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Invader Zim Episode
Mysterious Mysteries
Mysterious Mysteries Title Card
Chronology
Previous: Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom
Next: Future Dib
Information
Episode No: Episode 15a
Production No: 14a
Airdate: March 22, 2002
Credits
Writer(s): Courtney Lilly
Rob Hummel


"Mysterious Mysteries" is the 1st segment in the 15th episode of the first season of Invader Zim. It first premiered on March 22, 2002, on Nickelodeon.

Plot Summary[]

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

Ears-1

Dib's evidence

When Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mystery is having trouble in ratings due to a lack of stories, the Anchor of the show decides to take drastic measures, finally requesting one of Dib's files to be on the show. The file in question happens to be a video which Dib took of Zim and GIR in the woods without their disguises, along with a mysterious glowing orb that's seemingly of alien origin.

Dib's video and story seem to satisfy the Anchor, but at that point, Zim comes onto the show to disprove the video. In his version of the story, the events are twisted, making it look like Dib was bullying Zim.

Dib vociferously denies this, and he questions the glow in the video, certain that Zim will be unable to cover it up. However, the expert who analyzed the video turns out to be none other than Professor Membrane, who dismisses it as swamp gas.

MM Guests

An awkward moment ensues.

Zim asserts to the Anchor that Dib's crazy, and claims that any classmate the Anchor asks will agree; sure enough, the Skoolchildren who were interviewed say the same thing, Dib's crazy. Dib is not deterred and claims that visionaries are always seen as "crazy". In an attempt to get some support, Dib asks Gaz to be brought onto the show as his witness.

However, her testimony is of little help, her version negatively depicting Dib and Zim babbling stupidly, followed by Gaz knocking down Dib with a sweep kick. Finally, the Anchor's about to declare a cold case to end the show when a "surprise witness" named Stacy abruptly comes on the show, claiming to know the truth.

But as it turns out, this is none other than GIR, with nothing more than pixilation concealing his features from the screen. When Dib accuses him of working with Zim, he's quickly beaten and restrained in a straitjacket. "Stacy's" version recalls that "she" was the chubby lady hiding in the bushes when a giant squirrel showed up and "ate Dib's greasy head," then flew back to his home planet to "fight all the bad guys."

Mysterious Mysteries

This is the best work you've done!

Utterly flummoxed by the nonsensical testimony, the Anchor finally concludes that Dib and GIR are crazy, and that Zim isn't an alien, he's "just crazy." Satisfied with this conclusion, Zim drags "Stacy" out of the studio.

Meanwhile, knowing nothing matters anymore, the host decides that he's crazy, too, and then he starts babbling at the camera. When he watches the footage later, his boss tells him to give her more of the same because craziness "brings good ratings", much to the host's repressed horror.

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

Facts of Doom[]

Cultural References[]

  • Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mystery is a parody of the Robert Stack' series Unsolved Mysteries. The host of the show is also based on Unsolved Mysteries' former host Dennis Farinna, who hosted and narrated the show since 2008 to 2010.

Things You Might Have Missed[]

  • During the reenactments, there is a balcony visible in the background with a crew member on it. In every reenactment, he is doing random actions, such as sitting on a sofa drinking lemonade.
  • At the beginning, when the Blotch is shown, there is a man who resembles Dib (in a blue shirt). This character is typically referred to as Adult Dib, and he also appears in "Attack of the Saucer Morons". A man who looks like Chunk can also be seen in the background.
    Tak J

    Baby Gaz smiling prior to knocking over Baby Dib’s blocks.

  • The Dib actor was actually injured by the squirrel, as the guy on the balcony can be seen pulling up a stretcher with Dib's actor on it in the scene after the clip where GIR says "Me and the squirrel are friends!".
  • Baby Gaz was seen smiling briefly before Baby Dib places the last block, and she proceeded to kick them away.

Trivia[]

  • According to the concept art, the producer of Mysterious Mysteries is really a tiny woman in a huge suit.
  • No one seems to notice or care that GIR's identity could have easily been verified, thanks to the video Dib provided.
  • Mysterious Mysteries apparently contacted Zim without Dib's knowledge to appear on the show.
  • Gaz unintentionally saves Zim for the second time. First was "Battle-Dib" and "10 Minutes To Doom".
  • This is the only time in the entire series in which Gaz appears on TV. Dib, on the other hand, has appeared on TV three times, counting this episode as well as "The Girl Who Cried Gnome" and "Gaz, Taster of Pork."
  • Dib and Gaz are seen as babies during a flashback. With this episode and "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy", two of the four main characters are seen as infants, while Zim's smeethood was briefly seen in "Parent Teacher Night".
  • Most of the episode is seen through an editing room, since the episode was recorded this whole time.
  • The employees of the show don't seem to have noticed that Zim was wearing his disguise in the studio but in the video he wasn't.
  • LÖVE's 11.x version is officially named "Mysterious Mysteries".

Inconsistencies and Animation Errors[]

  • The first time the Mysterious Mysteries crew looked at the "Pigfoot" picture, his mask was pink; the second time, it was tan.
  • While Dib flashes on the screen, the Mysterious Mysteries host has a scar on his face. The next time it shows him as he walks to the closet, the scar is gone.
  • During GIR's recounting of the events in the video, while the man in the squirrel outfit is hanging by strings when he "flies away" and hovers over a scrolling background of outer space, the left side of the image of the squirrel-man cuts off. This may have been an intentional, humorous portrayal of poor green-screening, but the next cut, showing that the outer space background is a part of the set he's on, suggests that it was simply an animation error.
  • Dib is sitting in a seat, and there is only one seat. However, when its Zim's turn to explain his part of the story, another seat appears. The same thing happens when Gaz then GIR tell their parts of the story.

See also[]

References[]

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