Earthworm Jim
Earthworm Jim is the protagonist of the Earthworm Jim video game series, the action figure line, the comic book mini-series, and the animated television series which ran for two seasons.
Biography[]
For most of his life, Jim was just a generic earthworm engaging in normal worm activities, such as digging in dirt, crawling, and fleeing from hungry birds, until one day wherein fate should happen to smile upon him, and his life was changed forever. A fearsome bounty hunter named Psy-Crow was en route to deliver the "ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit" to Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, but got in a confrontation with another spaceship and lost the suit out of an airlock. The suit fell to Earth, landing on a farm somewhere in the southern United States. While fleeing from a flock of hungry crows Jim took refuge in the mysterious suit. The suit's powerful atomic particles affected Jim's wormy flesh and caused him to grow and evolve at a fantastic rate. Upon discovering his new-found powers granted by the suit, he overhears Psy-Crow talking to Queen Slug-for-a-Butt, and becomes interested in meeting the queen's twin sister, Princess What's-Her-Name, setting up the events of the first game. It's said that while inside the suit, he is 5'8" and weighs 154 lbs.
Throughout the games, Jim travels to many planets and faces many villains who are after the suit. In Earthworm Jim 2, Jim must rescue Princess What's-Her-Name when she is kidnapped by Psy-Crow. In the television show, Jim (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) has an almost identical origin, but now resides in a home in the city of Terlawk (a play on Turlock, California, the birthplace of Douglas TenNapel) with Peter Puppy. Most of the villains from the game still show up from time to time to give him trouble.
Personality[]
Jim can be a bit naïve, is somewhat of a degenerate and rarely thinks before rushing into battle, but on occasions can be very cunning. Jim is also very gullible, even trusting villains in not-so-convincing disguises. His motto is "When all else fails, start blasting!" Jim 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. Jim also appears to be childish, enjoying pop-up books, snow globes, and other childish things. In the games, Jim has a slight southern drawl and says phrases like "Groovy!" or "Whoa, Nelly!". In the animated series his drawl has all but disappeared, but he still retains his "Groovy!" catchphrase.
Jim has a tendency to use big words and long-drawn-out phrases. It is not uncommon for him to yell something like "We are all doomed! From the Middle English meaning 'condemned to ruination or death'! DOOMED!" or "By the Great Worm Spirit, whose mighty bristles strike the hammer-blows of justice". His battle cry is "Eat dirt, (persons or things in question)!", which he usually follows up by laughing maniacally. This too can become long and drawn-out with phrases like "Eat dirt, everyone in the vicinity!" or "Eat dirt, evil banana-suited doofus!"
Powers[]
To battle evildoers, Jim primarily relies on his Super Suit, which grants him superior strength, durability, and the ability to do many things a worm could not normally do due to a lack of limbs. His main weapon is a rapid-fire Plasma Blaster, which can also fire massive and powerful beams (with a power-up collected).
Many of Jim's signature abilities, however, are not due to the Super Suit itself, but to his own long, stretchy worm body. For instance, he can use himself as a whip to attack enemies at close and mid-range, or as a lasso to grab onto small ledges and swing off of them, giving him unparalleled mobility. He is even known to use his body as a propeller, slowing down his fall. While he is quite vulnerable and weak if separated from his suit, he still has access to various abilities a regular earthworm would not have - such as coiling himself into a spring and jumping.
Quotes[]
- "Groovy!" - Earthworm Jim/Earthworm Jim 2/Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Yippee!" - Earthworm Jim/Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Oh yeah!" - Earthworm Jim/Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Wee doggie!" - Earthworm Jim/Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Yeehaw!" - Earthworm Jim
- "Whoa, Nelly!" - Earthworm Jim/Clayfighter 63 1/3
- "Plasma!" - Earthworm Jim/Earthworm Jim 2 (Sega Saturn and PlayStation version only)
- "Cheater!" - Earthworm Jim
- "Hey!" - Earthworm Jim
- "Pardon me." - Earthworm Jim Special Edition
- "I'm nude." - Earthworm Jim Special Edition
- "Sharp!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition
- "Thorn!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition
- "Look they're meatballs!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition (at the start of Andy Asteroids?)
- "I'm a rocket man!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition (at the start of Andy Asteroids?)
- "I win!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition (if Jim wins the race in Andy Asteroids?)
- "I hate losing!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition (if Jim loses the race in Andy Asteroids?)
- "Hey, that's hot!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition (upon taking damage from Rusty the Snowman)
- "Look out below!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition (at the start of a round in Snot a Problem)
- "Come back here Psy-Crow!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition (at the start of Psy-Crow)
- "Psy-Crow come here!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition (at the start of Psy-Crow)
- "Man Psy-Crow you got stomped!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition (after Psy-Crow is defeated in Psy-Crow)
- "That's the Queen!" - Earthworm Jim Special Edition (upon encountering Queen Slug-for-a-Butt in Buttville)
- "Whoopee!" - Earthworm Jim 2
- "Way cool!" - Earthworm Jim 2
- "Ammo!" - Earthworm Jim 2
- "Tender!" - Earthworm Jim 2
- "Manta!" - Earthworm Jim 2
- "Funky!" - Earthworm Jim 2 (SNES version only when Jim reaches a checkpoint)
- "Son of a..." - Earthworm Jim 2 (Sega Saturn and PlayStation version only if Jim misses a Password Flag in Puppy Love)
- "Mommy." - Earthworm Jim 2 (Sega Saturn and PlayStation version only when Peter transforms in Puppy Love)
- "Ugly!" - Earthworm Jim 2 (Sega Saturn and PlayStation version only upon encountering Major Mucus in The Flyin' King)
- "Adios amigo!" - Earthworm Jim 2 (Sega Saturn and PlayStation version only after Major Mucus is defeated in The Flyin' King)
- "Tasty!" - Earthworm Jim 2 (Sega Saturn and PlayStation version only)
- "Killer!" - Earthworm Jim 2 (Sega Saturn and PlayStation version only)
- "Salt!" - Earthworm Jim 2 (Sega Saturn and PlayStation version only when a Salt Shaker appears in Level Ate)
- "Pull my finger!" - Earthworm Jim 2 (Sega Saturn and PlayStation version only when Jim calls a taxi to crush Psy-Crow in See Jim Run, Run Jim Run)
- "Eat dirt, [blank]!! AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAH!!" - Earthworm Jim
- "Don't question me..." - Earthworm Jim
- "Get off my back, man!" - Earthworm Jim
- "By the Great Worm Spirit" (etc.) - Earthworm Jim
- "Oh, hush up!" - Clayfighter 63 1/3
- "You got stomped!" - Clayfighter 63 1/3
- "Eat cow!" - Clayfighter 63 1/3
- "This is bad, really bad." - Clayfighter 63 1/3
- "There is only one ego for this job, and it's a really big one!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Worm power!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Win! Win! Win! Me! Me! Me!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Ungroovy!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Time for some bovine retribution!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "It's a farmyard out there." - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Gravity sucks!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "I feel, great!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Here's Jimmy!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Let's kick cow!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Porkboarding!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Damn, I'm groovy!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "We're doomed!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Must wreak havoc!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Whew. I think I'm downwind." - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "This town needs a sheriff!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Houston we have a problem." - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Houston we have liftoff." - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Hey! Nice acoustics!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Great googly-woogly!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Hey bad dudes come here for a second!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Super suit not so super!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "Suit shutting down!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
- "That's gotta hurt!" - Earthworm Jim 3D
Trivia[]
- Jim is a playable fighter in Clayfighter 63 1/3 and an unlockable fighter in Clayfighter 63 1/3: Sculptor's Cut.
- Jim makes a little-known appearance in the game Battle Arena Toshinden, but only in the PC version.
- There was a clever reference to Jim in the PC game Sacrifice, wherein players could choose to serve the god James, the earth god, in their quest. Their ultimate spell from James was Bovine Intervention, almost certainly a reference to the Earthworm Jim games' running gag with cow jokes (a joke taken from a scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail), particularly since Sacrifice was also developed by Shiny Entertainment.
- Earthworm Jim was awarded Best New Character of 1994 by Electronic Gaming Monthly.
- Jim has dyslexia according to one of the answers in the game show in the Villi People.