Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds)

Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds) is the third book of the Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey, notable for its very long title, with 25 words (It was mentioned in the 5th book as "the book with the annoyingly long title"). The series of American children's books are about two fourth graders, George and Harold, and their mean principal Mr. Krupp.

Plot summary

Zorx, Klax and Jennifer, three evil aliens, land on the school roof and plan to take over the Earth by disguising themselves as cafeteria workers and feeding the kids alien food to turn them into evil zombie nerds and then using the kids to take over the world. Meanwhile, George and Harold learn in science class about the effects of mixing baking soda and vinegar together (the two ingredients don't mix and make a slimy sticky liquid that fizzes and bubbles). They decide to play a prank on the cafeteria ladies by giving them a recipe that involves mixing baking soda and vinegar. The recipe is disguised as a cupcake recipe (it says Mr. Krupp's Krispy Kruppcakes), with instructions to make a set of the cupcakes for Mr. Krupp's birthday.

The lunch ladies decide to surprise Mr. Krupp and make cupcakes for the entire school. So, instead of mixing a small amount of baking soda and vinegar, they mix a large amount: the result being that the school gets flooded by the slimy green mixture. Mr. Krupp tells the lunch ladies that it wasn't his birthday and that since they have no proof that George and Harold were responsible for the fiasco, he can't punish them. The lunch ladies therefore get mad at Mr. Krupp and quit their jobs.

Later that day, Zorx, Klax and Jennifer, come into Mr. Krupp's office very badly disguised as humans and Mr. Krupp, as gullible as he ever was, doesn't suspect a thing. The aliens say that they wish to apply for the vacant cafeteria job. As punishment for their antics, despite the fact that he still doesn't have any proof, Mr. Krupp takes away George and Harold's cafeteria food privileges. Meanwhile, the aliens give the children zombie nerd juice for lunch, so everyone in the school becomes a zombie nerd. George and Harold learn of the spacemen's plans to feed evil growth juice to the zombie nerds to make them humongous and evil, so it's easier to conquer the world. George and Harold steal the growth juice and try to get rid of it, but accidentally pour it on a dandelion.

When the boys prove to Mr. Krupp that the lunch ladies are aliens, one of the aliens snaps his tentacle (a physical impossibility) at them, so Mr. Krupp becomes Captain Underpants. They fight the aliens, but are unable to defeat the zombie nerds, so they escape by going on the school roof and into the alien spaceship. Inside they find some anti-zombie nerd juice, some destructive juice and some super-power juice, but Zorx, Klax and Jennifer come in and lock them in a cell. George and Harold mix up the juices and signs on the ship, and Jennifer, instead of pouring rapid growth juice into a spray gun, ends up pouring destructive juice into the fuel tank, which makes the spaceship explode.

Captain Underpants jumps off the spaceship with George and Harold, claiming that he can use tissue paper to swing onto the ground. Of course, the tissue paper cannot support their weight and they fall, using Captain Underpants cape as a parachute (the narrator first joked that they fell to the ground and were killed instantly). They end up landing near the mutated dandilion, which nearly eats Captain Underpants. George and Harold give him super power juice to help him break free.

Harold mixes anti-evil zombie nerd juice with rootbeer (George was against it due to it all being too easy, but he soon decided to do it since they were "running out of pages") and having all the zombies drink it, they turn everyone back to normal. Mr. Krupp is no longer normal, though, because he drank the super-power juice, so now whenever he becomes Captain Underpants, he can fly and use other superpowers, thus making it harder for George and Harold to keep tabs on him.^[1]

Comic: Captain Underpants and the Night of the Living Lunch Ladies

The comic in the book starts with the Lunch Ladies cleaning up the cafeteria. The Janitor, without noticing, locks the school up for the weekend (Saturday & Sunday). The Lunch Ladies are forced to eat their own food to survive. Ironically, they are killed by the food because of how awful it is. The Janitor appears after the weekend and finds the Lunch Ladies' bodies. He takes them up a hill to bury them, but they come back to life as zombies because the hill was haunted. The Zombie Lunch Ladies attack the school, but Captain Underpants appears and attempts to give them wedgies. However, Wedgie Power doesn't work on the living dead and the Lunch Ladies therefore feel no pain and a fight begins. Captain Underpants leaps on the top of a building and the Zombie Lunch Ladies follow, but are wrapped up in toilet paper (known as, "The Toilet Paper of Justice). Unfortunately, they pour steak sauce on the toilet paper, and go after Captain Underpants by pushing him off the building, but the Zombie Lunch Ladies also fall off. Captain Underpants uses the rest of the toilet paper to swing to safety. The Zombie Lunch Ladies, however, each fall into a bin (They die because the trash cans are supposedly filled with their food). Captain Underpants sings his trademark, "Tra-La-Laaaaa!", as the comic ends.

See also

• Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets
• Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants

References