Professor Membrane: Good or Bad Father?
I've decided to scientifically argue weather or not Professor Membrane from Invader Zim father of Dib Membrane and gasoline the other one by going through EVERY EPISODE of Invader Zim (that he appears in) and making a point counter of every good and bad action he does.
Episode 1 The Nightmare Begins
Ignores Dib -1 point
Episode 2B NanoZim
Just gives him the tiny ship when he needs help even though what he says is insane. Proffy doesn't even call him insane just tells him to run along + 1 point
Episode 3A Parent Teacher Night
He tried to show up for the meeting,,, even if it resulted in the lab exploding. + 1 dad point - 1 scientist point
Episode 6B Battle Dib
Didn't recognize his son - 1 point
Too hard to contact - 1 point
Gave Dib the permission slip + 1 point
Episode 8B Bad Bad Rubber Piggy
MADE HIS SON INTO A COOL ASS BATTLE ROBOT TO PREVENT HIM FROM DYING + 1 point
10B Bloatys Pizza Hog
Only one annual family night out - 1 point
Lets Gaz choose wherever she wants + 1 point
Made sure Dib also came + 1 point
If Dib doesn't show up, he'll put it off for next year - 1 point
12B Game Slave 2
One of the best lines in the show + 1 point
13 Battle of the Planets
Told his son aliens were fake and said he had a big head as a baby. The iconic line "my poor insane son" debuts this episode. - 1 point
14 Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom
said "It was only a matter of time" for Dib going to HIS INSANE ASYLUM THAT HE OWNS. - 1 point
Did not consider Dib's opinion for a second. - 1 point
Sent Dib to the asylum. For the rest of his life. - 1 point
And an extra bad point, because that's really bad, and the worst thing he's done in the show and what most people remember him for. - 1 point
Another bad point for apparently experimenting on baby Dib so much he has subconscious trauma over it. - 1 point
15B Future Dib
Neglects his children (hasn't shown up for weeks) - 1 point
However he makes prerecorded messages for them so he's not totally abandoning them. + 1 point
Inviting his kids to the infinite energy thingy. + 1 point
Pat Gaz on the head + 1 point
Noticed Dib was missing immedietely + 1 point
He told Gaz to make sure Dib doesn't do anything embarrassing. - 1 point
Waited for his kids despite jeers from the audience + 1 point
DOESN'T GIVE EVERYONE PERPETUAL ENERGY BECAUSE THEY DISRESPECTED HIS KIDS + 1 dad point - 1 scientist point
Membrane doesn't realize the robot dib is fake - 1 point
18B The Sad Sad Tale of Chickenfoot
Invasion of privacy by letting randoms in the house. - 1 point
Calls his son insane to everyone there. - 1 point
Insisting what his son's future is as I'm assuming he does that a lot offscreen. - 1 point
Not defending Dib when everyone starts laughing at him - 1 point
20 Tak The Hideous New Girl
Trying to make friends with Dib's friend :) + 1 point
21 Backseat Drivers from Beyond the Stars
Tells Gaz to be nice to his brother and helps her out with her problem. + 1 point
Calls Dib insane behind his back - 1 point
23b Dibship Rising
He LIED about the can of beans wiping out ALL HUMAN LIFE - 1 point?
25 Gaz Taster of Pork
Always keeps the fridge stocked with good food + 1 point
Stopped what he was doing immedietely to help Gaz with her problem + 1 point
Put his kid on public TV without consent - 1 point
Turned his kid into an experiment - 1 point
Makes his children have to do an escape sequence at all - 1 point
Apologizes + 1 point
27 The Most Horrible X-Mas Ever
Trusted Dib with his anti-santa arsenal + 1 point
DELETED EPISODES!
Mopiness of Doom
Listened to Dib + 1 point
Told Dib to give up on his dreams - 1 point
Very encouraging to Dib + 1 point
Constantly checking in on Dib + 1 point
Very tuned into Dib's emotions and be able to tell when something is bothering him + 1 point
Professor Membrane's love is conditional - 1 point
Complaining about Dib to Gaz - 1 point
10 Minutes to Doom
Did not recognize his son - 1 point
Did not want to get involved with Dib's fashion matters - 1 point
Deciding to take a look anyways + 1 point
Didn't to his son and now insisting that they have to stop him - 1 point
Day of Da Spookies
Calls his son insane - 1 point
Stopping work to help him anyways + 1 point
TOTAL SCORE
Good Points - 25
Bad Points - 30
ENTER THE FLORPUS
Making his kids a food robot + 1 point
Waiting for Dib + 1 point
Calling his son insane to Gaz - 1 point
Telling Gaz to be supportive, even using metaphors + 1 point
BEHOLD MY BOY CHILD + 1 point
Mean to Dib about his interests - 1 point
Arguing - 1 point
Calling Dib's spaceship fake - 1 point
Wishing isn't very scientific son - 1 point
Patting his son on the head + 1 point
Unprovoked calling Dib's ideas imaginary - 1 point
Confirming he knows aliens exist, thus meaning that he's just saying they don't to be mean to his son specifically - 1 point
Insisting it's a hallucinations so hard - 1 point
Saying he'll always be proud of his son before he thinks he's going to die + 1 point
Saved his son from a pit! + 1 point
Helped fight off robots with Dib + 1 point
Saying "great work honey" to Gaz + 1 point
Using the moose without arguing + 1 point
Pretending like all of it was a hallucination - 1 point
Convincing everyone else it was a hallucination too - 1 point
10 Good point
10 Bad points
TOTAL SCORE
Good Points - 35
Bad Points - 40
RESULTS ARE IN!!!! Professor Membrane, SCIENTIFICALLY, is a BAD DADDYO!!!!!!
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While I highly doubt this was ever intentional by the show’s creators - the Membrane family members really all map so well into a demonstration of, like, how conditional Autistic acceptance in mainstream society can be and how even other folks on the spectrum can beat down on other Autistic folks considered less ‘acceptable’.
Because with Professor Membrane's single-minded life-long obsession with science and his absolute fumble in any sort of meaningful emotional interactions
It’s very easy to read him as autistic. But he’s ‘one of the Useful Ones’. His scientific Special Interests and workaholism are directly beneficial to society. And thus, despite him being obviously odd by IZ!earth standards, he became a beloved and admired public figure.
Meanwhile, Gaz’s special interest - video games - is not one that makes her more productive or a ‘useful asset’. But loving video games is still considered close enough to normal that, while she seems to be somewhat of an Outsider to her peers, it doesn’t seem that she’s Actively Bullied.
And then there’s Dib. The one who’s special interest is not socially acceptable and makes him seem ‘weird’ and ‘creepy’. And plus, while Gaz’s coded-Autism-symptoms mostly seem to make her kind of an antisocial loner, Dib’s manifest in a way that is a lot more actively ‘obnoxious’ to others. All of these aspects make him more of an active target of bullying and social ostracization - and even his weird autistic sister and weird autistic father try to push him into being more ‘Normal’.
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