Sunday, July 02, 2017

Earthworm Jim 2.2 - Opposites Attack!

Plot: Evil Jim's attempt to destroy Jim and Peter with a Chrono-Laser falters before the horrifying cuteness of babies. Later, as Evil Jim bemoans his lonely fate, he hits on a plan. He'll create a universe of evil duplicates like himself. He starts by attacking Jim, Peter, and Princess What's-Her-Name at the International House of Haggis, and gets himself his own Peter and Princess. The former gains intelligence when he changes, and the latter is very concerned with her personal appearance and actively flirts with both Jims.

After narrowly escaping the initial battle, Good Jim settles on the questionable tactic of splitting up to try and, I dunno, catch the villains by surprise I think. It might help if the heroes weren't all just running off in random directions like chickens with their heads cut off, but oh well. And the heroes are promptly defeated. Evil JIm brings them to the Fraternal Order of Super-Villains, offered in exchange for helping him with his plan. Except he accidentally triggers the gun and creates opposite duplicates of all the villains. Giving Good Jim a chance to get free and blast Evil Jim with the ray repeatedly, creating a whole lot of Good Jims, who promptly obliterate the villains.

Quote of the Episode: Evil Cow - 'You fools, I shall destroy you all, starting with the lactose intolerant. Moo, moo.'

Times Peter turns into a monster: 8 (16 overall). OK, I'm honestly guessing. I forgot to count during the part where he and Evil Peter where changing constantly.

Cow? Yes, did you not see the Quote of the Episode?

Other: Walter, who was Jim's cellmate in Evil Jim's original appearance, returns her as a waiter at the International House of Haggis.

We learned Peter hates instant cappuccino. It seems like his opposite's default state should be monster form, though. Jim spent time in the Wao-Lin temple, or at least in the home of some robe wearing senile guy he thought was a Wao-Lin master.

We also learned there's a warthog living with a talking eggplant down the street from Jim and Peter. The eggplant likes chickpeas and it's, it's not a happy home. After that sad scene, no wonder they gave us three seconds of dancing turtles later in the episode.

Peter seems to enjoy having Princess What's-Her-Name around, because it means there's someone else to be frustrated by the idiotic things Jim says.

Evil Jim initially tried to build his own Negative Synthesizer, but it didn't work. So then he bought one from a mail-order catalog. That was an interesting touch. Playing with audience expectations, or delaying them a little, at least.

I have no idea what happened to all those Good Jims, or any of the other opposite for that matter. Did they vanish eventually? Evil Jim has stuck around, but he was created in an entirely different manner. It'd be too bad if they all vanished. Professor-Monkey-for-a-Head was getting along well with Monkey-Professor-for-a-Head.

Two episodes in a row with no interlude, and where the opening sequence directly plays into the larger story.

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