The Girl Who Cried Gnome

The Dib... the Dib! I don't care how delicious he is, he's EVIL! — Zim

Invader Zim Episode
The Girl Who Cried Gnome
Chronology
Previous:	Zim Eats Waffles
Next:	Dibship Rising
Information
Episode No:	Episode 23a
Production No:	22a
Airdate:	Australia: December 21, 2003 United States: July 15, 2006
Credits
Writer(s):	Rob Hummel

"The Girl Who Cried Gnome" is the 1st segment in the 3rd episode of the second season of Invader Zim. It first premiered on December 21, 2003 in Australia. In the United States, it was first released as part of the Horrible Holiday Cheer DVD on October 12, 2004 and it made its TV debut on Nicktoons on July 15, 2006.

Plot Summary

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

Moofy gets stuck.

Moofy cheerfully skips from block to block, selling Girly Rangers cookies to residents. She arrives at a house's doorstep and asks a man if he would like to buy some cookies.

To the man's shock, Moofy begins to convulse violently and beats the man into buying a box after he declines. While smiling at her success, Moofy turns her head to the next house: Zim's. Inside his home, Zim is experimenting when his computer warns him that Moofy is at his doorstep.

Overreacting, Zim releases a robot gopher into the yard. The gopher tunnels under Moofy, causing her to fall into a hole in the process. Surprisingly, instead of eliminating her as Zim intended, the robot gopher malfunctions, dances for Moofy, and then shoots itself up into the sky.

Zim's "plan" to free Moofy.

A blonde woman sees Moofy and calls the media, which almost immediately arrives. While Zim panics over the unwanted attention to his base, GIR excitedly hugs his master.

As Zim watches the live broadcast, he realizes that the humans do not suspect anything, but concludes that Moofy must be taken away to remove the risk of the humans becoming distrustful. Trying to make his house seem less conspicuous, he makes "earth rocks" appear around his house. Around the same time, the rescue team arrives, only to be warded off by Moofy. Zim tries again to lower any suspicion by sending the Roboparents out and disguising himself and GIR.

However, this only makes Moofy fling dirt at the rescuers, who in return call President Man to help handle the situation. Dib walks around as he notices the large crowd of people gathered around Zim's house. He pushes himself through, seeing Moofy in a news broadcast. Dib asks why they don't simply pull her out. An old man tells Dib that anyone who tries to rescues Moofy is met by a shrill scream from the girl.

Seeing that Moofy is simply resisting a rescue due to the attention she's getting, Dib realizes that he had time to use the mass media to foil Zim once and for all. As he tries to get closer to Zim's base, Dib bumps into the leader of Girly Rangers. Though he apologizes, the leader, now accompanied by three other Girly Rangers, orders him to buy cookies in order to pass. Dib complies, but pays with ham instead of money, leading the four rangers to attack him.

Zim, the hero?

After more failed attempts to pull Moofy out of the hole, she lets out an unbearably loud scream that manages to cause many Irken ships outside the Milky Way to explode. At the same time, President Man arrives, and announces that they will get Moofy out safely. Zim, wearing a disguise, tells the media that he has a plan to free the trapped Girly Ranger.

Because she will not let anyone come close enough to touch her, he proposes to shake the entire Earth, using his technology, to jar Moofy out of the ground. After explaining this to President man, Zim returns inside and begins packing his ship with GIR, planning to finally leave Earth before its destruction. Seeing through the plan, Dib tries to convince President Man to simply tunnel under Moofy to set her free, and "maybe see if there is an alien base there while they're at it."

President man dismisses this idea despite Dib's insistence, and orders for Dib to be taken away. However, before Dib is dragged away by the guards, President Man notices the Chocolate Ninja Star cookies lodged into Dib's head from his previous ordeal with some Girly Rangers. Upon hearing of the President's love for the baked treats, Dib offers that they trade.

Dib gets stuck.

Back inside the lower area of Zim's base, Zim packs his things along with GIR as he proclaims that he is finally done with Earth, but sees President Man with Dib on screen. The President says that they have a new plan for freeing Moofy proposed by Dib by using a gigantic digging machine.

Angered, Zim states that there is only one thing left to do. GIR asks him if he is going to make biscuits, and is shocked when Zim tells the robot that he would never. Zim goes back outside and orders Moofy to leave. In response, Moofy begins to growl and pushes Zim away.

The costumed Irken jumps behind Moofy and manages to forcefully pull her out in a fit of anger, causing every spectator to stop and cheer, excluding Dib, who still tries to convince the media, but is ignored. As the crowd leaves, Dib gets stuck in the same spot as Moofy was and, much to his dismay, no one comes to his aid.

A now happy Zim comes out with another robot gopher, letting it dance in front of Dib along with four Lawn Gnomes. Dib is stuck for hours, disturbed by the sight of the gopher, begging for help that never comes.

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

Facts of Doom

Cultural References

• This episode's title is a reference to Aesop's fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
• This episode is a parody of a real-life ordeal, when an 18-month old named Jessica McClure was trapped in a well for 58 hours.
• The Girly Rangers are a parody of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
• The multi-colored uniforms of the Girly Rangers is reminiscent of The Powerpuff Girls, with the same signature colors (pink, baby blue, and bright green) and same hair colors (orange, blonde, and black). There is also a purple one, which may be a reference to Bunny, a fourth member once created by Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup. Bunny was also a brunette, just like the purple Girly Ranger. Their name is also a reference to the Power Rangers, a show that Richard Steven Horvitz is also famous for as the voice of Alpha 5.
• President Man is a parody of George W. Bush, the President of the United States at the time when Invader Zim aired.
• The Rescue Bot holding up Moofy and showing her to the crowd is a parody of Rafiki holding up baby Simba from The Lion King.

Trivia

• This episode never aired in the US until 2006, but it has aired in other countries years earlier, like Australia which had its release in 2003. It was first released on DVD in 2004 in English.
• This is the second time both Zim and Dib appeared on National TV.
• In this episode, we find out that Zim can whistle.
• This episode was almost cancelled by Nickelodeon after 9/11, the time around which this episode was being made, but Nick executives thought about it and left the episode untouched.
• This was the only episode of Season 2 to be written by Rob Hummel. However, episodes such as "Invader Poonchy", "Ten Minutes to Doom", and "Roboparents Gone Wild" were co-written and written by him respectively. But, since the show was cancelled, these episodes were left unanimated and it's unknown if he was meant to write more episodes had the series continued.

Changes & Cuts

• There's an alternate ending in this episode, like "Bestest Friend", "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy", "Game Slave 2", and the unmade episode "Return of Keef".

Things You Might Have Missed

• When Zim is working in his lab before Moofy arrives at his house, there are two cyborg squirrels identical to the ones that appear bouncing outside of the Skool during "Tak: The Hideous New Girl" inside a glass container.
• The President Man left his coat hanger inside the jacket he was wearing, which is why he couldn't put his arms down and had a hook visible at the back of his neck.
• Oddly enough, Moofy only has three fingers, similar to Keef.
• In the scene where Dib is trying to find out what is going on, you can see someone who looks similar to Johnny C.
• The man who introduced President Man is armless.
• Greg (The FBI guy), who previously appeared in "Zim Eats Waffles" makes his second appearance, this time working to protect President Man.
• Near the end, when Zim comes out of his house with the robot gopher, he's whistling "If You're Happy and You Know It" which is odd since he hates everything about Earth. This could mean that Zim is subconsciously getting familiar with some of Earth's customs.
• When Zim attempts to pull Moofy out himself and causes her to attack, the screens of the cameras pointed at Moofy show burning fires.
• A Bloody GIR appears on the roof of the green house that Dib passes before Zim appears on TV.
• Nick was seen being put into the Voot Cruiser by GIR.
• When Zim and GIR are packing up their Voot Cruiser to leave before the Earth is "shaken", Zim shows an extreme aversion to biscuits, telling GIR never to speak of them again. This only makes one wonder if there was an "off-screen" biscuit incident.

See also

• The Girl Who Cried Gnome Screenshots
• The Girl Who Cried Gnome (Transcript)