The Voices of Zim is an interview with the voice actors of Invader Zim found on the second disc of Doom Doom Doom, the first volume of the Invader Zim DVD collection.
Cast (In order of appearance): Richard Horvitz, Zim, GIR, Rikki Simons, Melissa Fahn, Wally Wingert, Andy Berman
Transcript[]
(The words "The Voices of Zim" appear. Cut to Richard Horvitz sitting on a white couch.)
Richard Horvitz: What Zim? Oh! Zim? Well, okay, the long and short of it is this; um, I had been doing a series called "The Angry Beavers" at Nickelodeon.
(A box on the lower-left corner of the screen that says "Richard Horvitz Voice of Invader Zim" appears)
Richard Horvitz: I played the voice of Daggett. And, uh, Jhonen had come to town to do a new show called (Whispers) "Invader Zim". (Normally) And uh, originally, um, I had interviewed and auditioned for it and, uh, Nickelodeon didn't want to use me at the time because I was already doing Daggett on The Angry Beavers. So after they did, um, the pilot for Invader Zim, The Angry Beavers had ended, and, uh, I, uh, then was asked to come back again and- and revoice, uh, the person who had done the pilot of Invader Zim and, uh, we pitched it up a little bit, and Nick New York went for it, and the rest is (Dramatically, as Zim) history.
(Cut to a scene from The Nightmare Begins. Zim and GIR are standing in front of the Voot Cruiser, which had reconfigured itself so that it is set up to create the disguises. Zim is already in his disguise.)
Zim: Today, we become... the enemy.
(Zim places GIR between the closing pods. They shut on him and light pours out of the crevice where the two panels meet. The pods open to reveal the poorly disguised GIR.)
Zim: (Screaming) Ingenious!
(Cut to Rikki Simons sitting in front of a televison playing a clip from the episode Germs.)
Rikki Simons: I remember when-
(A box on the lower-left corner of the screen that says "Rikki Simons Voice of GIR" appears)
Rikki Simons: When Jhonen uh, first pitched the idea of Zim to- to Nickeloden, um, I went over to his little office that he had there and he wanted to show me what he was working on, and he had all the characters up on the wall, and I didn't really like (laughing) any of them. Except GIR! He had GIR in his costume. And I just went VUUCHOO! You know, right over to him. You know, he's staring at me with his little beady eyes, and... uh, green. And- and I was like "Who's that?" and, uh, then he described to me what GIR was about. And then I was like "Wow, he's so..." uh (laughs) and then, uh... I punched him. No, I'm kidding.
(Cut back to Richard Horivitz)
Richard Horivitz: So the question is what was it like when Jhonen hollowed out my body and used my skin as a flesh suit, to kind of walk around as the character? What was that like? Is that what you're asking? (Pauses) Um... I quite enjoyed it. That's all.
(Cut to Melissa Fahn sitting in front of a television playing a clip from the episode Dark Harvest.)
Melissa Fahn: Jhonen provided such a great atmosphere for us to create-
(A box on the lower-left corner of the screen that says "Melissa Fahn Voice of Gaz" appears)
Melissa Fahn: -and just be crazy and, uh, Richard and Andy and Rikki and Jhonen and the whole team just created this crazy kind of family environment. We all trusted each other. We were allowed to be a little crazy and- and see what comes out. And- and I don't think it was ever too much.
(Puppet Scene)
Andy Berman: Well, this is the thing, you know. Jhonen, he wont want to hear this at all, but Jhonen is- is a genius, basically. And so, you know, anyone in his eyes is like a lowly peon, and you know I accept that that role. So I, you know, I mean, a lot of people think that animation is- is combination of a lot of people's efforts. You know, from storyboard artists, to colorists, to the people that market the show, to the people that do the voices. It's really not true in this case. This is entirely Jhonen's baby. This is Jhonen's inspiration. And so whatever Jhonen wants to say about me, um... did he really say that about me?
Wally Wingert: Jhonen hanging me by the skull with cables. Uh, Nickelodeon, um, incurred quite a large expense, um, hanging Kevin and I by the skull with large cables in the studio so we could really get into our characters. And, that only lasted for a few weeks and then Nickelodeon said "No, we don't want to pay for that because-" it was getting really, really expensive floating us above the floor.
Rikki Simons: He sort of floated
Trivia[]
- As Richard is shaking his fist at the camera, you can see his wedding ring.