Earthworm Jim 1.2 - The Book of Doom

Plot: Evil the Cat, having finished all the other items on his to-do list, sets about destroying the universe. Which requires the Book of Doom. Really it's more of a Page of Doom, accidentally printed into a pop-up animals book, the only copy of which just so happens to belong to Jim. Evil, never one to do things halfway, arrives on Jim's doorstep with his army of henchrats and demands the book. Jim, while not understanding why Evil wants the book, refuses, but is downed with various cheese-related weaponry. Peter buys them a reprieve by calling on other dogs to help.

So Evil opts for the more subtle approach of pretending to be a sad waif with nothing to pass the time, like a book perhaps. Jim, the story having triggered a painful flashback to his traumatic childhood, hands over the book, only to realize his mistake as the child boards a spaceship and rockets off-planet. The attempt to catch up to the villains nearly ends in a crash into a black hole, but angrily shooting things averts death. Unfortunately, Jim can't recall what was on the critical page so as to figure out where Evil is headed. Fortunately, the scent of the Reeking Beasts can revive any memory. Even more fortunately, Evil is already on that planet, since the method to destroy the universe relies on making all Reeking Beasts shriek at the sight of a particular object. Still even more fortunately, laser eye surgery has not been introduced to the Reeking Beasts.

Quote of the Episode: Jim's 4 hyper-intelligent brains - 'I'm hungry! I'm cold! I'm itchy! Where's the girls?'

Times Peter loses control: 1 (3 overall).

Cow? Yes.

Other: There's a little unconnected vignette in each episode. This week's is a "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" parody with Professor Monkey-for-a-Head. Most notably, we learn he invented the pay toilet. Also that the Monkey likes watching Earthworm Jim.

The reason the Page of Doom is in Fuzzy Wuzzy's Funny Animal Pop-Up Book is because some Gutenberg wannabe slacked off on work and left printing the children's books in the hands of his assistant, Mongo. Who then accidentally inserted the printing plate of the Page with the Secret of Ultimate Destruction.

Mongo is such a maligned name. Not as much as "Nimrod", though. Saw that as a person's name on a storefront window. Can't recall for what business. Still, Mongo's rarely get positive representation in fiction. I guess Blazing Saddles Mongo did OK once he turned to the side of Good. I'm sure the citizens of Rock Ridge welcomed him with open arms. Which he then broke with a heart handshake.

Every time Evil says the "Book of Doom", one of his henchrats punctuates it with a guitar riff. Not on orders, simply because he enjoys it. I guess a henchman for an evil cat stuck living on a planet named Heck takes its joy where it can.

Evil does recognize there will be no historians to write about his triumph if the universe is destroyed. He fails to recognize he will be destroyed, since he tells his prime Henchrat that they will enjoy their triumph afterward with some well-deserved gloating. Maybe he expects to gloat in the afterlife. To be fair, he clearly didn't expect to get this far and hadn't given it much thought. "Gloating" was his off the cuff answer.