The End Of The World

2003viral videoclassic

The End of the World is a 2003 Flash animation by Jason Windsor showing countries blowing each other up with nukes, widely cited as one of the internet's earliest viral videos. Its nasal narrator and catchphrases like 'FIRE ZE MISSILES!' turned a crude satirical short into a defining piece of early-2000s web culture.

flash animation memesearly internet memescatchphrase memespolitical satire memespre youtube viral videos

Overview

The End of the World, originally titled 'End of Ze World,' is a roughly 90-second Flash animation in which the countries of the world take turns launching nukes at each other1. Created in 2003 by then-teenage animator Jason Windsor under the handle Fluid, the video features crude hand-drawn characters shouting lines like 'FIRE ZE MISSILES!' and 'But I am le tired!' over a wobbly nasal voiceover3.

The animation opens with the narrator saying, 'Hokay, so, here's the Earth,' then runs through a compressed satirical nuclear war between the United States, France, China, North Korea, Russia, and others1. The visual style is scratchy, the accents are exaggerated, and the humor is very post-9/11, which was the specific mood Windsor was going for as the US ramped up to invade Iraq2. Several outlets have since called the short one of the earliest viral videos on the internet4.

How It Spread

The video spread fast across the early Flash video circuit, showing up on eBaum's World and Funnyjunk, where it sat atop the trending videos chart for several weeks. Lines like 'WTF, mate?', 'But I am le tired!' and 'FIRE ZE MISSILES!' broke out of the animation and became standalone catchphrases quoted independently of the source. Several of those quotes were added to Urban Dictionary in the mid-2000s.

After YouTube launched in 2005, a re-upload of the video pulled in millions of views over the following decade, reaching nearly 17 million by early 2018. The script was also posted to Rooster Teeth in 2005. The creator's identity stayed mostly a mystery for years until Windsor, then 31, gave an interview to Mic in 2015 explaining how the animation kickstarted his career in animation and filmmaking.

On January 20th, 2018, Windsor uploaded a sequel titled 'END OF ZE WORLD... PROBABLY FOR REAL THIS TIME,' a roughly four-minute follow-up covering the Trump administration, Kim Jong-Un, climate change, opioids, refugees, and Nazis. The sequel gained over 54,000 views in its first two days and was written up by Select All, The Verge, and Gizmodo. eBaum's World later refeatured the original as a 'From The Past Friday' throwback clip.

How to Use This Meme

The End of the World lives on mostly through its catchphrases. People typically quote lines like 'FIRE ZE MISSILES!' or 'But I am le tired!' in the video's exaggerated accents when talking about nuclear brinkmanship, geopolitical chaos, or generic apocalyptic dread. The narrator's opener, 'Hokay, so, here's the Earth,' is sometimes reused as a mock-explainer template for anything the speaker wants to walk through with a wry, deadpan tone. The catchphrases work as shorthand references without any need to link the original video.

Cultural Impact

The short slotted into a small canon of early-2000s viral videos, usually listed alongside Numa Numa, All Your Base Are Belong to Us, and Badger Badger Badger when writers cover pre-YouTube internet culture. The image of a cartoon George W. Bush cuddling a stack of nukes turned into an iconic political visual for a generation of internet-native voters coming of age around 9/11 and the Iraq War. Windsor has said his politics at the time were shaped by bands like Anti-Flag, Bad Religion, and Rage Against the Machine, and that framing carried into the animation. The 2015 Mic profile that finally named him as the creator kicked off a small wave of retrospective coverage about early viral video culture.

Fun Facts

- The animation started as missile doodles drawn with a piece of bark on a park sidewalk in Tracy, California.

- The narrator's 'vaguely Slavic' accent was based on a character from the 1998 poker movie Rounders that Windsor and his friends liked to imitate.

- Windsor stayed anonymous as the creator for over a decade before Mic identified him in a 2015 interview when he was 31.

- eBaum's World later refeatured the video as a classic in its 'From The Past Friday' series, framing it as a piece of pre-YouTube internet history.

- The 2018 sequel included a direct call to action asking viewers to contact their political representatives.

Derivatives & Variations

'END OF ZE WORLD... PROBABLY FOR REAL THIS TIME,' Windsor's own four-minute 2018 sequel covering Trump-era politics, refugees, climate change, and Nazis[3].

eBaum's World 'From The Past Friday' reposts that reframe the original as a pre-YouTube internet artifact for newer audiences[5].

Standalone catchphrase entries on Urban Dictionary for lines like 'WTF, mate?' and 'FIRE ZE MISSILES!' that took on lives of their own outside the video[6].

Frequently Asked Questions

The End Of The World

2003viral videoclassic

The End of the World is a 2003 Flash animation by Jason Windsor showing countries blowing each other up with nukes, widely cited as one of the internet's earliest viral videos. Its nasal narrator and catchphrases like 'FIRE ZE MISSILES!' turned a crude satirical short into a defining piece of early-2000s web culture.

flash animation memes early internet memes catchphrase memes political satire memes pre youtube viral videos

Overview

The End of the World, originally titled 'End of Ze World,' is a roughly 90-second Flash animation in which the countries of the world take turns launching nukes at each other. Created in 2003 by then-teenage animator Jason Windsor under the handle Fluid, the video features crude hand-drawn characters shouting lines like 'FIRE ZE MISSILES!' and 'But I am le tired!' over a wobbly nasal voiceover.

The animation opens with the narrator saying, 'Hokay, so, here's the Earth,' then runs through a compressed satirical nuclear war between the United States, France, China, North Korea, Russia, and others. The visual style is scratchy, the accents are exaggerated, and the humor is very post-9/11, which was the specific mood Windsor was going for as the US ramped up to invade Iraq. Several outlets have since called the short one of the earliest viral videos on the internet.

How It Spread

The video spread fast across the early Flash video circuit, showing up on eBaum's World and Funnyjunk, where it sat atop the trending videos chart for several weeks. Lines like 'WTF, mate?', 'But I am le tired!' and 'FIRE ZE MISSILES!' broke out of the animation and became standalone catchphrases quoted independently of the source. Several of those quotes were added to Urban Dictionary in the mid-2000s.

After YouTube launched in 2005, a re-upload of the video pulled in millions of views over the following decade, reaching nearly 17 million by early 2018. The script was also posted to Rooster Teeth in 2005. The creator's identity stayed mostly a mystery for years until Windsor, then 31, gave an interview to Mic in 2015 explaining how the animation kickstarted his career in animation and filmmaking.

On January 20th, 2018, Windsor uploaded a sequel titled 'END OF ZE WORLD... PROBABLY FOR REAL THIS TIME,' a roughly four-minute follow-up covering the Trump administration, Kim Jong-Un, climate change, opioids, refugees, and Nazis. The sequel gained over 54,000 views in its first two days and was written up by Select All, The Verge, and Gizmodo. eBaum's World later refeatured the original as a 'From The Past Friday' throwback clip.

How to Use This Meme

The End of the World lives on mostly through its catchphrases. People typically quote lines like 'FIRE ZE MISSILES!' or 'But I am le tired!' in the video's exaggerated accents when talking about nuclear brinkmanship, geopolitical chaos, or generic apocalyptic dread. The narrator's opener, 'Hokay, so, here's the Earth,' is sometimes reused as a mock-explainer template for anything the speaker wants to walk through with a wry, deadpan tone. The catchphrases work as shorthand references without any need to link the original video.

Cultural Impact

The short slotted into a small canon of early-2000s viral videos, usually listed alongside Numa Numa, All Your Base Are Belong to Us, and Badger Badger Badger when writers cover pre-YouTube internet culture. The image of a cartoon George W. Bush cuddling a stack of nukes turned into an iconic political visual for a generation of internet-native voters coming of age around 9/11 and the Iraq War. Windsor has said his politics at the time were shaped by bands like Anti-Flag, Bad Religion, and Rage Against the Machine, and that framing carried into the animation. The 2015 Mic profile that finally named him as the creator kicked off a small wave of retrospective coverage about early viral video culture.

Fun Facts

- The animation started as missile doodles drawn with a piece of bark on a park sidewalk in Tracy, California.

- The narrator's 'vaguely Slavic' accent was based on a character from the 1998 poker movie Rounders that Windsor and his friends liked to imitate.

- Windsor stayed anonymous as the creator for over a decade before Mic identified him in a 2015 interview when he was 31.

- eBaum's World later refeatured the video as a classic in its 'From The Past Friday' series, framing it as a piece of pre-YouTube internet history.

- The 2018 sequel included a direct call to action asking viewers to contact their political representatives.

Derivatives & Variations

'END OF ZE WORLD... PROBABLY FOR REAL THIS TIME,' Windsor's own four-minute 2018 sequel covering Trump-era politics, refugees, climate change, and Nazis[3].

eBaum's World 'From The Past Friday' reposts that reframe the original as a pre-YouTube internet artifact for newer audiences[5].

Standalone catchphrase entries on Urban Dictionary for lines like 'WTF, mate?' and 'FIRE ZE MISSILES!' that took on lives of their own outside the video[6].

Frequently Asked Questions