Pilot (Invader Zim)
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| Invader Zim episode | |
|---|---|
| “Pilot” | |
 Zim with an alien device |
|
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 0 |
| Writer(s) | Rob Hummel Eva Almos Ed Scharlach |
| Director | Jordan Reichek |
| Production no. | 0 |
| Original airdate | N/A |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| – | "The Nightmare Begins" |
Pilot is the unaired first episode of the television series Invader Zim. The voice of Zim is voice actor Billy West.
[edit] Plot
The episode opens with Melvin giving his talk to the class on why he wants to become an astronaut. Miss Bitters then swoops down to crush his dreams and obliterate his diagrams. Dib attempts to expose Zim as an alien, but his attempts are in vain as no-one seems to notice or care, despite Zim removing a students brain (using the same device from "Dark Harvest" episode). At lunch, Dib notices that Zim doesn't like the cafeteria food, which Gaz points out is fairly normal. Dib pressures Zim into eating the food, and he does so, making his head expand to several times it's normal size. Escaping before anyone notices, he goes to his house and has Gir pump the toxins out of his head.
Later, Zim is playing a 'pain piggy' game, while Dib talks about his plans in front of an uncaring Gaz. He tells her of his intentions to start a foodfight the next day, which Zim overhears through a listening device on Dibs head. When Dib turns around we see a very large beetle-type object clamped roughly to his head. The two both get to work to prepare themselves for the fight.
The next day Zim comes into skool wearing robotic armour, to which someone comments 'the weird kid looks weirder today'. Dib enters with an arm-mounted food-launcher and challenges Zim. The two compliment each others weaponry before launching into battle. At the end, the suit blows up and Dib gets blamed for starting the fight, which has claimed half the cafeteria. The episode ends with Dib writing on the blackboard 'Zim is not an alien'
[edit] Miscellanea/Trivia
After the computer takes off his diguise after he slams the door shut, the pilot episode shows that he still has it on after calling to Gir.
- There is an edition with Computer Generated Imagery, but it has not been released.
- The 100+ writings of 'Zim is not an alien' on the blackboard were apparently done by Vasquez himself (as stated in the DVD commentary for the episode) and on closer inspection reveal that it contains phrases such as 'Zim kidnaps and dissects farm animals' and 'my hand is going to fall off' concealed in the text.
- Apparently, due to the creation of this episode being so close to the Columbine incident, Dib's trenchcoat and the cafeteria food fight drew strong criticism [1]
- The episode aired on Oh Yeah! Cartoons. [2]
- Zim was voiced by Billy West instead of Richard Horvitz. Originally, Mark Hamill did the first voice work for Zim [citation needed], but Jhonen and the crew felt his performance wasn't suited for Zim and got Billy West to record Zim's lines instead for the pilot. It wasn't until Angry Beavers had ended that they called Richard Horvitz to do the voice for Zim.
- Somewhere in this episode a boy is wearing a Happy Noodle Boy top, this is a reference to Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.
- After this, Andy Berman (the voice of Dib) would have been doing Zim's voice if The Angry Beavers hadn't been cancelled around the time the voice actors were needed, freeing up Richard Horvitz.
