A Brief History

GIR the robot eating popcorn      On March 30, 2001, from the wonderfully warped mind of artist Jhonen Vasquez, came a cartoon unlike anything the world had ever seen. Invader Zim was intended as a more 'mature' show for an older demographic than Nickelodeon's typical audience. But when the network failed to acquire any other 'edgier' shows, the writing was already on the wall for the little green alien and his grade-school nemesis.
      Despite being a critically acclaimed, award-winning and groundbreaking animated series, one that by the way paved the way for so many more 'grown-up' animated series (Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, and more), Nickelodeon pretty much set the series up for failure from the start. Putting the series in progressively worse time slots, times that were aimed for younger kids rather than the older kids the show was intended for, leading to abysmal ratings. Zim screaming 'noo!'And then they canceled it, only 27 episodes through an intended 40.
      We. were. robbed.
      And that was it. Radio silence. For years. There were rumors of reboots, of movies. Nothing ever came to fruition. There were a few conventions. Some bit-parts in various Nickelodeon video games. Eventually a pretty great comic series started in 2015, which did finally assuage the grief a little.
GIR the robot dancing in excitement      And then.
      Then.
      It finally happened.
      On April 4, 2017, over sixteen years since the series' debut, Nickelodeon finally, finally made an official announcement:
      WE WERE ACTUALLY GETTING AN HONEST-TO-GOD MOVIE!
      It took about two and a half more years, but finally a movie, with the original voice cast no less, made it's way to Netflix.
      And goddamn, was it worth the wait.
      Creative, hilarious, beautifully animated, and, in my opinion, pretty damned satisfying in character development and plot, "Enter the Florpus" turned out to be a wonderful, if much overdue, loveletter to the fans.
      I mean how can you not love a movie that starts with a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure-esque anime sequence?

A highly detailed, anime-like rendition of Invader Zim walking through fire A highly detailed, anime-like rendition of Dib membrane A highly detailed, anime-like rendition of Invader Zim, who puts on his wig and transforms into a 'kawaii' chibi anime character

      The whole movie is so well done, I find myself happy-stimming and laughing like a maniac through the entire thing. Without a doubt it'll be a staple of my entertainment options, along with the original series, for years to come.