The beginning of this episode is a movie, where aliens (like in Aliens... I guess...) are attacking Earth and giving it a thorough butt-kicking. Then, the scientist lady reveals the weakness of the aliens: Germs! Zim at first dismisses this weakness as nothing but foolish propaganda, but then reconsiders and runs down to the lab, while GIR laughs. Zim's fears of germs are confirmed by a commercial/ad for microgoggles, so he tries the five second demo (a very LONG five second demo). After being majorly freaked out by the germs (which haven't been hurting him the entire time he was there...), Zim goes clean freak on us, as GIR takes a dirty pig to his room. After Zim has cleaned out the entire base, GIR returns, covered in germs. After rolling around on the floor, GIR gets it in his head to hug Zim. Zim runs outside, sees more germs, and runs back inside. He pulls a lawn gnome back into the ground, and puts up a tree with GIR tied to it. GIR begins running around the tree until his leash catches him, and then runs the other way.
Zim cleans the lab, while muttering to himself about the mission, people being suspicious, and whatnot. Eventually, he regains a grip of sanity (or what passes for sanity, as far as Zim is concerned) and reports in to some angry Tallest, who wish they had sent him on a mission to a sun planet, planet of broken glass, or one of the exploding head planets. Zim loses it while reporting in to the Tallest, declaring that he will destroy each and every one of the germs (and pointing at them too!), but he's running low on spray, so he grabs GIR, and runs off to the store. Unfortunately, it runs out on the way, and GIR takes it and runs into MacMeaties. Zim runs after him, and enters to see a place full of even more germs than normal, except for the burgers, which are totally clean. Zim confronts the cashier, who tells him of the quest for germ-free meat (AKA: Operation Meat) being run by NASA, and how Space Meat is too expensive for Mac Meaties, so they make their burgers out of napkins (which works too). Zim is very pleased with this news, and demands all the meat. The episode ends with Zim walking into skool covered in meat.
Humor: 5
The humor here is pretty standard. It's not a boring/spooky episode, but the jokes/gags don't knock your socks off either. There was an awful lot of screaming, which is good, and Zim's rant during his report to the Tallest was good. Also, Burger Lord's entire explanation of Space Meat. Ah, those are gooduns.
Plot: 6
There's a noticeable inconsistency. Zim hasn't been affected by the germs during his entire stay on the planet, so certainly his ego would have continued to dismiss the movie as propaganda. Still... Zim is dumb, so whatever. The rest of the plot is pretty cool, and makes a good degree of sense.
Zimmyness: 7
This is another one that fits in quite nicely with the world of Invader Zim. Zim is a very dense and excitable person, and he sticks to that personality quite nicely. GIR acts very GIRish, and that's always cool. The only thing that keeps this one from a better score is the lack of Dib doing any Zim-foiling.
Overall: 5
A good solid episode, it just doesn't knock my socks off. There are certainly other episodes I'd rather watch, but Germs is pretty cool. The episode is kinda narrow in its chain of events (a good portion of it spent with Zim acting like a clean freak), but it's funny and has a good plot, so it survives.
GIR opens up the episode walking up to the house in his doggie disguise, drinking a chocolate bubble gum Suck Monkey (the old, non-monkey-looking kind). He leaves the door open, and sits on the couch. In the lab, Zim is alerted to a security breach while working on his ID PAK. He puts it back on, and immediately goes upstairs. He shuts the door after yelling at GIR, and is going back down to check on the laser weasels when Dib takes his picture. Dib escapes through an open window, and Zim yells at GIR. Again. At skool, Gaz is thirteen levels away from beating her game, while Dib eats peas and yammers about sending the disk to Mysterious Mysteries. Later that night, Dib is watching Mysterious Mysteries, his arms start flailing uncontrollably. Since Gaz has one more level to beat, she spares Dib's life and leaves to finish her game. Zim pops up on the TV explaining how he and his microscopic submersible got into Dib's body (when Dib was eating the peas), and makes Dib's hand crush the disk. Like an idiot, Dib says that wasn't the only copy. Like an idiot, Zim tells Dib of his plans to go to Dib's brain and remove all knowledge of the disk, and the rest of his intelligence too.
Dib gets his dad's own microscopic submersible, eats it, and chases Zim through his body. Zim has handily left quite a few irken flags marking his progress. Gaz shows up, thinks it's a game, and wants to play. Dib says something along the lines of "sorry, oh grand gaming girl, but I'd rather have Zim erase my brain than let you kick his butt for me." Well... I think that's what he said; I may be wrong. After both ships crash into Dib's spleen, and Dib inhales very sharply while Zim is in his trachea, Zim decides to whoop Dib right there. He transforms, and Gaz tells Dib how to transform, and asks if she can play when he dies. Zim whoops Dib, and launches a probe into his arm control nerve to make it so he can't control them. Gaz shoves Dib out of the way, and with uncharacteristically wide eyes, goes to beat the snot out of Zim. Zim successfully erases the memory of the disk's location, but Gaz shows up before he can erase the rest of Dib's brain. Gaz beats the holy bejesus out of Zim, kicks his mech's head off, and removes the probe from Dib's arm control nerve (I guess it was a victory condition). She inputs her name in the "Enter Initials" screen, calls the game stupid, and walks off. Dib places Zim in the toilet (through number one or number two, we shall never know...), flushes, and the episode ends with Zim screaming and the words "THE END" popping out of the toilet.
Humor: 7
Wow, this episode made me totally LOL a few times. It's all the cool stuff, like how Zim is... Somethinging like a psycho as he slams the mech forward to attack Dib after they've both transformed. Stuff like the "and we've always known that the answer to that question is a resounding: maybe," and Gaz's overall "when you die, can I play?" attitude that just make you wanna laugh. The ending was more gross than funny, but the entire episode has a giggle around every corner.
Plot: 10
Yes, yes, YES! Anything a rabid Jhonen fangirl would say while "getting to know" Jhonen Vasquez, multiplied by 50. The plot is a perfect one for the world of Zim, it's very well thought out, and any plot holes could be explained with such ease that you just have to believe that that's what the writers intended. It provides excellent motivation for all three major characters to act as they do, and doesn't mess up the "motivation equation."
Zimmyness: 8
A very zimmy Zim. All the characters act as they should, most of the episode takes place at night (I think of Zim as more of a nighttime show...), and the humor is all executed in a more subtle "When you die, can I play?" way (sorry, but I love the way that quote worked :-P). Also, the ending is quite typical of a lot of the Zim episodes, making you wonder how Zim got out of that particular scrape. This is the first "how the...?" episodes that end with Zim in a really bad situation (Walk of Doom doesn't count, he was just lost).
Overall: 10
Another masterfully put together episode. Zim's mech is just so awesome looking, the mech fighting is very cool, and the humor, plot, and zimmyness all come together as well. What's not to love? Zim team, you've done it again! *salute* My socks have been rocked, and utterly knocked off.
The episode opens with a cop in a patrol car, receiving gibberish over the radio, and radioing some more in. As he drives, he sees headlights moving towards him, in the same lane as he is in. He switches lanes, but so do the lights. He and the lights switch a few times, before Zim buzzes over his head in the voot cruiser (called a voot runner, for some reason...). The cop turns around to look at Zim, and ends up going over the edge of the road, falling and eventually landing on a Deelicious Weenie stand. As the car blows up, Zim gives his evaluation of its capabilities, and the computer sounds a warning. As Zim tells the computer it's crazy, a bumblebee hits the voot cruiser, causing it to immediately burst into flames and begin crashing. Zim stares at the bee and orders an eject. The voot crashes, and ejects Zim into the dirt. The bee flies off, and Zim vows to wage war against the bees after he is done annihilating the humans. He tries to call GIR, but GIR is busily clubbing with his women (doing the dance that was made famous when put to DDR's "Mr. Wonderful"), so Zim walks home, believing the location of the downed cruiser to be fairly remote. Desmond Flapp, who saw the whole thing as he was putting up his UFO convention banner, quickly adjusts the sign, so the convention will be taking place the next day as opposed to next week. Zim runs home (making a lot of noise) and gets the computer to disguise the voot carrier as a flying pig. This is where we get the famous "Why am I so amazing?" quote from.
Zim goes in his old bum disguise with the pig to the crash site, only to find that it has been seized by a bunch of UFO enthusiasts. He ties the pig to a tree, and goes to investigate. Trudy stops him, stating that they intend to share the downed alien love ship (the voot cruiser, if you weren't paying attention) with all humanity. Zim decides to play their little game, so undergoes what sounds like a painful initiation involving a live kitten to be deemed worthy to get near the voot. He comes out of the initiation only to realize that the voot carrier has been taken too! He goes and gets in a tussle with Trudy over it, and his disguise comes off. Zim doesn't notice at first, but everyone starts moving towards him, and he has terrible visions of a future where he is captured and dissected. However, they proceed to drop and worship him. As they cart him off to their tent, Zim calls GIR, who is only now being dropped off by his girls. Later, Zim is sitting in the tent, being stared at by all the weirdoes who "ooooooh" when he itches his butt (they should consider themselves lucky; usually that results in the planet blowing up!). Then, it's GIR to the rescue! GIR comes in as Government Man, saying that Zim is a government aircraft. He carts Zim outside, and Zim retrieves the voot with the pig, and climbs on. Due to his lack of care, Zim accidentally bumps GIR, knocking him out of his disguise. GIR hops on the pig with GIR, and they make their escape. Zim and GIR rampage through a playground, where Steve Ressel narrowly saves a baby from being ran over. Yoa has somehow managed to cling on, and gets smacked off by Zim as she begs him to take her with him. They fly into the air, wreaking havoc on a highway before flying even higher. Just as things seem to be going their way, the death bee returns, hitting the pig and taking out an eye. They immediately begin a crash course, while GIR screams his head off. The episode ends with them crashing into a convention/lecture thingy themed "Alien Life: Fact or Fiction?", and Zim says "What?" when everyone gasps.
Humor: 5
This episode was pretty good on its humor. A lot of it wasn't "lol" humor, but that doesn't mean it was bad. The more subtle humor of Zim declaring war on the bees, the thought of GIR clubbing with all the hot women, and Desmond Flapp's "an alllllllien... *spray* *spray* *spray*" were good. Then again, there's also the big pig voot carrier, the saucer morons, plus the "artifacts" recovered by the morons. Best humor of the entire episode though: Government Man!
Plot: 4
The plot is pretty good and solid. I'm not deducting points for the absurdity of the bee wrecking the cruiser and the carrier; the bee was just funny, as it was meant to be. The only plot deduction would be why Zim waited so long to recover the voot. Though the shamefully obvious submersion of Zim, without any water induced pain at all, makes me shudder too, that just isn't really a plot issue.
Zimmyness: 6
It looks and feels zimmy to an extent that one would expect it to be. Yet again, we get a wonderful opportunity to see how dumb people are in the world of Zim. Really though, the atmosphere just feels right, and that's where this score comes from.
Overall: 6
This is another pretty cool episode. I really like the scene where Zim declares war against... The bees! Also, the episode concept is pretty cool, and Government Man is just be best idea I've ever heard of. Case closed. :-P Plus, major props to all parties involved in the scene where Zim flies away from the saucer morons, until he crashes. Very nice.
Ah, the joy of skool. Ms.Bitters starts the episode off speaking of the penalties for eating paste. Then it begins to rain, and all the kids go out to play. Zim (who has never seen rain before) catches a drop on his finger, and it sizzles like acid. When he asks a kid if rain is poisonous, the kid asks him if he's kidding then runs out while the kids all sing their song. Dib goes to laugh at Zim, who proudly steps in the rain, only to start sizzling all over, and run around like a lunatic. Gaz tells Dib she's leaving, and Dib tells her to go ahead, as he writes down this new information about Zim on a notepad. Zim hides under a tree, and sees Gaz walking by. He lets out a war cry, and runs to her and grabs her to use as an umbrella. As Gaz threatens Zim, it stops raining, so he puts her down. She goes back to get her umbrella, then goes to hurt Zim, but Dib jumps in a puddle, splashing both Zim and Gaz. Gaz's ire is now directed at Dib. Dib and Gaz walk home, and Zim jumps from behind a corner, scaring Dib and making him fall into a puddle. Gaz is now mad at Zim again. Two days later (though Ms.Bitters mentions "yesterday's paste incident," we are once again in skool, with the kids working with paste. Dib freaks Zim out by making the faucet drip, and skool lets out. Zim is somehow already outside, hiding behind a mailbox and spying with some weird eyeball thing. He sees Dib and runs.
Dib catches up to Zim, and pegs him with a water balloon, and starts yammering about how Zim's race can't be advanced since water balloons hurt them, and Zim vows vengeance. He then says that on Monday, they'll settle the matter "like children," and he notices the paste on his hand. Cue the awesome preparation music as Dib works on his water balloon launcher, and Zim analyzes paste and works on his giant water balloon satellite. Dib shows up at school wheeling his launcher behind him as the kids ask what's happening. He calls Zim out, and sees Zim, cringing. After some taunting, he ends up getting mad at the non-responsive Zim, and launches his water balloon (how did the clothespins clip on...?). The balloon goes through the hologram, and the hologram generator self-detonates. Everywhere, water starts to drain, and funnel up into the sky as the kids watch in amazement. They all reach Zim's satellite, and go into a HUMONGOUS water balloon, which Zim targets directly for Dib's head. The balloon releases, taking out a satellite on its way down, and eventually impacts, being ripped open by a flag pole. The eruption of water drenches the entire city, sending a massive tidal-wave-thingy ripping through downtown. In the end, Dib is lying face up in the water, mumbling about the wettening. Gaz walks up, drops a water balloon on his head, and walks off happy. Zim whistles as he walks through town, and tries to go down the toilet into his lab to bathe in paste. Alas, his head gets stuck, and the episode ends with him screaming about how he can't breathe.
Humor: 4
Yeah, I know Zim writhing in pain is kinda funny, as is Gaz's total inability to decide who to kill, since Zim and Dib are both annoying her so much. But most of the episode is definitely of the "less funny" variety. Gaz's ending water balloon to the face was pretty funny though. So meaningless considering the balloon he had just got hit with, but still so... Funny.
Plot: 5
You know that water balloon to the face I was just talking about? Well, I like the way it made the almost-end of the episode feel. Gaz got her vengeance, regardless of the fact that Zim's vengeance was much more fantastic. A lot of the episode's writing was ho-hum (though not terrible), and basically made me wonder. But it all made sense, and the story was interesting enough. Still, it would be a 4 without Gaz getting Dib back.
Zimmyness: 4
I dunno, there's a bunch of screaming, good 'ole Zim vs. Dib action, and everyone acts like they should. But there's no GIR (except at the very end there), and the atmosphere doesn't fill in the void left by GIR with any sort of creepiness/alternate humor sources as other relatively GIRless episodes do. It's not a horrendously un-Zimmy episode, but the feel of it is off from other Zim episodes.
Overall: 5
I can't say this is a fantastic episode. I just don't like it, really. The sequence with both Zim and Dib working on their weapons of choice really stands out though. Excellent music, excellent choice of shots, and an excellent ending (with Gaz waking Dib and telling him to tape his hair down). So since it's not a bad episode, and it had some awesome moments, I leave it with the dignity of a 5.
In class, everyone is stating what they want to be when they grow up. After Melvin says he wants to be an astronaut, Ms.Bitters tells a story from back when she was an astronaut and her ship imploded in the vacuum of space. Since dreams lead to horrible implosions, she makes everyone identify three blotches, so the POS 2000 can decide their fate. While filling out his paper, we see that Zim is getting a rash on his neck. Dib ends up as a paranormal investigator, while Zim ends up in fast food service. Everyone goes to meet the experienced adults from their fields of work for career day, and Zim meets Simon, while Dib meets Bill. Zim and Simon ride in Simon's bike to Mc Meaties, while Dib and Bill drive off in Bill's awesome car. While driving, Bill talks to Dib about conspiracies, and ends up telling Dib that dinosaurs, Big Foot, and the Galactic Equinox are all fake, while Count Cocoafang and Frankenchokey are real. Dib learns from Bill that Bill's colleagues think the Galactic Equinox will cause all aliens off their home planet (aliens like Zim) to go through a horrible molt. Dib tries to get Bill to go to Mc Meaties to get Zim, but Bill has arrived at his destination: a crop circle.
While Bill and Dib argue and Bill analyzes the cow making the crop circle, Zim's neck rash is getting worse, and even spitting out pus. Zim, by the way, is convinced that if he runs Mc Meaties, he runs the world, and finds that it's only four or five promotions from grill work to ruling all mankind. As Zim serves meat shakes to Olivia and her dad, Olivia's dad tells him to hurry because they need to get to the observatory by 5 to watch the Galactic Equinox. Zim panics, and requests the day off. When he can't get that, he tries to get (and I'd assume is denied) a break at 5. Dib gets frustrated at Bill, and says that Bill would probably believe him if he were talking about Cocoafang. Upon hearing mention of "the Fang," Bill goes crazy, and demands that Dib cough up any knowledge about him. Dib, seeing an opportunity, says that Fang will be at McMeaties at 5. Bill and Dib race off to go get "the Fang." They get there really fast, but to Dib's dismay, there's a "meet Count Cocoafang" event right across the street from Mc Meaties. Bill gets out and tries to stake the dude in the Cocoafang costume. Everybody at Mc Meaties crowds the windows to watch, and the clock strikes 5. Zim's rash goes away, and he begins a really nasty molt. His fills up the entire building, and is spilling out the windows and exhausts. Cocoafang hops on a garbage truck, and Bill comforts Dib (who is going "NOOOOOOO!" because he sees Zim molting and Bill isn't paying attention). Dib calls Bill a jerk, and walks off. The shift manager fires Zim, because of the nasty mess his molt made, and the episode ends.
Humor: 5
This episode definitely had its moments. Zim struggling to decide what the last blotch is, the serial killer, Mc Meaties and everything about it, and Bill in general (another awesome character). It's not fantastic, but the humor is pretty good, and about what you'd expect from your average Invader Zim episode. Almost a 6 (thanks to Bill), but not quite.
Plot: 5
A very obviously "fake" plot, but it's written well enough so that its fakeness only costs it one point. However, it regains that point back from Bill. Bill's lines are very well written, and Adam Paul delivers his lines well and keeps him convincing. Also, the interaction between Dib and Bill, while not perfect, was very good. Dib finally gets a chance to see what other people see him as, and he doesn't even notice.
Zimmyness: 4
This one is a rather tough one to rate. It's got a good degree of Zimmy randomness to it, and I can't say that it does anything horribly off. It's just that there's no GIR at all, and there are a few small things. Such as, the begining of the episode indicates that there was a recent point in time in which Ms.Bitters was young. That's just nyah. Also, even though Zim is acting stupid throughout, he's only acting weird at the very begining "You! Obey the fist!".
Overall: 6
This episode is pretty well put together. The sequence where Bill pulls out his stake and says "Come on Fang! Let's dance!" is beautiful, and Manthei's music keeps the mood "royally awesome." All in all, it has those little bits and pieces that make it an enjoyable viewing experience.
Battle-Dib opens up with what seems to be the "and now a word from our sponsors" clip from Probing the Membrane of Science (Professor Membrane's show, if you somehow managed to not know that). Dib then runs up to the Membrane studio/lab thingy with a suitcase, and starts arguing with the guard on duty there. He explains that he needs to get Membrane's signature on a permission slip so he can present his findings on Zim to the Swollen Eyeball Network. The guard seems to enjoy shocking him with that tazer staff. Gaz shows up; When Dib asks her what she's doing there, she recalls how he stole her pizza as he left, and vowing revenge. She responds with a pleasant "I thought I'd help you out." Ha. Anyway, Dib gets sucked up by a big vacuum tube to take the audience entrance exam. He's given a test in a room full of other testers. Gaz comes in through the staff entrance and does her best to mess him up, but Dib gets an acceptable score of 91.4% (though 94% gets you tossed out of the building).
Next comes a pretty cool battle scene of Dib versus a really messed up kid by the name of Shunk Wugga. Gaz shows up (again through the notorious staff entrance), and the announcer tells the "junior scientists" to choose their science weapons. Dib chooses a giant dropper as his weapon of choice (passing up the tweezers, corkscrew, and tongs (all also giant). Shunk Wugga charges out using a giant cotton swab and ends up knocking Dib to the ground. However, Shunk proposes that they end the match in a tie. Dib reaches up to shake, but accidentally hits Shunk in the chest pad, registering a score for Dib. The contestants go back to their corners. Gaz is incredibly pissed about Dib's victory in round one, so goes back to get Shunk even more angry at Dib (and she can't resist bringing pizza in!). For the next round, a lot of the floor goes away, and fire starts shooting up from the ground. Dib's weapon gets knocked from his hand in the fight, and shatters on contact with the flame. Shunk ends up sling-shotting him with his bungee cord (so they don't fall too far) up to the top of the cage, where Dib grabs on and stays. Shunk starts rattling the cage, making Dib lose his grip. Dib falls and lands. Shunk rolls him onto his back, and tags him with the weapon, making the score 1-1. Dib says to Gaz that he thinks he should change strategies, and Gaz says she'll help. Dib asks her to tell Shunk he'll do the tie thingy, and Gaz promptly goes over and works to get Shunk still angrier at Dib. The tie breaker round features spider robots. Shunk kicks Dib's butt at this, and ends up getting all eight of Dib's legs with web. Dib webs himself to the roof, and Shunk climbs up and cuts the cord, knocking them to the ground. Dib's robot is broken, but Shunk just breaks out of his own robot, and acts all menacing. Dib cowers, and Shunk taps Dib's chest pad for the score.
Three guards come to drag Dib out of the arena, while Dib yells that he's Membrane's son, and tells them to do a DNA test. They don't listen, and they drag him through the hall while Gaz waves at him and smirks while Dib yells that he's sorry about her tacos (or whatever). Gaz suddenly sees a box of pizza, and goes and grabs a piece. Dib devises a plan, however, and asks the guards for a pen. One says "here you go," and hands him a pencil. Dib signs a permission slip, and it goes into self destruct mode. Dib tosses it into a trash can, and uses the guard's surprise to break away. They begin chasing him, and one bumps Gaz, causing her to drop her pizza. As soon as it hits the ground, four bugs immediately swarm to it. Dib gets into his dad's dressing room and does the "YOU GOTTA SIGN THIS!" routine, and Membrane says he doesn't sign autographs backstage (even calling Dib "little boy"). The guards burst in and drag Dib off, and Dib starts screaming about planet Earth, and drops the slip, which Membrane picks up. The guards toss Dib into the alley, saying that next time they'd call his parents (oh, the irony). Dib begins lamenting poor Earth, asking if people would know how hard he tried once they were all slaves to the irkens. A guard pops back out a moment later, saying that the Professor autographed the slip for him, and he drops the slip on the ground. Dib grabs the slip, and laughs happily until he falls over. Next thing we see is Dib at a (rather large) meeting of the Swollen Eyeballs, realizing that he left his presentation in the alley. The "madness dog" chihuahua takes the suitcase in its mouth, and drags it off. Dib's like "Uh... Can we re-schedule this?" and the episode closes.
Humor: 5
Another averagely funny episode. Gaz, as always, makes you want to laugh (but not at her). It's funny (though predictable) that nobody (not even Professor Membrane) knows that Dib is Membrane's son.
Plot: 3
Ok, we all know that the only reason Membrane didn't recognize Dib was because it would be funny; the same goes for the permission slip (that was obviously put in there for the "well, if we didn't, there wouldn't be much of an episode, now would there?" reason). The story itself was fine, except a lot of the episode took place in the arena with Shunk, keeping interaction very limited. The concept itself was alright, but there were a couple mess ups and just blatant "we don't care if it's obviously messed up"s in it.
Zimmyness: 3
Hmmmmmm... I like Gaz in this one, as she does her thing well as always. But then, there is absolutely no Zim in this episode of Zim, dragging its score down to a lower level. Its atmosphere doesn't help it much in this category either, being more of the "people are stupid and Gaz wants revenge" category rather than a more Zimmish atmosphere.
Overall: 5
It's a good episode that's fun to watch. The fight between Dib and Shunk is pretty cool, though I think it could have been done better. The look on Gaz's face when her pizza falls to the floor is priceless, as is her speech declaring that she shall have revenge against Dib for the theft of her pizza. Still, this is not an extraordinary episode.