Earthworm Jim (TV series)

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This article is about the animated series.. For the video game series, see Earthworm Jim; for the character, see Earthworm Jim (character).

Earthworm Jim is an American animated television series which ran for 23 episodes in 2 seasons from 1995-1996 on the Kids' WB programming block on The WB Television Network, based on a video game character created by Doug TenNapel for the 1994 video game Earthworm Jim. It follows the adventures of an earthworm named Jim, who is turned into a superhero by a robotic super suit. The series maintained much of the absurd and surrealist humor of the original games as well as introducing its own features. Most of the episodes revolved around one of Jim's many villains trying to reclaim the super suit, or otherwise causing mayhem through the galaxy, or some sort of problem Jim is faced with, such as returning his neighbors eggbeater, or finding a new power source after his suit is depowered. The show also often broke the fourth wall with many characters often talking to the audience and the narrator.

Many of the characters from the games were made into main characters for the show. Peter Puppy becomes Jim's sidekick and friend and Princess What's-Her-Name his love interest. Many villains from the game, including Evil the Cat, Psy-Crow, Bob the Killer Goldfish and Queen Slug-for-a-Butt also recur throughout the show. The series also created many of its own new characters, such as the Galactic Heroes League, a group of wannabe superheroes including the Hamsternator and Lower Back-Pain Man. The series also introduced a major new villain named Evil Jim, an evil duplicate of Earthworm Jim, who went on to be the main antagonist for the game Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy. The series also inspired the later game Earthworm Jim 3D.

The series was released by MCA/Universal Home Video on four VHS volumes in 1995, all of which are now out of print. Included episodes were:

  • "Bring Me the Head of Earthworm Jim" and "Sword of Righteousness" (Volume 1)
  • "Conqueror Worm" and "Day of the Fish" (Volume 2)
  • "Assault and Battery" and "Trout!" (Volume 3)
  • "The Book of Doom" and "Egg Beater" (Volume 4)

Each VHS tape also included a short behind-the-scenes "Cartoon School" segment, which covered various production topics including storyboarding and voice acting. There are no current plans to release the show on DVD.

A line of action figures based on the show were released. A second line of action figures was planned, but was ultimately canceled. One color variant of the Jim action figure was available only through the VHS copies. For a short time Taco Bell also released toys based on the series as part of their Kid's Meal line.

Two Earthworm Jim comic book series were created to tie the games to the animated series. Separate comics were released in the US and UK but the UK comics struggled greatly to find an audience. Submissions to the comic's letters/fan art page were so low that the publishers were forced to show episodes at local schools so that pupils could create content for them. This was noted several times within the comic itself.

Contents

The television series is notable for numerous running gags.

  • Each episode begins with Earthworm Jim facing some immediate peril. This danger is usually at the hands of one of Jim's rivals, and typically have no relevance to the actual plot of the episode.
  • After the first commercial break, each episode of Earthworm Jim features an irrelevant "Meanwhile" scene, usually featuring a pseudo-commercial endorsed by one of the show's villains.
  • Every episode also ends with a running gag consisting of a cow falling out of the sky and crushing a character (the original game ended with this same joke).
  • Two redneck-like citizens of Terlawk wondering why "Those space villains always come here," usually ending up with an explanation like that there is a city sign welcoming tourists and "Marauding Space Villains" or someone vandalizing a space probe with "Hey, stupid aliens! I dare you to attack Terlawk"
  • Another recurring gag is the fact that Peter Puppy hates haggis. At first, he actually enjoyed eating it, until Jim described its contents (This happened in the episode "Assault and Battery", season one). Since then, Peter hated haggis with such a fervor that sometimes, he'd beat on poor Jim because of it. Other times, he was forced to eat it in order to forward the plot of the episode.
  • Whenever Peter Puppy finds himself alone at home and feeling down in the dumps, he choses to express himself through "interpretive dance". This is normaly to snot who always used to ask peter how he was feeling.
  • Peter Puppy often recites a modified version of the famous Litany against fear from Frank Herbert's Dune series to control his transformations: "I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. Fear is the little death that brings total oblivion".
  • Monkey Professor-For-A-Head asserting his individuality from Professor Monkey-For-A-Head, such as "You haven't seen the last of me!" "Eep." "Fine, fine, the last of us."

1. "Sidekicked" (9/9/1995) - After Peter botches one of their adventures, Jim begins looking for a new sidekick.

2. "The Book of Doom" (9/16/1995) - Due to a printing error, Jim's pop-up book contains the secret to universal destruction, which Evil the Cat seeks to possess.

3. "Assault and Battery" (9/23/1995) - Jim must find a new power source after his super suit is drained.

4. "Day of the Fish" (9/30/1995) - Bob the Killer Goldfish attempts to steal Jim's super suit.

5. "Conqueror Worm" (10/7/1995) - Due to a photocopy machine accident, Jim creates an evil duplicate of himself.

6. "Upholstered Peril" (10/14/1995) - Professor Monkey-For-A-Head creates sofa monsters that are so comfortable, people become mindless zombies.

7. "Sword of Righteousness" (10/21/1995) - Jim finds an enchanted sword who begins training him in what it considers the ways of a true hero.

8. "The Egg Beater" (10/28/1995) - Jim loses his neighbor's eggbeater and takes her on a journey to recover it.

9. "Trout!" (11/4/1995) - After receiving a postcard, Jim sets out to see the legendary Fur-Bearin' Trout.

10. "The Great Secret of the Universe" (11/11/1995) - Evil the Cat steals Jim's snow globe, which contains The Nameless Beast (whose name is Rosebud), who knows the Great Secret of the Universe.

11. "Bring Me the Head of Earthworm Jim" (11/18/1995) - Psy-crow and Professor Monkey-For-A-Head team up to defeat Earthworm Jim by replacing his super suit with a weak duplicate.

12. "Queen What's Her Name" (11/25/1995) - Princess What's-Her-Name finally overthrows her tyrant sister Queen Slug-for-a-Butt.

13. "The Anti-Fish" (12/2/1995) - Jim must save the Great Worm Spirit from being consumed by its arch-enemy: the Anti-Fish.

14. "The Origin of Peter Puppy" (9/7/1996) - Jim and Peter travel through Peter's subconscious to try to discover the reasons for Peter's transformations.

15. "Opposites Attack!" (9/14/1996) - Evil Jim attempts to create evil versions of Jim's friends, with less than stellar results.

16. "Darwin's Nightmare" (9/28/1996) - Bob discovers a way to hyper-evolve himself to higher lifeforms.

17. "The Exile of Lucy" (10/5/1996) - Psy-Crow & Prof. Monkey-for-a-Head overthrow Queen Slug-For-A-Butt, but quickly proves to be even worse rulers than her.

18. "Evil in Love" (10/26/1996) - Evil falls in love and teams up with Malice the Dog.

19. "Hyper Psy-Crow" (11/2/1996) - Psy-crow overdoses on coffee and becomes hyper-powered.

20. "Peanut of the Apes" (11/9/1996) - While Professor Monkey-For-A-Head tries to de-evolve people into monkeys, Jim tries to introduce "viewer interactivity" on the show.

21. "Lounge Day's Journey Into Night" (11/16/1996) - Jim and Peter switch roles as hero and sidekick, while Evil tries to destroy the universe by making a pair of dime-store lounge singers sing a cursed song.

22. "The Wizard of Ooze" (11/23/1996) - Jim and Peter are transported to an alternate dimension akin to The Wizard of Oz.

23. "For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls" (12/14/1996) - Queen Slug-For-A-Butt tries to brainwash Santa Claus.

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • In "Hyper Psy-Crow", the true form of the Great Worm Spirit is revealed to be Doug TenNapel, the series creator.
  • Two villains from the original Earthworm Jim video game were never featured in the show (Major Mucus and Doc Duodenum), and none of the new villains from Earthworm Jim 2 (Pedro Pupa and Flamin' Yawn) appear in the series. However, one episode features a living filing cabinet similar to those in the Earthworm Jim 2 level "ISO 9000". A small figurines of Major Mucus was packaged with the Psy-Crow action figures, suggesting the character would have eventually made an appearance on the show.
  • The series introduced the name "La Planeta de Agua" for Bob the Killer Goldfish's home planet. Any mention of the planet's name would always be followed by a brief Mexican fanfare and the word "Arriba!"
  • In "The Wizard of Ooze" Professor Monkey-For-A-Head plays a game of chess with the "Tin Reaper". This is a play on a scene from the film "The Seventh Seal".
  • Peter Puppy wore no clothing in the original video game but was given a shirt and shorts for the series.
  • In "Sidekicked", one scene depicts a giant swamp monster devours two smaller amphibians. These two amphibians bear a striking resemblance to Ed Bighead, from Rocko's Modern Life.

In The UK it was a replacement for Sonic The Hedgehog (SatAM), another animated series based on a video game, on Channel 4 in 1996.

Earthworm Jim
Games: Earthworm Jim | Earthworm Jim 2 | Earthworm Jim 3D | Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy | ClayFighter 63 1/3 | Earthworm Jim PSP cancelled
TV series: Earthworm Jim (TV series)
Heroes: Earthworm Jim | Snott | Peter Puppy | Princess What's-Her-Name | the Narrator
Villains: Psy-Crow | Queen Slug-for-a-Butt | Evil the Cat | Professor Monkey-For-A-Head | Bob the Killer Goldfish | Evil Jim
Other topics: List of Earthworm Jim characters | List of Earthworm Jim locations | List of Earthworm Jim items
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthworm_Jim_%28TV_series%29"
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