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| opentheme = "Earthworm Jim", performed by William Anderson, Jeff Bennett and Dan Castellaneta
| endtheme = <nowiki>"Earthworm Jim" (instrumental)</nowiki>
| composer = William Anderson<br /
| country = United States
| language = English
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| related =
}}
'''''Earthworm Jim''''' is an American [[animated television series]] based on the [[Earthworm Jim|video game series of the same name]] that aired on [[The WB]] (now [[The CW]])'s [[Kids' WB]]
==Premise==
Most episodes involve the series' numerous villains attempting to reclaim the super suit or conquer the universe. However, some episodes have Jim facing more mundane issues, which include returning his neighbor's [[Mixer_(appliance)#Eggbeater|eggbeater]] and finding a new power source after his suit's battery runs out. Also, the show breaks the [[fourth wall]] with characters often talking to the audience and the narrator.
Episodes begin with a [[cold opening]] 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. Both of these are changed in
==Characters==
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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
==Voice cast==
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===Main===
* [[Dan Castellaneta]] as Earthworm Jim, Evil Jim, Jim's Four Brains, Turns-His-Eyelids-Inside-Out Boy, [[Death (personification)|Grim Reaper]], Jaepius
* [[Jeff Bennett]] as Peter Puppy, Narrator, The Hamsternator, President of the United States, Puce Dynamo, The Great Worm Spirit (in "The Anti-Fish"), Evil Peter (in "Opposites Attack!")
* [[Charlie Adler]] as Professor Monkey-for-a-Head, Doorman of the Gods (in "Assault and Battery"), [[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]] (in "For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls")
* [[Jim Cummings]] as Psy-Crow, Bob the Killer Goldfish, Whooping Cough Boy, Zantor
* [[Edward Hibbert]] as Evil the Cat
* [[John Kassir]] as Snott, Henchrat, Grayson (in "Upholstered Peril")
* [[Andrea Martin]] as Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, Torch Singer
* [[Kath Soucie]] as Princess What's-Her-Name, Evil Princess (in "Opposites Attack!"), Johnny Dactyl's Mom (in "The Exile of Lucy"), Perpsichore
===Additional===
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* [[Roger Rose]] as various (Season 1)
* [[Ben Stein]] as Rosebud the Nameless Beast (in "The Great Secret of the Universe"), Dr. Houston (in "The Origin of Peter Puppy")
* [[Billy West]] as Morty
* [[April Winchell]] as Mrs. Bleverage, Ilene (in "Lounge Day's Journey into Night")
==Production==
In 1995, Doug TenNapel and [[Will Meugniot]] created a pitch animation video for WB, in which
==Episodes==
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===Season 1 (1995–1996)===
{{Episode table
| EpisodeNumber = 1
| EpisodeNumber2 = 1
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| WrittenBy = [[Doug Langdale]]
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|9|9}}
| ShortSummary = After growing tired of Peter's transformations hindering him, Jim abandons him and enlists numerous replacement sidekicks. Meanwhile, Queen Slug-for-a-Butt hires Psy-Crow to kidnap Princess What's-Her-Name and hold her for ransom in hopes that Jim will give up his suit in exchange for her safety. Eventually, Peter stows away in Jim's rocket and helps him defeat Psy-Crow, after which they discover that the Princess escaped on her own.
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|9|16}}
| ShortSummary = Evil the Cat steals Jim's animal pop-up book, which contains instructions for how to destroy the universe due to an ancient printing error. Learning that he must make all the Reeking Beasts of the Malodoron System see a [[fondue]] fork at once, Evil travels there to execute his plan, but fails because one of the Beasts is nearsighted and cannot see the fork. Jim and Peter then destroy Evil's ship, stranding him and Henchrat on the planet.
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = Thomas Hart
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|9|23}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|9|30}}
| ShortSummary = As Jim plays poker with other heroes, he learns that they have run out of sugar and heads to the nearest planet to get some. However, this planet is La Planeta de Agua ''(Arriba!)'', home of Bob the Killer Goldfish, who confronts Jim with his feline henchmen. Jim manages to defeat them, but realizes that he never got the sugar and ventures out again in search of it.
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|10|7}}
| ShortSummary = While visiting the mall with Peter and the Hamsternator, Jim accidentally takes a photo of himself that is discarded in a landfill, exposed to toxic waste, and transformed into an evil clone of Jim. Believing Evil Jim to be a split personality and himself to be responsible for his crimes, Jim gives up his suit and is willingly imprisoned, where he befriends fellow inmate Walter. However, he escapes and defeats Evil Jim after learning the truth.
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = John Loy
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|10|14}}
| ShortSummary = Mysterious living furniture with hypnotic powers appear around the world. After Peter is incapacitated by one, Jim enlists the help of Grayson, a teenaged prodigy and head of his fan club, who discovers that the furniture are created and remotely controlled by Professor Monkey-for-a-Head. Eventually, Jim defeats the Professor by throwing his rocket at his tank, triggering a switch that flings him far away.
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = Steve Roberts
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|10|21}}
| ShortSummary = Jim finds an ancient enchanted sword embedded in a sandwich he bought who trains him to be a more powerful hero. However, while fighting Psy-Crow, Jim realizes that the sword has been manipulating him into following its ideas of heroism, learns that it has never won a fight, and abandons it to defeat Psy-Crow on his own. Afterwards, Jim accidentally sits on Psy-Crow's Orb of Quite Remarkable Power, freeing an ancient energy being who leaves to bring peace to the universe.
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = Jim Peterson,<br>John Behnke,<br>Rob Humphrey
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|10|28}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = [[Henry Gilroy]]
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|11|4}}
| ShortSummary = After receiving a postcard
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|11|11}}
| ShortSummary = Evil the Cat steals Jim's snow globe, summoning Rosebud the Nameless Beast to destroy the universe by breaking its glass barrier. Rosebud
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|11|18}}
| ShortSummary = Psy-Crow and Professor Monkey-for-a-Head
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1995|11|25}}
| ShortSummary = Jim and Princess What's-Her-Name
| LineColor = 006400
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1996|2|24}}
| ShortSummary = Bob awakens the Anti-Fish, a cosmic entity and enemy of the Great Worm Spirit, but is unable to control it. As such, he is forced to work with Jim and Peter to stop the Fish from traveling back in time and killing the Spirit at the beginning of the universe. Ultimately, Jim sacrifices himself to self-destruct his suit and destroy the Fish from within, but the Spirit revives him out of gratitude.
| LineColor = 006400
}}}}
===Season 2 (1996)===
{{Episode table |background=#700070 |overall=5 |season=5 |title=25 |writer=20 |airdate=18 |episodes={{Episode list
| EpisodeNumber = 14
| EpisodeNumber2 = 1
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1996|9|7}}
| ShortSummary = After becoming fed up with Peter's transformations, Jim sets out to discover his origins. He learns that Peter was originally a normal dog before being sucked into a vacuum cleaner, transported to Heck, and possessed by one of Evil's demon servants. This makes him anthropomorphic and capable of speech, but also causes him to periodically turn into a monstrous form resembling the demon. After Jim gets Evil to exorcise Peter, he is returned to normal, but eventually chooses to reunite with the demon to save Jim.
| LineColor = 700070
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1996|9|14}}
| ShortSummary = Having become lonely due to being the only evil twin in the universe, Evil Jim creates a ray gun that can create evil duplicates of whatever it hits. However, the clones of Peter and Princess What's-Her-Name have undesirable traits that make them less useful to him: the former's monster form is benevolent while the latter is too obsessed with fashion to fight. Eventually, Jim defeats Evil Jim by shooting him with his own gun, creating numerous good clones of Jim that help defeat him.
| LineColor = 700070
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1996|9|28}}
| ShortSummary = Angered by the limitations of his fish body, Bob creates a device that drains evolutionary energy from others to evolve himself. Eventually becoming a human with psychic powers, he takes over the world while Jim and Peter are devolved and become too dumb to fight him. Eventually, Princess What's-Her-Name, who has been devolved into a small insect-like form, helps Jim and Peter destroy Bob's device, returning everyone affected by it to normal.
| LineColor = 700070
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1996|10|5}}
| ShortSummary = Psy-Crow and Professor Monkey-for-a-Head overthrow Queen Slug-for-a-Butt
| LineColor = 700070
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1996|10|26}}
| ShortSummary =
| LineColor = 700070
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1996|11|2}}
| ShortSummary = While trying to steal Jim's suit, Psy-Crow purchases a powerful dose of coffee that makes him dangerously fast and hyperactive. Eventually, Jim transforms into a super-mellow state to fight him, but their opposing energies destroy the universe after coming into contact with each other. However, the Great Worm Spirit rescues them and they recreate the universe, being sent back in time to before the events transpired while still remembering them.
| LineColor = 700070
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1996|11|9}}
| ShortSummary = Jim and Peter attempt to increase their show's ratings and viewership and force one of their viewers, Cody, to partake in a program where he can determine the outcome of their adventures. Amidst this, they discover that Professor Monkey-for-a-Head has created special cosmetics that transform people into apes, planning to profit due to being the only person capable of communicating with primates. Eventually, Jim and Peter realize that peanuts can reverse the transformation and disperse peanut butter throughout the world to do so.
| LineColor = 700070
}}
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| WrittenBy = Thomas Hart
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1996|11|16}}
| ShortSummary = Evil attempts to destroy the universe by making two untalented [[Lounge music|lounge singers]], Morty and Eileen, sing a particularly bad song. Meanwhile, the High Council of superheroes determine that Peter has saved the day more often than Jim and decide to give him Jim's suit. Evil nearly succeeds in his plan before the show's budget runs out mid-song, enabling Jim to erase him out of existence with the animator's pencil. Peter then decides that he doesn't deserve the suit and gives it back to Jim.
| LineColor = 700070
}}
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| WrittenBy = Doug Langdale
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1996|11|22}}
| ShortSummary = While fighting Queen Slug-for-a-Butt
| LineColor = 700070
}}
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| WrittenBy = John Loy
| OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|1996|12|13}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/15302-For-Whom-The-Jingle-Bell-Tolls|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150219211221/http://www.bcdb.com/cartoon/15302-For-Whom-The-Jingle-Bell-Tolls|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 19, 2015|title=For Whom The Jingle Bell Tolls (1996) Episode 74508- Earthworm Jim Cartoon Episode Guide|author=The Big Cartoon DataBase|date=13 December 1996|work=Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB)}}</ref>
| ShortSummary = On Christmas, Queen Slug-for-a-Butt learns of [[Santa Claus]]' immense power and seeks to exploit him for her own benefit. Discovering that he is too pure to be controlled through traditional means, she instead brainwashes him using a microchip implanted in his head. However, Jim eventually manages to free him by reminding him of Christmas spirit, after which he assumes his true form as the god [[Wodin]] and helps Jim defeat the Queen.
| LineColor = 700070
}}
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==Merchandising==
MCA/Universal Merchandising held consumer product rights for the series.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://kidscreen.com/1996/09/01/17245-19960901/ | title=Licensees line up behind Earthworm Jim }}</ref>
==Telecast history==
===Original broadcast countries===
In the United States, the show was aired on [[Kids' WB]] on The WB Television Network (now [[The
The show premiered in the United Kingdom on co-production partner [[Living TV Group|Flextech]]'s [[The Children's Channel|TCC]] network around the same time. The show was promoted with a country-wide roadshow campaign held at shopping centres.<ref>{{cite web |date=October 26, 1995 |title=NEWS: The Braben Company is spearheading a pounds 200,000 campaign |url=https://www.prweek.com/article/99538/news-braben-company-spearheading-pounds-200000-campaign |website=prweek.com}}</ref> Following this, the show later made
===Internationally===
In Ireland, the show was aired on [[RTÉ Two]] from 12 September 1996 to 1997.<ref>{{list journal|work=[[RTÉ Guide]]|date=7-13 September 1996 edition and subsequent dates}}</ref> In Canada, the show was aired on [[YTV (Canadian TV channel)|YTV]]. In Mexico, the show was aired on [[TV Azteca]]. In Germany, the show was aired on [[RTL (German TV channel)|RTL]]. In the Netherlands, the show was aired on [[Kindernet]]. In Poland, the show was aired on [[RTL 7]]. In [[Spain]], the series was dubbed in different languages apart from [[Castilian Spanish]], like the [[Basque language]].
==Home
===United States===
Four VHS volumes were released by [[MCA/Universal Home Video]] in September 1996, each containing two episodes.
The complete series was intended to receive a U.S. DVD release from [[Visual Entertainment]] (under license from [[NBCUniversal]]) on {{Start date|2012|7|10}}, but was delayed right before release to late October.<ref>{{cite web |
{| class="wikitable"
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[[CIC Video]] released three VHS volumes of the series in the 1990s in the [[United Kingdom]], each containing two episodes. These are now out of print and considered rare.
On June 1, 2011, Via Vision Entertainment, under license from Universal, released the complete series as a 5-disc set in [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]].<ref name="via vision">{{cite web
==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]] series, in the US and UK, were also created to tie into the animated series.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ramsay |first=Morgan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zEYnCgAAQBAJ&q=earthworm+jim+
On November 18, 2021, it was reported that a new animated television series titled ''Earthworm Jim: Beyond the Groovy''
==References==
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