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20px-Cquote1.png The Dib... the Dib! I don't care how delicious he is, he's EVIL!
Zim
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Invader Zim Episode
The Girl Who Cried Gnome
The Girl Who Cried Gnome (Title Card)
Chronology
Previous: Zim Eats Waffles
Next: Dibship Rising
Information
Episode No: Episode 23a
Production No: 22a
Airdate: Australian airdate
December 21, 2003[1]
US airdate
July 15, 2006
Credits
Writer(s): Rob Hummel


Plot Summary

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

Moofy Freaks out

Moofy angered upon hearing her customer decline.

Moofy cheerfully skips from block to block, selling Girly Rangers cookies to residents. She arrives at a house's doorstep and asks a man if he would like to buy some cookies. To the man's shock, Moofy begins to convulse violently and beats the man into buying a box after he declines. While smiling at her success, Moofy turns her head to the next house: Zim's.

Moofy gets stuck

Moofy gets stuck.

Inside his home, Zim is experimenting when his computer warns him that Moofy is at his doorstep. Overreacting, Zim releases a robot gopher into the yard. The gopher tunnels under Moofy, causing her to fall into a hole in the process. Surprisingly, instead of eliminating the girl as Zim intended, the robot gopher malfunctions, dances for her and then shoots itself up into the sky.

Unleash the Roboparents

Zim sends out his Roboparents.

A blonde woman sees Moofy and calls the media, which almost immediately arrives. While Zim panics over the unwanted attention to his base, GIR excitedly hugs his master. As Zim watches the live broadcast, he realizes that the humans do not suspect anything, but concludes that Moofy must be taken away to remove the risk of the humans becoming distrustful. Trying to make his house seem less conspicuous, he makes "earth rocks" appear around his house. Around the same time, the rescue team arrives, only to be warded off by Moofy. Zim tries again to lower any suspicion by sending the Roboparents out and disguising himself and GIR. However, this only makes Moofy fling dirt at the rescuers, who in return call President Man to help handle the situation.

Dib's impossible fantasy

Dib fantasizes about capturing Zim.

Moofy's allies

Dib encounters Moofy's allies.

Dib walks around as he notices the large crowd of people gathered around Zim's house. He pushes himself through, seeing Moofy in a news broadcast. Dib asks why they don't simply pull her out. An old man tells Dib that anyone who tries to rescues Moofy is met by a shrill scream from the girl. Seeing that Moofy is simply resisting a rescue due to the attention she is getting, Dib realizes that he had time to use the mass media to foil Zim once and for all. As he tries to get closer to Zim's base, Dib bumps into the leader of Girly Rangers. Though he apologizes, the leader, now accompanied by three other Girly Rangers, orders him to buy cookies in order to pass. Dib complies, but pays with ham instead of money, leading the four rangers to attack him.

Zim on screen

Zim talks to the media.

Zim's genius plan

Zim's "plan" to free Moofy.

After more failed attempts to pull Moofy out of the hole, she lets out an unbearably loud scream that manages to cause many Irken ships outside the Milky Way to explode. At the same time, President Man arrives, and announces that they will get Moofy out safely. Zim, wearing a disguise, tells the media that he has a plan to free the trapped Girly Ranger. Because she will not let anyone come close enough to touch her, he proposes to shake the entire Earth, using his technology, to jar Moofy out of the ground. After explaining this to President man, Zim returns inside, and begins packing his ship with GIR, planning to finally leave Earth before its destruction.

Girly rangers cookies

Dib with cookies in his head.

President accepts the bribe

President Man is bribed with cookies.

Seeing through the plan, Dib tries to convince President Man to simply tunnel under Moofy to set her free, and "maybe see if there is an alien base there they're while they're at it." President man dismisses this idea despite Dib's insistence, and orders for Dib to be taken away. However, before Dib is dragged away by the guards, President Man notices the Chocolate Ninja Star cookies lodged into Dib's head from his previous ordeal with some Girly Rangers. Upon hearing of the President's love for the baked treats, Dib offers that they trade.

Zim; Hero of earth

Zim, the hero?

Dib stuck in hole

Dib gets stuck.

Back inside the lower area of Zim's base, Zim packs his things along with GIR as he proclaims that he is finally done with Earth, but sees President Man with Dib on screen. The President says that they have a new plan for freeing Moofy proposed by Dib by using a gigantic digging machine. Angered, Zim states that there is only one thing left to do. GIR asks him if he is going to make biscuits, and is shocked when Zim tells the robot that he would never. Zim goes back outside and orders Moofy to leave. In response, Moofy begins to growl and push Zim away. The costumed Irken jumps behind Moofy and manages to forcefully pull her out in a fit of anger, causing every spectator to stop and cheer, excluding Dib, who still tries to convince the media, but is ignored. As the people leave, Dib gets stuck in the same spot as Moofy was, and much to his dismay, no one comes to his aid. A now happy Zim comes out with another robot gopher, letting it dance in front of Dib along with four Lawn Gnomes.

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

Facts of Doom

Cultural References

  • This episode's title is a reference to the story entitled "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".
  • The multi-colored uniforms of the Girly Rangers is reminiscent of The Powerpuff Girls, with the same signature colors and eye colors (pink, baby blue, and bright green) and same hair colors (orange, blonde, and black). There is also a purple one, which may be a reference to the The Powerpuff Girls dead sister they created called Bunny. Bunny was also a brunette, just like the purple Girly Ranger. Their name is also a reference to Power Rangers.
  • This episode is a parody of a real-life ordeal, when an 18-month-old named Jessica McClure was trapped in a well for fifty eight hours.
  • The Rescue bot holding up Moofy and showing her to the crowd is a parody of Rafiki holding up Simba from The Lion King.

Trivia

  • Appears on the Invader Zim Volume 3: Horrible Holiday Cheer DVD.
  • This episode never aired in the US until 2006, but it has aired in other countries years earlier, like Australia which had its release in 2003. It was first released on DVD in 2004 in English.
  • This episode was almost cancelled after 9/11, but Nickelodeon thought about it, and left the episode untouched.
  • There's an alternate ending in this episode, like Game Slave 2.

Things You Might Have Missed

  • The President Man left his coat hanger inside the jacket he was wearing, which is why he couldn't put his arms down and why he had a hook visible at the back of his neck.
  • In the scene where Dib is trying to find out what is going on, you can see someone who looks similar to Johnny C.
  • Near the end, when Zim comes out of his house with the robot gopher, he is whistling "If You're Happy and You Know It".
  • When Zim attempts to pull Moofy out himself and causes Moofy to attack, the screens of the cameras pointed at Moofy show burning fires.
  • A Bloody GIR appears on the roof on the green house that Dib passes before Zim appears on TV.
  • When Zim and GIR are packing up the Voot Cruiser to leave before the Earth is "shaken", Zim shows an extreme aversion to biscuits, telling GIR never to speak of them again. Which only makes one wonder if there was an "off-screen" biscuit incident.

See also

References

External links

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