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Zim is a member of the mighty Irken race, a species of aliens whose social hierarchy is based on height. The Irken head of state is The Almighty Tallest (during the course of the show leadership of the Irken state is shared by two beings, The Almighty Tallests, who are exactly the same height). Zim was banished to the planet Foodcourtia to fry things for the remainder of his life for destroying a sizeable portion of an Irken city with a giant robot. The robot was part of Operation Impending Doom I, a major galactic conquest venture by the Irkens. Zim was overeager and activated his robot before leaving his home-planet.
Upon hearing of Operation Impending Doom II, Zim "quits" being banished and races to the Great Assigning where Irken Elite soldiers are chosen to become Invaders whose mission it is to blend in with the indigenous life forms of their assigned planet and collect intelligence. Zim pleads with the Tallests to assign him a planet, and in a desperate act to get Zim out of their hair (used figuratively -- Irkens have no visible hair), assign him to a Mystery Planet, Earth.
The show features the exploits of Zim trying to conquer the Earth while his arch-nemesis, Dib, the only person to realize he is an alien, trys to stop him.
A short, green alien from the planet Irk, whose social structure is based on height. He is trying to conquer the Earth, and is generally unsuccesful. He has a penchant for being over-dramatic, and uses ridiculously excessive and elaborate plans to conquer the planet when he obviously has the resources to do so much more efficiently, but not the knowledge. Zim's usual disguise consists of some contact lenses and a wig, leaving his green skin clearly visible. He's been known to wear other costumes as well, including an old man diguise and a bear suit.
A neurotic, stupid robot slave belonging to Zim. He is easily influenced and impossible to fully control. He is a maliciously modified SIR (Standard Information Retrieval) unit. He is incapable of focusing his attention on important things for long periods of time and often speaks with no relevant coherent thought in mind. He is often the reason Zim fails in his attempts. His normal disguise is a green dog suit. He is infatuated with Earth culture and is a very popular character.
Child in the classroom Zim chooses to infiltrate as his primary way to gather information on the planet. Obsessed with the paranormal/supernatural since an early age, Dib is often criticized by his classmates for being crazy or mentally unstable for his outlandish theories. He is the only person capable of seeing through Zim's disguise and makes it clear since his introduction that he will live to stop Zim at every turn. Fairly normal by real world standards.
Dib's creepy sister. She has a penchant for Video Games, pizza, and striking terror into the hearts of her enemies. She knows Zim is an alien, but doesn't care about his trying to take over the world because "...he's so bad at it."
World's smartest man, inventor of Super-Toast, and father of Dib and Gaz. He does not believe in aliens or "parascience". He posseses incredible technology and has his own TV show, "Probing the Membrane of Science". He hates Santa Claus.
Teacher of Dib and Zim's class. Devoid of any compassionate emotion, she is a tall, slender aged woman of unknown origin. She displays dark powers, such as the ability to materialize from the shadows.
A minor character introduced in episode 2 and rarely seen again. He is a child with the head of a 60-something year old man: very creepy. Voiced by series creator, Jhonen Vasquez.
A group of conspiracy theorists who have an astonishingly high burden of proof, at least as far as grade-school alien invaders is concerned. Dib is, of course, a member, albeit a junior one. Dib spends a fair amount of his time trying to convince the membership of the threat posed by Zim.
Leaders of the Irken Empire. Currently held by two individuals as they are both of the same stature(height determines social class), Red and Purple. They are little more than figureheads, there to give the Irken populace something to identify with in the imperium.
The only other military-caste Irken to have visited Earth, Tak's examination on the planet Devastis that would grant her the coveted rank and title of Invader was postponed. Zim, by using the energy cannon of a Maim Bot(A giant assault mech) on a stubborn snack-dispenser, overloaded the power grid for half of the planet, trapping Tak behind an automated door that refused to open.
As her examination venue was one of the areas still receiving power, the tests continued unabated. The Control Brain that handled testing could only find an open slot for Tak for 70 years later, owing to the massive backlog the blackout caused. She was later transferred to a janitorial squad on the planet Dirt. She possesses a customized Irken personal cruiser, a customized SIR unit, and a mad plan to accelerate her acquisition of the Invader title involving Earth.
A large interstellar empire that apparently spends its time subjugating lesser races. Height determines rank in their social hierachy. The empire is run from their home planet of Irk, and they have a policy of centralizing all major departments on conquered(or possibly uninhabited) planets. For example, planet Devastis is marked as the prime venue for elite training.
The leaders are leaders in name only. The emotionless Control Brains(Sentient supercomputers that are the combined intellect, wisdom and consciousness of all Irken ancestors), are the actual movers and shakers of their nation.
Plot summary
Characters and Notable Groups
Zim
Gir
Dib
Gaz
Prof. Membrane
Ms. Bitters
Old Kid
The Swollen Eyeball
The Tallest
Tak
The Irken Empire
External Links
Additional Information
It should be noted that some of the characters seen in Invader Zim comes from the comic books Vasquez has created, for example, Miss Bitters, who appears in the Squee series, and Filler Bunny, a genetically-engineered cute bunny forced to endure a life for torture, and perpetually-postponed death. A lot of the background characters who have extremely minor roles, such as getting onto a bus, are based off people whom Jhonen Vasquez knows in real-life. See The Scary Monkey Show, under the External Links section.