Earthworm Jim Season 1 Part 1 Review

Hi, this is Gary Chalk and you're listening to

the Geekcast Radio Network. Did you forget I'm

modular? What do you think you are, some kind

of freak? Oops! Oh, that didn't hurt, did it,

Peter? Oh, say it didn't hurt, please! I'd really

appreciate it if we could cut to the title sequence

now. Alright, you've got it, pal! The spider's

great big muscles and his really big big gun

Jim is still an earthworm but then he's the only

one With a super suit to make him really super

strong Jim can be a winner if we only sing along

Earthworm Jim We think he's mighty fine Earthworm

Jim A hero for all time Earthworm, earthworm,

earthworm, earthworm Jim Hello and welcome to

Pixels and the Animation, it's been a while but

we are back and it is time for episode 66 and

no, this has nothing to do with Star Wars. Thank

you very much, I am - You know, okay, outside

of certain droids and Ewoks and a couple of -

I don't think there were any Star Wars cartoons

they ever did that were solely based on any of

the Star Wars video games. Like we got Star Wars

Rebels right now, which is the current series

before that we had Clone Wars, but it's always

been based around like I don't see a web series

anywhere for Battlefront or You know Super Nintendo

return of the Jedi, you know But yeah, so we

are back and the last time you heard us was our

ducks Darkstalkers episodes in the top 50 video

game countdown It's been on not quite a year,

but almost there but uh... as you heard tv's

mister neil is here also a minor setback yes

exactly uh... and uh... we're here we're back

we're gonna be back all year this year twenty

seventeen because twenty seventeen is the twenty

-fifth twenty -fifth or twentieth uh... i don't

know it's some sort of anniversary for sonic

uh... So... Once episode 71 hits later this year,

we'll be celebrating 25 years of Sonic. But before

that we got to get through Wyrm territory and

Battletoad territory and then we got to drive

through Donkey Kong Country. So in this episode

we're going to talk about the first seven episodes

of Season 1 for Earthworm Jim. Now I actually

had to go back and look at several playthroughs

of Earthworm Jim on YouTube because I did not

remember this game at all. Paul and the playthroughs

I found were only the sega version was it only

ever on sega it was on super nintendo it's just

okay wasn't very popular on super nintendo because

it was very much a sega game it was made for

sega yeah yeah um in fact the musical bits that

I always pull out for certain episodes uh this

time it'll be from the sega cd version okay which

is which is great okay We haven't recorded this

show in so long. I'm gonna have to make sure

I still have those files I know you still have

them, but I'm like cuz you know we always do

pre -production on this stuff folks and I It's

been a long Year and a half at this point Go

out to California food was great scenery was

great Relationship crashed and burned so there's

that so yeah Wow Only you would do that What's

funny is that because I'm not familiar with it

and I have California friends like sometimes

I'll be talking to some of them and they'll be

like boy I could sure go for some in -and -out.

I'm like where well tmr uh... the way my buddy

dog able from talking about my generation explains

it is it is the best basic burger it's basically

the burger cheese lettuce tomato and that's you

know they they are free onions but that there's

no other to toppings or anything you know so

uh... it's just it's absolutely great great if

i ever go back to california that's pretty much

all these in and out burgers because holy crap

that was awesome that incognito side of fries

oh god so yeah so we're here to talk about video

game cartoons um... while i get back into the

swing of things here for podcasting for pixels

in the animation and we're talking about earthworm

jim which was an animated series that ran for

two seasons from ninety five to ninety six and

um... Way too short Yeah has 23 episodes to it

folks only got two seasons This Like I said earlier

that going back I I went to doom won't watch

the playthroughs of Earthworm Jim from from the

video game like Once I was like an episode 11

of season 2 and after watching all of the cartoon

series except for the last two episodes and going

to watch the place around like oh my god the

game looks and maybe it's just the sega's maybe

it's just that sixteen -bit graphics i'm not

used to on sega you haven't seen a lot of sega's

about that aside in a long time but uh... that

game was horrible compared to what they did in

the cartoon yeah actually it was impressively

animated in the in the game but it was just for

me it's just more aggravating to play it's yeah

like dog donkey kong country where they tried

to make it look really sharp but like boy i just

don't care about playing it it's part of the

problem is that uh... they're being a little

too cartoony in the game so like maybe like i

don't maybe five or six frames of animation just

for just for uh... jim flicking his his whip

which is actually him And the thing is that this

is not Castlevania so the delayed whip doesn't

work here You know it's like you press the button

and then like a half second later. He attacks

something. That's not good Yeah From now had

you seen this series when it debuted that way

back then or had you not even known about it

I? Kind of knew about it, but I didn't watch

it. I didn't watch it until much later and boy

my friends really Let me know about it though

because they every every week There was like

some in joke from that show that like my friends

are just giggling about and I'm like, I don't

know what this is I never saw I didn't know what

network it was on It was on the kids WB Yeah,

and funny thing about kids WB in Chicago is that

it was not on the WB At least not until like

the last year or so. Yeah, because somehow a

UHF channel like got the rights to it and like

held on to it tenaciously until finally WB was

like look we're not redoing this so this um this

series Before we get into the actual episodes

and the whole plot basically follows somewhat

to the video game series, but they come up with

various stories as well and They have various

behind that's one of the things I noticed I because

I actually watched this on kiss cartoon and on

kiss cartoon They have the four bonus features

the behind -the -scenes things so I grabbed that

audio so that audio will be in here somewhere

but Basically watching those behind -the -scenes

things it's like oh we we just went for the funny

And you know we just you know tried to make it

as funny as funny as we possibly could and the

funny thing is Outside of a couple of times.

I barely left. I enjoyed this I didn't like not

enjoy it is probably the most interesting fun

Cartoon we've done in the last god knows how

long we've been doing this podcast five I don't

even know now four years something like I don't

know something like that but I don't know it's

like you know from what I saw from the creators

and the writers and everything else like oh go

with that joke go with that joke and I finally

see the joke in an episode I'm like yeah okay

that's kind of funny I guess but going through

the voice cast really quick you got Homer Simpson

Dan Castellaneta Earthworm Jim Evil Jim Hamster

Hamsternator Turns his eyelids inside out boy

Jim's four brains and the Grim Reaper and a couple

other Japus God of puns Jeff Bennett is Peter

Puppy. He's the narrator. He's Evil Peter. He's

Poose Dynamo President of the United States and

others Charlie Adler is Professor Monkey for

a head Jim Cummings, Jim Cummings is by far my

favorite. Outside of Dan is Jim, but Jim Cummings

is, he's got Cycro, Bob the Killer Goldfish,

Johnny Dactyl, Walter Zanatter. I think Bob the

Killer Goldfish is my favorite. Oh yeah, cause

he's like, he's like a, what you call it, one

of those, the guys on TV, the Televangelist,

that's what, I think he's doing like a... He's

just like, praise Jesus! Or actually, he also

kind of sounds like Brother Love. Yeah, oh my

god, yeah. I love you! Oh my god. I was really,

I think out of all of the voice cast, because

they had a bunch of other voices, and they had,

we've got Andrea Martin as Queen Slug for a Butt,

we've got Kath Soucie as Princess What's -Her

-Name. uh... but some of the additional voices

like uh... brad garrick is lord of nightmares

yeah i can see that uh... the fact that ben stein

of all people shows up in this all one of the

funniest jokes because he plays uh... he plays

dr dr houston houston we have a problem but i

love that the joke is that he's heard that like

five hundred times yeah absolutely and he's just

tired of it yep wasn't tom bodette in this too

i i swear i heard tom bodette uh it might have

been jeff bennett i'm impersonating him but i

don't see it listed here um But yeah, I mean

this show is actually pretty funny it really

is but it's just one of those things where The

way I watched it so we could get the episodes

recorded is I pretty much Marathoned it within

two days and I'm like by episode 8 of season

1. I was like I need a break It's not a show

that's meant to be watched It's not meant to

be Marathoned you were supposed to watch this

like once a week because it really just beats

you over the head with the humor. And it can

be tiresome, actually. It just fatigues you.

It's like, oh my god, because there's so much

going on. And it's just nonstop wackiness. So

the first seven episodes of the season one, we've

got Sidekicks, Book of Doom, Assault and Battery,

Day of the Fish, Conqueror Worm, Upholstered

Peril, Sword of Righteousness. side -kicked is

the the pilot episode here where Jim goes out

and looks for a new sidekick because he wants

to replace poor Peter Puppy because Peter Puppy

every time he gets scared or sad or angry he

basically hulks out essentially yeah that's from

a stage in the game where it's like an escort

mission every time a bad guy hits him he just

malls the hell out of gym yeah yeah absolutely

I think I think my favorite out of these first

seven is day of the fish when Bob attempts to

steal his super suit Yeah, I'm not sure, and

I know you're not supposed to explain humor.

Some of the names I get, but Professor Monkey

for a head? I mean, I know the joke. I get the

joke. He's got a monkey on his head. But some

of these names just, I look at them and I'm like,

what the hell? Like they keep adding. names to

queen slug for a but it's like queen blah blah

blah blah slug for a but i'm like what the hell

is wrong with you people but but but but but

but but but but but but but but but but but but

but but but but but but but but but but but but

but but but but but but but but but but but Because

it's um because it's Jeff Bennett and Jeff Bennett's

narrator voice for this was amazing absolutely

and I see I Before even looking at any of the

information online about this series when I just

because all I did was I just watched it like

I didn't Didn't want to look anything up didn't

want to know any of the synopsises of the episodes

I knew that from watching the behind -the -scenes

things that Dan Castle that it was earthworm

It's kind of hard not to know that Homer Simpson

is the worm I mean, but I did not know it was

Jeff Bennett as Peter Puppy because as much as

I know of Jeff Bennett and his voice acting career

in the multiple, I just didn't know that was

his voice at the time. I was like, who is Peter

Puppy? Oh, it's Jeff Bennett, okay. Yeah, for

half a minute I thought maybe it was Rob Paulson.

I'm like, no. No, I would have known that. I

would have picked up on that easily. the at least

these first seven words you think over all of

these uh... it kind of starts out a little uh...

not bad but like just a little slow and then

like it quit very rapidly picks up like sidekick

might be one of the least good episode i should

say there's like some growing pains that there's

like a couple animation glitches and surprisingly

surprisingly the show just gets better after

with like every episode like the animation actually

improves and usually it's the opposite way like

like with uh uh captain captain n where like

the last few episodes are just horrible season

three we know we we don't want to relive that

horror like almost stick figures yeah um what

i enjoyed about it is the very like it's not

often we get okay sure In the last, what, 10,

12 years we've had Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius,

but that's fine, that's Nickelodeon, that's whatever,

but it's not, it wasn't often to my knowledge

in the 90s that we had a lot of space -type animated

cartoon series. Like, not in like the mid, like

95, 96 area. You had... Marvel with X -Men and

Spider -Man and Hulk and and all that and DC

had the Batman stuff and and whatever else and

this is just kind of like a good old space romp

every now and then and there are some episodes

where in these first seven where they're just

you know on earth you know doing you know like

episode six unupholstered peril Professor Monkey

for a head tries to conquer the world with cybernetic

furniture. Somebody shoot me now. But watching

the episode, it was hilarious because it's like,

hey look, all the furniture's alive, it's going

to eat us. It's like they went to Pee Wee's Playhouse

and grabbed that chair. there's a skit on the

muppet show where all the furniture came to life

and had like sharp teeth and everything it feeds

into my theory that early muppets were meant

to be scary yeah i could imagine that but i do

love these you know these first seven i think

they are interesting i do think they are funny

i think it's just the way that i watched the

series like you said is is probably not the way

i should have done it but in order to get the

show recorded i'm like okay let's just you know

it's kind of like uh... batman's advice to terry

mcginnis the joker is vain he likes to talk just

power on through block it out and power on through

and i'm like okay i'll try my best it took me

two and a half days oh boy I do love the animation

in this, though. This animation is... And you

would think me, and you know this, and most everyone

that ever has listened to any Tooncast episodes

know this, I'm not a fan of gross -out animation.

And this animation is not super gross -out. Thank

God John K. had nothing to do with this series.

Some of his boys are in this cartoon, though.

I saw Vincent Waller's name in there, and he's...

He was... I think he worked on Spongebob, but

he's also known for doing the rubber nipple salesman

episode of Ren and Stimpy, which is a great episode.

Ren and Stimpy, oh lord. But yeah, no, I do really,

really enjoy this. I do think, you know, the

first seven are pretty funny. I love the... I

think my favorite episode out of the first seven

outside of Day of the Fish, my second favorite

would have to be Sword of Righteousness. Oh my

god, that was hilarious. He finds an enchanted

sword in a vending machine sandwich. And that

sword was just full of quips. Yep. and pop culture

references. I mean, there's a quote from Plan

9 from Outer Space in there. He's like, your

stupid minds, stupid. And I just started laughing.

I'm like, that's the best line from that movie,

and I'm glad they put that in there. That sword

has more quips than Spider -Man. And see, the

funny thing is when I was watching that, I'm

like, hmm, what does this remind me of? Hmm.

bugs bunny with the singing sword yes but i don't

know uh... as you ever played any of the the

earthworm jim games i'd might have already as

you know i'm kind of we're going to have a look

yeah but i don't get very far into them just

because they're so infuriating to play i mean

you really have to be like a hard -core gamer

to get into it because the jumping mechanic is

see the plate control is actually pretty solid

but some of the stages are just aggravating like

the first stage there's a whole section where

you have to like jump on a on a stack of tires

and it's just it's i can't i can't really describe

it it's because it's like because it's rubber

it's really super bouncy and you just get stuck

and you can't get to the ledge that you're supposed

to get to and you just swear at the at the screen

throw the controller and Out of these first seven,

did you have a favorite character? Maybe Sycro,

just because he's doing Peter Falk. I'm like,

yes. I think I would have liked Sycro a little

bit more, and no offense to Jim Cummings, but...

Because it was supposed to be a Peter Falk I

really would have liked it for it to have been

Maurice because Maurice is a better Peter Falk

than Jim Cummings does in my opinion This year's

a kitchen book Yeah, and Netflix put Colombo

back on you bastards I get home from vacation.

I want to start watching Colombo again, and it's

gone That's just so wrong Alright folks, I know

this has been a short short episode, but it is

only seven cartoons. We'll be back next week

for the next six But hey, sometimes people like

short podcasts anything else you want to say

about the series to this point or the games or

the voice acting or the animation I'll just say

that Since we usually do ratings it just just

a blanket five star all the way all the way across

you should just yeah don't you don't even like

think that like some episodes are better than

others just start at episode one and go through

it yeah absolutely yeah we usually do ratings

and i don't know if it's me just needing to get

the recording rust off of me or what's going

on here but i'm just like like i said before

let's just power on through get that slow plow

ready So You can find us out on on Facebook and

Twitter. It's at geek cast radio on Twitter at

It's geek cast radio network on Facebook You

are at TVs. Mr. Neil everywhere, right or well

There's peeling Bailey on Twitter. So yeah, I

forget the exact URL of the Facebook page, but

you can you can find it. Yeah Yep The voicemail

line is inoperable at this point, folks. It'll

be back soon. And coming up next time, we've

got the second half of season one of Earthworm

Jim. We will catch you next time. And now strap

on your brain -absorbing information modulators,

whatever they are, because it's time once again

to attend Earthworm Jim's world -famous and highly

-renowned University of Cartoon Making. Today's

lesson, the animating process. That means how

they draw their cartoons. Groovy. Here's how

they do it. Here's how they do it. And these

are some of the people who do it. Yes, they start

with sketches of the characters. Ah, this is

Psychro. He's a psychotic, villainous crow from

outer space. I shall destroy you and whatnot!

Paying stakingly drawing each character, while

other animators are busy drawing the backgrounds,

the props, the spaceships. Then each drawing

is carefully photographed one at a time until

we get something that looks like this From there

the color process begins with various animators

painting all the different pictures in minute

detail This happens to be the planet of the very

frightened people Then everything gets combined

together until voila Is it magic? Is it voodoo?

We have no idea what kind of power it is. But

one thing's for sure. It's actually a really

exciting little adventure. Eat dirt, everyone

in a machete! And there you have it, the animation

process from start to finish. And now, just to

see if you've been paying attention, here's a

trivia question. If you get the answer right,

you could win your very own cybernetic super

suit, which will give you the same superhero

powers as Earthworm Jim himself. Oh, Cuddy. What

deadly and destructive martial art is Earthworm

Jim an expert in? The seemingly improbable, but

nevertheless factual answer right after Day of

the Fish. And now, as we promised, here's the

answer to our Earthworm Jim trivia question!

What deadly and destructive martial art is Earthworm

Jim an expert in? Lip Jitsu! Hey! This calls

for... Lip Jitsu! Uh -oh! Aha! I knew it! If

you knew the answer, you could be wearing your

very own Earthworm Jim's cybernetic superhero

suit by one o 'clock tomorrow afternoon. Of course,

you'll have to go to the planet Argon to get

it. And remember, you can learn more about the

making of Earthworm Jim with every episode you

buy, because each cassette contains special information

about the writers, the actors, and yes, even

the creator of Earthworm Jim himself. That is

so top secret, even the best spies in the world

can't get their hands on it. Curses! Earthworm

Jim! Collect them all and become the most brilliant,

knowledgeable person you know about the fantastic

adventures of Earthworm Jim! Man! What a rush!

It's action. It's drama. It's comedy. It's Decian,

the superhero webcomic. Decian's got superhero

antics and sexy girls. Read it now at Decian

.com. D -A -S -I -E -N dot com. And now, kids,

as we promised, it's time to go to cartoon school.

Must sit. Must sit. Today's lesson, the storyboarding

process. Like, exactly what is a storyboard?

Hmm. A storyboard is a bunch of pictures put

together that plans out your whole cartoon. A

comic book come to life. Our cartoon... Will

be based on all of these pictures right here.

There's something like 24 ,000 pictures involved

drawings involved in a cartoon So we plan them

out one by one and we do this for every single

panel of the storyboard What we draw on the storyboard

comes directly from the script even a small little

action like my movie my hand like this can take

up to 16, maybe even 24 different drawings. Yes!

Bravo! The storyboard artist is a person who

has a lot of skills. So we want to make sure

that everything's just right. And yet somehow,

groovy. And so there you have it. The storyboard

looks hard, doesn't it? It sure is, but it makes

for a fun cartoon. Oh, and now, just to see if

you've been paying attention, here's a trivia

question. If you got the answer right, you could

win a trip to the moon with Earthworm Jim himself.

Alright. What's the first address that Earthworm

Jim visits when he travels back through the fabric

of time? The mind -blowing never -seen -before

answer coming up right after Sword of Righteousness.

And now, as we promised, here's the answer to

our Earthworm Jim trivia question. What's the

first address that Earthworm Jim visits when

he travels back through the fabric of time? The

Kennysburg Address! Glory scoring seven years

ago. Aha! I knew it! If you knew the answer,

you could be on your way to the moon with Earthworm

Jim! Of course, you'll have to build your own

spaceship and pay your own way, but hey, nothing's

perfect! And remember, you can learn more about

the making of Earthworm Jim with every episode

you buy. Because each cassette contains information

even Albert Einstein didn't know about. The writing,

the drawing, even the voicing of the characters

for this phenomenal, groundbreaking cartoon.

Collect them all and become the most brilliant,

knowledgeable person you know about the fantastic

adventures of Earthworm Jim. Yes, Snot. It is

majestic in its pulchritudeness, Grandeur. You

read my mind, little buddy.