Irkens
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Created by Jhonen Vasquez, the Irkens are a fictional race of aliens who wish to conquer the universe. They are humanoid in general shape, range widely in size, and have large glossy eyes of varying colors. Their homeworld is the planet IRK. The Irkens are seen on the Nicktoon show Invader Zim, where the title character is an unsuccessful and psychologically unstable Irken invader, a prestigious elite military class.
Irken Morphology
In Irken morphology all Irkens are cyborgs, having Standard-Issue Irken Utility Packs, or PAKs installed into their spines directly after birth. As documented in Eric Trueheart's unproduced second-season script The Trial, an Irken PAK provides critical life support to its host, augmenting several mental functions including an Irken's personality and memory. A PAK's Memory Drive contains the Irken's memories, knowledge, skills and highest scores. The Atmospheric Processor allows the Irken to breathe in any known atmosphere. Finally, a Charging Cell provides power to the PAK.
An Irken can only live for about 10 minutes when detached from its PAK, with rapidly degrading cognitive function, because of an additional implanted device called a lifeclock (Rob Hummel's Ten Minutes to Doom script). There may, however, be exceptions to this rule, as throughout the episode Hobo 13, Invader Skoodge is never shown wearing his PAK, though this may have been an error on the part of the cartoonists. The PAK's Memory Drive appears to be the primary brain of an Irken (which may explain why Zim was still able to function, if dazedly, with his brain in his hand at the conclusion of Bad, Bad Rubber Piggy), and because the Irken's personality is stored there permanently, if the PAK is applied to a new host body, the embedded personality will begin to overpower the new host's consciousness (if any). When Dib accidentally had Zim's PAK bonded to him in 10 Minutes to Doom, he shortly began to speak and act like Zim himself.
The PAK attaches to the Irken by means of two spinal plugs or ports embedded in the Irken's back, visible outside their clothing. Two thick cables attach the PAK into its ports. Despite this, an Irken's pak is removable: Dib knocks it off by accident in the 10 Minutes to Doom script, and Zim is seen working on it himself in NanoZim.
The PAK also stores an endless variety of tools and robotic accessories. Most often seen accessories are long extendible spider legs that allow an Irken to move about on walls, ceilings, and in zero-gravity; the spider legs can fire laser-like weapons from their tips, and generate a force field for protection. Other items seen in use include communication devices, space helmets, a weak jet system for use in zero gravity and an organ-harvesting teleporter. Though the teleporter may have other functions
In terms of physiology, Irkens are humanoid, albiet with green skin and some insectile traits- primarily the presence of two antennae instead of hair on the head. An Irken's eyes are large and composed completely of a single colour, with no distinct pupil or iris. These eyes may be compound eyes, like an insect's, but this is unknown.
Irken jaws feature a bizarre structure in place of teeth, consisting of a strip of enamel-equivalent which protrudes slightly from the flesh of the gum and then rises in an even "peg-like" pattern, very reminiscent of a zipper. Irken tongues are segmented and bear a visual resemblance to earthworms.
Irken fingers (of which they have two to each hand, plus an opposable thumb) seem to bear claws, though these may be part of the gloves that all Irkens wear as part of their uniform. The Irken Tallest are made more distinctive by having two long, spindly fingers and no thumb to each hand. Presumably, this is the result of surgery conducted upon an Irken when it achieves the status of Tallest and serves as a symbol of status.
Eyes
The insect-like presences of antennae as well as the lack of an iris, pupil and sclera suggest that the Irkens have compound eyes. However, this has not been made clear by the series creator. For instance, when Zim has his diguise on, the "eyes" act very normal, suggesting that Irken eyes rotate and can produce tears. Also, in the episode Planet Jackers Zim actually loses an eye for a few seconds; we see that it is like a 3d oval in shape and attached to a long cord of sinew and muscle. As Zim simply replaces his eye by pushing it back into its socket a moment later with no apparent sign of distress or loss of function, it could also be theorized that the Irken eye is an artificial implant of an unknown nature; an unaired episode, Day of da Spookies, implied as much; yet, in a flashback scene in the episode Parent Teacher Night which apparently shows Zim's birth, he clearly has eyes already in, even before his PAK is attatched. It is also noteworthy that in the episode Walk of Doom, Zim mentions having ocular implants which are standard issue for all Irken Invaders (though since Zim is not really an invader, one must question whether he actually has these); in the same episode, Zim temporarily blinds himself by staring too long at the Earth's sun, causing a charred effect over his eyes. He waits about 8 hours for their "skin" to grow back, thus restoring his sight.
The majority of Irkens have red, green or purple eyes with red being the most common, followed by purple. An extremely uncommon Irken eye-color was seen in the official design boards for the unused character Invader Dooky: Dooky was shown to have pale brown eyes.
Genders
Irkens apparently have female and male sexes, although it is assumed that they are not able to reproduce on their own. Female Irkens appear to have different shaped antennae, and more pronounced eyelashes, but there does not appear to be any other physical distinctions between the genders.
Irkens are assumed to have no genitalia. Smeets, or baby Irkens, are generated by cloning facilities deep beneath the surface of Irk. In a flashback sequence, Zim recalls that at his 'birth' he was decanted from a fetus jar by a robot arm; the later Trial script goes into more detail about Zim's 'childhood, stating that he (and by extension all newborn Irkens) spent the first ten years of his life below ground, being educated in training simulators.
Weaknesses
Irkens apparently burn on contact with water and earth meat based protein. However, water's lethality is slightly in question, due to the fact that, in the episode Attack of the Saucer Morons, Zim and Gir get dunked in a lake during their escape. During this Zim appears to suffer no ill effect of any kind. Water-based pastes also seem to have no effect and, in fact, Zim actually manages to protect himself from water by coating himself in paste. Beans, and the "skool's" cafeteria food, also produce similar reactions. It is not clear if Zim's intensely allergic reactions to Earth food are more related to Irken biology or because, in the timeframe of Invader Zim, the Earth appears to be severely polluted. Most notably the sky is red- that's obviously not good.
An over-exposure to fatty acids and oils result in horrific acne with apparent hypnotic abilities. These overgrown transparent pimples eventually swell to grotesque sizes and burst.
There are suggestions that the Irken body is much weaker than the human body genetically. When exposed to identical infusions of bologna-based DNA, Zim notes that the mutation effect occurs much faster in his own cells than within Dib's.
Once every thousand years, during a galactic eclipse where all galaxies align, all aliens (including Irkens) not living on their own planet go through a few disturbing minutes of gigantism called the Molt, as seen in the episode Career Day. During the hours leading up to the Molt, the Irken's skin bubbles and froths; at the actual moment of the Molt, the skin and flesh explode into a horrible mass of pulsating goop for a minute or so.
Language
'Irken' is also the name of the Irkens' language. It is perceived to the listener as their own native language, therefore has never been documented in its original Irken sounds. The written form of Irken consists of 40 characters, designating two types (apparently capital and lowercase) of the first 20 letters of the alphabet (A-T). The rest of the letters have apparently not been developed, leading to controversy as to whether it is the true language at all.[[Citing sourcescitation needed]]
Diet
It would seem that Irkens have very similar dietary habits to humans, other than their allergy to H2O; yet Zim appears to be made easily sick by Earth food, and one can debate whether the food would have been poisonous to humans as well, whether he alone would have been sickened by the food, or if it is due to his Irken metabolism. "Snack" foods like donuts, potato chips and candy appear to be favorites of Irkens, and by all appearances these foods are made the same on Irk as on Earth. Also at the end of the episode Tak: the hideous new girl Zim is seen drinking something this opens the question if Irkens can't even come in contact with water. So what was in the drink? No drink on Earth has no water content what might replace it?
Irken society
The Irken Empire is a height-based social hierarchy, with the leaders being the tallest of all living Irkens. The Tallest presumably did more work in the past, however the current Tallest, Red and Purple, (named for the color of their eyes) tend to just eat snacks, give orders to their subjects, and be lazy. We know little concerning their predecessors, consecutively Almighty Tallest Miyuki (a female Tallest, devoured by a device of Zim's making) and Almighty Tallest Spork (devoured by that same device later).The current Tallest are more like "figureheads" than actual rulers, and the Irkens seem to rely on powerful supercomputer-like Irken mutations referred to as "Control Brains" to make their more critical decisions, as well as to reproduce more "Smeets" (very young Irkens) and choose their careers. The Control Brains carry all knowledge and memories acquired by Irkens through the recycling of Irken PAKs.
Irken society has several rankings, each one given to an Irken dependant on previous actions and/or height. These are as follows;
- Almighty Tallest - The tallest Irken(s) and dictative ruler
- Invader
- Irken Elite
- Janitorial drone
- Fast-food worker
The official currency of Irk is the Monie. The Monies are coins (apparently a copper-like material) with a picture of the current Tallest on it. The value of a Monie compared to a dollar is unclear.
It has also been revealed that they have a policy of eradicating all unintelligent alien life on conquered planets (typically when the leaders visit, so they don't have to come into contact with "unsavory alien filth"). One such planet that was cleansed was the world of Slaughtering Rat People, Blorch.
Irkens appear to have a long lifespan, but their time units are the same as Earth's (as mentioned in Frycook What Came from All That Space, where Sizz-Lorr complains about being stuck on Foodcourtia for twenty years). Although Irkens likely mesure age in Irk years which may be far longer then Earth years.
Since Irkens are basically programmed, there exists the possibility of there being Defectives. Those Defectives that are discovered undergo an “Existence Evaluation” trial where "Control Brains" decided if the Irken is Defective and therefore a threat to the Irken gene pool. If the trial fails its PAK will be forcibly removed, the Irken will die and its PAK will not be re-assimilated by the Control Brains. A perfect example of a Defective is the main character himself.
Invaders and Notable Irkens
- Invader Zim - Main character, a disgraced invader 'assigned' to Earth
- Tallest Red and Tallest Purple - Tallest Irkens (next to Sizlor) and leaders of the Irken race
- Invader Skoodge - One of the shortest Irkens (next to Zim). He was assigned to Blorch, home of the Slaughtering Rat People
- Tak - Attempted to take Zim's mission in Tak, the Hideous New Girl. Because of her individuality, not seen in other Irkens, Tak, like Zim may also have been a defective.
- Invader Tenn - Assigned to planet Meekrob
- Sizz-Lorr - Runs the Shloogorgh's restaurant on Foodcourtia
- Invader Larb - Assigned to planet Vort, named after the food, Larb. Was originally going to be assigned to Blorch, but was promoted due to increased height
- Tallest Miyuki - the only known female tallest, was eaten by Zim's energy absorbing blob
- Tallest Spork - leader after Miyuki, was eaten by Zim's creation
- Invader Spleen - Was given his assignment after Larb. Is quite tall due to having a very large head.
- Bob- A short waiter who was forcibly made to bet against Zim's survival chances on Hobo 13. He won the bet but due to his cockiness (and telling the Tallest to get their own drinks), he was strapped to the seat of an Irken vessel, given to Zim as promised by the Tallests, which they had programmed to collide into a star.
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