Earthworm Jim (TV series)

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

Infobox Television
show_name = Earthworm Jim


format = Animated comedy
runtime = 30 minutes (including commercials)
creator = Doug TenNapel
producer = Universal Cartoon Studios/Flextech
starring = Dan Castellaneta
Andrea Martin
John Kassir
Jim Cummings
country = UK USA
network = flagicon|United Kingdom Channel 4
flagicon|United States Kids' WB!
flagicon|Poland RTL7
flagicon|Germany RTL Television
flagicon|New Zealand TV3
flagicon|Australia Network Ten
flagicon|Argentina Canal 13
flagicon|Canada YTV
flagicon|Finland Nelonen
flagicon|Spain TVE
flagicon|Russia Channel One
first_aired = September 9, 1995
last_aired = December 14, 1996
num_seasons= 2
num_episodes= 23
imdb_id = 0111948
tv_com_id = 5236|

"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. It is based on the video game series of the same name created by Doug TenNapel. The series follows the adventures of an earthworm named Jim, who is turned into a superhero by a robotic super suit.

Plot & Show

"Earthworm Jim" maintains much of the absurdist and surreal humor of the original games as well as introduces its own features. Most of the episodes revolve around one of Jim's many villains trying to reclaim the super suit, or otherwise causing mayhem through the galaxy. Other problems Jim is faced with include returning his neighbor's eggbeater and finding a new power source after his suit is depowered. The show also breaks the fourth wall with many characters often talking to the audience and the narrator. The end of every episode involves Jim or any other character being crushed by a cow, a play on the first game of the series (at the start, you launch a cow into the sky only to have it crush the princess in the end).

Characters

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, Queen Slug-for-a-Butt and Professor Monkey-for-a-head 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 and 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 "". It also inspired the later game "Earthworm Jim 3D".

Future

On April 22, 2008 Interplay Entertainment signed a partnership arrangement with Earthworm Jim creator Douglas TenNapel to relaunch the video game branch, as well as announcing a new television animated series and feature length film with TenNapel as a creative consultant, however no release dates have been set yet. [ [http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/technology/article/earthworm-jim-lives-interplay-inks-deal-creator-relaunch-legend_574321_12.html Earthworm Jim Lives! Interplay Inks Deal With Creator to Relaunch the Legend] from FOX Business]

Cast

*Dan Castellaneta: Earthworm Jim; Evil Jim
*Andrea Martin: Queen Slug-for-a-Butt
*John Kassir: Snott; Henchrat
*Jim Cummings: Psy-Crow; Bob the Killer Goldfish
*Kath Soucie: Princess What's-Her-Name
*Jeff Bennett: Peter Puppy; Narrator
*Charlie Adler: Professor Monkey-For-A-Head
*Edward Hibbert: Evil the Cat

Episodes

Season 1

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.

Season 2

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.

Home video releases

The series was released by MCA/Universal Home Video on four VHS volumes in 1995. The videos included:

* "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.

Action figures and other merchandise

A line of action figures based on the show were released. A second series of figures was planned but was ultimately canceled. The action figures available included every main character from the cartoon/video games except for Queen Slug-for-a-butt. It also included battle damage suit Earthworm Jim. Earthworm Jim and battle damage suit Earthworm Jim came in two different colors with either red accessories or a green accessories. This required you to buy both colored versions to have the correctly colored gun and pet Snott. The pocket rocket was also available and was correctly sized for Earthworm Jim to ride when scaled with the rocket from the show. The action figures were nearly half the price of other action figures available in stores at the time including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and X-men action figures. Also during this time other action figures had stopped selling in stores the main versions of characters shown on their TV shows. Mostly offering only extreme variants and in some cases selling characters only marginally shown in media (such as comic books with low circulation) other than the cartoons they were catering to.

For a short time, Taco Bell also included premium toys with their Kid's Meal.

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.

ee also

* "The Tick"
* "Catscratch
* "Chowder
* "Teamo Supremo
* "Captain Flamingo

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0111948|title=Earthworm Jim
*Tv.com show|id=5236|title=Earthworm Jim