I watched the Zim movie! I can’t believe that’s a sentence that can be true now!
Here’s some of me thinking about it, because that’s the kind of thing I am. Always with the words words words
It was very strange to be watching new Invader Zim.
It was also strange to see the migration of things within it. It definitely feels like something from 2019 trying to bridge back to the early 2000s. I was thinking going into it, “Man, Zim was cancelled because it was both too expensive and too fucked up for the network that had it, but maybe Netflix could actually give it a better home because there are fewer network boundaries and Netflix is rolling in it.” And then it was actually less fucked up than it used to be and felt more like a studio stepped in and told them someone hadn’t had a human emotion on the softer side of the spectrum for a while.
Kind of wild, people spent all those years injecting a lot of very soft emotion into Zim in fan circles and then when some emotion gets put in by the people making it, it feels a little uncomfortable. Gaz sounding genuine or sincere is super weird. It was almost like the kind of emotion that you’re expecting from She-Ra and Steven Universe was trying to dip a toe into the Invader Zim world or just peek in through a keyhole. Sadness about failure to live up to parental expectations and stuff was something I think we’ve all considered was part of Dib, but seeing a feeling like that on this show was a bit jarring. I’m just used to it being more…. brutal? Stark? Cynical, maybe!
Which is a weird thing for me to wish it was doing, I suppose, since I’m retreating so deeply lately into things like Steven and She-Ra, where everything is the power of love and stars and stones. Everything is gay space rocks when it comes down to it.
But I usually love getting deeper and more meaningful emotional cues from my media. I guess I just wasn’t looking to get any from this one. Dib saying ‘Go home and spend time with your families or… whatever,’ in the Christmas Special was kind of the tone I was expecting.
Maybe the comics felt less jarring because your mind is the voice director. No one is suddenly uncomfortably sentimental when you’re reading a comic version of a show where no one has ever done a sentimental thing ever.
Based on what I know from the comics, a lot of the things that felt wonky to me were kind of intentionally skewed in the wonky direction - the designs for Dib and Gaz looking younger/less like weird goths in particular - but it still didn’t stop me feeling like things looked and felt off. Every time I saw Professor Membrane, I thought, “This dude is the wrong shape.”
Watching bits of the original again fresh off the movie, I think there’s a snap I’m missing in the movie. Edges, movements, colors, feelings - they’re all softer this time around. I wanted some sharp angles and a lot of them had been smoothed out.
Loved getting ‘Dib Membrane’ and ‘Gazlene’ in a real appearance, though. I hoped after all the talk of clones that Dib’s dad would casually mention that Dib was one and the movie would just cut out there, haha. Lots of weird throwbacks and in-jokes, which is definitely a delight. And as weird as it was to have her have discernible feelings, seeing more of Gaz, especially her piloting an alien ship, is a giant positive. Jhonen’s purple haired girls are universally excellent.
Speaking of, god, I so wanted Tak to be there. (eh, it’s more blue hair, but you know what, it’s still a solid transition) I was hoping the ship would take Dib and Gaz to Tak and then there would be some fuss with that. I’m glad we got to hear from her in the form of the voice of her ship, though.
Zim himself was great, I feel like we got the whole spectrum of him - he looked, sounded, and felt like Zim, even with little tweaks and bits from a newer influence. I loved the weird little asides about/with GIR, taken from the comics, like the taco place conversation. (“GIR likes that place. I think it’s dirty.” “I ate a baby there!” “He did.”)
You can tell this thing was lovingly put together, it is bursting with energy and visual weirdness and passion. It wasn’t as spiky as I wanted, but it was still a ride to watch it all happen. Was so excited to see the composer on board again, though I longed for a bigger longer version of the opening with the vocals. The Invader Zim theme is one of my favorite theme songs. The realities crashing together sequences were Fantastic~~ I laughed properly out loud several times in delight, or at an absurdity, or just because it’s Invader Zim and I love Invader Zim.
I expected it to tilt harder toward one direction and it tilted toward another instead, but it in the end it was still some Zim. It’s tempting to want more of it, to say that Netflix should revive the series, but I wonder if the series could ever feel like it used to, or if anyone involved would want it to, and if the comics and a movie should just be what we’re happy with. If I hoped for a series I would still hope for more of the sharp, and I don’t think Zim is doing sharp as much as it used to.
