Earth | |
Inhabitants |
Humans |
Moons |
1 |
Notable Facts |
This is the planet Zim was "assigned" to in exile |
First Appearance | |
[Source] |
Earth is the third planet from the sun, home to the human race and the planet to which former Invader Zim was sent to conquer/destroy. Almighty Tallest Red and Almighty Tallest Purple, not wanting Zim to ruin Operation Impending Doom II like he ruined Operation Impending Doom, sent Zim to Earth purely by chance. Their intentions had simply been to send Zim as far away from Irk as possible. They did not expect Zim to actually encounter a planet after he left, as they weren't even sure there was one in that part of space. They had hoped he would die on an airless rock, or land on "one of those exploding head planets". Much to their chagrin, and Zim's delight, Earth turned out to be a heavily populated planet, with technology greatly inferior to the Irkens, thus ripe for conquest. Earth is not considered valuable by the Irken Empire, explaining why no real Invaders were assigned to conquer it, even after its existence was confirmed.
Galactic location
During the Great Assigning on planet Conventia, a map is shown of all explored Irken space, which the Irkens intend to conquer in their new campaign. Earth took the form of a small, yellow paper note taped on the extreme edge of the map. It had a crude drawing of a planet with a big question mark in the center, possibly because its existence was guessed at, based on long-range scans. Presumably, this means that Earth is at the extreme fringe of known space, in the backwaters, away from major alien races like the Irkens, Vortians and Meekrob. It took Zim six months to reach Earth from Conventia.
Compounded by the fact that Earth was "added" to Operation Impending Doom II at the last minute, it presumably has an extremely low priority in the Irken Empire's renewed campaign to conquer the galaxy, as none of the Irkens, including both Almighty Tallest, recognized this planet's name. Indeed, the Almighty Tallest essentially treat Zim's continued presence on Earth as an exile that Zim himself is not aware of, which keeps Zim occupied and as far away from the main Irken fleet as possible. Therefore, it will probably be many years before the fleet, led by the Massive, arrive at Earth, if at all.
Society
The Earth society seen in the Invader Zim universe is a dark and satirical version of that in real life. This Earth is more technologically advanced, but the intelligence of most of the human race is noticeably lower. Nearly every human on the planet is dull-witted and slovenly, except for Professor Membrane, Ms. Bitters, Dib and Gaz. Human society in the IZ universe displays many stereotypes and generalizations seen in the real Earth, except humorously exaggerated. Several fictional companies and franchises in the show are parodies or mockeries of similar ones seen in modern society.
It's likely that Invader Zim is set a few years into the not-so near future, as much of Earth's water appears to be vaguely polluted, the sky is crimson, and extremely advanced technology, such as antigravity and rapid space travel, exist.
Approximately two million years after the incident happening during "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever", the appearance of humans seemed to have changed (at least for the children, who are the only humans seen in this time period). These children's thick clothing made them look very plump and round, and had headgear that resembled earmuffs wrapping around their heads along with wire-like patterns on the sides of their heads. The humans seem to have become much more intelligent during this time period, as a small child was able to criticize a story told by Mr. Sludgey with remarkable vocabulary. The humans now live within a a large defensive dome to protect themselves each Christmas from the Santa Claus robot built by Zim.
Trivia
- This version of Earth has many restaurants that are parodies of real-life ones, such as McMeaties (McDonald's), Krazy Taco (Taco Bell/Del Taco), Bloaty's Pizza Hog (ShowBiz Pizza Place/Chuck E Cheese's), and Burrito King (Burger King)
- When viewing Earth from space, it always has a hurricane on it, appearing to be about to make landfall in Florida. Its position and apparent strength suggest that it may be, or be intended to look like Hurricane Andrew.
- The time it takes to get from Irk to Earth in a Voot Cruiser is approximately the same as the time it takes to get to Mars from Earth in a rocket.
- Earth is considered to be on the fringe of the Irken's explored universe, but has already been inhabited by Irkens like Zim, Tak and Skoodge.
- On that note, despite Earth being an unknown planet for most aliens, several races have managed to find their way here, such as the Irkens, Nhar-Gh'ok, Planet Jackers, Plookesians, Space Pants and Intergalactic Abductors.
- According to Jhonen, he has said that in the proposed series finale, "Invader Dib", Zim would begin to lose his desire to conquer Earth after seeing the beauty in its life. He actually has expressed concern for our planet a few times before this was to occur, though usually for selfish reasons. They were:
- "Planet Jackers" (where Zim saves Earth from the Planet Jackers species)
- "Tak: The Hideous New Girl" (where Zim says to Tak that the world is his to devastate, and having promised the moon to GIR)
- "Squishy: Hugger of Worlds" (where Zim and Dib team up to stop Squishy from destroying Earth by literally embracing it; this was to be one of their final alliances before Zim was to banish him after forming an alliance with Dib's own sister; Dib's exile was because of him conspiring with a returning Tak to commit genocide on the Irken race).
- Earth has actually been destroyed, or been left in situations where it should end up destroyed, several times in both the TV show and the comics (i.e. "Planet Jackers" or Issue 3), but due to the series' very loose continuity, these situations are always reset.
Notes
Planets of Invader Zim |
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Boodie Nen • Blorch • Callnowia • Conventia • Conveyor Belt Planet • Devastis • Dirt • Earth • Foodcourtia • Hobo 13 • Irk • Judgementia • Mars • Meekrob • Mercury • Plookesia • Taoola and Charcunga • Vort • Spotted Planet • Striped Planet •Rock Planet • Other Planets |