Earthworm Jim

Earthworm Jim is an American animated television series based on the video game with the same name which appeared on Kids' WB for two seasons from September 9, 1995 through December 13, 1996. The series follows the adventures of an earthworm named Jim, who is turned into a superhero by a robotic super suit.

Plot
Earthworm Jim retains the absurdist and surreal humor of the games as well as introducing its own features. Most episodes involve the series' numerous villains attempting to reclaim the super suit, rule/destroy/freeze/knock over 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 episodes, with little explanation 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. These can range anywhere from Psy-Crow going through a career change, Evil the Cat disguising himself as a movie star in order to make his evil plans known to the world, or Professor Monkey-For-A-Head attending group therapy. 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.

Characters
Most of the main characters from the series originated from characters introduced in the Earthworm Jim (1994) and Earthworm Jim 2 (1995) video games. Peter Puppy (voiced by Jeff Bennett) becomes Jim's (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) sidekick and friend and Princess What's-Her-Name (voiced by Kath Soucie) 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 appear in the series.

Additionally, some original characters were also created for the series, and were then in turn integrated into video games released after the TV series. For example, Evil Jim, an evil duplicate of Earthworm Jim created for the show, went on to be the main antagonist for the game Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy.

History
The series was produced by Universal Cartoon Studios along with AKOM, Flextech Television Limited, and Shiny Entertainment.

In the United States, the series aired on Kids' WB on The WB Television Network. But by early 1997, the show was cancelled and was never shown again after it suffered the same timeslot demotion with Freakazoid!. As of 2005, it was never put in reruns and was largely forgotten until it made its way to DVD in the early 2010s.

In the UK, it was shown on Channel 4 and TCC (The Children's Channel) in the 90s, and as of 2000's, the show has seen occasional reruns on Nickelodeon.

The series was broadcast in the Republic of Ireland on RTE Two in 1997.

Episodes
Earthworm Jim has a total of 23 episodes spread over 2 seasons that were produced from September 1995 to December 1996.

Merchandise
A line of action figures based on the show was released by Playmates. The series included several variants of Earthworm Jim, as well as Peter Puppy, Princess Whats-Her-Name, Bob the Killer Goldfish, #4, Evil the Cat, Hench Rat, 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. A second series of figures was planned, but ultimately canceled - it would have included Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, Professor Monkey-for-a-Head and The Hamstinator among others.