"The heroes find their ship destroyed. They're marooned on the robot planet."
Airdate: January 25, 1999Ed wants to see a B-Movie in theaters but is disappointed that it is for adults only. While the Eds plan to sneak into the theater, Ed explains the plot of the movie to his friends, but they end up crashing into the junkyard. They end up reenacting their own adventure as "Space Outlaws", fighting against the "Robot Bounty Hunters" and searching for a way home.
"Dawn of the Eds" provides examples of:
- Acting Out a Daydream: While Ed mentions Robot Rebel Ranch's asteroid belt and dimensional portal, the cycling Eds pass a wrecking ball, and peddle through a large pipe. When Ed gets to the bit about the space outlaws crashing on a distant planet, the Eds find themselves to have crashed their bike on the dump, which, in their enactment of the forbidden movie, serves as their improvised setting.
- B-Movie: Ed wants to see the film Robot Rebel Ranch in theaters. Unfortunately, the film is for "Adults Only".
- But I Read a Book About It: Even though it is a mystery how Ed seems to know about the film Robot Rebel Ranch despite not seeing it, it is implied Ed read the novelisation or comic-book adaptation of the film. And judging how Ed stares at the movie poster for a long moment it is possible Ed read the novel before he seen the poster, suggesting he had no idea it was being made into a film.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: The Kankers torture Kevin by tying him to a giant tractor tire and spinning it. They add further insult to injury by asking him embarrassing questions like it is a game show and threaten to kiss him.
- Deadpan Snarker: Ed delivers this one: “Yeah, with all the good stuff cut out” after Double D tries to reassure him they can see the movie on TV in a year after learning Robot Rebel Ranch is R-rated. It's possibly the only genuinely witty comment that Ed ever makes.
- Dumpster Dive: The episode begins with the Eds lowering Ed into a dumpster to fish out used bottles for recycling.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Though this episode aired early into season 1, it's safe to assume it was finished in tandem with the pilot and the episode that introduced the Kankers given the episodes that aired between it and the pilot are closer to how the show normally showed things later on.
- Much like the pilot episode, Ed has a more youthful voice and speaks in complete, cohesive sentences, a far cry from the nonsense-spewing oaf he'd later become. Again, this episode aired after the ones which established his later characteristics.
- The Kankers "flirting" with Kevin makes this the only time they show an interest in a boy from the Cul-de-Sac who's not one of the Eds. Later episodes all but state they're strictly Ed-sexual. Though in the movie, they'd harass Jimmy and Eddy's brother.
- After the Eds pelt Sarah and Jimmy with tin cans, Sarah does not beat them up, but instead scolds them, and at worst, simply pushes Ed. If this episode were from a later season, Sarah would undeniably pummel them to the ground.
- This is also the most generous Eddy is ever shown to be in the series, willingly sacrificing the money he had planned to spend on jawbreakers to go to a movie with his friends, significantly nicer than the greedy narcissist he'd later become.
- Most egregiously, this is the only episode where the Eds earn money in a noble, respectable way rather than a scam. It is in character for them to do something that doesn't take that much effort however. And they get to keep it.
- This is also the only episode where the Eds more or less act their age. After they try to earn money, it shifts to the Eds deciding to innocently play pretend space outlaws instead. Any other "game" they'd play like this in future episodes would be with some sort of ulterior motive.
- This is the most positive portrayal of the Eds' relationship in the series. Later seasons would portray it a lot more negatively until the movie took them to task and fixed them.
- Epic Fail: After the Eds get several empty bottles they can recycle for jawbreaker money, Eddy thinks they will have jawbreakers for weeks. Double D points out that with current exchange rates it will probably only be an afternoon's worth if that.
- Horrifying the Horror: A dustbin-helmeted, hubcap-chest-plated Ed charging down a slope sees the smugly bullying Kankers flee in panic.
- Insistent Terminology: Edd insists that the rocket he built to escape the dump is just a prototype, despite Eddy's complaints that it only seats one. After the rocket breaks up in its maiden flight, Eddy tells Edd that the rocket needs work; Edd screams "It's a prototype!"
- Mr. Imagination: In their enactment of Robot Rebel Ranch, all three Eds get quite immersed - Ed most deeply, with his enthusiastic narration.
- No Ending: Things come to an end when it is revealed the "robots" were actually just Sarah and Jimmy, who came to tell Ed it was time for dinner. Double D and Eddy agree that playtime is over and they should probably go eat and eventually have to drag Ed home when he won't stop narrating their "space adventure."
- Oh, Crap!
- Eddy freaks out when Ed and Double D pull out their laser guns in response to his nunchuck dice.
- The Kankers freak out when Ed rushes towards them to save Kevin, possibly not recognizing him in his costume, and all run away.
- Parental Bonus: The dilapidated van the Eds use as their base is clearly an old broken-down shaggin' wagon, with a hi-fi stereo, shag carpeting, and a water bed in the back cargo space.
- Random Events Plot: The episode begins with the Eds collecting bottles to recycle for cash, then shifts to them using the money they make for it to sneak into an r-rated movie. Halfway there, they crash their bike at the construction site and spend the rest of the afternoon playing that they're space outlaws on an alien world.
- Scenery Porn: Some atmospheric shots of Peach Creek's dump.
- Shag Wagon: The Eds use a dilapidated one sitting in a junkyard as their "base".
- Take That!: Ed sulks at the thought of watching an R-rated movie on TV "with all the good stuff cut out."
- "Take That!" Kiss: While Kevin is tied upside down to the tractor tire, Lee leans in and makes kissy faces at him.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Ed saves Kevin from the Kankers and unties him, but Kevin just calls him a "dork" like usual and doesn't even bother thanking him. Though Ed still tells his friends he was "grateful".
- Unreliable Expositor: Ed's narrations begin to delve into this. Before their battle with the "robots" he narrates how he and his friends await "fearlessly", while Double D and Eddy are shaking with fear. Later, after Sarah and Jimmy say it is time for dinner and the other Eds leave saying they are hungry themselves, Ed narrates that he is the only outlaw left alive after the battle.
- The Voiceless: Although Jimmy makes noises, he doesn't coherently say a word.
