explains that he is the last of his kind, a species that worked themselves to extinction converting their planet into a spaceship (a technology tested and proven on another planet). When Zim asks why they would do such a thing, the hologram's only response is, "because it's cool," to which GIR agrees.
Back at Blorch, Invader Skoodge is about to be rewarded for his efforts in conquering the planet, that is, until the Tallest get another look at him. His extreme shortness as well as ugliness repulse the leaders, who decide to launch Skoodge through a canon as part of a new tradition they just made up for the organic sweep. After sending the Invader to his seeming death, they decide to give a tall, handsome Irken the name Skoodge and claim him as the conqueror of Blorch. The new Skoodge doesn't seem to see anything wrong with it and immediately smiles for the cameras. Just then, a call comes in from Zim, who explains his discovery about Mars and describes how he's planning to destroy the humans with it: he's going to roll the planet across the Earth, squishing all life. The Tallest find this hilarious and burst into laughter once Zim signs off.
Having heard most of what's been going on through the probe's camera, Dib realizes he must find the other planet the Martians turned into a spaceship and use it to stop Zim. He runs off to NASAPLACE! to try to convince them of what he's seen. Sounding like a complete fool, the scientists at the space center don't believe him (and berate him for looking at the Martian feed because, "ever since they cut the funding, we're not even allowed to look at those monitors"). Dib is then confronted by a janitor who implies that he is actually Dib's colleague in the Swollen Eyeball. The janitor then shows Dib a rocket he's hidden below the NASAPLACE! offices. He encourages Dib to go to Mercury, claiming the "Butt on Mercury" must be a sign that it too was turned into a spaceship. Dib hops into the rocket and takes off for Mercury.
Back on Mars, Zim approaches planet Earth and slows to squishing speed, slowly bringing the planets closer. The touching point winds up being a soda can being held by a man at a picnic table atop a hill in a park. The man screams with fright, shouting, "oh no, oh no, no, no!" as the planet settles atop his soda can. Suddenly, the planet (and the soda can) go flying off as Dib and the planet Mercury smash into Mars and Zim. Dib and Zim then proceed to battle it out with their planets, dodging and smashing into one another. Zim then sends GIR back to stop Dib. He manages to do so for a few moments by touching every button on Dib's console and asking, "what's this do? what's that do?" but Dib asks GIR to stop and, being GIR, he does so and the chase resumes. Desperate to get away, Zim decides to head into the asteroid belt, thinking his piloting skills are up to the task. Dib, however, realizes that it's just a really stupid idea to fly into the asteroid belt and watches as Zim is knocked silly. Zim eventually makes it back to the Voot cruiser and escapes Mars before being killed. Dib, thinking he's finally won, laughs and gloats. Until, however, he discovers that GIR has taken all of his cameras and his evidence is gone.
Meanwhile, back at Blorch, the conversion process continues as the Almighty Tallest make fun of Zim. On the screen behind them the planet Mars is then seen careening straight into the armada, taking dozens of Irken ships out with it.
[edit] Miscellanea
- The title is a reference to the Sandy Frank TV series Battle of the Planets.
- In one shot Dib's t-shirt design is missing (see image above).
- First non-shadowy appearance of Agent Darkbooty as the NASAPLACE! janitor.
- This episode was planned to be the first season finale until Nickelodeon ordered seven extra episodes for the season. [1]
- When the tallest say that meat had once fused to Zim's skin, they are referring to Germs.
- GIR's friend Pig from Germs makes a cameo in this episode.
- Originally, there was one cut scene involving Mars getting shoved into Mercury, so it would look like a face getting shoved into a butt. This scene was removed by request of Nickelodeon.
