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Nubs of Doom was an unfinished episode, in which Minimoose was intended to make his debut.

Summary[]

After noticing that GIR is a failure of a henchman, Zim designs Minimoose to be the ultimate henchman. This episode was originally supposed to air before "The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever." However, the series was abruptly cancelled, and the producers would only let the animation team finish one episode, so they chose the Christmas special. Minimoose is most like GIR in that he's a failed sidekick of Zim's, and small and cute in appearance, but otherwise the similarities are limited. Minimoose's only form of communication is to squeak or "Nyah!", much like Beaker of The Muppets.

Plot[]

The episode opens with Zim & Gir pretending to be clowns as part of an invasion plan, however Gir quickly becomes distracted by a food vendor and going to play in the melted cheese. The resulting chaos causes the two of them to be kicked out of the mall, much to Zim's frustration, which is added to as it turns out Dib saw everything; when the base does not recognize Zim and Gir plays with his pig friend instead of helping, Zim decides he needs a new sidekick.

Later, Zim fabricates a number of pieces of technology to use in the creation of his new sidekick, as well as ordering an experimental Vortian doomsday weapon from Prisoner 777, before having the Computer assemble them. Afterwards, Zim gathers his other robots for the unveiling of his new sidekick, Minimoose, though Gir's first reaction it to want to play with Minimoose, Zim tells him that he is not allowed to touch him due to the experimental technology built into him.

Zim then improvises a series of tests for Minimoose, the first of which is to find some "earth meat", which Minimoose follows by bringing several cows; however this also causes and angry mob from "People Against Piling Cows" to appear, which Minimoose quickly talks down. Somehow the departing mob breaks open the water reservoir, causing a massive tidal wave, which Minimoose also takes care of.

With Minimoose having passed the preliminary round of tests, Zim prepares to take him out on their first mission together, and the final test. Though he tries to break it to Gir gently that he won't be joining him on this mission, Gir is too distracted to register, much to Zim's frustration. Later, Zim & Minimoose are at a nearby convenience store where Zim steals a suck munkey from a random passerby to use in Minimoose's final test; making sure he isn't distracted by food the way Gir is. When Minimoose remains uninterested he's declared a success.

Dib soon appears, somehow having disguised himself as the stolen suck munkey, and Zim orders Minimoose to use his doomsday weapon to destroy him, but it does not activate. When Zim tries to find a way to activate it manually, Dib tells him that the display is so pathetic that it's not even worth trying to use as evidence and leaves; Zim is distraught and goes home, declaring that Minimoose is a failure, and allowing Gir to play with him. Gir almost immediately triggers the doomsday weapon, which destroys much of the house, and Zim happily declares the Minimoose is a success before enjoying a snack as chaos ensues around him.

Cast[]

Facts of Doom[]

  • The day before the crew of Invader Zim planned to start animation on "Nubs of Doom" and "Invader Poonchy", Nickelodeon cancelled the series, thus making it pointless to make the episode.
    • If Nickelodeon had cancelled the series on January 18, 2002 instead of January 17, 2002, "Nubs of Doom" and "Invader Poonchy" would have been completed episodes. This is because once the animation process begins, Nickelodeon cannot get the episodes scrapped because of the production budget being moved forward and submitted, thus they would actually lose money.
  • This is the second time that Zim has declared a moose to have failed him (see "A Room with a Moose"); in this episode, he wails, "Why, Minimoose?! Why hast thou failed me?!", similar to his delivery in that episode.
  • It's also the second time Dib has unwittingly referenced GIR (see "Hamstergeddon" for the first time). In this case, he imitated GIR's famous "I WAS THE TURKEY ALL ALONG!" speech (see "Backseat Drivers From Beyond the Stars") by yelling, "I was the Suck Munkey all along!".
  • Despite Zim replacing GIR with Minimoose, he doesn't plan on getting rid of him.

Transcript[]

Audio[]

The voices for this episode have been recorded and can be heard here.

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