The Horrible Invader Zim Timeline of DOOM

I tried my best with this, so some dates and information might not be completely 100% right. Don't sue me, I'm just a part time Invader Zim nerd with a wifi password.

Around 1997 - Conception

Jhonen Vasquez was contacted by a Nickelodeon executive producer named Mary Harrington to pitch a new TV show intended for older preteen and teenage audiences. Mary would eventually go on to be a producer of the show itself. Jhonen complied many things he enjoyed during his childhood to create Invader Zim, shuch as robots, monsters, paranormal investigation, and aliens. He came up with the concept of Invader in about the span of an hour when he couldn't sleep, inspired by the idea of an advanced race of who could easliy destory the earth but instead stays at school all day.

1999 - The Pilot

The original cast stared Billy West voicing Zim, who was later swapped out for Richard Horvitz in the main serise and movie. Athough it could be seen in DVDs, it would only publicly premeir on December 24, 2011 on Nicktoons. After being shown to Nickelodeon, the show was green-lit and Invader Zim began production soon after. This episode would end having some lost media for potential 3D scenes in the pilot, particularly the food fight scene. Very little has been recovered, only a few screenshots and animation tests remain, and it persitst as lost media to this day.

2001-2002 - Episode One and Season One

The first episode, The Nightmare Begins, was aired on March 30, 2001. The ovreall artstyle from the pilot to season one remained relivitly the same but a few design changes were made. Dib's shirt was changed from an orange and grey blank face to blue and grey, the teeth are less jagged, and Zim's pink pants are changed to black, along with a few more minor detials. The rest of season one's episodes were aired from 2001-2002.
  • Bestest Friends - April 13, 2001
  • NanoZim - April 13, 2001
  • Parent-Teacher Night - April 6, 2001
  • Walk of Doom - April 6, 2001
  • Germs - April 20, 2001
  • Dark Harvest - April 20, 2001
  • Attack of the Saucer Morons - April 27, 2001
  • The Wettening - April 27, 2001
  • Career Day - May 4, 2001
  • Battle-Dib - May 4, 2001
  • Planet Jackers - August 31, 2001
  • Rise of the Zitboy - August 31, 2001
  • Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain - August 24, 2001
  • Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy - August 24, 2001
  • A Room with a Moose - August 17, 2001
  • Hamstergeddon - August 17, 2001
  • Plague of Babies - September 7, 2001
  • Bloaty's Pizza Hog - September 7, 2001
  • Door to Door - March 29, 2002
  • FBI Warning of Doom - March 29, 2002
  • Bolognius Maximus - September 21, 2001
  • Game Slave 2 - September 21, 2001
  • Battle of the Planets - April 5, 2002
  • Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom - October 26, 2001
  • Mysterious Mysteries - March 22, 2002
  • Future Dib - March 22, 2002
  • Hobo 13 - July 12, 2002
  • Walk for your Lives - July 12, 2002
  • Megadoomer - April 29, 2002
  • Lice - April 29, 2002
  • Abducted - April 12, 2002
  • The Sad, Sad Tale of Chickenfoot - April 12, 2002
  • GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff - May 24, 2002
  • Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom - May 24, 2002
  • Tak: The Hideous New Girl - May 10, 2002

2002-2006 - Season Two and Cancellation

Season two was originally planned to have 20 episodes but was cancelled before the finishing 13 could be completed. Season two also had a small artstle shift, mostly changing the way the heads were drawn.
  • Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars - June 10, 2006
  • Mortos der Soulstealer - June 17, 2006
  • Zim Eats Waffles - June 17, 2006
  • The Girl who Cried Gnome - July 15, 2006
  • Dibship Rising - July 15, 2006
  • Vindicated! - July 22, 2006
  • The Voting of the Doomed - July 22, 2006
  • Gaz, Taster of Pork - August 12, 2006
  • The Frycook: What Came from All That Space - August 19, 2006
  • The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever - December 10, 2002
Athough episodes continued to be aired up until 2006, Nickelodeon issued a statement back in April 18, 2002 about the show's cancellation. There wasn't a single cause for the cancellation, but factors like cost, low ratings, and Invader Zim's age demographic not fitting in with the rest of Nickelodeon's shows all contributed to it. Along with things like 9/11 and Columbine which effected what could and couldn't be included in the episodes. Jhonen knew that Zim's demographic didn't fit Nickelodeon's and most likely would have done better elsewhere. He asked if it could be transfered to a more adult network like MTV, however, this never ended up happening. Invader Zim wouldn't completely disapear after being cancelled, appearing in a few flash and 3D games, mostly from the Nicktoons Unite installments.

2015 - Oni Press Comics

2019 - Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus

2026 - Boom Studio

BOUNUS 2007-2025 - Invader Zim featured Games

2002? - Good GIR Gone Bad
  • Good GIR Gone Bad was a flash game inspired by the episode "GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff." It was uploaded on Nicktoons.com, featuring GIR as the only playable character while Zim and Dib made appearances. The Nicktoons website was later shut down in 2016 but non offical websites have recovered the game. (I wasn't really able to find an accurate date for when it was uploaded to the site, and 2002 was the only date I really could find for this game.)
2007 - Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots
  • Attack of the Toybots was the third installment of Nicktoons Unite and centered around Professor Calamitus kidnapping and cloning toy verions of Nickelodeon characters. Zim and GIR are playable characters within the DS, Wii, and PS2 verions of the game.
2008 - SpongeBob SquarePants featuring Nicktoons: Globs of Doom
  • Globs of Doom was the fourth installment of Nicktoons Unite featuring Zim and Dib as playble characters while many more make appearances, such as Proof.Membrane, Gaz, Ms. Bitters, and the Almighty Tallest on the DS version.
2011 - Nicktoons MLB
  • Nicktoons MLB featured Zim and Gaz as playable characters while Dib, GIR, Proof. Membrane, Ms. Bitters, the Almighty Tallest, Sizz Lorr, and Chickenfoot make appearances in game.
2018 - The Doom Game
  • The Doom Game was a flash game uploaded to Nicktoons.com and features Zim and GIR as playble characters. Ms.Bitters, Dib, the robot parents, Minimoose, and a myriad of the skool children make appearances. Similarly to Good GIR Gone Bad, The Doom Game is still playable on non offical websites since Nicktoons.com's shutdown.
2020 - Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix
2025 - Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny