Salutations, traveler of The Internets! Welcome to William's Bloody Hell, so named after our founder, Sir Bloody William.
He is seen in the likeness above in a rare, 19th century woodcut. This
image was rumoured to have been
commissioned after a bout of unpleasantness
in the White Chapel district of London. Do enjoy your stay and peruse our many, varied offerings, much of which cannot be found elsewhere!
:: Invader Zim Volume 1: DOOM DOOM DOOM ::
by William the Bloody
Hurrah for the release of this 2 disc DVD set! Alas when Invader Zim was originally broadcast on Nickelodeon (yes, that's right, Nickelodeon) we knew it would never last. This show was hilariously funny, but too damn dark for the kid friendly network. But now, the first 9 episodes of this series is available to own, courtesy of Anime Works.
The series follows would-be alien Invader from the planet Irk, Zim. Zim caused the first plan for galactic conquest, Operation: Impending Doom, to go horribly wrong, so the leaders, the Almighty Tallest, had him banished. But when Zim heard about Operation: Impending Doom 2, he HAD to be a part of it. However, the Tallest play a little joke on him, and send him to the farthest reaches of space, where there may or may not be a planet at all, with his malfunctioning robot servant GIR. The planet in question naturally turns out to be Earth, and upon arrival, Zim constructs a base, comes up with a disguise and goes to the local elementary school to learn more about Earth and its weak spots. Unfortunately for Zim, one of his classmates is Dib, a self proclaimed paranormal investigator who sees through the alien disguise immediately (he's got green skin! he doesn't have any ears!). Unfortunately for Dib, he has cried wolf so many times that now no one believes him. What comes after is a deliciously dark romp usually involving Zim and his mishaps trying to understand or conquer Earth, or Dib trying to out wit or capture Zim. Of course, I would be remiss if I did not mention the secret star of the series, Zim's robot GIR. GIR is meant to be Zim's willing slave, however, all he has is junk for brains, so oftentimes he is completely illogical and well, hilarious.
There are a 9 episodes on Volume 1, with a total of 17 cartoons. 14 of these cartoons come with commentaries! Creator Jhonen Vasquez is present for just about all of them I believe, along with many other of the talented people who participated in the creation of a finished episode from voice talent to story board artists ( a total of 13 people are present at one time or another). These commentaries however have very little to offer in behind the scenes tidbits, especially if you are a rabid Zim fan, you will know most of what they have to already. It was still neat to listen to the voice artists talk and hear what they sound like normally, and odd because Zim's voice actor sounds like that regularly ( he also does a Phyllis Diller impression... don't ask). They did offer recognition to the composer who did a stunning job giving Zim that unique sound. Mostly it was just a bunch of them hanging out, having fun, making each other laugh, and eating Wheat Thins. Which can turn out to be quite entertaining. Jhonen starts the first commentary on "The Nightmare Begins" with "Hello. I'm George Takei..." I was disappointed that writers Roman Dirge and Frank Conniff weren't present for any of the commentaries. I would have loved to hear their words of wisdom.
Out of these 17 cartoons, I'd say 3 of them are not that great, 2 are so-so, 5 are awesome and the rest are entertaining in general. The humor on some of them tend to get to the point of disgusting occasionally (um "The Rise of Zitboy" for example) but more often is horrifically dark for a children's show ("Bestest Friend" and "Dark Harvest" anyone?). GIR does a great job of keeping the overall mood light, but I still wouldn't recommend this to kids.
This show is still one of my favorite new cartoons today. A-
