Game Slave 2
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| “Game Slave 2” | |||||||
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| Invader Zim episode | |||||||
 Gaz on the hunt (riding a scooter). |
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| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 11B |
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| Written by | Eric Trueheart and Jhonen Vasquez | ||||||
| Directed by | Steve Ressel | ||||||
| Guest stars | Paul Greenberg | ||||||
| Production no. | 12B | ||||||
| Original airdate | September 21, 2001 | ||||||
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| List of Invader Zim episodes | |||||||
Game Slave 2 is an episode of the Nickelodeon cartoon Invader Zim originally produced as episode 12B but aired as episode 11B on September 21, 2001. It was written by Jhonen Vasquez, and directed by Steve Ressel, and guest starring Paul Greenberg.
[edit] Plot
Gaz and Dib are sitting on the couch when a commercial for the Game Slave 2, a new handheld game console, comes on. Gaz has been obsessively playing the original Game Slave, and wants to go to the mall immediately, but Dib insists on waiting until after "Mysterious Mysteries" is over. When they finally arrive at the mall, they find thousands waiting in line ahead of them. Gaz sends Dib into the large parking lot for revenge, where he is quickly lost and encounters a tribe of hideously devolved Rat People. Meanwhile, Gaz must stand in front of a chatty boy named Iggins, who constantly brags about his "superior" gaming abilities.
When Gaz finally gets to the cashier, all of the Game Slave 2 consoles have been sold, except for one: a pre-order for a Clarence Wong (an online gamer and friend/rival of Jhonen Vasquez, according to the DVD commentary). The cashier says that if Clarence Wong does not show up to get it, however, it can go to Gaz, since she is the next in line. Iggins claims he is Clarence Wong in order to claim the last GS2, and Gaz, angered by his trickery, vows revenge on the ground that the game should have been hers instead. Iggins does not take her seriously, however.
Soon, Gaz starts stalking Iggins for the game console. When the GS2's batteries run low at a critical point in the game, Iggins finds that Gaz has collected all the batteries in his house and is holding them for ransom. He refuses to trade the console for the batteries, and she flushes them down the toilet. A panicked Iggins runs to the "Battery Tower" in search of batteries, taking an elevator to the 50th floor, where he is again confronted by Gaz. In desperation, Iggins gives Gaz the GS2; the violent storm outside immediately dissipates, as Gaz states that "The rightful order has been restored."
Iggins spitefully screams at her that he'll always be the better gamer, always... and that is when his elevator's cable snaps, sending him plummeting down 50 stories. 'The End' flashes on screen, but it is then revealed that Iggins survived the fall and flies away from the wreckage.
[edit] Relevance and reception
This episode is the first to focus mainly on Gaz as opposed to the title character Zim, who does not appear in this episode. The ending of this was quickly tacked onto the episode because Vasquez says that Nickelodeon protested against killing Iggins. It took several meetings before this ending became a reality. Vasquez claims that Nickelodeon protested, claiming that Vasquez was mocking them with the 'flying away' concept[1]. Also, Dib was supposed to be a rat person at the end of episode. However, with the ending being re-done so that Iggins survives in the end, the scene was never animated. The scene can still be seen in the animatic on DVD. The fictional console Game Slave 2 was originally going to be called the Game Slave Advance. Because of complaints from Nintendo that the name sounded too much like the newly released system at the time, Game Boy Advance, the name was changed.[2] Other parodies include Vampire Piggy Hunter, a parody of Vampire Hunter D.[3] Critics note that the writer of this episode must understand what it's like to wait in line for a new video game release.[2]a Bloody GIR can be seen in the beginning of the episode.
[edit] References
- ^ Adam Tierney (1 September 2004). An Interview with Jhonen Vasquez and Rikki Simons (page 1) (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-05-08.
- ^ a b A History of Video Game Controversy (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
- ^ Shane Ivey (26 October 2001). Death and Morons: The Jhonen Vasquez Story (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
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