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20px-Cquote1.png I will give you tacos. Oh, such tacos will I give!
Zim
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Invader Zim Episode
Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain
Title Card - Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain
Chronology
Previous: Rise of the Zitboy
Next: Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy
Information
Episode No: Episode 08a
Production No: 08b
Airdate: August 24, 2001
Credits
Writer(s): Jhonen Vasquez

Rob Hummel


"Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain" is the 1st segment in the 8th episode of the first season of Invader Zim. It first premiered on August 24, 2001, on Nickelodeon.

Plot Summary[]

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

Dog brain 1

GIR, What did you do?

When Zim's headquarters is having security problems while in the middle of him giving a report to the Tallest, Zim attempts to upgrade the security system and get the job over with.

He decides to put GIR in charge of ensuring nothing goes wrong while he replaces the computer’s AI, but when GIR unsurprisingly gets distracted and begins to try to retrieve his rubber moose toy, he inadvertently causes the house to shut down, along with himself.

However, Zim soon discovers that GIR's brain has been uploaded into the central hub of the house, putting him in complete control over all the systems in the base.

Needless to say, GIR does not put this to good use. However, trouble really ensues when the robot develops a craving for tacos and burritos, causing him to detach his new "body" from the base, and, transforming the house into a giant quadrupedal form, proceeding to rampage through the city on his way to the Krazy Taco.

The Krazy Taco

The Krazy Taco Commercial.

After many fruitless attempts to reason with GIR, Zim decides to use the robot's obsession to his advantage: After buying GIR's beloved tacos at the Krazy Taco, the Irken refuses to give them to GIR until the robot returns to the base. GIR quickly complies, leaving a swathe of destruction on his journey home. Once the house re-connects with the base, GIR finally agrees to have his mind restored to his old body, as he discovers that his house-form lacks a mouth - which is essential for eating tacos.

After everything is back to normal, Zim contacts the Tallest to give them his report telling them that things were "even more normal now" than they ever were. But unbeknownst to him, right next door, a neighbor sits in his chair with a mechanical tentacle latched to his forehead, implying that a similar problem was about to happen as the episode ends.

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

Facts of Doom[]

Cultural References[]

Trivia[]

Dog brain 2
  • This is the second episode where GIR has a prominent role. The first is "Walk of Doom" and the third and last is "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff".
  • Zim originally told the elevator he wanted to go to the storage level, but for the rest of the episode he says the equipment room.
  • Officer Prambly (who debuted in "Walk of Doom") shows up again right after GIR sets the gas truck on fire, and he repeats his line from the other episode ("Get him!").
  • The police officer who says "Must be one of them new ones!" is the same officer from "Megadoomer". He is voiced by Kevin Hamilton McDonald, the voice of Almighty Tallest Purple and both characters’ voices sound somewhat identical.
  • The events of this episode (during the time when GIR takes over the house and drives Zim crazy by controlling all of the electronics in the kitchen and living room) have the second-longest time-span in the series itself, because they supposedly take place throughout an entire year. Although, this is likely just an exaggeration made for comedic purposes.
    • This joke was nearly written out of the episode because some people thought that one year actually had passed, and it was not just a joke.
      • The animatics of the episode reveal the original timeframe was just a week.
    • The longest time-span depicted in an episode was "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever" where Mr. Sludgey tells kids two million years in the future about the time Zim and Dib ruined Christmas forever.
  • This episode is the fourth where Dib and Gaz don't play a role, as well as the fifth time when Gaz isn't physically seen.
  • The scene in which a man sees how GIR crushes his new green car is based on a real experience of Rosearik Rikki Simons, GIR's voice actor. During the development of Invader Zim, Simmons bought an expensive green car, so Jhonen Vasquez and the crew found it amusing to destroy it in the episode.[1]
  • In this episode, a Krazy Taco worker who Zim pays sees the Irken without his disguise on, but doesn't react in a shocked manner. This may have been because the worker was apathetic to working on the restaurant and simply took Zim as just "another costumer", not caring (or understanding) that he came face to face with an alien.
  • Zim had money to pay for GIR's tacos, seemingly learning his lesson from what happened during "Walk of Doom", in which he had no concept of Earth money, while in "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever" he was trying to get money to appear normal.
  • The last time this episode (along with "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy") aired on Nicktoons was February 9th, 2021.

Changes and Cuts[]

  • From what someone said during the episode commentary, when GIR says "Argh, where's my mouth?!", he was originally supposed to say something along the lines of "The pain, the pain."

Things You Might Have Missed[]

  • The phone booth that the cheerful man who brought a new car used had the word "OBEY" written in graffiti on it.
  • When GIR unleashes a host of floating video screens to "cheer up" Zim, they were playing scenes from various early animated shorts. These same scenes appeared on screens during the reprogramming of the Roboparents in the episode "Parent Teacher Night."

Inconsistencies and Animation Errors[]

  • When Zim contacts the Tallest at the end of the episode, his PAK colors are reversed.
  • When Zim bows while thanking GIR for collaborating near the end of the episode, his left arm disappears.

See also[]

References[]

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