''Earthworm Jim'' is an American

animated television series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eith ...

based on the video game series of the same name and created by series creator,

Doug TenNapel Douglas Richard TenNapel ( ; born July 10, 1966) is an American animator, writer, cartoonist, video game designer, and comic book artist whose work has encompassed animated television, video games, and comic books. He is best known for creating ...

. The series aired on the Kids' WB for two seasons from September 9, 1995, to December 13, 1996. It follows the adventures of the titular character who battles the forces of evil using a robotic suit.

Premise

Most episodes involve the series' numerous villains attempting to reclaim the super suit or conquer the universe. Other issues facing Jim include returning his neighbor's eggbeater and finding a new power source after his suit's battery runs out. Also, the show breaks the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

with characters often talking to the audience and the narrator. Episodes begin with a

cold opening A cold open (also called a teaser sequence) is a narrative technique used in television and films. It is the practice of jumping directly into a story at the beginning of the show before the title sequence or opening credits are shown. In Amer ...

of Earthworm Jim and Peter Puppy in some peril that has nothing to do with the main plot or the past episodes, with little statement of how they got into the mess. In between parts (generally before or after the commercial break), there is a short side-story, generally featuring one of the villains doing a more natural part of life, usually without any involvement from Jim. The end of every episode involves Jim or any other character being crushed by a cow, a homage to the original game's ending.

Characters

Most of the main characters from the show originated from characters introduced in the video game series. Peter Puppy becomes Jim's sidekick and friend and Princess What's-Her-Name is featured as his love interest. Several antagonists from the games such as Evil the Cat, Psy-Crow, Bob the Killer Goldfish, Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, and Professor Monkey-For-A-Head also appear in the series. Additionally, some original characters were also created for the series, and were then in turn integrated into future games in the series. For example, Evil Jim, an evil doppelgänger of Jim created for the series, went on to be the main antagonist in '' Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy''.

Voice cast

The voice director for the series was

Ginny McSwain Ginny McSwain is an American voice actress, voice casting director, and animation production professional from Los Angeles, CA. Life and career McSwain graduated from Stephens College in 1974, before moving to Los Angeles. She has worked as cas ...

Main

Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta (; born October 29, 1957) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is best known for voicing Homer Simpson on the animated series ''The Simpsons'' (as well as other characters on the show such as Abraham "Grampa" ...

as Earthworm Jim, Evil Jim, Turns-His-Eyelids-Inside-Out Boy (in "Sidekicked", "Lounge Day's Journey into Night"), Jim's Four Brains, The Grim Reaper (in "The Wizard of Ooze", "For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls"), Jaepius: God of Puns (in "Assault and Battery"),

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation throu ...

(in "Sword of Righteousness") *

Jeff Bennett Jeffrey Glenn Bennett (born October 2, 1962) is an American voice actor who voiced Johnny Bravo in the eponymous television series, Dexter's Dad in ''Dexter's Laboratory'', Brooklyn in '' Gargoyles'' and Kowalski in the '' Penguins of Madagasca ...

as Peter Puppy, Narrator, The Hamsternator, Evil Peter, Puce Dynamo, President of the United States (in "The Origin of Peter Puppy"," "Peanut of the Apes"), The Great Worm Spirit (in "The Anti-Fish") *

Charlie Adler Charles Michael Adler (born October 2, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director. He is known for his roles as Buster Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Ed and Bev Bighead on '' Rocko's Modern Life'' and Ickis on '' Aaahh!!! Real Mon ...

as Professor Monkey-For-A-Head, The Doorman of The Gods (in "Assault and Battery"), Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (in "For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls"), Superhero #1 *

Jim Cummings James Jonah Cummings (born November 3, 1952) is an American voice actor. Since beginning his career in the 1980s, he has appeared in almost 400 roles. Cummings has frequently worked with The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros., including as t ...

as Psy-Crow, Bob The Killer Goldfish, Johnny Dactyl (in "Assault and Battery"), Walter (in "Conqueror Worm", "Lounge Day's Journey into Night", "The Wizard of Ooze"), Zantor: Master of The Flying Toupée (in "Sidekicked", "Lounge Day's Journey into Night"), The Sword of Righteousness (in "The Sword of Righteousness"), Phlegmaphus: God of Nasal Discharge (in "Assault and Battery"), Lower Back-Pain Man, The Giant Fur-Bearin' Trout (in "The Anti-Fish"),

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

(in "For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls") * Edward Hibbert as Evil the Cat * John Kassir as Snott, Henchrat * Andrea Martin as Queen Slug-For-A-Butt, The Torch Singer * Kath Soucie as Princess What's-Her-Name, Evil Princess, Johnny Dactyl's Mom (in "The Exile of Lucy"), Perpsichore: Goddess of Disco (in "Assault and Battery"), Cody (in "Peanut of the Apes")

Additional

* Gregg Berger as Superhero #2 *

S. Scott Bullock Stuart Scott Bullock is an American voice actor. Best known for voicing various characters on ‘’Danny Phantom’’ (2004-2007). Career Bullock is known for providing voices for characters, such as Eddy in the ''Barnyard'' franchise, Glow ...

as various * Miriam Flynn as Malice the Dog (in "Evil in Love") * Brad Garrett as The Lord of Nightmares (in "Evil in Love") * Lisa Kaplan as various * Danny Mann as Archbug (in "Queen What's-Her-Name", "For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls") * Edie McClurg as various * Dee Dee Rescher as The Purple Alien *

Kevin Michael Richardson Kevin Michael Richardson (born October 25, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his distinctively deep voice, he has mostly voiced villainous characters in animation and video games. In film, Richardson voiced Goro in ''Mortal Kombat'' (1995) ...

as the Anti-Fish (in "Anti-Fish") *

Ben Stein Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, comedian, and commentator on political and economic issues. He began his career as a speechwriter for U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before ente ...

as Rosebud the Nameless Beast (in "The Great Secret of the Universe"), Dr. Houston (in "The Origin of Peter Puppy") * Billy West as The Sturgeon (in "Lounge Day's Journey into Night"), Morty (in "Lounge Day's Journey into Night") *

April Winchell April Terri Winchell (born January 4, 1960) is an American actress, writer, and radio host. She is prehaps best known as the second and current voice of Clarabelle Cow, having voiced the character since 1996. Early life Winchell was born in 1 ...

as Mrs. Bleverage, Ilene (in "Lounge Day's Journey into Night")

Production

The series was created by

and produced by

Universal Cartoon Studios Universal Animation Studios (formerly known as Universal Cartoon Studios) is an American animation studio and a division of Universal Pictures, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast. It has produced direct-to-video sequels ...

along with

AKOM AKOM Production, Ltd. (Animation KOrea Movie 애이콤 프로덕션) is a South Korean animation studio in Songpa-gu, Seoul that has provided much work since its conception in 1985 by Nelson Shin. Its biggest claim to fame is the overseas anima ...

, Flextech Television Limited, and

Shiny Entertainment Shiny Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Laguna Beach, California. Founded in October 1993 by David Perry, Shiny was the creator of video games such as ''Earthworm Jim'', ''MDK'' and '' Enter the Matrix''. Perr ...

Episodes

Two seasons of the series were produced, for a total of 23 episodes.

Series overview

Season 1 (1995–1996)

Season 2 (1996)

Broadcast history

In the United States, the show was aired on Kids' WB on

The WB Television Network The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

from 1995 to 1996. Internationally, in the United Kingdom, it was shown on Channel 4 and TCC ( The Children's Channel) in the 1990s. In the 2000s, the show has seen occasional reruns on Nickelodeon. In Ireland, the show was aired on

RTÉ Two (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

from 12 September 1996 to 1997. In Canada, the show was aired on YTV. In Mexico, the show was aired on

TV Azteca TV Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as some local operators. It owns two natio ...

. In Germany, the show was aired on RTL. In the Netherlands, the show was aired on

Kindernet Kindernet (as Nickelodeon Kindernet from 2011 to 2013) was a Dutch television network that aired classic and modern children's television series from the 1980s onward. Two iterations of the network have been broadcast; the original lasted from 1 ...

. In Poland, the show was aired on

RTL 7 RTL 7 is a Dutch free-to-cable television channel that was launched as ''Veronica'' on 1 September 1995. RTL 7 is RTL Nederland's "men's channel" with action films, reality television about crime and professions, soccer, motorsport and tal ...

Media

The show was released in the UK onto three VHS tapes in three volumes covering two episodes on each video in the 1990s but these are now out of print and considered rare. On June 1, 2011, Via Vision Entertainment released the complete series as a 5-disc set in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

. The complete series was intended to receive a U.S. DVD release from Visual Entertainment on , but was delayed right before release to late October. The set includes all 23 episodes on 3 discs, and is currently available on Amazon.com. Digitally, the complete series is currently available on Fox Corporation's Tubi.

Reception

The ''Earthworm Jim'' television series received generally positive reviews from critics and audiences, for being one of

's best creations, and having the originality of the original video game.

Legacy

Aspects of the show, such as newly created characters, or art style, were later implemented in future video games '' Earthworm Jim 3D'' and '' Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy''. Two Earthworm Jim

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series, in the US and UK, were also created to tie into the animated series. A line of

action figure An action figure is a poseable character model figure made most commonly of plastic, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, military, video game or television program; fictional or historical. These figures are usually mar ...

s based on the show was released by Playmates Toys. The series included several variants of Earthworm Jim, as well as Peter Puppy, Princess What's-Her-Name, Bob the Killer Goldfish, #4, Evil the Cat, Henchrat, Major Mucus and Psy-Crow. A mountable "pocket rocket" was also available as well as a rare mail-in repainted figure of Earthworm Jim in a green suit. On November 18, 2021, it was reported that a new animated television series titled ''Earthworm Jim: Beyond the Groovy'' is in development.

References

External links

*
Earthworm Jim
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on June 4, 2016. {{Kids' WB 1995 American television series debuts 1996 American television series endings 1990s American animated television series 1990s American comic science fiction television series American children's animated action television series American children's animated adventure television series American children's animated comic science fiction television series American children's animated science fantasy television series American children's animated superhero television series Animated series based on video games Earthworm Jim Jetix original programming Kids' WB original shows Television series by Universal Animation Studios Television series created by Doug TenNapel Universal Pictures cartoons and characters Animated television series about teenagers