Censorship
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Invader Zim is an animated cartoon series that was produced by Nickelodeon and aired March 30, 2001 and ended on August 19, 2006. Some of the episodes were self-censored by Nickelodeon to avoid offending viewers.

Censorship[]

USA censorship[]

Invader_Zim_-_Door_to_Door_(Banned_9-11_scene-Edited_scene)

Invader Zim - Door to Door (Banned 9-11 scene-Edited scene)

  • Episode 1 ("The Nightmare Begins")
    1. The milk carton in Dib's fridge was going to have a picture of a little girl with the words Find Me! under it. However Nickelodeon forced it to be changed to the Rob Hummel is Meat.
  • Episode 2a ("Bestest Friend")
    1. There was originally going to be a blood splatter in the Taxi and Beaver scene after Gretchen and Melvin are charred and blackened. However the blood splatter was removed due to Nickelodeon wanting to avoid having blood in it's shows.
    2. The ending was going to have Keef fall off the roof and onto a power line, and get electrocuted. The scene was cut due to Nickelodeon believing it would be imitable behavior.
      1. The ending was then changed to Keef getting run over by a car, and spinning around the tire as it drove away but this too was cut by Nickelodeon due to it being seen as too violent.
  • Episode 3a ("Parent Teacher Night")
    1. When GIR was watching TV, the word diarrhea was supposed to be brown. Nickelodeon forced it to be changed to a dark red color.
    2. GIR was going to be watching old 40's cartoons, which included smoking, drinking, and gun shooting. Nickelodeon forced the the segment to be changed and for all smoking, drinking and gun violence to be removed.
  • Episode 3b ("Walk of Doom")
    1. In the ending Zim and GIR were originally dropped off in a ghetto with mariachi music playing in the background and a banner reading "Welcome to Mexico". Due to Nickelodeon being concerned about offending Mexicans the banner changed to say "CARNE", which translates into "MEAT" and the background music was changed to disco.
  • Episode 4b ("Dark Harvest" It was originally supposed to be called The Hearts and Lungs of Zim's Darkness.
      • This episode was originally going to be aired with "Bestest Friend" but was deemed "too twisted" to air together. Instead, "NanoZIM" was aired with "Bestest Friend" and "Germs" was aired with this episode. Though, "Bestest Friend" and this episode are both known for their dark storyline to one another.
  • Episode 5a ("Attack of the Saucer Morons")
    1. Zim's initiation ceremony was originally going to be shown, but was cut for time.
  • Episode 6b ("Battle-Dib")
    1. Originally, after Gaz accidentally drops her pizza, a rat was supposed to walk to the pizza, roll on it and walk away, but it was cut for time and the rat was changed to roaches.
  • Episode 7b ("Rise of the Zitboy")
    1. Originally, Zim was going to hypnotize two other kids. The first would have been forced to eat anti-matter, and the other would have been commanded to pinch Ms. Bitters (and heard getting slapped off-screen). Cut for time.
  • Episode 10a (Plague of Babies)
    1. Originally, it was going to show Zim and GIR getting their snacks in the beginning, and flying into a Poop billboard. Cut for time. Tommy from Rugrats was originally going to be one of the baby-lookalike aliens. Due to legality issues, this had to be cut.
  • Episode 11a ("Door to Door")
    1. The scenes where the Irkens attack Earth were cut due to the September 11, 2001 attacks.[1] Also, the children in the home where Zim first uses his virtual reality goggles were originally going to be eating cockroaches until they were changed to weenies. The roaches can still be seen scuttling around the paneling, however.
  • Episode 11b ("FBI Warning of Doom")
    1. The credits of Intestines of War were originally suggested to be sexually explicit.
  • Episode 12b ("Game Slave 2")
    1. Iggins was intended to die at the end, but Nickelodeon didn't allow it. So, in the ZIM staff's tradition of mocking the network, Iggins flies from the wreckage with super-human strength accompanied by a short guitar riff.
  • Episode 13 ("Battle of the Planets")
    1. One cut scene involved Mars getting shoved into Mercury, so it would look like a face getting shoved into a butt and the wreck of the car during the panic scene was originally a flaming wreck.
  • Episode 15b ("Future Dib")
    1. During the retelling sequence, PEG was going to explode and form a mushroom cloud.
  • Episode 16a ("Hobo 13")
    1. Zim was going to be able to lift the boulder and hit the Hogulus, only to have the unconscious beast fall on Skoodge. Skoodge was going to have to eat his own skin to survive, but even the production crew found this too disturbing.
  • Episode 16b ("Walk for Your Lives")
    1. The explosion was originally red and fireball-like, but was changed to green due to the 9/11 attacks.
    2. The scene that showed Iggins dying was cut.
  • Episode 17a ("Megadoomer")
    1. One cut moment involved fire sweeping cars away from a street.
  • Episode 19a ("GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff")
    1. GIR was supposed to be covered in blood in the scene where Zim enters the library and sees his rampant robot surrounded by chaos. Nickelodeon thought it was too explicit.

Where to find it uncensored[]

The uncensored version was aired in other countries like Australia. It was also accidentally aired when it first aired in the United States.

References[]

  1. Invader Zim - Door to Door (Banned 9/11 scene/Edited scene) by Nicktoons Network, YouTube. 2016-02-05.

External links[]

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