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20px-Cquote1.png Base, so messy! Explosion, so close! This is just HORRIBLE!
Zim
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Invader Zim Episode
Walk for Your Lives
Walk for your Lives
Chronology
Previous: Hobo 13
Next: Megadoomer
Information
Episode No: Episode 16b
Production No: 18a
Airdate: September 28, 2002 (Nicktoons)
Credits
Writer(s): Eric Trueheart


"Walk for Your Lives" is the 2nd segment in the 16th episode of the first season of Invader Zim. It first premiered on September 28, 2002, on Nicktoons.

Plot Summary[]

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

Walk for you lives 2

It is Probing Day for the Irken Invaders, and the Almighty Tallest check up on them; if they do not pass the inspection, they receive a pummeling.

Zim calls in an effort to pass the inspection. He shows off Dib, who after being caught infiltrating Zim's base, was suspended in a variable time stasis field, which has the capability of speeding up or slowing down the flow of time for anyone trapped within it. As Zim is showing this to the Tallest, however, the field unfortunately malfunctions and explodes, laying waste to the lab.

As Zim and GIR clean up the wreckage, Zim encounters an unusual, glowing green fireball about the size of a golf ball, but slowly expanding. As it turns out, this is a city-destroying explosion that resulted from the incident.

Walk for your Lives 2

Zim handling the explosion.

Due to the time stasis field, however, the explosion has been slowed down exponentially. Nevertheless, it will continue to slowly expand, and leave the City in ruins in a matter of hours.

Zim tries to rid himself of the explosion by drowning it in the city cesspool, but loses control of it before he's able to get it there. He is forced to leave it where he dropped it, and it continues to grow to a massive size.

Zim returns to his base, panicking as he imagines how the Tallest will react when they see the catastrophe. However, at that moment, GIR reveals that Dib had not been vaporized by the explosion as Zim had thought: Instead, he was also affected by the slowing effects of the time-stasis field, which gives Zim an idea: throwing Dib into the explosion will cancel out the stasis field's effect, and cause it to explode at its normal speed. Even GIR is skeptical of this idea.

Walk for your Lives 3

"You jerk"

Nevertheless, Zim goes back into the City to abduct Dib, who is slowly trying to cross the street to alert the policeman on the other side. However, he is quickly intercepted by Zim, who takes him back to his base.

Disregarding the advice of GIR, Dib and his computer, Zim has decided to speed up the explosion back to its normal speed by launching Dib into it via a large catapult. The plan works, with the slight side-effect of decimating Zim's base, destroying the city, and leaving the inhabitants scorched. Dib calls Zim a jerk before passing out.

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

Facts of Doom[]

Cultural References[]

  • As Dib is being hurtled toward the explosion, the camera shoots a view of the city. Its appearance is similar to the cover art for the Namco PS2 game Katamari Damacy. However, this was most likely a coincidence.

Trivia[]

  • The name "Walk For Your Lives" is a parody of "Run For Your Lives" due to the characters hardly putting effort into getting away from the explosion.
  • Erroneously in the Latin American version the episode was called “Corran por sus vidas” which translated to “Run For Your Lives” when in actuality it should have been “Caminen por sus vidas”.
  • This is the only season 1 episode that never aired on Nickelodeon.
  • Despite the fact that Zim isn't actually an Irken Invader, he was still on the Tallests' list for Probing Day inspection.
    • Jhonen Vasquez would later reveal that even though Zim’s mission is actually an exile, the Irken Control Brains filed Earth as a possible planet for invasion, which would explain why his name was on the list in the first place.
  • Zim stated that he has held the ambition to pass Probing Day ever since he was a smeet, implying that he always wanted to be an Invader.
    • Despite the fact that he wasn’t pummeled by the Tallest, it’s very unlikely that he passed the inspection, given how much they hate Zim, but seeing how he never got in contact with his leaders again for the remainder of the episode, it’s likely that Zim only believes that he passed as in “Enter the Florpus” it was revealed that he deluded himself into thinking that the Tallest are his “biggest fans”.
  • When Zim orders GIR to remove the "thing", only his eyes flash red. This is the first time since "Bestest Friend", and the last time in the series.
  • Iggins gets arrested by a cop for "standing around, doing nothing" (in other words, loitering). However, before he can be taken to jail, the explosion occurs and the cop takes notice, causing Iggins to escape.
  • When Zim is fixing up the lab shortly after the explosion in his base, Zim is wearing the goggles that is similar to the ones he wore in "Germs".
  • This episode was almost banned after 9/11, but Nickelodeon thought about it, and allowed the episode to air.
  • This is the one of the few times that GIR has displayed common sense outside of "Duty Mode", since even he was skeptical of Zim's plan to make the explosion return to its regular speed.
  • This episode shows that Zim knows how to successfully put on make up. This could be in part due to the vanity of the Irken race,
    • On the other hand, it’s also possible that Zim used an off screen machine similar to the one on his Voot Cruiser to generate the disguise which included the make up.
  • Since Dib has often tried to convince people that Zim's skin is not that of a human, in an ironic twist, he's green for most of the episode.
  • This episode along with “Hobo 13” showed Zim at his worse as in the latter Zim was sociopathic enough to get rid of members of his own squad just so he could get weaponry to complete his mission while in this one, he repeatedly was seen not listening to the Tallest (when they were trying to get rid of him) his computer, GIR and Dib when they were telling him repeatedly about the stupidity of accelerating the time status field on the explosion.
    • This may be due in part to the fact that according to Vasquez, Zim is hard of hearing and therefore he wasn’t listening as he’s known not to do that.
  • It seems to be suggested that Zim is desperate to earn the approval of the Tallest that he deluded himself into hearing what he wants to hear like when he said the Tallest would call him back to get the chance to pass inspection and most likely choose to ignore the conversation Red and Purple were having about him at the start of the episode.
  • Ironically Zim caused a great deal of destruction to the city the one time he didn’t want to as his main goal was to pass Probing Day inspection.
  • Seeing as both Zim and Dib survived the explosion despite being on the center of it, one could assume that no one died and at most, the citizens of the city were injured.
  • This would be the second and last time an episode would end with Dib calling Zim a jerk, the first was in “Bolognius Maximus”.

Cuts & Changes[]

  • Iggins and Dib were both supposed to die in this episode. This was not the first time either nearly faced death, as the former was originally intended to die in "Game Slave 2" after falling with the elevator from the batteries factory, and the latter in "Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy" after falling from the electric tower and being crushed by the piggies of the paramedic.
  • The explosion was originally orange and fiery, but was changed to green due to the 9/11 incident.
    • It's probably safe to asume that Dib originally was also meant to have orange and fiery skin due to the time stasis field before it was changed to green.

Things You Might Have Missed[]

  • The Bank that Zim and GIR climbed in "Walk of Doom" can be seen when the wheelchair user falls off the cliff.
  • The pigeon next to the cop flies there, sits, builds a nest, and flies away in the time that it takes Dib to reach him.
IceCream

The ice cream in question.

  • Rikki Simons can be seen hiding in a gutter during one scene.
  • When Dib is looking across the street, Melvin can be seen in the background holding his mother's hand.
  • Keef can be seen in a bench with two adults who are presumably his parents, when Zim is going through the city in his fat woman disguise.
  • An ice cream truck in one scene features a popsicle that looks vaguely similar to Zim with his disguise removed.
  • The lumpy-headed woman's necklace has a face on it that looks exactly like the one on Dib's shirt.
  • A school bus in the accident scene has the "What about the bus?" sign from "Walk of Doom" (look carefully after the Morbidly Obese Baby Dolls truck hits the car).
  • While the Tallest are thanking Invader Larb, he's sitting on the Universe's Most Comfortable Couch from "The Nightmare Begins".
  • GIR wasn't seen after the explosion returned to normal speed, implying he was destroyed. However, due to the loose continuity of the show, he's back in the next episode. It is also possible that Zim repaired him along with his base.

Inconsistencies and Animation Errors[]

  • When Red is telling Purple that Zim is on the list, Purple drops his crushed cup, only for it to appear from nowhere and fall in unison with his hands a second later.
  • When the old man fell off of the cliff, he was yelling, though his mouth didn't move the entire time.
  • When Dib flew into the house with the woman with a lump on her head, she was wearing a necklace that had a smiley face on it. However, the smiley face disappears during one of the scenes that appear shortly after that.
  • When the police officer is arresting Iggins, his mouth doesn't move at all, despite him speaking.
  • When Zim is in the Voot's holding chamber, the explosion flashes dark green as it bounces around the room.
  • When the Tallest finished with Invader Larb, Red's antennae turns white for a brief second as he is telling Purple that they still have to check on Zim.

Cameos[]

See Also[]

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