THURSDAY THEME SONG: EARTHWORM JIM

It's week three of "Toons Based on Video Games" month here at Animated Toast and this week's entry is a funny one!

Earthworm Jim

Based on the popular video game series, Earthworm Jim ran two seasons, 23 episodes, from 1995-1996. The video game was notable for its completely absurd and surreal humour. The titular character was voiced by Dan Castellaneta (The Simpsons' Homer Simpson) with many other popular voice actors and comedians filling the other roles: Andrea Martin (SCTV), Jim Cummings (Winnie the Pooh), John Kassir (Cryptkeeper), Kath Soucie (Rugrats' Phil and Lil), Jeff Bennet (Johnny Bravo), Charles Adler (Tiny Toons' Buster Bunny) and Edward Hibbert (Frasier's Gil Chesterton).

Jim was just an ordinary earthworm until a robotic suit fell on him and gave him superpowers. From that day on Earthworm Jim saved the world and the galaxy from evil. Each episode ended with a cow falling from the sky, which is the same way each level of the video game ended.

Many of the secondary characters and villains from the games made it to the series, including Jim's sidekick, Peter Puppy and love interest, Princess What's-Her-Name. The regular cast of villains included Professor Monkey-For-A-Head, Psy-Crow, Evil the Cat, Queen Slug-For-A-Butt and Bob the Killer Goldfish. The series also created a bunch of new characters, including Evil Jim who made it into one of the later video games.

Earthworm Jim was a laugh out loud cartoon. Its completely absurd humour made it a joy to watch and the animation was great. The only problem was that its humour was also its crutch. Many people, younger kids especially, didn't get that particular brand of humour and thus the rating dropped and the show was ultimately canceled.

A few episode have been released but no DVD is in the works for the near future. But you can guarantee that once the DVD set is announced the cult following will ensure good sales.

Master television and film composer William Kevin Anderson wrote the music, lyrics, orchestration and even sang it the theme for Earthworm Jim! Anderson also did themes for X-Men: Evolution, Biker Mice From Mars, Astroboy and Fantastic Four.