Earthworm Jim (animation)/Trivia

The video games:

 * Creator Backlash: Creator Doug Ten Napel and original series designer David Perry both hated what was done in Earthworm Jim 3D, but couldn't legally do anything to stop it. Doug in particular felt that Earthworm Jim 3D ruined the series.
 * Judging from his comments on this post, Doug didn't seem too thrilled about Earthworm Jim HD, either.
 * God Does Not Own This World: The only reason Earthworm Jim 3D was allowed to go as it was.
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: Earthworm Jim 3D and Menace 2 the Galaxy. Not that anyone cares.
 * As for individual levels, Big Bruty, from the Sega CD and Windows 95 versions of the original, gets this, even being excluded from the HD remake. If not for the Wii Virtual Console release of the port of the Sega Genesis/Megadrive version, Who Turned Out the Lights, which also got shafted from the HD remake, would have been this as well. And then there are the speeches, which serve as alternate endings in the Sega CD and Windows 95 versions as well.
 * Port Overdosed: The original game. Not only was it ported to every contemporary system, including handhelds, but it has been almost continually re-released since then.
 * What Could Have Been: A PSP game was planned, and apparently almost done, but due to financial difficulties, it was cancelled.
 * Sega also considered the possibility of putting a port of the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive version of the original on Xbox Live Arcade, and made a poll with some other games to see people's opinions on whether it or other games should be on there. They scrapped that possibility when they found out that Gameloft was working on an HD remake for the same service.
 * Both Doug Ten Napel and David Perry initially served as minor consultants for Earthworm Jim 3D, but were dropped for unknown reasons. One can only wonder how it would have turned out had they stayed.

The animated series:

 * Creator Backlash: This is the sole reason why this series will never see the light of day on DVD. Allegedly, Word of God states that they think of the show as their Old Shame that they were forced into making to tie into the games, despite it being a very funny and entertaining show.
 * This troper is hoping that this official DVD listing is legit...
 * As long as pre-orders are solid, it should be.
 * Hey It's That Voice: The voice of Earthworm Jim is Dan Castellaneta, best known as the voice of Homer Simpson and various other Simpsons characters (particularly Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Sideshow Mel, Barney Gumble, Groundskeeper Willie, Mayor "Diamond" Joe Quimby, The Squeaky-Voiced Teen, Arnie Pie, and the Mexican Bumblebee Man). Jim's cowardly shriek is a dead giveaway, being exactly the same as Homer's.
 * One opening sequence has Jim doing standup comedy about superheroes. His "old superhero" voice is the Old Jewish Guy (the one who used to be a studio executive around the time Its a Wonderful Life was released and who gained minor fame as a TV star singing "The Old Grey Mare" with his pants around his ankles. He even had a band called "The Crazy Old Man Singers.")
 * Evil Jim in particular sounds like a sinister Krusty the Clown.
 * Let's not forget that...
 * Peter and the Narrator are Jeff Bennett
 * Princess What-Her-Name is Kath Soucie
 * Queen Festering, Pulsating, Pus-filled Malformed Slug-For-A-Butt is SCTV's Andrea Martin
 * Professor Monkey-For-A-Head is Charlie Adler
 * Psycrow and Bob the Killer Goldfish are Jim Cummings
 * Evil the Cat is Edward Hibbert (Zazu from The Lion King 2).
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: There were actual official release VHS tapes back in the mid-1990s (with select episodes), but with DVD becoming more popular than VHS, this petered out real quick.
 * Via Vision of Australia released the series in one set in 2011.
 * No Export for You: The 2011 DVD release was only sold in Austrailia.
 * Screwed By the Network: It suffered the same time slot demotion as Freakazoid!
 * What Could Have Been: Major Mucus might have eventually made his debut.