Gaz, Taster of Pork

Hey, I helped YOU when we were transforming into giant bolognas! — Dib

Invader Zim Episode
Gaz, Taster of Pork
Chronology
Previous:	The Voting of the Doomed
Next:	The Frycook What Came from All That Space
Information
Episode No:	Episode 25
Production No:	26
Airdate:	Australia: December 27, 2003 United States: August 12, 2006
Credits
Writer(s):	Jhonen Vasquez

"Gaz, Taster of Pork" is the 5th episode of the second season of Invader Zim. It first premiered on December 27, 2003 in Australia. It aired in the United States on August 12, 2006. It is also the 25th episode overall.

Plot Summary

SPOILER WARNING OF DOOM: This section or article may contain spoilers!

GIR and his porcine best friend go to the cinema to see Pig Girl: The Movie.

Dib discovers that one of his Spelldrives, an electronic book which utilizes magic, still has unused cast points on it. He decides to use it. Dib comes across a spell that sounds interesting, but casts it on his sister, Gaz, first, in order to test and see if the spell is one he'd like to use on himself. However, the spell makes everything Gaz eats taste like pig.

Once Gaz figures out Dib is behind it, she threatens to destroy him with an army of flesh-eating robotic toys if he doesn't help her get back to normal. Dib has trouble finding a cure, so he talks to Professor Membrane. All their father does, though, is put Gaz inside a cage and has the media treat her like a freak. Dib even tries to ask Zim for help, but the latter mockingly refuses to aid him. Zim then goes on about planning his diabolical scheme, to which Dib didn't pay any attention while leaving. Next, he goes off to ask the Swollen Eyeball Network if they have any advice on his situation. They report back that there is only one way for Gaz to get her sense of taste restored: she must travel to an alternate piggy dimension and ask the Shadowhog to return her to normal.

After helping his sister break out of the cage, Dib and Gaz travel to Mystical Hill while using one of Dib's Spelldrives to transport themselves into the realm of the Shadowhog. There, after much convincing, the Shadowhog agrees to cure Gaz, but only if she passes "The Trial". Gaz readily agrees to these terms, but Dib becomes concerned for his little sister, as she knows so little about the paranormal, and she must pass on her own.

Gaz's rage becomes corporeal.

In truth, once Gaz enters the arena where her trial takes place, the Shadowhog asks her two questions, both of which she answers correctly. Then they spend the rest of their time hanging out and talking. Meanwhile, Dib is outside the arena trying to break in and help Gaz as he's beaten up in the process. When Dib finally makes it inside, he assumes Gaz failed and begs the Shadowhog to punish him instead, after confessing it was his fault Gaz was cursed. Both the Shadowhog and Gaz decide to do as he wishes. Soon, Gaz goes home back to normal, while Dib is stuck in the piggy dimension cleaning out the Shadowhog's toilet with his head.

End of Spoilers: There are no further spoilers for this section or article. You can breathe now.

Facts of Doom

Cultural References

• Near the end of the episode, Gaz references the infamous Konami Code, saying that Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right A, B, B, A, Start is the code she said for gaining unlimited lives in Super Kicky Fighter, a parody of Super Street Fighter. This same code is used for the NES game Contra, where it gives you 30 extra lives, the one difference being that the first 'A, B' is missing from the real life code, which is up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right, B, A, Start.
• This entire episode is based off of a "MEANWHILE" featured in the back of Squee's Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors, a comic by Jhonen Vasquez. The "MEANWHILE" features Tickle-Me Hellmo (parody of the popular Tickle-Me Elmo), a demonic children's toy who puts kids through several levels of torture. The eighth level is that it "alters child's taste buds so that everything tastes like pork".
• The hill that Gaz and Dib are on in beaver costumes is Mystical Hill. It's called Lover's Hill in JTHM. It's where Nny and Devi go to on their first date.

Trivia

• Steve Ressel has admittedly stated in the commentary for this episode that it's his least favorite in the series.
• GIR has one line in this episode ("I got monkeys in me!"). Rosearik Rikki Simons (GIR's voice actor) said that he actually got paid just to say that.
  • This is the only episode in which GIR appears in more scenes than Zim, appearing in two whereas Zim only appears in one.
• This episode marks the first and only appearance of the Hobo, a down-and-out bum with a big bushy beard, whom Dib meets at MacMeaties. The Hobo was slated to have a more major role in an unfinished episode called "Roboparents Gone Wild".
• Despite Gaz's dark and cruel nature, she still sleeps in pink pajamas; however, these pajamas have little bat wings on the back of them in one scene rather than having frills and lace.
• The episode reveals that Gaz has some robotic stuffed animals that she keeps in her room, which she uses for security purposes. However, she only turns them on whenever Dib makes unauthorized entrances, and she has programmed them to feed on human flesh.
• During the montage where scientists are trying to figure out Gaz's "illness", one of Prof. Membrane's assistants resembles Devi from JTHM and I Feel Sick.
• This episode never aired in the United States until 2006, but it has aired in other countries years earlier, such as in 2003 in Australia.
• This episode marks Dib's second time he appears on Mysterious Mysteries; the first time being in "Mysterious Mysteries".
• Unlike Dib who rants about Zim being an alien, Gaz told the Shadowhog that he indeed was an Irken Invader and he seemed to believe her, this shows that Gaz has more credibility than her brother.
• Ironically, Gaz might have made her first friend in the Shadowhog thanks to the curse Dib put on her.
• Many fans enjoy this episode for giving Gaz a greater role.

Changes and Cuts

• The episode's original ending, according to Jhonen Vasquez on his blog, had Dib defeating the Shadowhog in hand-to-hand combat, thus saving Gaz and ending this episode with the two Membranes eating pizza together. However, when Vasquez considered this ending "pretty boring", writer Eric Trueheart came up with the ending that made it into the finished version of the episode.

Things You Might Have Missed

• There is a poster on Gaz's bedroom door that says "Outside is Stupid".

  

• There is an Irken-like doll next to Gaz's bed in her bedroom. It can be seen as the spell is being cast on her. Also, Gaz seems to have a smile on her face as she is dreaming.
  • There is also a poster with what appears to be the face of Alice from Disney's Alice in Wonderland in the same shot.
• After Gaz summons security to get Dib out of her room so she can go back to sleep, there is a poster behind Gaz that reads "Swollen Squirrel". It's unknown if the man on the right is Johnny C.

  

  Johnny C. in "Swollen Squirrel" Poster on the far right side.

• When Zim asked for Dib's help in "Planet Jackers", Dib refused. Now, when Dib asked for Zim's help, it's Zim's turn to return the favor.
• When Dib is asking Zim for help and Zim refuses, Dib remarks “I helped you when we were turning into giant bolognies!”, which is a reference to a previous episode entitled "Bolognius Maximus". This recollection implies that the two were cured in the time following the events of that episode, although it isn't explained how they got cured.
• Look closely when Dib looks into the Shadow Hog's "Filthy Toilet of Filthy Piggy Filth". When Dib is screaming, there is a lens on the toilet.
• During the Bloaty's Pizza Hog commercial, one kid sinks into Bloaty's fat and then reemerges on the other side.
• The design of the MacMeaties where Dib encounters the Hobo is based on the famous 1942 painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper.

Inconsistencies and Animation Errors

• When Dib and Gaz appear to be holding hands in one scene, it's stated to have been an animation error by Jhonen Vasquez himself. Further evidence shows that their hands seem to be completely gone and their arms seem stuck together.
• Gaz eats the hot dog and says it tastes normal, though it should have tasted differently since the bun would have also tasted like pig.
• In different scenes, Gaz's height and size change.
• When Dib is asking Zim for help, GIR's nose becomes a human one.

  

• The surroundings around the yard and entrance to Zim's base seem smaller in size in comparison to other episodes (or in other cases, the characters are drawn larger in the surroundings).
• When Zim says "I've loaded GIR full of explosive monkeys and I'm about to...", the color of his lenses is pink instead of purple.
• When GIR is yelling "I got monkeys in me!", his teeth can be seen.

Concept Art

Gaz's freakish robot toys.

Pig-Girl Lab Logo (recreation)

See also

• Gaz, Taster of Pork Screenshots
• Gaz, Taster of Pork (Transcript)