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The Best Episodes of Invader ZIM

Every episode of Invader ZIM ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Invader ZIM!

Binge this in 10h 10m•Peaking at 8.3/10

Zim dreams of greatness. Unfortunately, though, he's hopelessly inept as a space invader. Desperate to be rid of the annoying Zim, his planet's leaders send him on a mission to infiltrate Earth, providing him with

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Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 1 - The Nightmare Begins
    8.3/10(490 votes)

    #1 - The Nightmare Begins

    S1:E1

    Dedicated Irken soldier Zim is sent on a secret mission to Earth, where he disguises himself as an elementary-school student and gathers information about human beings. His plan is moving smoothly until an extraterrestrial-obsessed classmate named Dib takes notice of Zim's green skin and missing ears.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writers:Rob Hummel, Jhonen Vasquez

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  2. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 4 - Bestest Friend
    8.3/10(379 votes)

    #2 - Bestest Friend

    S1:E4

    When Zim makes a huge scene over his inability to eat lunch food, he overhears one of the girls at school talking about how inhuman he seems to be and how he has no friends. In an attempt to appear more normal, Zim decides to spend time with a student named Keef, though Zim soon finishes his plan and he considers himself normal, so he tries to get Keef to leave him alone. Much to Zim’s chagrin, however, Keef continues to follow Zim around, so Zim decides to take unorthodox measures to ensure Keef leaves him alone.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writers:Rob Hummel, Roman Dirge, Jhonen Vasquez

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  3. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 8 - Attack of the Saucer Morons
    8.3/10(272 votes)

    #3 - Attack of the Saucer Morons

    S1:E8

    Zim attempts to test some of the defenses that Earth has by taking his Voot out for a drive to monitor local police units. However, when a bumble bee crashes into his vehicle, Zim comes crashing down in the park, in which he heads home because he will be unable to recover it the next day. However, when a space cult known as the Saucer Morons discover the Voot first, Zim must find a way to get his vehicle back without causing him to lose his cover.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writers:Eric Trueheart, Jhonen Vasquez

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  4. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 18 - Plague of Babies
    8.3/10(242 votes)

    #4 - Plague of Babies

    S1:E18

    When Zim’s Voot Cruiser has a mechanical failure and it sends Zim and Gir flying through the skies, Zim manages to gain control just in time to land safely in their headquarters. However, Zim is highly upset because a human baby saw the whole thing and despite Gir’s attempts to reason with him, Zim decides to go meet with the baby to see what he can do. However, Zim soon discovers the true nature of the baby and he must do everything he can to prevent them from accomplishing their goals.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writer:Rob Hummel

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  5. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 19 - Bloaty's Pizza Hog
    8.3/10(214 votes)

    #5 - Bloaty's Pizza Hog

    S1:E19

    Dib believes he has figured out a way to successfully tunnel into Zim’s underground base, but when his father comes in and announces that it’s the Membrane family’s night out and that Gaz gets to pick the place to eat, Dib runs off saying that he will be back in time for them to leave. However, when Dib fails to arrive on time, Professor Membrane decides to wait until Dib gets back, which causes Gaz to become quite frustrated as she really wanted to get some of her favorite food; she decides to go find Dib at Zim’s place and despite the fact that Zim’s already taken Dib into an in-space laboratory, she refuses to miss her opportunity to eat out so she plans to let nothing get in her way.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writers:Rob Hummel, Jhonen Vasquez

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  6. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 2 - Parent-Teacher Night
    8.1/10(347 votes)

    #6 - Parent-Teacher Night

    S1:E2

    After another day at the Earth skool, Ms. Bitters reminds the children that it’s Parent Teacher Night and that all the parents must come to the skool at the end of the day. Zim becomes worried because his robotic parents aren’t programmed for such a task yet and he cannot permit them to blow his cover, so he attempts to help them become the parents they should be, but Gir’s carefree nature soon puts his plans in jeopardy.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writers:Rob Hummel, Jhonen Vasquez

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of Invader ZIM

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  7. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 9 - The Wettening
    8.1/10(265 votes)

    #7 - The Wettening

    S1:E9

    When it begins to rain one day, Zim becomes worried because he’s never experienced rain before. Dib takes notice of his fear and he coaxes Zim into stepping into the rain, only to discover that the Irken race has an innate weakness to water, which causes a burning sensation upon impact. Dib decides to exploit this new fact to create the ultimate weapon to stop Zim once and for all, but Zim himself attempts to find a way to protect himself from this new found weakness, which all leads up to a confrontation that neither of them would have expected.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writers:Eric Trueheart, Rob Hummel, Roman Dirge

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  8. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 11 - Battle-Dib
    8.1/10(229 votes)

    #8 - Battle-Dib

    S1:E11

    When Dib finally manages to be permitted to present his findings on Zim to the Swollen Eyeball Network, he believes he will be able to put an end to Zim’s schemes once and for all. However, when he discovers that he needs his father’s permission and since his father is busy working on his television show, Dib must venture into the studio where his father is in order to attempt to get the signature he needs; though he soon discovers that speaking to his father isn’t going to be as easy as it should be.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writers:Eric Trueheart, Jhonen Vasquez

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  9. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 13 - Hamstergeddon
    8.1/10(233 votes)

    #9 - Hamstergeddon

    S1:E13

    While at skool one day, Ms. Bitters tells the class that they need a new pet hamster due to the orders of the skool’s board of directors. When the hamster arrives, all the children love the hamster because of how adorable it is, in which Zim decides to exploit that fact since the hamster could help make the humans too weak to resist him. Zim plants an Irken device on the hamster that will permit it to grow larger and be controlled by Zim, but when the hamster grows rampant and breaks free, Zim must attempt to stop the huge hamster from destroying his headquarters, all the while worrying about the growing military presence that may have no choice but to attack the hamster, which would ruin all of his efforts.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writer:Eric Trueheart

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  10. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 20 - Bolognius Maximus
    8.1/10(202 votes)

    #10 - Bolognius Maximus

    S1:E20

    When Dib once again notices that Zim isn’t eating his food, he throws a piece of bologna at him in order to taunt him, in which the bologna fuses with Zim’s skin, causing him immense pain. Zim vows to get his revenge and during the next day of school, Dib sits on a tack, which causes Zim to begin laughing hysterically. Dib believes Zim is just being pathetic, but when Dib begins to transform into a living piece of bologna, he realizes that Zim’s plan was better than he had thought and he must formulate a method of curing himself before it’s too late.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writer:Jhonen Vasquez

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  11. Invader ZIM Season 2 Episode 1 - The Most Horrible X-mas Ever
    8.1/10(217 votes)

    #11 - The Most Horrible X-mas Ever

    S2:E1

    Zim's Yuletide plan to overtake Earth by posing as Santa starts to backfire when he takes on characteristics of the Jolly Old Elf. Dib, meanwhile, tries to save the population from impending doom.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writers:Eric Trueheart, Jhonen Vasquez

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  12. Invader ZIM Season 2 Episode 6 - Dibship Rising
    8.1/10(199 votes)

    #12 - Dibship Rising

    S2:E6

    When Dib discovers that Tak’s ship he recovered has a built in AI, he decides to reprogram the ship with his own personality. While Dib is quite pleased with initial results, the spaceship begins to behave more and more like the real Dib and it attempts to actually take his place. All of the attention of a huge spaceship going to school causes Zim to realize that it’s really Tak’s ship, so he plans to override the machines AI and order it to attack Dib; though can he really force a machine so smart to attack it’s counterpart?

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writer:Eric Trueheart

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  13. Invader ZIM Season 2 Episode 7 - Vindicated!
    8.1/10(241 votes)

    #13 - Vindicated!

    S2:E7

    Dib talks to a counselor about his belief that Zim is an alien.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writer:Danielle Koenig

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  14. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 3 - Walk of Doom
    8.0/10(347 votes)

    #14 - Walk of Doom

    S1:E3

    Zim goes on an outing to the downtown area in order to test a new guidance chip he installed in GIR, but when GIR removes the chip before leaving in order to store a cupcake, Zim and GIR are left lost and have to resort to public transport to find their way back. Their journey home is complicated further by Zim temporarily losing his vision by looking at the sun, his disguise being mistaken for that of a bank robber, and his escape from the police being wrecked by GIR replacing his extra rocket fuel with tuna fish.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writers:Rob Hummel, Jhonen Vasquez

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  15. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 5 - NanoZim
    7.9/10(277 votes)

    #15 - NanoZim

    S1:E5

    When Dib finally manages to get a picture of Zim without him in his disguise, Zim formulates a plan to shrink himself down into a microscopic size to get into Dib’s body and perform a brain wipe to prevent him from remembering where he located the picture. Fortunately for Dib, his father has been working on some technology that may just help Dib stop Zim before it’s too late, though he’ll been to be careful because he’s extremely vulnerable due to the fact that Zim is inside of him.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writers:Rob Hummel, Jhonen Vasquez

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  16. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 12 - A Room with a Moose
    7.9/10(242 votes)

    #16 - A Room with a Moose

    S1:E12

    When Zim formulates a plan to get revenge on his skoolmates and especially Dib, he gets them all participating on a fieldtrip. Dib, however, realizes that the driver of the bus isn’t real, but due to his constant theories, the other students disregard his warnings. Zim decides to gloat about his magnificent plan and he informs Dib of every detail in confidence that Dib can do nothing to stop him, though Dib refuses to give up and he does everything he can to save his skoolmates and himself; despite the fact that he doesn’t know why Zim’s plans involve a room with a moose.

    Director:Steve Ressel
    Writers:Rob Hummel, Jhonen Vasquez

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  17. Invader ZIM Season 1 Episode 14 - Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain
    7.9/10(222 votes)

    #17 - Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain

    S1:E14