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This article is about the animated series. For the video game series, see Earthworm Jim.

Earthwom Jim
Genre	Animated series, Adventure, Comedy
Created by	Doug TenNapel
Voices of	Charlie Adler Jeff Bennett Dan Castellaneta[1] Jim Cummings Edward Hibbert John Kassir Andrea Martin Kath Soucie
Narrated by	Jeff Bennett
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	23
Production
Executive producer(s)	David Perry Douglas TenNapel
Producer(s)	Kathi Castillo Roy Allen Smith
Editor(s)	Jay Bixsen
Running time	30 min. (including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	Channel 4 Kids' WB! RTL7 RTL Television TV3 Network Ten The Den Canal 13 YTV Nelonen TVE Channel One Fox Kids
Original run	September 9, 1995 – December 14, 1996

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 in the United States.^[2] 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. The series was produced by Universal Animation Studios along with Akom Production Company, Flextech Television Limited, and Shiny Entertainment.

Contents 1 Plot & Show 2 Characters 3 Episodes 3.1 Season 1 (1995) 3.2 Season 2 (1996) 4 Cast 5 Home video releases 6 Action figures and other merchandise 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Plot & Show

Earthworm Jim retains the absurdist and surreal humor of the games as well as introducing its own features. Most episodes involve the series' numerous villians attempting to reclaim the super suit, rule/destroy the universe, or otherwise causing mayhem throughout the galaxy. Other problems facing Jim include returning his neighbor's eggbeater and finding a new power source after his suit is depowered. Also, the show breaks the fourth wall with characters often talking to the audience and the narrator.

Episodes begin with Earthworm Jim and Peter Puppy in some peril that has nothing to do with the main plot or the previous episode's, with little explanation of how they got into the mess. In between episodes there is a short side-story, generally featuring one of the villains and ending with "and now, back to Earthworm Jim." 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 (in the first stage, the player launches a cow into the sky, only to have it crush the princess upon the game's ending).

[edit] 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 Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy. It also inspired the later game Earthworm Jim 3D.

[edit] Episodes

[edit] Season 1 (1995)

No.	Title	Airdate
1	Sidekicked	September 9, 1995
After Peter botches one of their adventures, Jim begins looking for a new sidekick.
2	The Book of Doom	September 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	September 23, 1995
Jim must find a new power source after his super suit is drained.
4	Day of the Fish	September 30, 1995
Bob the Killer Goldfish attempts to steal Jim's super suit.
5	Conqueror Worm	October 7, 1995
Due to a photocopy machine accident, Jim creates an evil duplicate of himself, Evil Jim.
6	Upholstered Peril	October 14, 1995
Professor Monkey-For-A-Head creates sofa monsters that are so comfortable, people become mindless zombies.
7	Sword of Righteousness	October 21, 1995
Jim finds an enchanted sword in a vending machine sandwich who begins training him in what it considers the ways of a true hero.
8	The Egg Beater	October 28, 1995
Jim loses his neighbor's eggbeater and takes her on a journey to recover it.
9	Trout!	November 4, 1995
After receiving a postcard, Jim sets out to see the legendary Fur-Bearin' Trout.
10	The Great Secret of the Universe	November 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	November 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	November 25, 1995
Princess What's-Her-Name finally overthrows her tyrant sister Queen Slug-for-a-Butt.
13	The Anti-Fish	December 2, 1995
Jim and Bob must join forces to save the Great Worm Spirit from being consumed by its arch-enemy: the Anti-Fish.

[edit] Season 2 (1996)

No.	Title	Airdate
14	The Origin of Peter Puppy	September 7, 1996
Jim and Peter travel through Peter's subconscious to try to discover the reasons for Peter's transformations.
15	Opposites Attack!	September 14, 1996
Evil Jim attempts to create evil versions of Jim's friends, with less than stellar results.
16	Darwin's Nightmare	September 28, 1996
Bob discovers a way to hyper-evolve himself to higher lifeforms.
17	The Exile of Lucy	October 5, 1996
Psy-Crow & Professor Monkey-For-A-Head overthrow Queen Slug-For-A-Butt, but they quickly prove to be even worse rulers than her.
18	Evil in Love	October 26, 1996
Evil falls in love and teams up with Malice the Dog.
19	Hyper Psy-Crow	November 2, 1996
Psy-crow overdoses on coffee and becomes hyper-powered.
20	Peanut of the Apes	November 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	November 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	November 23, 1996
Jim and Peter are transported to an alternate dimension akin to The Wizard of Oz.
23	For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls	December 14, 1996
Queen Slug-For-A-Butt tries to brainwash Santa Claus.

[edit] Cast

• Dan Castellaneta: Earthworm Jim; Evil Jim
• Andrea Martin: Queen Slug-for-a-Butt; Mrs. Bleverage
• John Kassir: Snott; Henchrat
• Jim Cummings: Psy-Crow; Bob the Killer Goldfish; Walter; Bad Mr. Frosty: Walden
• Kath Soucie: Princess What's-Her-Name; Evil Princess
• Jeff Bennett: Peter Puppy; Narrator; Evil Peter
• Charlie Adler: Professor Monkey-For-A-Head; T-Hoppy
• Edward Hibbert: Evil the Cat
• Ben Stein: Rosebud; Dr. Houston
• Charles Napier: Duke Phillips
• Wanda Sikes: Princess Bessie
• Grey DeLisle: Wubbzy
• Lara Jill Miller: Widget
• Tara Strong: Daizy

[edit] 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 "The 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.

[edit] 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 and Professor Monkey-for-a-head. 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

[edit] See also

• Catscratch

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Earthworm Jim at the Internet Movie Database
• Earthworm Jim at TV.com

v • d • e Doug TenNapel Comic Books Gear (1999) • Creature Tech (2002) • Tommysaurus Rex (2004) • Earthboy Jacobus (2005) • Iron West (2006) • Black Cherry (2007) • Flink (2007) • Monster Zoo (2008) • Power Up (2009) • Ghostopolis (2009) Film/Television Earthworm Jim (1995-1996) • Project G.e.e.K.e.R. (1996) • Push, Nevada (2002, associate producer) • Catscratch (2005-2007) • Sockbaby (2004-2008, director & actor) • Neverhood: The Movie (2011) Video Games Earthworm Jim (1994) • Earthworm Jim 2 (1995) • The Neverhood (1996) • Skullmonkeys (1998) Music/Covers BibleLand (1994) • Our Newest Album Ever! (1997) • Quantity Is Job 1 (1998) • Proof That the Youth Are Revolting (1999) • When Worlds Collide: A Tribute to Daniel Amos (2002) • The End Is Here/The End Is Near (2003/2004) • Imaginarium: Songs from the Neverhood (2004)

v • d • e Earthworm Jim Games Earthworm Jim · 2 · 3D · Menace 2 the Galaxy · 4 Other Characters · TV series