The Nightmare Begins

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“The Nightmare Begins”
Invader Zim episode
ZIM arriving at the great assigning
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 1
Written by	Rob Hummel
Directed by	Steve Ressel
Production no.	01
Original airdate	March 30, 2001
Episode chronology
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"Pilot"	"Parent Teacher Night"
List of Invader Zim episodes

The Nightmare Begins is the first official episode of the Invader Zim series. It was first broadcast on March 30, 2001. This is the first double-length episode of Invader Zim. Because of the absence of the opening title video, this is technically the longest episode of Invader Zim ever made. This episode features Richard Horvitz as Zim, in the pilot episode, Zim is played by Billy West. Horvitz remained as Zim for the complete run of the show.

[edit] Plot

On planet Irk, home of the mighty Irkens, Operation Impending Doom 2 is to begin. The Irkens want all the races of the universe to serve them, so they send Irken Invaders to make the planets vulnerable so the armada can attack them. We see the leaders of Irk, the Almighty Tallest, present themselves and give a little speech. Then the Great Assigning begins. They first call forward Invader Larb, a fairly short Invader who was originally assigned to Planet Blorch, home of the Slaughtering Rat People. However, since Larb has grown, they assign him to Vort, Home of the Universe's Most Comfortable Couch. Next up is Invader Spleen, a tall, tough looking Invader. Just as the Tallest remark, "Oooohhh", the scene changes to an angry alien's voice telling people to move out of the way. We go back to the Tallest, who are finishing the Assigning up with Invader Skoodge, a short, plump, Irken who is assigned to Blorch. We hear the "move it" voice again, and a tiny, tiny Irken pops up. The Tallest are shocked to find Zim, an annoying and prideful alien. He begs for a chance to be an Invader, but the Tallest are still upset over how he singlehandedly ruined Operation Impending Doom 1 and was banished to Foodcourtia, where he fries things. Tallest Red tries to make Zim go away by giving him a sandwich, but Zim is stubborn. Tallest Red gets a plan however: to send Zim to a "mystery planet" where they hope they won't ever see him again. They want him to die in space. When they tell Zim the plan (leaving out the very important part about how it's just a fake mission, of course) he's satisfied. And the Great Assigning ends. Meanwhile, back on Earth, a boy named Dib has heard the transmission via satellite. He rushes into the house and tries to tell his dad and sister about it. His father is busy making toast, and his sister is just mad at him for drinking the last soda, so they pay no attention.

Back on Irk, the Tallest are giving the Invaders S.I.R. robots (standard information retrieval.) Zim is excited about his getting "a robot slave of his own" but the Tallest fool him once again by making a robot literally out of trash, a G.I.R. G.I.R. is at first broken, but soon comes to life as the Tallest snicker behind Zim's back. "Gir, reporting for duty!" "Gir?! What does the G stand for?" "I don't.....know!" And Gir the insane robot is born. The Tallest quickly make up a lie after Zim remarks that his robot seems a little stupid. "It's not stupid, it's advaaaaaaaanced!"

So Zim and G.I.R. set out for Earth while Gir sings the Doom Song. After six months, they arrive. They quickly land their ship next to some everyday looking homes. Zim asks Gir what he learned about humans to which G.I.R. merely tells Zim about the squirrel he saw. Zim ignores him and makes their disguises: Zim a human boy with contact lenses and a wig (The two disguises which Zim looks at before choosing are none other than cameos of the creator, Jhonen Vasquez, and the director, Steve Ressel), and Gir a cute squeaky dog. And then they make their house. Despite the loud racket, no one notices. Zim happily steps inside the house and goes to his secret lab, where he learns that the best way to start learning about Earth is through school. So Zim sets out to school disguised as a new kid. Unfortunately for Zim, Dib is in his class and instantly sees through his awful disguise. The other children almost believe him until Zim calls Dib crazy and the others agree. But Dib's not going to let that stop him. After school that day, Dib catches up with Zim and starts chasing him with handcuffs that render alien life-forms unconscious. Zim runs for his life with Dib close behind. Finally, Zim manages to get Dib away and he uses the spare time to call Gir and tell him to get him back to his house. A second later, Gir shows up in his doggy suit and flies Zim home. But alas, Dib follows him home as well. They quickly get in the house and Dib vows revenge one day. But Zim's lawn gnomes take his handcuffs, so he leaves.

Back on Irk, the Almighty Tallest receive a report from Zim. They are shocked that he is alive, but before they really get to talk Gir falls on Zim, cutting off the transmission. What will happen next?

[edit] Changes / Rewrite

• Several character changes were made after this episode, including a complete re-work of the Tallest.

• Originally, in order to be able to be sent to a planet, Zim was supposed to battle a monster called the Digestor. In which Zim gives the Digestor his sandwich Tallest Red gave him, and the Digestor skips away happily.

• Zim's rampage on Irk was originally much longer, but was cut for time. One of the things that was said to happened was the that the robot thing Zim was piloting would breakdance. Jhonen stated that the episode would have been extended by 20 minutes if they kept it in.^{[citation needed]}