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When will the lies end? — Zim |
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| Invader Zim Episode | |
| Mysterious Mysteries | |
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| Chronology | |
| Previous: | Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom |
|---|---|
| Next: | Future Dib |
| Information | |
| Episode No: | Episode 15a |
| Production No: | 14a |
| Airdate: | March 22, 2002 |
| Credits | |
| Writer(s): | Courtney Lilly Rob Hummel |
Plot Summary
SPOILER WARNING OF DOOM: This section or article may contain spoilers!
When Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mystery is having trouble in ratings due to a lack of stories, the anchor of the show decides to take drastic measures, finally requesting a file of Dib's to be on the show. The file in question happens to be a video that Dib took of Zim and GIR in the woods out of their disguises. Dib's video and story seem to satisfy the anchor, but at that point Zim comes onto the show to disprove the video. In his version of the story, the events are twisted, making it look like Dib was bullying Zim for his lunch money. Dib vociferously denies this, and questions the nature of the glow, certain that Zim will be unable to cover it up. However, the expert who analyzes it turns out to be none other than Professor Membrane, who dismisses it as swamp gas. Zim then tells the host that Dib is crazy and claims that any classmate the anchor asks will agree; sure enough, all of the Skoolchildren interviewed say the same thing: Dib's crazy.
In an attempt to get some support, Dib asks Gaz to be brought onto the show as a witness. However, her testimony is of little help: her version negatively depicts Dib and Zim babbling stupidly, followed by Gaz knocking down Dib with a sweep kick. Finally, the Anchor is about to declare a cold case when a "surprise witness" named Stacy abruptly comes on the show, claiming to know the truth. As it turns out, however, this is none other than GIR, with nothing other than pixelation concealing his features from the screen. When Dib accuses him of working with Zim, he is quickly beaten and restrained in a straitjacket. "Stacy's" version recalls that "she" was the chubby lady hiding in the bushes when a giant squirrel showed up and "ate Dib's greasy head", then flew back to his home planet to "fight all the bad guys." Utterly flummoxed by the nonsensical testimony, the Anchor finally concludes that all except Gaz are crazy, and that Zim isn't an alien, but just crazy. Content, Zim drags GIR out of the studio. Having decided nothing matters any more, the host decided that he was crazy himself, and starts babbling at the camera. When he watches the footage later, his boss tells him to give him more of the same, to his own suppressed horror.
End of Spoilers: There are no further spoilers for this section or article. You can breathe now.
Facts of Doom
Cultural References
- Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mystery is a parody of the Robert Stack series Unsolved Mysteries. The host of the show is also based on Unsolved Mysteries' current host, Dennis Farlena.
- The actor of "Stacy" in the last dramatic re-enactment highly resembles Bonnie from Family Guy.
Things You Might Have Missed
- During the reenactments, there is a balcony visible in the background with a crew member on it. In every reenactment, he is doing random actions, such as sitting on a sofa drinking lemonade.
- At the beginning, when we see the Blotch, there is a man who resembles Dib (in a blue shirt). This character is typically referred to as Adult Dib, and he also appears in Attack of the Saucer Morons. A man who looks like Chunk can also be seen in the background.
- The Dib actor was actually injured by the squirrel, as the guy on the balcony can be seen pulling up a stretcher with Dib actor on it in the scene after the clip where GIR says "Me and the squirrel are friends!".
Inconsistencies and Animation Errors
- The first time the Mysterious Mysteries crew looked at the Pigfoot picture, his mask was pink; the second time, it was tan.
- When Dib flashes on the screen at the beginning of the episode, the Mysterious Mysteries host has a scar. The next time it shows him as he walks to the closet, the scar is gone.
- During GIR's recounting of the events in the video, while the man in the squirrel outfit is hanging by strings when he "flies away" and hovers over a scrolling background of outer space, the left side of the image of the squirrel-man cuts off. This may have been an intentional, humorous portrayal of poor green-screening, but the next cut, showing that the outer space background is a part of the set he's on, suggests that it was simply an animation error.
See also
- Mysterious Mysteries of Strange Mystery
- Mysterious Mysteries (Transcript)
- Mysterious Mysteries Screenshots