TCB

I like how status-quo-y the ending was like they were leaving the possibility for more episodes open, but tbh I wouldn't mind if this were the end. they kinda already showed us how a potential endgame for this series would play out already with this so I'm satisfied enough

also im sad Ms Bitters didn't make an appearance

Agreed, this does feel like a suitable end, despite the way things are relatively status-quo like definitely gives you the feeling that they could very well pick up right where it left off

Wait I thought she did at the beginning with the animeesque recap as a cameo? You mean a speaking role right?

I may have to rewatch, maybe she did but I missed her. In general I do wish we got atleast one school scene but it wouldn't have fit the plot as it was

I’ve heard Ms. Bitters didn’t appear due to her VA passing away.

But damn, this was such a strong special. Retained the original style perfectly while refining it for a new audience.

I also like how this movie manages to both be large scale, but also surprisingly low scale in a tongue and cheek manner. Zim pulls off his most successful scheme to date, but for what? For the sake of something as petty as being snubbed and basically being desperate for attention. The fact that Zim didn’t pull out all the stops this time because he wanted to prove the Tallest wrong or for revenge, but rather just thinking it was yet another mess up, and thought he was being helpful by putting the Earth on the Irken flight plan was funny as hell IMO.

Membrane and Gaz were highlights, they were pretty one dimensional in the original show, and here they got more moments that sticked in line with their personalities, but still showed they cared about Dib in their own way.

I am honestly impressed how much this seems to be a take that towards TV movies in general, and how much they’re meant to be game changers. Zim is successful in his scheme, and yet nobody still bothers to notice him. Gir looks like he’s about to heroically charge and pull off a task for once, only for him to totally fail and float away. Dib gains the respect of his father, and gets him to have his back, only for Membrane to completely miss the point and believe everything to be a dream.

The ending just highlights it. The scheme where Zim nearly killed the entire planet, locked away Membrane, manipulated and played Dib like a fiddle, and accidentally trapping the Irken empire in the Florpus ends with Membrane not believing it happened, Zim getting away with it Scott free and to keep going with his schemes, Dib is back at Square 1, and the Irken Empire have been screwed by Zim’s plans and their own stupidity.

I love how the final ending really does play on how incompetent Zim as a character really is. For me personally, it really is left up to interpretation if Zim just stole something randomly to try claim a desperate win from Dib, or by the fact that he felt the need to contact the Tallest about it, as if stealing the decoration was really Phase 2, and he somehow felt it would break Dib.

Also, the humour is so on point. So many good lines, especially when Zim takes insult being called a toilet, or Dib full on fusing with a chair, getting ripped, only to go back to normal within the span of a few days.

Really hope Netflix and Nick consider a series revival.

Adding to what I said, I love how it’s even doubtful that Zim truly intended for Phase 1 to be make Dib out of shape. Considering he was truly expecting regular Dib, and called him an ugly goblin, even that implies Zim just hid for a petty reason and Dib becoming fused to a chair was an unintended consequence he just decided to claim was intentional.

I said I had to use the bathroom