Zim Eats Waffles

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Zim Eats Waffles is a popular episode of Invader Zim, originally produced as episode 25A. It was written by Eric Trueheart. While "Zim Eats Waffles" never aired on Nickelodeon in the US, it aired on the Nicktoons Network on June 17, 2006.

[edit] Plot

One morning, Dib attempts to sneak into Zim's house using a cloaking device. GIR splashes Dib with his big glug, shorting out the cloak. Dib asks the clueless GIR to place the camera in Zim's house, which the robot does.

Dib returns home to record the footage on his computer. Unfortunately, his DVD-ROM drives are not working, so he initiates disc repair and watches the camera footage live.

The camera shows Zim and GIR at the kitchen table tediously thinking out loud. GIR makes waffles, and Zim actually tries them, deciding they aren't too bad. Zim starts to reveal his next evil plan, but a giant flesh-eating demon squid escapes from his lab and attacks him before he can finish. Dib contacts Agent Darkbooty by videophone, but Darkbooty comes on line just as the fight ends. Darkbooty accuses Dib of playing a practical joke on the Swollen Eye and angrily hangs up.

Dib continues attempts to contact more officials as progressively weirder things happen. Each time someone responds, the scene on the spy cam only show banal activities. At various points a child named Nick---with a probe to make him obsessively happy---is brought out, a pizza is delivered, and the squid attacks again, this time with cyborg minions. A fight ensues; Zim, however, is eventually able to reprogram them and sends them out to do his evil bidding. Dib's video recorders finally repair themselves, and he begins recording the activities in Zim's base. Unfortunately, the cyborg zombies stomp into the room and destroy all of Dib's computers. Dib is at first shocked and horrified at another chance destroyed, but just goes to bed, muttering "Whatever."

[edit] Trivia

• The creators of the show have said that Zim could stomach the waffles because they were made with Irken ingredients (which was possibly as a last ditch effort to fill up plot holes). [1]

• Nick, the kid with the Happy Probe in his head forcing to be happy all the time, is an odd parody of Nickelodeon. In "Gir Goes Crazy and Stuff", Nick is shown briefly as a test subject of Zim's, who wanted to experiment with the "happiness centers" of his brain. He is also later seen briefly in "The Girl Who Cried Gnome" when Zim and Gir board him on the ship, ready to leave Earth. In this episode, if you freeze-frame and look closely, you can tell Nick's T-shirt reads 'NICK'

• The cloaking device that Dib uses is exactly like the one Predator uses and with the same weakness

• This was made as a "filler" episode, to use money the production team had saved for the series finale, which of course they did not need.

• This episode was originally planned to be only one shot, with the camera panning slowly back and forth between Dib and his monitor whenever a change of focus was needed. This idea was scrapped do to time constraints and the addition of a scene at the beginning showing Dib placing the camera in Zim's house (with the help of GIR)

• When Dib calls the FBI, behind the man is a large lit-up sign. You can't tell what it says in the final cut, but Jhonen says in the commentary that it said "FBI".