Yes, it's every bit as messed up asthe video game on which it's based.A Saturday Morning cartoon adapted from the side-scrolling action game for the Super Nintendo and Genesis, Earthworm Jim is the saga of Jim, once an ordinary earthworm until a super-suit fell from space, and he crawled inside it and was mutated into a slightly-goofy superhero. With the assistance of his sidekick Peter Puppy (who has a tendency to turn into a hulking purple monster when provoked) and the beautiful Princess What's-Her-Name (who was changed from her typical Distressed Damsel role in the games, with backstory portraying her as a ditzy stereotypical beauty type, into an Action Girl), Jim battles an assortment of oddball villains, including The Evil Queen Pulsating, Bloated, Festering, Sweaty, Pus-Filled, Malformed Slug-For-A-Butt (Princess What's-Her-Name's evil sister); the bird-headed mercenary Psy-Crow; the aptly-named Mad Scientist Professor Monkey-For-A-Head (and his sidekick, Monkey Professor-For-A-Head); Evil The Cat, the diabolical feline ruler of Planet Heck; and Bob the Killer Goldfish.Rife with Post Modernism, this show played with and subverted about five tropes per week. The first season included mid-interval shorts, usually revolving around a brief glimpse of some villain not involved in the main story, but the second season dropped this.
This series provides examples of:
Acting Unnatural: A scientist observes the fibers in an evil sofa that brainwashes people into becoming couch potatoes. Said fibers turn out to be alive, and one of them shouts "We're being watched! Act natural!", followed by the fibers indulging in Not So Innocent Whistling.
Inverted slightly as Peter himself expresses in the first episode he has no control over his Berserk Button induced alter ego and spends most of it trying to apologize vigorously for brutally attacking Jim earlier on.
In the episode "Upholstered Peril" it is revealed Professor Monkey-for-a-Head really hates fruit carts. Why? Because a fruit cart-A STINKING fruit cart-killed his pa!
Bigger on the Inside: Jim's suit, which has tunnels big enough for Jim and Snot to casually crawl through, complete with giant killer security robots wandering them.
Jim: You're right! This IS a violation of the laws of physics! I'll make sure to notify the Physics Police at once!
Brought Down to Normal: relatively speaking, to the extent that a hyper-evolved worm in a super-suit can be: Jim once had his super-suit replaced with one that one that gave him the strength of a normal person. A normal, really big person, as professor Monkey-for-a-Head found out the hard way.
Played more straight in "The Origin Of Peter Puppy" when Jim tries to cure Peter's transformations by disposing of the demonic spirit possessing him. This unfortunately also empowered his anthropomorphic abilities and turned him back into a normal non-anthro dog.
Jim: I think I pulled a stupid...
Brown Note: According to 'Book of Doom', if all of the Reeking Beasts of the Malodoron system see a fondue fork, they will emit a sound that will shatter the universe. Thankfully for the universe, there's one Reeking Beast who's not only near-sighted, but possibly bonkers.
Butterfly of Doom: In "Sword of Righteousness", Jim learns of the eponymous sword's "Portal of Time" ability and decides to play a trick. He hands Peter a penny and tells him to watch Lincoln's face change. He then travels back to the Gettysburg Address and interrupts Lincoln mid-speech, shaving his beard off (to which Lincoln says "That's a big goodbye to my credibility.") When he returns to the present, expecting everything except the penny to the be the same, he instead finds that Peter is now a southern gentleman who looks like Colonel Sanders and Jim himself is now known as "Earthworm Bubba." The sword orders Jim to go back and fix everything, and forbids any further time traveling. The whole fiasco lasts less than two minutes.
Also provides a nasty bit of Fridge Horror when you realize the implication of Peter suddenly being from Dixie: in this timeline, the South won the civil war, and Peter owns a plantation, which likely means that Peter Puppy is a slave owner.
Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Parodied in an episode where, after his super-suit has been swapped for a weaker version, Jim tries various generic ways of gaining super powers (including space radiation and radioactive arachnid bites). One of his attempts is to tell the viewer he will get powers if the audience were to "Believe! Believe and clap very hard!" prompting
Jim: ...Well? Are they clapping?
Peter: A few of 'em, most of them are just changing the channel.
Comically Missing the Point: When Jim and Peter are tied up and left at the mercy of a swarm of flesh-eating ants.
Peter: They'll strip the flesh from your bones in seconds!
Jim: Good thing worms don't have bones! ...wait, that's not going to help, is it?
Cool and Unusual Punishment: Professer Monkey-For-A-Head tried to get another Battery of the Gods, and the gods turned him into a living breadmaker as a result.
Professor Monkey-For-A-Head: Actually, it's kind of handy. If I twist the monkey's tail I can make pumpernickel.
Couch Gag: The many, many variations of the "cow falls on somebody" closing gag. Sometimes it would fall on Jim, sometimes on the villain, sometimes on the very thing Jim spent the entire episode trying to save. And let's not forget the Evil Cow:
Evil cow: You fools. I shall destroy you all. Starting with the lactose-intolerant. Moo moo. Moo.
Death Glare: In "Sword of Righteousness", Jim learns of the "Eye of Truth", which requires him to simply stare at anyone in order to force them to admit their darkest secrets. Jim attempts this on Peter, but Peter thought he was being challenged into a staring contest and unwittingly shoots a Death Glare right back at him.
Jim:(breaks down crying) When I was young, I wet the burrow! Peter: Um... thanks for sharing. Sword: You stink at this magic power stuff, you know.
Later, Jim tries the Eye of Truth again, this time on Psycrow. Psycrow is unaffected and throws an anvil on top of him.
Determinator: Jim in general counts for this, but especially when he's trying to win the Princess' affections.
Earthworm Jim Can Breathe in Space: And so can the entire cast. But they can't breathe underwater, obviously. Even Bob the Killer Goldfish must remain in his bowl.
There was one episode where Evil Jim got hold of a gun that made Evil Twins of anything it hit (he wanted to make duplicates of the sidekicks so he would have some friends); unfortunately, the opposite of an Action Girl isn't particularly useful, and pissed off Evil Peter Puppy becomes a civilized monster. Eventually it was discharged against all the villains; Evil Evil The Cat becomes Good The Cat who neutralizes acid furballs, Evil Professor Monkey-For-A-Head becomes Monkey Professor-For-A-Head (they run away together), Evil Queen Slug-For-A-Butt is an old lady more concerned about knitting, and since evil Jim is already the opposite of Jim blasting him with the gun creates another Jim, lots and lots of other Jims.
Evil Jim: I should warn you, this is going to hurt like the dickens.
Other Villains: We figured.
Evil Jim at one point lampshades the illogical nature of the 'copy that stands for everything the hero doesn't.'
Jim: I've been thinking about this whole "exact opposite" thing. Since I hate losing, YOU must LOVE it! So why not give up right now?
Evil Jim: Oh, don't be so literal-minded.
Evilutionary Biologist: The series two episode "Darwin's Nightmare" revolves around Bob the Goldfish's trying to "evolve" himself into a higher lifeform, recognizing that his fishy body is a physical limitation in his particular line of work. What makes this a bit strange is the fact that Doug TenNapel, is a creationist and the fact that Bob talks like a caricature of a fire 'n' brimstone Southern Baptist preacher (with a slight Mexican accent).
Bob: Ah still believah that fish are the highest form of life, but I gotta get me some arms and legs!
Comes complete with Evolutionary Levels; Bob goes from a goldfish to a giant lungfish to a T-rex to a human to a human with a giant skull-piercing brain, super-intelligence & psychic powers and finally ends up a goldfish again.
Expository Theme Song: "Earthworm Jim! Through soil he did crawl / Earthworm Jim! A super suit did fall ..."
Jim: Quick, little buddy! Whip me! Whip me! Peter: ...I beg your pardon? Jim: I mean use me as a whip! Peter:Oh! Right!
Gone Horribly Right: Bob has this happen to him on numerous occasions, especially in the mid-intervals. Two of the more notable examples are when he finally manages to make his fishy minions intelligent enough to understand him by mutating them to have giant brains (they become intelligent enough to realise he is a dangerous megalomaniac who must be destroyed and blast him with psychic powers) and when he tries giving them an actual demonstration of what he means by destroying things (a bigger fish leaps out and starts beating him up).
The Guards Must Be Crazy: Jim, Peter and Snot sneak into a research facility to get Jim's suit back by...walking right through the front entrance, past a pair of security guards. And greeting them.
Guard 1: ...did a giant worm, a talking dog and a smiling booger just walk by? Guard 2: Yep. Guard 1: *picks up the phone* Hello, DNA lab? Whatever you guys are doing in there, cut it out!
Jim: EAT DIRT, EVERYBODY IN THE GENERAL VICINITY! *begins shooting wildly* AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
"Note to self: do not throw super-villains at buses full of orphans."
How We Got Here: One episode starts with Psycrow and Professor Monkey-For-A-Head gloating over how they defeated (and taxidermied) Jim, and most of the episode is spent in flashbacks explaining how they got to that point. Turns out their taxidermist was Peter in disguise, and Jim wasn't really taxidermied at all.
Hulking Out: Peter Puppy is a good guy, but if he gets scared or hurt, his monstrous alter ego takes it out on whoever is in the vicinity, which usually is Jim.
Ice Cream Koan: The Master of Wow-Lin, whom Jim claims to have studied under. He spouts nothing but useless platitudes so nonsensical even Jim is quick to realize he's "a senile old bat-nugget"
Brain One: I'm hungry. Brain Two: I'm cold. Brain Three: I'm itchy. Brain Four:Where are the girls?
The fact that they can form coherent sentences makes them advanced for worm brains.
Infinity+1 Sword: The Sword of Righteousness claims to be a legendary powerful sword. Subverted as it turns out none of its wielders have ever won a fight with it.
Interspecies Romance: Jim (male mutated giant Texan Earthworm) insists that he and Princess Whats-Her-Name (female deformed Insektikan — an alien race descended from insects) are a couple. The Princess makes it fairly clear that she is not interested in him and has never given him reason to believe that she is, Jim merely chooses to ignore her denials to fit in with his own delusions, which results in her being more openly irritated by his claims in the second season. There is also Peter Puppy (male Earth dog possessed by a demonic spirit) and Grogamel the Destroyer (female alien) in one first season episode, and Evil the Cat (male demonic feline) and Malice the Dog (female demonic canine) in a surprisingly romantic relationship in one second season episode.
Jerkass: Most of the villains, but Psycrow and the Queen really stand out here.
Madness Mantra: Peter often keeps himself calm by reciting the first few lines of the "Litany Against Fear" from Frank Herbert's Dune
Mad Scientist: Professor Monkey-For-A-Head, and his close associate, Monkey Professor-For-A-Head
Meaningful Name: Pretty Much everyone/thing/where has one of these, whether it's the Boulevard of Acute Discomfort, or Henchrat, or the Orb of Quite Remarkable Power
Whats-Her-Name's name was retconned into being meaningful when a flashback revealed she got her name from being The Unfavorite.
Metaphorgotten: "Superheroes and evil twins go together like peanut butter and...evil peanut butter!"
In the same episode, Peter's interpretive puppet show using condiments describing his Heroic BSOD devolves into something like this, until Peter's just having everybody throw up by dumping the condiments onto the table.
Peter: 'I'm just a sugar, but I'm gonna barf too!' And the jelly! Jelly barf, jelly barf!
Although in one episode, he claimed he was alive before the start of time and would be around when it ended (although didn't adequately back up either of those Badass Boasts with evidence ) so he may yet have a plan. Other than gloat.
Well, he could explain it if someone gave him an orange.
Odd Job Gods: When Jim goes to get a replacement for the Battery of the Gods, he meets the God of Puns, the Goddess of Disco, and the God of Nasal Discharge.
Paper-Thin Disguise: One of Psycrow and Professor Monkey-For-A-Head's plots to steal Jim's suit involves setting up a fake dry cleaners next to his house. Said dry cleaners is just Psycrow's spaceship with a sign on it, and the guy running the front desk is the Professor with a mustache and a cowboy outfit, complete with ludicrously large hat to hide the monkey. The Professor then talks like he normally does, except with added cowboy slang. Then a banana peel falls out of his hat, which he blames on head lice. Jim completely falls for this.
"Hiss, Hiss! Hello, I am a steam pipe. The intruders went that way. Hiss, hiss! Steam!"
Planet of Hats: Almost every planet in the universe is one, from the Planet of Very Tall Things to the Planet of Easily Frightened People (Psycrow loves this planet)
Play Along Prisoner: Jim only stays in prison because he's convinced that all the evil deeds Evil Jim committed were done by a split personality. Once he finds out he really does have an evil twin, he promptly burrows underground and escapes.
Redundant Rescue: In "Sidekicked", as Princess What's-Her-Name insists. Jim seems to be too busy giving a hero monologue to hear her.
Relax-o-Vision: In the opening - just as Peter Puppy's about finished transforming and about to maul Jim, there's a sudden shift to a shot of Jim relaxing in a hammock and napping. It cuts back to a rather mangled Jim after a few seconds.
What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Most of the Galactic Justice League falls under this category (Turns-His-Eyelids-Inside-Out Boy and Zantor, Master of the Flying Toupee, are prime examples of this trope)
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