List of Earthworm Jim characters

The Earthworm Jim series first started when creator Doug TenNapel created a sketch of an earthworm when working with developer Shiny Entertainment on a prospective video game series. From that, grew a series of video games, and animated cartoon series, populated with many supporting characters. These are notable, recurring characters within the series.

Earthworm Jim

Earthworm Jim is a video game character, the protagonist of the Earthworm Jim video games and animated series. For most of his life Jim was just an ordinary earthworm until one day his life was changed forever. A fearsome bounty hunter named Psy-Crow was en route to deliver the "Super Suit" (technically titled "Ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit") to Queen Slug-For-A-Butt but got in a confrontation with another space ship and lost the suit out of an airlock. The suit fell down to Earth, where Jim happened to crawl in and discovered newfound powers granted by the suit, mainly the strength and dexterity of a human.

He resides in a home in the city of Terlawk (a play on Turlock, California, the birthplace of TenNapel) with Peter Puppy.

Jim can be a bit naive and rarely thinks before rushing into battle, but on occasions can be very cunning. He has a rather large romantic infatuation with Princess What's-Her-Name, which usually confuses her in the cartoons, but he never falters in his resolve.

Earthworm Jim was awarded Best New Character of 1994 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.^[1] Nintendo Power listed Jim as their 16th favourite hero, joking that he is a role model for invertebrates everywhere.^[2]

In the games, Jim is voiced by creator Doug TenNapel and has a slight southern drawl. In the animated series, he is voiced by Dan Castellaneta (the actor best known for playing Homer Simpson on The Simpsons) without the southern drawl.^[3]

Peter Puppy

Peter Puppy is an anthropomorphic dog with the ability to transform into a large monstrous form whenever he is hurt or scared, commonly attacking Jim. After a short while he will change back to his natural form unaided. The animated series expanded upon this, adding that tickling Peter would cause him to laugh, then belch and change back to normal.

In the first Earthworm Jim video game, Jim must protect Peter from being hurt or falling into a pit as he blindly skips through the level, the ultimate goal to get him safely into his house. In Earthworm Jim 2, Psy-Crow has taken Peter's hundreds of sibling puppies hostage and is throwing them from the window of a tall building. Jim must save the puppies by bouncing them to safety via a large marshmallow. However, if too many puppies are dropped, Peter transforms and attacks Jim. In Earthworm Jim 3D, Peter plays a more supportive role in Jim's quest.

The animated series changes Peter's character considerably. His appearance changed dramatically, giving Peter an unbuttoned teal shirt and black shorts as opposed to walking around nude. His fur was changed from purple/pink to a sandy color. He was given more of a backstory as well. His origin goes back to when he was a normal puppy, and he was picked on by the other neighborhood dogs. One day Peter decided to prove his worth by attacking a running vacuum cleaner, which ends up sending him to "Heck" where Evil the Cat places a curse on him. The curse gives Peter human intelligence and his anthropomorphic form, but also causes his angry transformations whenever he is hurt or scared. He eventually finds Jim and the two become good friends, with Peter serving as Jim's sidekick.

As such, he had a much larger role in the cartoon series than in the games, appearing in almost every episode. Peter is quite timid in nature and has a hard time controlling his transformations. Peter is always willing to accompany Jim on his adventures, acting as Jim's consultant when Jim goes astray, as well as providing Jim's moral support.

Peter's voice actor was Jeff Bennett.

Snott

Snott is a green blob of a mucus-like substance with eyes and a mouth. He lives in the backpack of Jim's super suit and is his trusted friend and ally.

Snott's first video game appearance was in Earthworm Jim 2, where he plays a vital role, by grabbing onto special ledges lined with mucus in order to let Jim "Snott swing" from place to place, as well as morphing into a parachute for long drops. His role in Earthworm Jim 3D was drastically different, where he was a character to visit in levels, providing valuable hints and tips for the player.

In the show, Snott only communicates in slurps and gurgles. Jim and Peter seem to be the only people able to understand his speech. Snott's trademark is being able to express an extremely long comment regarding the situation in only a couple of short slurps, after which Jim or Peter will agree, repeating after him in English.

Vocal effects provided by John Kassir.

Princess What's-Her-Name

In the original Earthworm Jim video game, Princess What's-Her-Name appeared only briefly. In the ending scene, after defeating Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, Jim meets her and instantly falls in love. However, as he approaches her, the cow that was launched in New Junk City lands on her, crushing her. Jim leaves the scene, notably disappointed. Eventually, the ground where the Princess and the cow are cracks, making them both fall down into the lava beneath. Jim then makes a final appearance and greedily snatches the Princess' crown, which fell off when the cow landed on her.

The Princess played more of a role in the game's sequel Earthworm Jim 2. She is kidnapped by Psy-Crow, who desires to marry the Princess. In the final stage of the game, Jim and Psy-Crow race each other to the altar to wed the Princess.

Within the animated series Princess What's-Her-Name was born the twin sister of Queen Slug-for-a-Butt. While the Queen looks more like a traditional insect, the Princess has much more of a human form. As such, in their royal family, the Queen was favored as beautiful, while the Princess was seen as hideous. As such, she was kept locked away for many years by the royal family and never given a name, being referred to only as "the ugly one" or "What's-Her-Name". She eventually escaped the castle and became the leader of the rebellion against the monarchy and her tyrant sister, contrary to the more "helpless" character seen in the video games.

While Jim appeared to be harboring the delusion that they were romantically involved, the Princess appeared to be oblivious to his advances. However, during the second season the Princess did appear to soften to Jim.

Her voice was provided by Kath Soucie.

Queen Slug-for-a-Butt

Queen Slug-for-a-Butt (Full name: The Evil Queen Pulsating, Bloated, Festering, Sweaty, Pus-filled, Malformed Slug-for-a-Butt) is one of the main enemies of Jim. She had planned on using the "super suit" to conquer the universe. Thus, once it comes into Jim's possession, she intends to destroy Jim, and reclaim the suit. She is the final boss that Jim faces in the original Earthworm Jim game and later the penultimate boss in Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy.

She is the twin sister of Princess What's-Her-Name, though they don't resemble each other at all. In the television series the Queen is ruler of the planet "Insectika." In the episode "Queen What's-Her-Name", the rivalry between the Queen and her sister is expanded on; the Princess, considered "ugly" by the Insectikans, was constantly abused, and ultimately banished by the Queen. What's-Her-Name eventually became the leader of the rebellion against the Insectikan monarchy, and Slug-for-a-Butt seems to hate the Princess much more than she hates Jim. In the episode "Side kicked", she tells Psy-crow that What's-Her-Name did "something awful" to her.

Voiced by Andrea Martin.

Psy-Crow

Psy-Crow is an intergalactic bounty hunter and mercenary, most often employed by Queen Slug-For-A-Butt. In the first Earthworm Jim game, he engaged Jim in a space race between levels, and would fight him if he beat Jim in the race.^[4] In Earthworm Jim 2, he kidnaps Princess What's-Her-Name, with the game climaxing with a race through an obstacle course, one on one with Jim, to see who gets to marry her.^[4] He also showed up in Earthworm Jim 3D as the boss in the Memory area.

In the cartoon series, Psy-Crow's character (voiced by Jim Cummings^[4]) was fleshed out a bit more. He occasionally allies himself with Professor Monkey-For-A-Head, generally in service to the Queen. In the episode "'Hyper-Psycrow", Psy-Crow claims to have been a veteran of the Vietnam War, and had been saved by a "Great Worm Spirit" during his time of service.

Psy-Crow was ranked #81 in IGN's top 100 video game villains list.^[4]

Evil the Cat

Evil the Cat is an antagonist to Jim and the ruler over Planet Heck. Molding "Heck" to his own vision of evil perfection, the planet is covered with spiked walls and precariously placed cliffs and ridges. The planet is also full of fiery pits and drops, which Evil has filled with all things evil he's found across the universe, ranging from rabid lawyers to elevator music, and even Night On Bald Mountain. Evil wants to claim Jim's super suit as his own, to further conquer the galaxy.

Evil is a character that actually pre-sages the creation of Earthworm Jim, he was once the central villain in an independent comic written by Doug Tennapel.

Over the course of the cartoon series, Evil is more concentrated on destroying the universe, rather than obtaining Jim's suit. He is frequently assisted, but more often annoyed, by his aide Henchrat.

In spite of his status as a pure evil villain, Evil occasionally shows the behavior of a real cat, such as licking himself or playing with a ball of yarn when he's bored. As a boss in the first Earthworm Jim, he'll actually stop to groom himself in between shots of his huge fireball gun.

According to the instruction manual to Earthworm Jim 2, Evil has a cousin named Flagitious, who runs "The Circus of the Scars". During Heck's summer off-season, Evil switches jobs with Flagitious and runs the circus himself.

Evil was slated to appear in Earthworm Jim 3D according to promotional materials, and even appeared on the game's box art, but he was left out of the game due to development issues and time constraints. His picture can still be seen on the turntables inside the disco in the level "Boogie Nights of the Living Dead."

He is voiced by Edward Hibbert.

Henchrat

Henchrat is an anthropomorphic rat and serves as Evil the Cat's henchman. Contrary to his savage occupation, Henchrat likes to watch mimes, takes self-actualization courses, and hopes to one day open a macrame shop. Henchrat was created for the cartoon series, but makes a game appearance in Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy as Evil's partner during a boss fight. He always responds to Evil's abuse by saying "Thank you".

Voiced by John Kassir.

Professor Monkey-For-A-Head

Professor Monkey-For-A-Head is the scientist who invented the "super suit" for Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, which Psy-Crow ended up losing. As his name suggests, the Professor has a monkey grafted to his forehead, and they are grafted together at the head, and share a common brain and a single set of eyes. His simian skullmate, named Monkey Professor-For-A-Head, seems to have a mind of his own, as he often pesters the Professor with his jabbering, which the Professor can somehow understand.

The Professor and his primate companion live in a lavish space station laboratory. He was a regular antagonist on the animated series, where he occasionally teamed up with Psy-Crow. One episode had cameos of similar characters such as Senator Warthog-For-A-Head, Dr. Elephant-for-A-Head, and Cab Driver Oyster-for-A-Head. His aunt, "Baroness Beaver-for-a-Head", appears in the game Earthworm Jim 3D.

His voice was provided by Charlie Adler.

Bob the Killer Goldfish

Opponent of Jim and ruler of La Planeta de Agua (Arriba!). He is an alien goldfish who is frustrated by his lack of mobility, being confined to his small fishbowl. He desires Jim's suit, to aid him in taking over the universe.

Evil Jim

Evil Jim is an evil copy of Earthworm Jim. He was created by a horrible toxic waste/photocopier accident, and claims to be Jim's exact opposite in every way. He looks similar to Earthworm Jim except for a green coloration in his worm body and suit.

Evil Jim was the only recurring antagonist created specifically for the animated series after the first two games were released; however, Evil Jim was later included as the primary antagonist in Earthworm Jim: Menace 2 the Galaxy game for Game Boy Color.

Evil Jim is also voiced by Dan Castellaneta, in a similar style to Krusty the Clown.

Major Mucus

A phlegm-based alien who is the ruler of a distant planet, Major Mucus desired Jim's suit, which led to the two having a bungee-jumping duel over a pit of snot in the original Earthworm Jim video game. His pet, "Mucus Phlegm Brain" would eat Jim if he fell too close. In Earthworm Jim 2, Major Mucus used his massive army of Sumo-throwing trebuchets to try and destroy Jim. He is the only villain from both of the original Earthworm Jim games to not appear in the cartoon.

Animated series exclusive characters

The following characters only appeared in the Earthworm Jim animated series.

• Turns His Eyelids Inside-Out Boy (voiced by Dan Castellaneta): One of Jim's brief replacement sidekicks from the episode "Sidekicked". He made several subsequent appearances along with "The Hamsternator". He has the "power" to turn his eyelids inside out.

• Shadow: A superhero that can make shadow puppets. He was one of Jim's brief replacement sidekicks from the episode "Sidekicked."

• The Hamsternator (voiced by Jeff Bennett): A large, anthropomorphic hamster, The Hamstenator is one of several resident super heroes. Despite this status, he is rarely seen doing anything heroic. He has massive cheeks with the capacity to store large objects, and, as seen in the episode "Conqueror Worm", has a kind of obsessive compulsion to stuff things in them.

• Johnny Dactyl (voiced by Jim Cummings): Appearing in one episode, Johnny Dactyl is a super hero who wears a pterodactyl suit. He speaks in a deep, threatening voice which is later shown to be a taped recording. Despite his terrifying appearance Johnny is seen to be a small, nerdy man beneath his costume.

• Lower-Back-Pain Man (voiced by Jim Cummings): A superhero of the Galactic League.

• Mrs. Bleverage (voiced by Andrea Martin): A woman who once lived next door to Jim. She is easily recognized for her shrill voice, her horrid yellow outfit, and her curler-laden hair (which is actually a "fakey wig"). Jim originally borrowed an egg beater from her, but forgot to bring it back with him after a trip to La Planeta de Agua (Arriba!). In an attempt to regain her respect (which he never had in the first place), Jim took her on a long journey to find the egg beater, only to learn while on Insectika that it was in his pocket the whole time. Mrs. Bleverage has since stayed on Insectika, and is actually a friend to Queen Slug-for-a Butt.

• The Sword of Righteousness (voiced by Jim Cummings): An enchanted sword (which is clearly labelled on its hilt) who is found by Jim inside an ancient vending machine sandwich. According to the sword, he has been waiting centuries for a champion to bear its magical power, and he chooses Jim as its newest candidate. However, despite all the degrading and painful training that Jim is put through, the sword fails to mention that no one who wielded him has ever won a fight, and Jim tosses the sword away out of disgust which landed on the Planet of Easily Frightened People. He later makes a brief cameo in Hyper-Psycrow.

• Walter (voiced by Jim Cummings): Jim's cellmate in the episode "Conquer Worm" when Jim is sent to prison because of Evil Jim's crimes. He has very neglected teeth and likes to use Jim as dental floss, to the point where he refers to him as "Floss" when they meet up in future episodes. While he is first introduced as a prison inmate, later episodes show him working several jobs, including working as a busboy or a mall Santa.

• Zantor: Master of the Flying Toupée (voiced by Jim Cummings): A mustached man with a toupée that he seems to be able to telekinetically control at a certain extent, though it takes lots of struggling to just make it float briefly.

• The Grim Reaper (voiced by Dan Castellaneta): The personification of death himself has appeared in four episodes. He has a brief cameo in the episode "Peanut of the Apes", where he rides on a skeletal horse, possibly a reference to him being a member of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In the episode The "Wizard of Ooze", Jim meets his counterpart the Tin Reaper, a parody of the Tin Man. His appears again in the episode "For Whom the Jingle Bell Tolls", where he complains about Santa Claus being more well-known than he is and is jealous that Santa appears in more forms of media. In his fourth appearance Earth Worm Jim is able to avoid a broken bridge, causing him to remark how he almost "had" Jim.

• The President of the United States (voiced by Jeff Bennett): The unnamed President of the United States. A recurring gag has someone say that he doesn't look like the President and the President breaking the fourth wall by explaining that he is one of those generic presidents they use on TV to keep shows from being dated.

• The Great Worm Spirit (voiced by Jeff Bennett impersonating Christopher Walken): Jim's patron deity, whom he usually refers to in the most exaggerated way possible during monologues (By the Great Worm Spirit, whose mighty bristles strike the hammerblows of justice!). Both Jim and Psy-Crow have encountered the Great Worm Spirit twice. Jim first met him when he came to rescue the deity from his nemesis, the Anti-Fish, while Psy-Crow, having apparently served in Vietnam, met him when he pulled him into a foxhole to avoid a bombing. Both of them reunite with the Great Worm Spirit after one of their fights ends up destroying the entire universe, after which he restored everything. As the worm is the creator of the universe, if it is destroyed (eaten by the Anti-Fish) the universe will cease to exist. Being an omnipotent being, the Great Worm Spirit can assume many forms, such as a pink drum-banging bunny, a plate of cold beans, or a humorous TV weatherman. His true form, however, is that of a bearded, middle-aged man named Doug TenNapel. The Great Worm Spirit is briefly mentioned near the beginning of Earthworm Jim 3D.

• The Gods: Nondescript gods who dwell in "The Fabled, Long-Sought Home of the Gods". The Gods seen in the TV series resemble pop culture depictions of the Greek Gods, although no God based on historical mythology actually appears. In the TV series, they were responsible for turning Professor Monkey-For-A-Head into a bread-maker when he tried to obtain a Battery of the Gods from them to power a back-up Super Suit. In "Assault and Battery," Jim and his friends only meet four of the Gods consisting of The Doorman of the Gods (voiced by Charlie Adler) and the social "Gods in Training" named Jaepius: God of Puns (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), Perpsichore: Goddess of Disco (voiced by Kath Soucie), and Phlegmaphus: God of Nasal Discharge (voiced by Jim Cummings). On a related note in that episode, the "Gods in Training" did mention that the other gods were at a party at Valhalla. Earthworm Jim had to pass one of their challenges so that he can gain another "Battery of the Gods." He did so yet the only Battery of the Gods they had was in Perpsichore's cassette player.

References

Earthworm Jim Video games Earthworm Jim (HD) 2 3D Menace 2 the Galaxy PSP (cancelled) 4 Related Doug TenNapel Characters TV series Wild 9 ClayFighter 63⅓