Original Air Date: July 23, 2004
A teenage boy wakes up and goes down to the kitchen for something to drink. The Boogeyman, a nightmare-bringing shapeshifter, is stalking him, and he tries to scare him after he opens the fridge and gets some milk. But this isn't successful, as the boy doesn't even believe in the Boogeyman.
Downcast, Boogey picks up his old middle school yearbook, where he's titled as "Biggest Jerk." He plans to visit Grim, in hope of reliving some memories.
He arrives behind Billy's TV and he tries to scare the two kids watching. The only one afraid of him in the house is Irwin, and Grim's not at all happy to see his old classmate. He tells the kids of how Boogey used to torment all the kids and make them look like idiots, and then he shows them a flashback how Boogey humiliated Grim in front of the whole school.
Sick of the story (and to pull Grim's leg once more), Boogey kidnaps Billy and throws him into an Underworld forest of thorns. Here, he's chased by a frightening giant thorn monster.
Grim and Mandy follow him to an underworld lunch room, where Grim plots to spike the bully's milk with hot sauce.
However, this backfires when Boogey pretends to be sorry for his past mistakes and lure him into drinking the milk. But Grim refuses to accept defeat, and they almost attack each other when Mandy suggests a scare-off. Boogey chooses form as a werewolf, and Grim a rubber duck.
A little boy is taking a bath, and Boogey appears next to him, but he's mistaken for a dog and not scaring anyone. Grim appears as the rubber duck who's initially cute, but it grows and grows until it breaks the bathtub and takes on a monster-form. As Grim yells "boo", the boy screams in fright. Boogey loses the scare-off and Grim exorcises him to the Nightmare Realm, where he lands in the nostril of the thorn monster that Billy has now tamed.
"Bully Boogie" contains examples of…
- The Bet: To settle things once and for all, Mandy suggests Grim and Boogie take turns scaring the same child. Whoever does the best job wins, with Grim saying the loser gets banished to the Nightmare Realm. Boogie fails miserably (as his werewolf form is mistaken for a pet dog), while Grim's rubber duck stunt proves surprisingly effective.
- The Bully: Boogey, of course. According to Grim, he was the worst in their school.Grim: He used to torment all the kids and make us look like idiots!
- Call-Back: When Grim is thinking of a way to pull a prank on Boogey, he comes up with the idea of putting hot sauce in Boogey’s milk. When Mandy comments that there are better ways to get revenge on someone, Grim responds, “Don’t worry, I saw this in the Halloween Special.” Hot sauce in milk was indeed one of the first pranks Mandy tried to set up against Jack O’Lantern in that special.
- Nobody Calls Me "Chicken"!: Parodied. Grim accuses Boogey of being scared to face him, but never outright says the word “chicken” due to a large poultry being in the room at the time.Grim: What’s wrong, Boogey? Are ya… scared like some sort of small, tasty bird?
Boogey: Me? Scared?! I am the essence of Scary itself! Everybody fears The Boogeyman!
Grim: Only until they’re like, eleven. Then they’re mine! - Throw the Dog a Bone: One of the few times Grim wins an undisputed victory. He gets the better of his old bully and sends him packing.
Original Air Date: July 23, 2004
The episode starts with Billy wanting to go to a picnic with everyone but because of the last one they wouldn't (turns out it was Harold wearing a Bigfoot Suit that kidnap Billy). So, Billy starts walking into the woods for a picnic.
As he is walking, he is attacked by feral versions of Yogi and Boo-Boo (from The Yogi Bear Show) to steal his basket. Although, he escapes them by running into a cave. As he gets in deeper, he encounters a door with writing on.
When he reads the writing, a dwarf comes out and after mistaking him for one of the elves takes him inside. After showing him a tour of their mushroom factory, he brings Billy to their King Beardbottom, and presents Billy to him. After hearing that he is an elf, he "inspects" him to make sure. Then, he finds out Billy is a human ,so he gives another tour. After Billy finds out he doesn't like mushrooms and hates the elves, he asks why do they control the mushroom business, so Beardbottom tells the story.
According to his flashback, after the great war of mid-western earth, a meeting was made to discuss what creature should control each food supply, for example, mankind gets to control the hamburger supply, the half-lings get to do the chicken nuggets, and the druids get to control the lentils and soy supply. Then, when Reagan said the dwarves would have to do the cookies, and the elves would have to do the mushrooms, the head elf comes forward and says the dwarves should handle the mushrooms because their muscular build is suited for cutting and cooking mushrooms. Presented with this suggestion, Beardbottom goes along with it. After that, Billy interrupts the flashback by coming inside it, and asks why is Beardbottom mad if he chose to do the mushroom business, so he tells him why. According to him, the elves knew the cookie business would get more money, but the head elf said he didn't. Although, Beardbottom said they did, and they get into an argument.
When Beardbottom gets tired of it, he ends the flashback and gives Billy a mission. He tells him to infiltrate the elves' cookie factory by dressing up like them. Once he is in, he has to turn off the shields, the elves' only defense. After that is achieved, the dwarves would be able to launch their assualt.
Beardbottom shoots him in a cannon to the cookie factory where Billy gets to see Mandy and Grim washing a car as he flies. After finishing the plan, the dwarves get in and attack. A fierce battle is fought (most of it is censored by a video of a pink koala bear licking a eucalyptus leaf because of "younger viewers") with losses on both sides. Because of the devastation, Billy makes a speech saying they should work together, and they do, splitting the profits 60/40. In the end, Billy sings for everyone because of his idea for karaoke. In the end credits, a girl gets to try the new mushroom cookies.
"Here Thar Be Dwarves!" contains examples of…
- Adam Westing: R. Lee Ermey spoofs his history of playing the Drill Sergeant Nasty type, during the Relax-o-Vision and end credit scenes.
- The Comically Serious: Beardbottom in spades. Being voiced by Michael Dorn certainly helps.
- Delayed Reaction: When Billy infiltrates the cookie factory he blatantly asks the elf leader where the forcefield generator is. The leader points to where it is with disinterest while adding "where it's always been" before going back to his conversation. Once Billy walks off though, the leader realizes what he asked and runs after him, being too late to stop him.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Billy's part in the dwarves' plan is to disguise himself as an elf so he can infiltrate their cookie factory undetected and then disable the forcefield keeping the dwarves out.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Billy walks into the flashback to point out the dwarves did in fact choose mushrooms over cookies, and thus asks why they're mad at the elves. The dwarf king explains the elves knew the cookie business was more lucrative and tricked them into accepting mushrooms instead. Later, Billy manages to get the two sides to make peace after a lengthy and disturbing battle by stating, in the end, mushrooms and cookies both get eaten and digested the same way.
- Flashback:
- Parodied when Billy says he wants to go on a picnic. Grim, Mandy, and Gladys each remind him of what the last time he went on a picnic (getting grabbed by Bigfoot) and the exact same scene plays each time. When Harold cues up the flashback, though, we see it from his perspective: putting on a Bigfoot costume before grabbing Billy.
- Beardbottom explains how the elves got the cookie industry and the dwarves were left with the mushrooms. It starts going sideways when Billy wanders into the scene to point out the flaw in Beardbottom's reasoning.Druid 1: Hey, did that kid just step into the flashback?
Druid 2: What manner of sorcery be this?
- Insane Troll Logic: Upon reaching the cave, Billy taunts Yogi and Boo-Boo, claiming they can't get him now.Yogi: He's right, Boo-Boo. We bears are terribly afraid of caves!Boo-Boo: Why are we so lame, Yogi?
- It Tastes Like Feet: The mushrooms taste like people's cats. Using them in cookies doesn't change the taste either.
- Out of Focus: Mandy and Grim have little to no bearing on the plot, only appearing at the beginning, middle, and end of the episode.
- Overly Long Gag: The whole picnic flashback gets repeated four times in a row, with the last one being shown from Harold's perspective.
- Parental Bonus: When Billy reads the door after escaping Yogi and Boo-Boo, one of the writing says "For a good time call…".
- Relax-o-Vision: Right before the big climactic battle, a drill sergeant (voiced by R. Lee Ermey, no less) pops up to explain that this fight will be too much to show younger viewers, so they'll be showing a cute koala instead. Although, at one point it briefly switches back to the battle, much to the drill sergeant’s embarrassment.Drill Sergeant: Whoa! That was entirely my bad! I misread the signals! I knew a guy named Joe. He misread the signals during a combat situation. Now he eats everything through a mechanical straw!
- Riddle for the Ages: Why did Harold feel the need to put on a Bigfoot costume, and abscond off with his son?
- Shout-Out: The elves' shield generator is a direct copy of the tractor beam one from A New Hope.
- The Unreveal: We never see the full battle between the elves and dwarves, just a brief cut-in and the violent aftermath.
- Wimp Fight: The battle between the elves and dwarves eventually ends with this between Beardbottom and the elf leader, both slapping each other while calling each other names until Billy tells them to stop.
