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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/earthworm_jim_snott_princess_peter.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:350: Earthworm Jim and crew.[[note]]From left to right: [[KillerRabbit Peter Puppy]], [[IdiotHero Earthworm Jim]], [[TeamPet Snott]], and [[WomenAreWiser Princess What's-Her-Name]] [[/note]]]]
3
4->''"Earthworm Jim! We think he's mighty fine!''\
5''Earthworm Jim! A hero for all time!"''
6
7Yes, it's every bit as messed up as [[VideoGame/EarthwormJim the video game on which it's based.]]
8
9A Saturday Morning cartoon adapted from [[VideoGame/EarthwormJim the side-scrolling action game]] for the Super Nintendo and Genesis by Creator/{{Universal}} Cartoon Studios and aired as one of the launch series of Creator/KidsWB, ''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, but turns back if calmed down, usually by tickling) and the beautiful Princess What's-Her-Name (who was changed from her typical DamselInDistress role in the games, with [[AllThereInTheManual backstory]] portraying her as a ditzy stereotypical beauty type, into an ActionGirl), 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 MadScientist 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.
10
11Rife with PostModernism, 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.
12
13Doug Langdale, creator of later Disney series ''WesternAnimation/TheWeekenders'' and ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'', helped bring this show to life, given Doug [=TenNapel=]'s opposition to it (though they both worked together to bring us ''WesternAnimation/ProjectGeeker'' shortly after this show).
14
15[[http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Earthworm-Jim-The-Complete-Series/16727 A DVD set]] of the complete series was released in 2012.
16
17In late 2021, Interplay Entertainment Corp. (which owns the ''Earthworm Jim'' franchise) [[https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/earthworm-jim-animated-tv-series-1235114624/ announced]] that a second animated series, ''Earthworm Jim: Beyond the Groovy'', was in development.
18----
19!This series provides examples of:
20* ActingUnnatural: Jim 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 Whistl|e}}ing.
21* ActionGirl: Princess What's-Her-Name. She's the leader of a ragtag band of rebels and has been trying to overthrow her sister since she was a little girl. She also boasts [[SuperStrength the strength of 100 men]].
22* ActorAllusion: Minor superhero Johnny Dactyl appears in a cloud of blue smoke and attempts a dramatic speech to terrify the villains. Sounds like something Creator/{{Jim Cummings|1952}} [[WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck has done before]].
23* AdaptedOut: There are characters from the original game who never appear in the cartoon, most notably Major Mucus, Chuck and Dr. Duodenum. (Major Mucus did appear in the show's pitch reel, which was used for early Kids WB promos, though.)
24* AffablyEvil: Most of the villains despite their [[CardCarryingVillain card-carrying nature]] possess this to an extent (Evil the Cat especially likes to balance [[VillainsOutShopping movie nights and romantic affairs]] alongside [[ForTheEvulz the torturing of minions and attempted complete and utter destruction of the universe]]).
25* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: In "The Anti-Fish," Evil Jim does a better job of wooing the Princess than Jim ever did.
26* AllMenArePerverts: Jim frequently. One of his "incredibly advanced worm brains" always asks where the girls are. Also, when presented with a birthday cake, Jim excitedly asked if a girl was going to jump out of it. In addition, the episode where Evil Jim used a ray gun to create evil copies of Princess What's-Her-Name and Peter Puppy had Jim exclaim "Ooh, CatFight!" in response to seeing the Princess get into a brawl with her evil twin.
27* AllMythsAreTrue: The Great Worm Spirit Jim prays to eventually becomes a recurring character, as does the legendary Giant Fur Bearing Trout. The Greek Gods show up in one episode as well.
28* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: Jim informs us of the hazards of drinking too much coffee in "Hyper-Psycrow":
29-->'''Jim:''' Before we continue today's mind-numbing adventure, I should point out that if you drink a whole bunch of coffee like Psycrow did, you won't get superpowers. The actual result would be more like this:\
30''[pan to Peter, feeling sick after drinking too much coffee]''\
31'''Peter:''' Ohhh, my head! Feel dizzy! Gonna barf! Death would be a blessing!\
32'''Jim:''' I think I made my point.
33* AndYouWereThere: Appropriately, at the end of "Wizard of Ooze". Upon returning home, Jim and Peter are greeted by the Princess, Walter, the Hamsternator and the GrimReaper.
34-->'''Jim:''' And you were there, Princess... And you and... And you and... You were there too, Specter of Death! And--what are you doing here?\
35'''Grim Reaper:''' Don't worry, It's just a social call.
36* AntiMentor: The Sword of Righteousness claims to be a great sword and tells Jim the he must be taught how to properly wield him in order to truly become a hero. However, once the sword reveals that nobody that has wielded him has ever won a fight, Jim recognizes him as this trope and immediately discard him and all his lessons.
37* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
38** From the second episode, when Evil is making a potion, he says that it will require the most loathsome things in existence: eye of newt, black cat's bone boiled twice at midnight, and a "you may already have won" letter.
39** Later on, a list of evil devices invented by Professor Monkey-for-a-Head starts off normally, but ends with the pay toilet.
40** One episode had Jim fight Queen Slug-for-a-Butt and ask Peter to give him a hammer, an anvil, and a squeaky toy, all of which Jim uses to attack the Queen.
41** We also have this gem from a later episode
42--->'''Peter:''' So to sum up: It's indestructible, we're all doomed, and I don't get a sandwich!
43** The ChristmasEpisode gives us this.
44--->'''Jim:''' Santa's under the Queen's control, Christmas will be ruined, and I won't get my pony!
45** And from the Narrator in "Sword of Righteousness"
46--->'''Narrator:''' Will Jim and Peter be devoured by the killer ants? Will Psy-Crow destroy the Earth? Will the U.S. ever adopt the metric system? (I think not!) Stay tuned to find out!
47* ArtifactOfPower: The Orb of Quite Remarkable Power.
48* AscendedExtra: Peter Puppy is now Jim's right hand man.
49* BadassAdorable: Peter Puppy. A terrifying monster when he's angry, an adorable cartoon animal the rest of the day.
50* BadassSanta: The episode "For Whom The Jungle Bell Tolls" reveals that Santa is actually the Norse God of Judgment. "May the Naughty tremble!"
51** In the same episode, while under the Queen's Mind Control, Santa shows some espionage and gadgetry knowledge, attempting to destroy Jim with "The Kissing Ball of Death" which Jim averts, then steps on.
52* BangFlagGun: In "Bring Me the Head of Earthworm Jim", after Jim gets the weak suit:
53-->'''Jim:''' Eat dirt, nefarious--\
54''[Jim pulls the trigger, and a flag pops out of the gun. It says, "YOU LOSE, WORM"]''\
55'''Jim:''' ...Whoa.
56* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: All of the characters, but Jim and Peter most prominently. However, they can't breathe underwater, obviously. Even Bob the Killer Goldfish must remain in his bowl.
57* BatmanColdOpen: With rare exceptions, all episodes open this way. Season 1 episodes used villains who weren't antagonists in the main story, but Season 2 reversed this.
58* BattleDiscretionShot: So many, no surprise as this is a mid '90s action-comedy show.
59** A particularly zany one happens in "Conqueror Worm" where Jim and Evil Jim fight behind the back wall of a shopping mall that contains stores that sell chainsaws, baseball bats, and killer bees.
60** Just before a battle between Jim and hundreds of Zurbs in "The Egg-Beater":
61--->'''News Anchor:''' News flash, costs of cartoons skyrocket, animators seek cheap substitutes for huge action sequences.\
62'''Jim:''' ''[having defeated the entire army]'' What a HUGE action sequence!
63* BerserkButton: Peter had lots of these.
64** {{Inverted|Trope}} slightly as Peter himself expresses in the first episode he has no control over his BerserkButton induced alter ego and spends most of it trying to apologize vigorously for brutally attacking Jim earlier on.
65** In the episode "Upholstered Peril" it is revealed Professor Monkey-for-a-Head really, REALLY hates fruit carts. Why? [[spoiler:Because a fruit cart -- A STINKING fruit cart -- killed his pa!]]
66* BestialityIsDepraved: After Jim defeats a wild ape in "Peanut of the Apes",
67-->'''Woman:''' (walks up) Excuse me. That ape was my husband.
68-->'''Peter:''' (disgusted) [[NoAccountingForTaste No accounting for taste.]]
69-->'''Woman:''' No, he WAS my husband, and then he turned INTO an ape. [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman I mean, I guess he's still my husband. I... just won't be able to take him to the PTA meetings now.]]
70* BewareTheNiceOnes: [[OhCrap Never, ever piss Peter Puppy off]], doing so proves you're TooDumbToLive.
71-->'''Jim:''' I have one thing you don't have: a sidekick!\
72''[accidentally smacks Peter in the face, causing him to transform]''\
73'''Jim:''' ...Not that this is necessarily a good thing. ''[cue beatdown]''
74* BigBallOfViolence: Whenever Jim fights Peter's Monster form. Also in the episode "Trout" when Jim fights Queen Slug-For-A-Butt.
75* BigEater: Princess What's-Her-Name, to go along with her ActionGirl status. She doesn't crave food, but whenever she has it (especially on a "date" with Jim) she eats ravenously.
76* BiggerOnTheInside: Jim's suit, which has tunnels big enough for Jim and Snott to casually crawl through, complete with giant killer security robots wandering them.
77-->'''Jim:''' You're right! This IS a violation of the laws of physics! I'll notify the Physics Police at once!
78* BigNo: This has been said by Jim when Peter plays with Jim's suit controls in the cold opening of "Sword of Righteousness".
79** He even said this when he was effectively stripped of his hero status and demoted to sidekick in "Lounge Day's Journey Into Night".
80** Peter even said this when Jim lets in Morty & Eileen to sing a rendition of the show's theme song at the end in that same episode.
81* BlamingTheTools: Inverted in "Sword of Righteousness" where Jim becomes the chosen wielder of the titular sword who berates him with every failure, making him feel worthless. However, when the sword reveals that nobody who wielded it ever won a fight, Jim realizes the problem is the sword itself rather than him, prompting him to discard the sword and go back to how he usually fights.
82* BlessedWithSuck: Peter Puppy has a form of this. The spirit possessing him grants him intelligence and anthromophism, at the cost of going OneWingedAngel if anything pisses off, hurts, or scares him. One episode has him cured of this - reverting him to a normal, non-talking puppy - but he gains it back in order to save Jim's life.
83* BoisterousWeakling: The Sword of Righteousness is a hopeless bag of douche who has clearly never won a fight before, yet he still thinks he can somehow boss the real heroes (Earthworm Jim) around. "NOW, JIM. EXPLOIT HIS WEAKNESSES! SUMMON THE WARRIOR WITHIN! FEEL THE BURN! DESTROY HIM WITH HIS OWN EVIL!"
84* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Jim's four brains. Their thoughs are "I'm hungry", "I'm cold", "I'm itchy", and "Where are the girls?!", respectively.
85* BriefAccentImitation:
86** In the episode "Upholstered Peril", there is a scene where Jim blasts an evil killer beanbag using his ray gun, then using a bowl to catch all of the beans from the beanbag. Peter has been zombified into a couch potato, so Jim encourages him to eat healthier by giving him the beans. Jim says with a Southern drawl, "Here, little buddy! Try some RAY-FRIED BEANS. Them's good eatin'!"
87** Several episodes seem to wish that Jim kept his Texan accent from the video game:
88--->'''Jim:''' That'll learn ya... (Sidekicked, Opposites Attack)\
89'''Jim:''' [[OhMyGods Vaya con Juevos]], ya ornery varmint! (Darwin's Nightmare)
90* BroughtDownToNormal:
91** 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 gave him the strength of an ordinary person. An ordinary, really big person, as Professor Monkey-for-a-Head found out the hard way.
92** 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. The spirit was unfortunately also the source of his intelligence and anthropomorphism, and its exorcism turned him back into a normal non-anthro dog.
93--->'''Jim:''' Looks like I pulled a stupid...
94* BreakingTheFourthWall:
95** One of the gags involves a RealityBreakingParadox 'destroying' the cartoon universe, removing all colours and inking and reducing the 'surviving' characters to sketches. Thankfully, the writers/animator will helpfully restore the universe afterwards. On at least one occassion, Jim and Peter are seen sending a something by mail to the animation staff as thanks for restoring their universe so the show can go on.
96** Sometimes Jim or Peter would turn and address the audience with an AsideGlance.
97* BrownNote: 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.
98* BuffySpeak: Very common among just about all the characters.
99** "The men are all over me like bugs on... uh... what is that thing bugs like?"
100** "I will crush you like... some easily crushed thing!"
101** "Come back and face me like a... big... worm-thingy!"
102** '''Professor Monkey-For-A-Head:''' "Now I'll freeze you as solid as... uh... a solid, freezy-frozen thing."\
103'''Monkey Professor-For-A-Head:''' "[[IntelligibleUnintelligible Oook oook eeek]]!"\
104'''Professor Monkey-For-A-Head:''' "Oh right. Thank you! A block of ice!"
105* ButterflyOfDoom: 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.
106* CaptainObvious: Many conversations throughout the entire Earthworm Jim TV series revolve around this trope, with characters comically stating the obvious. (Earthworm Jim sees Psycrow's brain) "PSYCROW'S BEHAVIORAL CONTROL CENTER!"
107* CardboardPrison: Lampshaded by Peter in "Opposites Attack," who questions why they don't throw villains into a jail that will hold them longer than two months with paper-thin security. Jim simply demands not to have his tactics questioned.
108* {{Catchphrase}}:
109** "Guh-roovy!"
110** "EAT DIRT, [Blank]! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
111** "By the Great Worm Spirit" ([[MadLibsCatchphrase et cetera...]])
112** In Season 2: "Don't question me..."
113*** Also: "Get off my back, man!"
114** Peter's MadnessMantra for when things get ''really'' bad: "[[Franchise/{{Dune}} I must not fear, fear is the mind killer, fear is the little death that brings total oblivion.]]"
115** Evil has "A minor setback..."
116** Bob has "Destroy! DESTROY!" which never succeeds in getting his minions to actually destroy anything.
117** Princess What's-Her-Name has "What do you mean, 'relationship'?" whenever Jim brings it up. His response is to laugh it off as if it were a joke.
118* CatsAreMean: Evil the Cat in the UnsympatheticComedyProtagonist category.
119* ChekhovsGag: The episode "Trout!" has Jim fighting a nutlog that's too hard to eat, and even withstands his laser blasts. Later, he's trying to find a way to get Queen Slug-For-A-Butt to stop shooting lasers at him with her scepter. Peter says the scepter is made out of the hardest substance in the universe. Jim corrects him that there is something harder. He throws the nutlog, which breaks her scepter.
120* ChewingTheScenery: The end of Peter Puppy's rant about Jim being wrongfully imprisoned. "The TWIIILIGHT OF THE CONNNDIMENTS...WEEP for them, WEEP FOR THEIR SORROWWWWWWW-HO-HO-HOHHHHHW!!!"
121* ChristmasEpisode: Also the last episode.
122* CityOfAdventure: Lampshaded by two bystanders who witness the rampage of a giant Psy-Crow on Terlawk in "Sword of Righteousness". One of them says it might be because of something he painted on a space probe when he worked for NASA. Said probe actually reads: "Hey stupid aliens! I dare ya to destroy Terlawk".
123* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: 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 [[ComicBook/FantasticFour space radiation]] and [[ComicBook/SpiderMan radioactive arachnid bites]]). One of his attempts is to [[NoFourthWall tell the viewer]] he will get powers if the audience were to "Believe! Believe and clap very hard!" prompting
124-->'''Jim:''' ...Well? Are they clapping?\
125'''Peter:''' A few of 'em, most of them are just changing the channel.
126* CloseEnoughTimeline: The universe gets destroyed, but is quickly rebuilt... except the main character in ''Theatre/DeathOfASalesman'' is now named Urkel.
127* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: Jim is only sentient because of the energy from his suit mutating him from being an ordinary annelid. Although the boost to size and intellect is permanent, all of his strength, firepower and physical abilities are due to his suit.
128* [[{{Cloudcuckooland}} Cloud Cuckoo Galaxy]]: Everyone gets one or two {{Cloudcuckoolander}} moments, though most of them get saved for Earthworm Jim.
129* ComedicHero: Earthworm Jim being the IdiotHero implies this.
130* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When Jim and Peter are tied up and left at the mercy of a swarm of flesh-eating ants in "The Sword of Righteousness".
131-->'''Peter:''' They can strip the flesh from your bones in ''seconds!''\
132'''Jim:''' Good thing worms don't have bones! Wait... That won't really help, will it?
133* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Professor Monkey-For-A-Head tried to get another Battery of the Gods, and the gods turned him into a living breadmaker as a result.
134-->'''Professor Monkey-For-A-Head:''' Actually, it's kind of handy. If I twist the monkey's tail, I can make pumpernickel.
135* CouchGag: 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 from "Opposites Attack":
136-->'''Evil Cow:''' You fools. I shall destroy you all. Starting with the lactose-intolerant. Moo moo. Moo.
137* CrackOhMyBack: Lower Back Pain Man.
138* CreatorCameo: [[spoiler:The Great Worm Spirit's true form, revealed in "Hyper-Psycrow", turns out to be Doug [=TenNapel=].]] [[spoiler:This is even lampshaded when he brings up the ending credits to prove it. He's actually voiced by Creator/JeffBennett, however, and not the real [=TenNapel=].]]
139* CutawayGag: "We now interrupt Earthworm Jim for three seconds of dancing turtles" (turtles pop out and sing a few bars of a classical tune) "We now return to Earthworm Jim".
140** For added fun, these are usually done with absolutely no provocation or lead-in whatsoever.
141* DamselOutOfDistress: Though Jim will never admit it, Princess What's-Her-Name rarely needs to be saved. In fact, Jim and Peter sometimes need [[EmbarrassingRescue HER help]] to get out of a jam. The only time she was legitimately captured was at the hands of her sister, Queen Slug-For-a-Butt, who'd been fighting her for years and could match her {{Insect|oidAlien}}ikette strength.
142* DeadGuyOnDisplay: In the episode "Bring Me the Head of Earthworm Jim", Psy-Crow and Professor Monkey-For-A-Head reminisce about defeating such heroes as "the mighty Ultra Walrus", "the heroic Captain Giraffe", and Earthworm Jim himself, all of whom they've kept as mounted heads on their wall. Naturally, Jim turns out to be a subversion, since he's just pretending to have been defeated and is biding his time until he can recover his supersuit from them.
143* DeadpanSnarker: Psy-Crow. Also, Earthworm Jim being more of an {{Cuckoosnarker}} on occasion and Peter Puppy - ''especially'' in the second season.
144** [[ServileSnarker He's still pretty loyal.]]
145* DeathGlare:
146** 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 DeathGlare right back at him.
147--->'''Jim:''' ''[breaks down crying]'' When I was young, I wet the burrow!\
148'''Peter:''' Um... thanks for sharing.\
149'''Sword:''' You ''stink'' at this magic power stuff, you know.
150** Later, Jim tries the Eye of Truth again, this time on Psycrow. Psycrow is unaffected and throws an anvil on top of him.
151** Also in "Book of Doom", when Peter makes a highly inappropriate comment about the tape player and Jim is about to snatch it out of his hands.
152* DemocracyIsBad: In one episode, Jim helps Princess What's-Her-Name liberate her homeworld and institute free elections. However, the populace shallowly votes [[BeautyEqualsGoodness based on appearance]], and by insect standards, the Princess is ''hideous'' and her evil slug-for-a-butt sister is considered far more attractive.
153* {{Determinator}}: Jim in general counts for this, but especially when he's trying to win the Princess' affections.
154* DisabilityImmunity: Jim cannot be defeated by really bad sounds or smells, as [[FurryReminder he has no ears or nose]]. Overlaps with ForgotICouldFly as this rarely comes into effect until one of the characters explicitly mentions this. Note that this [[MST3KMantra doesn't ever stop Jim from being able to hear or smell normally]].
155* DistaffCounterpart: Evil the Cat gets one... in Malice the Dog.
156* DoesNotLikeSpam: Peter ''really'' hates haggis ever since he learned how it is made. At one point, he's turned into a haggis, much to his dismay.
157* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Peter's angsting over being fired from being Jim's sidekick in the series' first episode is reminiscent of a person taking a breakup very hard.
158* DontFearTheReaper: Death, in his standard "Grim Reaper" garb, becomes an affable semi-regular character in the second season of the show, first appearing in "Opposites Attack" lamenting that Jim survives jumping a chasm on his Wormcycle ("Dangit, I was sure I had 'im that time!"). Later on he becomes "The Tin Reaper" in the episode "Wizard of Ooze" taking departed souls to the mall of eternity, secretly coveting the free frozen yogurt the eternals enjoy. He later appears as himself in Jim's house in the same episode, assuring Jim "Don't worry it's just a social call". Finally, he appears among a variety of mythical characters in "For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls" expressing jealousy over Santa Claus being everyone's favorite.
159* DoomyDoomsOfDoom: Jim loves these.
160-->'''Jim:''' We're ''doomed!'' ''Doomed'', I tell ya! ''Doomed'', in case you aren't paying attention! '''DOOOOMED!!!''' ("Peanut of the Apes")
161* DropTheCow: Literally, OncePerEpisode, also the {{Trope Maker|s}}. Even {{lampshade|Hanging}}d when he told Psycrow that there would not be a HereWeGoAgain ending [[BreakingTheFourthWall in his show]]. Psycrow asked what Jim would prefer as an alternative and he drops the cow.
162* DumbMuscle: The [[BuffoonishTomcat slow Number 4]] who holds Bob's goldish bowl being an prime example out of many muscular cats.
163* EasilyConqueredWorld: Evil Jim manages this in "Conqueror Worm" in apparently just a couple of days, not only by curbstomping the military, but also by going straight to the President of the USA:
164-->'''Evil Jim:''' Make you a deal! Vote me king and I won't blast you all to atoms!\
165'''President:''' A... all in favor?\
166'''Congressmen:''' Aye!!
167* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: Evil the Cat wants to invoke this on the ''entire universe'' whenever he appears, but never considers what he wants to do after. He does come close more than once.
168** Jim and Psycrow actually managed to destroy the universe by accident when fighting while powered up in "Hyper-Psycrow". Luckily, it was easily undone.
169* EnemyMine: Occassionally, Jim and his friends will team up with their enemies to take on a greater threat.
170** In "The Anti-Fish," Jim and Peter have to work with Bob and Number 4 to save the Great Worm Spirit and the whole universe. This is only after the titular villain betrays Bob, and Bob realizes that he can't rule a universe if its destroyed.
171** In "The Exile of Lucy," the Princess is forced to go to a deposed Queen Slug-for-a-Butt to stop Psy-Crow and Professor Monkey-For-A-Head.
172--->'''Narrator:''' Oh, the irony!\
173'''Princess:''' Stop rubbing it in!
174* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Well, it's a lot easier than always having to say "Princess What's-Her-Name".
175* EverythingsLouderWithBagpipes: In one episode, where Bob's attempts to waken the Anti-Fish with methods involving shouting at him really loud, banging him repeatedly on the eye with a big mallet, and cramming dynamite in his mouth before setting it off have failed, Bob muses that they need a noise so horrible it can wake the dead. He then promptly orders #4 to fetch some bagpipes. When the episode cuts back to them, with #4 collapsing from exhaustion and the Anti-Fish still fast asleep, Bob disgustedly proclaims that it's pointless to keep trying, since "if the bagpipes won't wake him, then nothing will".
176* EvilTwin: Evil Jim.
177** 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 ActionGirl isn't particularly useful, and pissed off Evil Peter Puppy (who ''loves'' haggis) becomes a civilized monster. Eventually it was discharged against all the villains; Evil The Cat becomes Good The Cat who has antacid 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.
178--->'''Jim(s):''' Evil doers. Prepare to be horribly mutilated!\
179'''Evil Jim:''' Um, I should warn you, this is gonna smart like the dickens.\
180'''Other Villains:''' We figured.
181** Evil Jim at one point lampshades the illogical nature of the 'copy that stands for everything the hero doesn't.'
182--->'''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?\
183'''Evil Jim:''' Oh, don't be so literal-minded.
184* EvilutionaryBiologist: The episode "Darwin's Nightmare" revolves around Bob the Killer 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 Creator/DougTenNapel 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).
185-->'''Bob:''' Ah still believah that fish are the highest form of life, but I gotta get me some arms and legs!
186** Comes complete with EvolutionaryLevels; 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.
187* ExpositoryThemeSong: "Earthworm Jim! Through soil he did crawl / Earthworm Jim! A super suit did fall ..."
188* [[FantasticVoyagePlot Fantastic Voyage Scene]]: The intro to ''The Book Of Doom,'' [[HoistByHisOwnPetard unfortunately for Psycrow...]]
189* FantasyPantheon: There's the [[PowersThatBe Great]] [[TheMaker Worm]] [[AuthorAvatar Spirit]], the [[TheAntiGod Anti]]-[[EldritchAbomination Fish]], [[{{Satan}} Evil the Cat]] and even the OddJobGods standing in for the Greek pantheon.
190* FelonyMisdemeanor:
191** Apparently condiment theft is a truly atrocious crime in the Earthworm Jim universe.
192** In "Opposites Attack" Jim blows up a waitress with his ray gun for the heinous crime of not washing her hands before leaving the restroom.
193* FieryRedhead: Princess What's-Her-Name.
194* FingerInABarrel: Jim does this to Henchrat in "The Egg Beater" episode. It causes the cheese gun to explode backwards on Henchrat.
195* FluffyTheTerrible: In "the Great Secret of the Universe" Evil the Cat unleashes a beast of Lovecraftian proportians who he believes is known as "The Nameless Beast". The beast corrects him by revealing his true name: [[Film/CitizenKane Rosebud]].
196* ForWantOfANail: In "Sword of Righteousness", Jim decides to test the titular sword's time-traveling powers by shaving Abe Lincoln's beard. When he returns, Peter is dressed like Colonel Sanders and Jim is now "Earthworm Bubba". [[note]]The implication being that Lincoln's beard being shaved off caused the Confederacy to win.[[/note]]
197* TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: Psycrow and Professor Monkey-For-A-Head capture Jim at one point by threatening the narrator.
198* FurryReminder: Jim admits he wet the burrow when he was young and is seen eating dirt in an episode.
199* GoKartingWithBowser: In "The Exile of Lucy," the heroes play poker with Bob, who promised not to try to destroy anyone.
200* GoneHorriblyRight: Bob has this happen to him on numerous occasions, especially in the mid-intervals.
201** One of the more notable examples is 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).
202** He also tries giving the minions an actual demonstration of what he means by destroying things (a bigger fish leaps out and starts beating him up).
203** The episode "Exile of Lucy" has Queen Slug-For-A-Butt dethroned by her henchmen for having no compassion for others. She is exiled to earth where she makes friends with Jim's NosyNeighbor and returns, having learned her lesson about friendship, only to kick her henchman off the throne herself.
204** In one episode, Evil Jim decides to make Evil twins of Jim's closest friends. Of course, while Evil Peter Puppy is a dangerous thug, Evil Peter's monster-form is an intelligent good guy who mauls the bad guys. Likewise, Evil-Princess What's-Her-Name is a brainless bimbo. Evil Jim realized that making the exact opposite of a fearless warrior may not have been the best idea.
205* GrievousHarmWithABody: In "The Egg Beater" episode, Jim gets Henchrat's cheese gun to backfire, causing Henchrat to be covered in quickly hardened cheese. Jim then uses Henchrat's body to flatten Evil The Cat into the ground.
206* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: 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.''
207-->'''Guard 1:''' ...did a giant worm, a talking dog and a smiling booger just walk by?\
208'''Guard 2:''' Yep.\
209'''Guard 1:''' ''[picks up the phone]'' Hello, DNA lab? Whatever you guys are doing in there, ''cut it out!''
210* HeavyVoice: Princess What's-Her-Name gets one after being subject to Professor Monkey-For-A-Head's Fatomic Ray Gun.
211* HereWeGoAgain: Subverted at the end of "Hyper Psy-Crow" Psy-Crow tries to do this, but Jim says otherwise--opting for DropTheCow.
212* HeroicBSOD: Peter has a hilariously over-the-top breakdown after Jim turns himself in to the police. Before, he underwent a similarly-exaggerated one when Jim rejected him as a sidekick.
213* HeroicComedicSociopath
214-->'''Jim:''' EAT DIRT, EVERYBODY IN THE VICINITY! ''[begins shooting wildly]'' [[LaughingMad AHAHA HAHAHA HAHAHA!!!!]]
215** "Note to self: do not throw super-villains at buses full of orphans".
216*** Don't worry. The orphans were fine.
217* HowWeGotHere: 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. [[spoiler:Turns out their taxidermist was Peter in disguise, and Jim wasn't really taxidermied at all.]]
218* HulkingOut: 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.
219* HurricaneOfEuphemisms: The retirement home where Puce Dynamo, the world's first super hero, lives, as seen in "Hyper-Psycrow", crossing over with PoliticalOvercorrectness:
220-->'''Narrator:''' The Old Superheroes' Home... ''[the world "Old" is crossed out on the front board]'' Sorry, the Elderly... ''["Elderly" is also crossed out]'' No, the Senior... ''[also crossed out; the Narrator gets annoyed at this point]'' Alright, fine, the ''Chronologically Gifted'' Superheroes' Home! Can we ''please'' move on before they come up with a new euphemism?! We can't say anything these days! ''[while he speaks, a carpenter comes over and starts to paint over the words "Chronologically Gifted" on the board]''
221* IAteWhat: Peter has this reaction to eating haggis in the third episode.
222* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Evil Jim's motivation in "Opposites Attack".
223* IceCreamKoan: 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".
224* IdiotHero: Jim is this and has four [[InformedAbility incredibly advanced worm brains]].
225-->'''Brain One:''' I'm hungry.\
226'''Brain Two:''' I'm cold.\
227'''Brain Three:''' I'm itchy.\
228'''Brain Four:''' [[AllMenArePerverts Where are the girls?]]
229** [[ExactWords The fact that they can form coherent sentences makes them advanced for worm brains.]]
230* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Lampshaded in one episode that features a RunningGag where the heroes are attacked at point blank with ridiculous amounts of gunfire, only for the bad guys to miss ''every single shot.'' Every single time it happens, one of the characters will point it out.
231* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Lampshaded in "The Origins of Peter Puppy," where the flashback shows Jim tossing a monstrous Peter into a bus full of orphans. A shot of the bus shows everyone is okay and a disclaimer asks us to note that.
232* InfinityPlusOneSword: The Sword of Righteousness claims to be a legendary powerful sword. [[spoiler:Subverted as it turns out none of its wielders have ever won a fight with it.]]
233* InMediasRes: The show begins with Jim already a superhero; outside the opening titles, it's never explained how the Super Suit got lost and fell to Earth, outside of a line in "Bring Me The Head of Earthworm Jim" where Professor Monkey-For-A-Head states that, as in the first game, Psycrow lost the suit (the circumstances here are unknown, given Major Mucus was AdaptedOut).
234** The ColdOpen at the start of every episode also has Jim and Peter always trapped in some new bizarre situation by one of the villains.
235* InsaneTrollLogic:
236** Jim has this, to the aggravation of his [[OnlySaneMan sidekicks]].
237--->'''Peter:''' How did you find that out?\
238'''Jim:''' The voices in my head told me. (For whom the Jingle Bell Tolls)
239** One episode is partially driven by Jim turning himself into the police and going to jail after finding out that another, more evil-looking worm in a super suit has been committing crimes around Terlawk and coming to the conclusion that he's developed a JekyllAndHyde SplitPersonality (while outright rejecting Peter's theory that he just has an [[EvilCounterpart evil clone.]])
240** In the episode ''The Great Secret of the Universe'' Jim [[ItMakesSenseInContext gives Evil the Cat a snow globe]] because [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext it's exactly what he asked for and he wouldn't tell him what he really needs.]]
241* InsectoidAliens: All natives of the planet Insectica, such as the soldier-caste Zerbs, Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, and Princess What's-Her-Name.
242* InsignificantLittleBluePlanet: One episode had Princess What's-Her-Name angrily write in her notes that there is no intelligent life on Earth after seeing Jim and Peter play with stuff they found in the attic.
243* InsultBackfire:
244-->'''Psy-Crow:''' Face your doom, spineless worm thingy!\
245'''Jim:''' Was that supposed to be an insult? I really ''don't'' have a spine, ya know!
246* IntelligibleUnintelligible: Jim and Peter have no trouble understanding Snot. No one has any trouble understanding Monkey, either.
247* InterspeciesRomance: Jim (male mutated giant Texan Earthworm) insists that he and Princess Whats-Her-Name (female [[CuteMonsterGirl 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 [[UnholyMatrimony surprisingly romantic relationship]] in one second season episode.
248* {{Jerkass}}: Most of the villains, but Psycrow and the Queen really stand out here.
249* KidSidekick: Peter Puppy.
250* KillerRabbit: Again, Peter Puppy, but a heroic variant.
251* KlatchianCoffee: The octuple espresso that gets Psycrow seriously hopped up in "Hyper-Psycrow". It's even labeled "Certain DOOM!" in the espresso machine.
252* LameComeback: "Don't play dumb with me, you... dumb guy".
253* LaughablyEvil: The ENTIRE RoguesGallery is friggin' hilarious.
254* LawyerFriendlyCameo: The ChristmasEpisode "For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls" features one for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, as using him would require paying royalties for The Rudolph Company. He is not named, but it is obvious who he is supposed to be because he has a red nose and bitterly mentions how Santa bars him from the reindeer games and only called for his help because of his nose.
255* {{Leitmotif}}: Bob's is a televangelist type theme song, which plays when he gives his "Destroy! Destroy! Destroyah!" speeches.
256* LemonyNarrator: Present in many episodes, but up to eleven in "The Wizard of Ooze" when he is downright jaded at what's transpiring.
257* ListSong: A ShowWithinAShow included "The Inert Gases Song":
258-->I know which gases are inert\
259Helium, neon and argon\
260I'll sing this song until it hurts\
261Krypton, xenon and radon!
262* LiteralMinded: When Evil Jim proclaims himself to be Jim's exact opposite ("What you love, I hate! What you hate, I love!") Jim tries to throw this back in his face later on.
263-->'''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?\
264'''Evil Jim:''' Oh, don't be so [[LampshadeHanging literal-minded]].
265* MadnessMantra: Peter often tries to keep himself calm by reciting the first few lines of the "Litany Against Fear" from Frank Herbert's ''Franchise/{{Dune}}.'' It rarely works.
266* MadScientist: Professor Monkey-For-A-Head, and his close associate, Monkey Professor-For-A-Head.
267* ManChild: Jim likes to read fuzzy-wuzzy animal pop-up books, collect snow globes, play with junk in the attic, and watch the "Mister Bunny-Butt" show. Sometimes crossed with SkewedPriorities as Jim often cares about saving his [[SecurityBlanket object of immaturity]] more than actually saving the universe.
268* MeaningfulName: 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.
269** Whats-Her-Name's name was {{retcon}}ned into being meaningful when a flashback revealed she got her name from being TheUnfavorite.
270* {{Metaphorgotten}}: "Superheroes and evil twins go together like peanut butter and...''evil'' peanut butter!"
271** In the same episode, Peter's interpretive puppet show using condiments describing his HeroicBSOD devolves into something like this, until Peter's just having everybody throw up by dumping the condiments onto the table.
272--->'''Peter:''' 'I'm just a sugar, but I'm gonna barf too!' And the jelly! Jelly barf, '''jelly barf!'''
273* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: Evil the Cat is more of an OmnicidalManiac that [[DidntThinkThisThrough didn't think past the "destroy the universe" part]].
274** 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 Boast}}s with evidence) so he may yet have a plan. Other than gloat.
275*** Well, he could explain it if someone gave him an orange.
276*** No, wait! An onion!
277* {{Mooks}}: The Queen and the Princess both have an army of "zurbs," identical red-shelled ant-like creatures.
278* MissingStepsPlan:
279-->'''Evil:''' (''EvilLaugh'') Now I shall destroy the universe!\
280'''Henchrat:''' Uh, what we do then, Boss?\
281'''Evil:''' Hmm. ''[eyes widen, {{beat}}]'' I really hadn't thought about it, actually.
282* MorallySuperiorCopy: In "Opposites Attack", Evil Jim makes a ray to create evil copies of Peter Puppy and Princess Whats-Her-Name in order to have a team of his own against Jim which eventually lead to the capture of the heroes whom he presents to the other villains. When he does so though, he drops his ray and accidentally zaps all of the villains, creating copies of them that are nicer and morally heroic (except for the copy of Professor Monkey-for-a-head, whose copy is just swapped personality of his two minds with the monkey acting like the professor and the professor acting like the monkey). In the end, Jim gets a hold of the ray and zaps Evil Jim with it a few times, resulting in multiple heroic Earthworm Jims. Evil Jim [[ThisIsGonnaSuck realizes how much trouble he and the other villains are in]].
283* MostDefinitelyNotAVillain: Such dialogue usually accompanies Evil the Cat's [[PaperThinDisguise paper-thin disguises]].
284** [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial "Did I mention I'm not a cat?"]]
285* MustHaveCaffeine: Psycrow in "Hyper-Psycrow", after drinking a lethally high dose of espresso. This makes him quite a match to Jim.
286* MythologyGag:
287** When Evil Jim creates an evil clone of the Princess she has the exact same personality as the Princess from the original video games.
288** As in the end of the first game, the first episode ends with a cow being dropped on the Princess.
289** In the promo for the new cartoon, Jim mentions he was in rehab [[UnreliableNarrator for a little while]] (the screen freezes and diplays the text "25 Years"). The promo was released in 2021, 25 years after the original cartoon ended.
290%%* {{Narrator}}
291* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands:
292** From "The Origins of Peter Puppy," the Earthworm Mindmeld.
293--->'''Peter:''' You just made that up, didn't you?\
294'''Jim:''' Don't question me.
295** Jim likes to show off his suit's abilities in the openers, everything from [[EasilyDetachableRobotparts modular floating limbs]], [[AllBalloonsHaveHelium to inflatable rip-chords]], to [[SwissArmyWeapon Swiss-Army Claws]]. Though these tactics often suffer from [[CriticalExistenceFailure Critical Existence Failure]] despite how useful they look.
296** When Peter is given the suit, he finds other functions that not even Jim is aware of, such as gelatin moulds.
297* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Creator/JeffBennett's voice as the narrator is a take on Creator/JohnCleese; he'd use essentially the same voice as the narrator in another Doug Langdale show, ''WesternAnimation/DaveTheBarbarian'', as [[DirtyCoward Lord Bravery]] in ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}''[[note]]one episode had Freakazoid threatening to replace his own narrator with the one from this show; weirdly enough, Bennett was present in that scene, but as Cave Guy[[/note]] and as [[JustLikeRobinHood Angry Archer]] in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''.
298* NoFourthWall: The characters quite freely realize they're in a TV show -- not only does [[InteractiveNarrator the narrator get involved with the plot at times]], but they sometimes [[ReadingAheadinTheScript check the script]], comment on their budget or ratings, etc.
299* NonSequiturThud: After Peter goes back to normal once, when Jim and Evil Jim kept throwing his monstrous form at each other:
300-->'''Peter:''' Who is the master who makes the grass green? ''[thud]''
301* NoodleIncident:
302** In the second episode, Peter says that their front door was reinforced after an incident with an old lady from UNICEF.
303** How Jim and Peter wind up in nasty situations seen in {{The Teaser}}s.
304** According to "Hyper Psy-Crow," Psy-Crow fought in the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar and was pulled into a foxhole by the Great Worm Spirit.
305* NoPlansNoPrototypeNoBackup: Subverted. Unlike in the games (where the monkey ate the blueprints), Professor Monkey-For-A-Head can replicate the super suit at will. It's just that he can't power the damn thing without another [[ForgedByTheGods Battery of the Gods]] and when he went to them to try and get a new one, they turned him into a bread maker.
306* NoseNuggets: Take a guess as to what Snott is.
307* NosyNeighbor: In "The Egg-Beater" Mrs. Bleveredge, Jim's next-door neighbor demands Jim return the Egg-Beater he borrowed, only to become a ChewToy as Jim takes her from planet to planet in search of it.
308** She returns in the episode "Exile of Lucy" becoming friends with Queen Slug-For-A-Butt. The very next episode "Hyper Psy-Crow" shows her sitting in a throne to the right of the Queen.
309* NotADate:
310** Princess What's-Her-Name's usual response when she's out with Jim, sometimes taken to extremes.
311--->'''Princess:''' What do you mean, "relationship"? (Queen What's-Her-Name)\
312'''Princess:''' Hey! You don't own me! (The Anti-Fish)
313** In "Bring Me the Head of Earthworm Jim" Jim attempts to set up an elaborate date for himself and the Princess, when the Princess merely invited him out for pizza.
314* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Creator/DanCastellaneta's interpretation of Jim lacks the thick southern drawl of his games counterpart, replacing it with a cliched [[LargeHam hammy]] superhero dialect.
315* NoYou: In "Bring Me the Head of Earthworm Jim", Psy-Crow turns Jim's own battle cry against him once he gets the Super Suit:
316-->'''Psy-Crow:''' This time, it is ''you'' who will eat dirt.
317* ObstructiveBureaucrat: [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] in one episode, when Jim thwarts Evil the Cat's [[ItMakesSenseInContext summoning of a giant clown to destroy the universe]] by calling the "Department of Apocalyptic Affairs"; a bureaucrat then drives up and serves the clown with directions to a form for a permit needed to destroy the universe. The form itself is a giant stack of paper, and the guy wants it done in triplicate; the clown then walks off, dejected at the thought of having to fill out "3 billion years" worth of paperwork.
318* ObfuscatingInsanity: A scene from the "Sword of Righteousness" episode. Jim gets sent flying all the way into outer space by a giant golf club. Up there in outer space, right above Earth, there is a spaceship crew worker chatting with one of his crew mates on the spaceship.
319-->"You know, after a few days in space, some people see strange things but, not me, pal. ''[Jim flies by screaming]'' Like, uh... just now, for instance. I definitely did NOT see a big worm. ''[Jim [[RubberyWorld bounces off of a pair of rubbery planetary rings]] and flies by screaming again]'' NOTHIN' HERE IN SPAAAACE, NO SIRREE, LALALALALALA!"
320* OddFriendship: [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Queen Slug-for-a-Butt]] and [[NosyNeighbor Mrs. Bleveredge]].
321* OddJobGods: 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.
322* OffToSeeTheWizard: "The Wizard of Ooze".
323* OmnicidalManiac: Evil The Cat's ultimate goal is the destruction of the universe, often in ridiculous ways, such as using a [[DreadfulMusician particularly bad lounge singing act]].
324* OncePerEpisode:
325** Most episodes have Peter Puppy turning into a monster whenever he gets hurt or scared.
326** Every episode ends with a cow falling from the sky for no reason. It usually lands on Jim.
327* OneShotCharacter: Grayson, immediately dubbed as "Terlawk's Resident Boy Genius and President of the Earthworm Jim Fan Club" only appears in the episode "Upholstered Peril," conveniently providing scientific explanations for the evil furniture, and subbing for Peter, who is turned into a zombified couch potato.
328* [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman / Dog]]: Princess What's-Her-Name and Peter Puppy.
329* OrificeInvasion: After Jim and Peter are shrunk down to microscopic size by Psycrow's "[[DescriptionPorn Professor Monkey-for-a-Head's patented Reducing Cream in lotion or ointment form"]], guess how they stop him? Jim uses the Pocket Rocket to fly straight into his right ear canal, which contains [[GrossUpCloseUp literal object representations of ear bones]]. Psycrow's reaction: [[ChewingTheScenery "GAHHHHHHHH!!! WORM IN HEAD. WORRM INN HEADDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"]]
330* OurPresidentsAreDifferent: The president of the United States of America is this in the series. Whenever the characters become confused at how different he is, [[LampshadeHanging he explicitly points out in every episode he appears in]] to be "''one of those generic presidents TV shows use to keep from being dated''".
331* OverlyLongName: The Queen's full name is Queen Bloated, Pulsating, Festering, Sweaty, Pus-Filled, Malformed, Slug-For-A-Butt, which is said in full at least once in every episode she's in.
332* PaperThinDisguise: One of Psy-Crow 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 Psy-Crow's spaceship with a sign on it (it even says "Not Psy-Crow's Space Scow" at the bottom), 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 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.
333** From "Assault and Battery":
334--->'''Jim:''' Hiss, Hiss! Hello, I am a steam pipe. The intruders went that way. Hiss, hiss! Steam!\
335'''Sentry robot inside Jim's suit:''' Thanks, pal. ''[shakes Jim and runs off]''
336** From "Hyper Psy-Crow":
337--->'''Peter:''' Aren't you going to remove your helmet in the presence of a lady?\
338'''Psycrow:''' A lady?\
339'''Peter:''' Okay, okay, a dog in a dress! Just take off your helmet, pinhead!\
340''[Psycrow shrugs, but complies]''
341** Lampshaded in "The Great Secret of the Universe". Evil the Cat tries several paper thin disguises, until he gets frustrated and appears at Jim's door as himself using the direct approach. Jim then naively does exactly what he wants.
342* ParentalBonus: Peter reading a framed letter from [[UsefulNotes/HarryTruman President Truman]]. "Thank you for your kind offer to end UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, but we have a [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsofHiroshimaandNagasaki bomb]] we wanna try out".
343* PeltsOfTheBarbarian: Jim comes across the Sword of Righteousness, which tries to encourage Jim to dress like a real hero, which includes viking style furry clothes as well as a wig. [[spoiler:Then it turns out the sword doesn't know what it's doing, and always failed to help a hero win a fight.]]
344* PerformanceArtist: Peter Puppy has used interpretative dance, splatter paint puppetry and poetry recital to describe his inner sadness.
345* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Instead of fight evil, the Galactic Justice League would rather goof off or play poker (especially when Bob is $4 ahead).
346* PlaceWorseThanDeath: Jim searches a book about hideously dangerous places.
347-->'''Jim:''' The Pit of Unimaginable Fear...? No... The Cavern of Flesh-Ripping Weasels? No. Detroit? No.
348* PlanetOfHats: 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).
349* PlayAlongPrisoner: Jim only stays in prison because he's convinced that all the evil deeds [[EvilTwin 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.
350* PreAsskickingOneLiner: Jim's assorted variants on his "Eat dirt!" line.
351* PrecisionFStrike: A minor case, but when Psycrow is about to get hit by a train, he says "[[OhCrap Maximum suckage!]]".
352* {{Prequel}}: Parodied in one of the intermissions that shows a preview of ''Young Earthworm Jim'', about Jim's many adventures before he had the super suit.
353* PrisonEpisode: "Conqueror Worm". Jim turns himself in to the police in one episode after hearing about his EvilTwin committing crimes and coming to the conclusion that he's actually developed a JekyllAndHyde-style SplitPersonality.
354** Including all the amenities of your basic old-timey prison, such as the chain gang and "completely pointless rock breaking".
355* PrisonRape: Parodied. In said Prison Episode, Jim's cellmate Walter uses him as dental floss.
356* ProtagonistCenteredMorality: Inverted. Jim attempts to model heroic traits but is often looked at as a loony by his friends and other superheroes, who prefer just to play poker in their secret lair.
357-->'''Jim:''' We're not even playing for real money. that would be a violation of our strict moral code! And you know, laws and junk...
358* PutOnABus: After her episode, Malice the Dog had to leave Evil the Cat to star in her own [[ShowWithinAShow in-universe]] series.
359* RealityWarping: What the Orb of Quite Remarkable Power enables one to do.
360* RecursiveReality: In "The Great Secret of The Universe", the whole universe is inside a giant snowglobe, which is owned by a child as a souvenir.
361* RedundantRescue: In "Sidekicked", as Princess What's-Her-Name insists. Jim seems to be too busy giving a hero monologue to hear her.
362** Also in "Conqueror Worm", Peter and Snott come to bust Jim out of prison only to find out he had just left once he realized he actually had an evil twin.
363* RelaxOVision: 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.
364* RememberTheNewGuy: In the first season after several episodes that gave no indication Jim and Peter were close to anybody in Terlawk, "Grayson, young genius inventor and president of the local Earthworm Jim fanclub" turns up and is given a conspicuously overblown introduction by Jim. Nonplussed, Grayson states "Um, yeah, I know who I am".
365* ReversePsychology[=/=]BriarPatching: Sometimes the villains do it to Jim, and sometimes Jim does it to the villains, but it always works.
366-->'''Jim:''' Do your worst! Tear us limb from limb! Shred us into coleslaw! Throw us into an atomic furnace!\
367'''Peter:''' They're all good?\
368'''Jim:''' But whatever you do, don't remove the evil spirit from Peter!\
369'''Evil:''' That is PRECISELY what I shall do! (The Origins of Peter Puppy)
370%%* RoguesGallery
371* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Princess What's Her Name.
372* RubberyWorld: In "Sword of Righteousness", Jim bounces off of a pair of rubbery planetary rings after being hit by a giant golf club.
373* RunningGag:
374** Peter Puppy sometimes eats haggis, the one food that he doesn't like, before being told what it is. He, or someone else, states verbatim that the dish is "[[ForeignQueasine the heart, lungs and liver of a sheep boiled in its own stomach]]". The irony iz that he loved haggis until finding out the cooking method.
375** Whenever Peter gets depressed, he goes to talk to Snot. Who, naturally, can't talk. Then he tries some manner of elaborate performance to try to explain his feelings, and HilarityEnsues.
376** Whenever "La Planeta de Agua" is said, a trumpet jingle and a chorus yelling "¡Arriba!" plays.
377* RunTheGauntlet: in "The Egg Beater", Jim has to face all his usual enemies, first one by one, then all at the same time.
378* SanitySlippage: Peter slowly but surely sinks into this after Jim's wrongful imprisonment in "Conqueror Worm".
379-->'''Pete:''' I appreciate you're taking the time to discuss my feelings, [[PunnyName Snott]]. How do I feel? Well, perhaps this little puppet play I've written will explain. (sticks two forks into the table)(waves salt shaker between the prongs of the forks) I am Earthworm Jim. Woe is me for I am wrongfully imprisoned.(grabs mustard bottle) I am Peter. [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Sad and unhappy am I]] [[AmbiguouslyGay without Jim]]. BOO HOO! BOO HOO HOO HOO!! My life is without purpose. [[TheWoobie Emptiness wells up in my tortured soul.]] I'm going to...GOING TO...(squirts [[UnusualEuphemism mustard]] all over the table)(grabs ketchup bottle) I am Snott, I also am indeed BLEAUGH! (squirts ketchup all over the table)(grabs the sugar and a jar of jelly) I'm just the sugar but I'm gonna barf too, and the [[SanitySlippage JELLY, JELLY BARF, JELLY BARF!!!]](soaks his hands in the mixture and theatrically displays them to the audience) [[LargeHam BEHOLD the GOOEY SLOP of our SORROW! (smears the mixture all over his face with his hands) IT IS...SLOBBER...DAMMERUNG!!!]] ''[[ChewingTheScenery THE TWILIGHT OF THE CONDIMENTS! WEEP FOR THEM, WEEP FOR THEIR SORROW-HO-HOHO-HOHH!!!]]''\
380''[dunks his entire face into the mixture]''\
381'''Peter:''' Yes, Snott, [[CaptainObvious my delicate psyche has come horribly unglued!]]
382* SceneryPorn: During the prologue to the Book of Doom episode, Jim and Peter enter Psycrow's ear canal and head straight for his brain.
383* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Jim, which is no surprise [[Creator/DanCastellaneta given who voices him]]. It's pointed out to him in one line from "Upholstered Peril":
384-->'''Grayson:''' Just before the table attacked, I heard a high-pitched whine.\
385'''Jim:''' Uh, it wasn't coming from ME, was it?
386* ShoutOut: To, of all things, Franchise/{{Dune}} and Film/PulpFiction.
387** The description of haggis is, word for word, from one of the flashbacks in ''Film/{{Highlander}}''.
388** [[Film/{{Goldfinger}} "Do you expect me to talk?" "No, no, no, Mr. Jim! I expect you to fry!"]]
389** From another episode:
390--->'''Jim:''' Peter, you keep a look out while Snot and I... ''[[Literature/JourneyToTheCenterOfTheEarth journey to the center of the suit!]]''\
391'''Snot:''' ''[gibberish]''\
392'''Jim:''' I dunno, Snot. Who's Creator/JulesVerne?
393** In "Darwin's Nightmare" after Jim and Peter lose their intelligence, the two become [[WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead dim-witted idiots who often annoying laugh at the stupidest of things]].
394** The two bank robbers that appear at the beginning of "Upholstered Peril" look remarkably like [[Film/PulpFiction Vincent Vega and a white, blond Jules Winfield]]. They even have a brief conversation about the French word for a certain food (cheese in this case).
395** After Jim’s reckless use of the Sword of Righteousness results in a bit of deforestation, the Sword chews him out with a [[Film/PlanNineFromOuterSpace “Your stupid mind! Stupid!”]]
396* SiblingYinYang: The Princess and The Queen.
397** Moreso in the fact that by alien standards Queen Slug-For-A-Butt is considered the pretty one while her sister Princess What's-Her-Name is considered hideously deformed. An unrelated episode featured the Princess being okay with being hit by a ray gun that made her gigantically fat as "this look is very popular on her planet".
398* SingleBiomePlanet: La Planeta de Agua! ''[-Arriba!-]''
399* SpinOffBabies: One of the mid-interval shorts was a trailer for ''Young Earthworm Jim''.
400* StatusQuoIsGod:
401** In two episodes Queen Slug-For-A-Butt is dethroned, but ends up back in charge at the episodes' closing.
402*** In the first, "Queen What's-Her-Name", Princess What's-Her-Name decides to set up a constitutional democracy on Insectika; Slug-For-A-Butt wins the election in a landslide because no one else ran against her.
403*** In "The Exile of Lucy", Slug-For-A-Butt is called back in to help fight Psy-Crow and Professor Monkey-For-A-Head when all other options have been checked. (And not for lack of trying on the Princess' part).
404** In another episode, Peter Puppy is cured of his evil side, and he is eventually forced to take it back to save Jim from Evil the Cat.
405* TakeThat:
406** In the episode "Darwin's Nightmare", Jim and Peter are seen watching a pastiche of Creator/JacquesCousteau on television. Peter says that the Cousteau parody is a little "special". After the diver says that fish are the highest form of life, Jim and Peter then say in unison that he is "very, very special". Note that "special" can be used as a euphemism for mentally handicapped.
407** Another episode's mid-show short had a 50s-style educational short showing us how Evil the Cat produces evil things (from the kid's point of view)-- homework, vegetables, and an {{Expy}} of [[Series/AmericasFunniestHomeVideos Bob Saget]].
408** One episode opens at the White House with a big sign out front that reads "Days Without A Scandal". Cue worker coming in and making the number a zero.
409** "Politicians! Always making promises they can't keep!"
410* TalkingAnimal: Jim, Peter Puppy, and practically everyone else in the entire series.
411* TalksLikeASimile: Jim and Peter in the denouement of several episodes. "Once again, evil is as grass beneath the mighty lawnmower of justice!"
412** To make it worse, [[BuffySpeak sometimes the characters don't complete their similes.]]
413--->'''Psy-Crow:''' I will now crush you like....Some easily crushed thing! ("The Book of Doom")\
414'''Peter:''' We're gonna fry like...Jim, what're those things that get really hot and then burn up?\
415'''Jim:''' Us? ("The Egg Beater")\
416'''Professor Monkey-for-a-Head:''' With this freeze ray, I shall freeze you AS SOLID AS!...[[FacePalm a solid, freezy-frozen thing]]. What's that, Monkey? Oh, right, thank you! [[CaptainObvious A block of ice]]. (The Egg Beater)\
417'''Jim:''' This blanket of evil will cover the earth like...[[ShapedLikeItself a huge blanket that's really...hideous]]!
418* ThatCameOutWrong: From "Conqueror Worm":
419-->'''Jim:''' Quick, little buddy! Whip me! Whip me!\
420'''Peter:''' I beg your pardon?\
421'''Jim:''' I ''meee-an'', use me like a whip!
422* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In "Hyper Psy-crow", the Puce Dynamo, who is the world's first superhero, delivers a scathing one to every other superhero after him in his acceptance speech.
423-->'''Puce Dynamo:''' [[UngratefulBastard 60 years of fightin' evil and you flatheads give me a hunk of tin with gold paint on it?!]] [[ItsAllAboutMe I invented "super"! I invented "hero"! I invented capes and masks and powers and secret hideouts and saving the day at the last second, and this is the thanks I get?!]] LOOK AT YA! With your shiny eyeballs and ray made costumes! In my day, we had to SEW our own costumes! I INVENTED SEWING! You guys are soft! You're nothing but a bunch of young punks IN TIGHTS!
424* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Sometimes, the villains anticipate that their defeat is going to hurt and/or if Jim is going to hit them really hard.
425* TheTeaser: Every episode begins with the heroes doing something different - usually fighting an unrelated villain. It ''usually'' doesn't relate to the main episode, though every episode has some manner of CallBack or BrickJoke to it and in the second season there are more instances where the teaser is at least somewhat relevant to the main plot.
426* TimeTravel: "The Anti-Fish" shows two "easy" methods of time travel. There is the ''Sewer of Time'', where each manhole leads to a different time period. The other one is the ''Restaurant of Time'', which automatically takes you to a specific period based on what you eat. The only catch for the second method is dealing with a ShockinglyExpensiveBill. Worst Case Scenario, you have to work to pay off the bill, which can take "pseudo-years" to finish.
427-->'''Bob:''' ''(To Jim)'' We are ''not'' going back in that restaurant so you can tip the valet!
428* TomeOfEldritchLore: Evil the Cat once tried to destroy the universe with one of these...and [[MundaneMadeAwesome a fondue fork]]. ItMakesSenseInContext.
429* TookALevelInBadass: Hamsternator, Turns-His-Eyelids-Inside-Out-Boy, and Zantor are overall incompetent and useless heroes, yet in one episode they somehow become the heads of a hero council and seemingly have enough power to make Jim a sidekick and make Peter a hero. Ultimately downplayed though as at the end of the episode both Jim and Peter ignore their judgment and switch their roles back, bringing into question how much actual authority they have. This council also only appears once.
430* TookALevelInJerkass: Though Peter remains completely loyal to Jim, in Season 2, he becomes a lot less patient with Jim’s shenanigans.
431* TriggerHappy: While the villains display this at times, nobody's more trigger happy than Jim himself.
432-->'''Jim:''' Ooookay... I'll do this the ''other'' Earthworm Jim way: less talking and more '''mindless mayhem!!!''' [[CatchPhrase EAT DIRT, EVIL BANANA-SUITED DOOFUS!!! AH-HAHAHAHAHA!!!]] (Sword of Righteousness)
433* TwoBeingsOneBody:
434** Professor Monkey-For-A-Head, and also Monkey Professor-For-A-Head, his inverted version.
435** In "Conqueror Worm", during the climactic showdown with Jim and Evil Jim, they slam into each other, causing them both to end up inside Jim's suit.
436--->'''Evil Jim:''' Face the awesome wrath of your own left fist!
437** This is also an effect of the "Worm Mind Meld", at least at a psychic level (in real life, it simply consists of Jim wrapping his worm body around the target's head).
438* TheUnintelligible: Snot, who speaks only in slurps.
439** Also, Monkey Professor-For-A-Head.
440* UnreliableNarrator: Not only is the Narrator prone to being corrected by the characters, he's also at one point bullied into reading a scene transition by Psy-Crow and Professor Monkey-For-A-Head which skips over the two actually having to do what the transition says they've done.
441** The episode "Wizard of Ooze" takes this to extremes: The narrator continually takes a sarcastic, defeatest and cranky attitude towards his job through the episode, at one point even asking the audience to read a book and calling his agent in the middle of the show. Jim snaps him out of it by threatening him with a jar of vocal chord-eating parasites.
442* VillainsOutShopping: Done frequently. Often a premise for mid-interval shorts in the first season with one of the RoguesGallery [[ADayInTheLimelight in the lead role]].
443* VocalDissonance: The Nameless One is a horrific monster Evil the Cat summons who looks like he came straight from Hell.... but he's voiced by [[Series/WinBenSteinsMoney Ben Stein]] in his typical calm, flat monotone.
444* WayPastTheExpirationDate: In "Sword of Righteousness", Jim and Peter eat vending machine sandwiches with a sell-by date of June 14, 2006 — B.C. [[spoiler:Jim's has a powerful sword in it.]]
445* WeaksauceWeakness: Jim has a horrible weakness to "Wormtonite," which only appears once and has unpredictable horrible effects on him. Rather than coming from some bizarre alien planet, it's just [[ItCameFromTheFridge something the two found in their fridge (Peter thinks it used to be cheese]]).
446* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: In one episode Jim goes through a bunch of replacement sidekicks who all have useless powers, like Turns-His-Eyelids-Inside-Out Boy, Zantor (Master of the Flying Toupee) and '''''A''''' Shadow (with the ability to make shadow puppets). Several end up joining the Galactic Justice League, with the addition of several other heroes with useless powers, like Lower Back Pain Man.
447** The actual superheroes in Jim's universe aren't much better. There's the Hamsternator (who can stuff anything in his cheeks), Johnny Dactyl (a "mysterious" type, who's really a whining Mama's Boy), and the Space Crickets (two inches tall, and always on vacation).
448* WhatTheHellIsThatAccent: Psy-Crow's voice sometimes sounds like he's from New York, other times it's just strange sounding.
449* WholeEpisodeFlashback: "Bring Me the Head of Earthworm Jim" is framed as Psycrow and Professor Monkey-for-a-Head reminiscing on the time they finally defeated Earthworm Jim and stole his Super Suit (all of which happened yesterday).
450* WholePlotReference: "Wizard of Ooze" to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''.
451* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes:
452** ''Everything'' for the Planet of Easily Frightened People.
453--->"Ahhhh, something green! Ahhhh, something not green! Ahhhh, air!"
454** In "Evil in Love," Jim, Peter and the Princess get sent to the nightmare realm and face Morpheus. When the initial scares fall flat, Morpheus makes them face their worst fears: a full bathroom, haggis and a perfume saleswoman.
455* WhoWritesThisCrap: Nearly mentioned word-by-word by Peter Puppy in "Darwin's Nightmare", when Jim catches wind of Bob's plan to take over the galaxy by receiving a page of the script on his fax machine.
456-->'''Peter:''' What've you got there?\
457'''Jim:''' Page 6 of the script, see? Bob: "Hello, I've come to conquer your planet". Aliens: "Aaah! We surrender".[[note]](For context: this scene played about a minute before, and said aliens are from the Planet of Easily Frightened People, thus explaining the response)[[/note]]\
458'''Peter:''' Who writes this trash?!
459* WorldOfHam: ''Oh yeah''. When you've got Creator/DanCastellaneta, Creator/JeffBennett, Creator/JimCummings ''and'' Creator/CharlieAdler among the voice cast, ham is going to be the main course.
460* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: Parodied in the second episode, which features "Ye Newwe Printyng Shoppe: Free Spelling Correkshun".
461* YouNoTakeCandle: From Henchrat and Walter.
462** Also crops up randomly spoken by other characters.
463--->'''Jim:''' Woah, bad thing happen. (Opposites Attack)\
464'''Peter:''' I go bang bang now! (A Lounge Day's Jorney into Night)\
465'''Freak show owner:''' I could make a mint with a giant worm, a talking dog and a ''(the Queen smacks him away)'' Big....hurty....thing... (Trout!)

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