The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Difference between revisions
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===Fantasy violence=== |
===Fantasy violence=== |
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The show sometimes uses an extreme [[Television rating system|fantasy violence]], even to the point of showing gore. In the episode "[[Night of the Living Grim / Brown Evil (part 1) / Brown Evil (part 2)|Brown Evil]]", [[Hoss Delgado]] battles hordes of [[zombie]]s, using [[chainsaws]], [[guns]], and his other gadgets. The remaining zombies combine into a giant decomposing monster, and the episode ends with the monster blowing up, causing a rain of the body parts and then Mandy comments "Only in America". In "[[Spider's Little Daddy / Tricycle of Terror|Tricycle of Terror]]", Billy crashes his bike into a tree on the way to get some lemonade, destroying his face and exposing his [[cranial|skull]]. Similar face ripping gags are seen in [[Reap Walking / The Loser from the Earth's Core|Reap Walking]] and "Loser From The Earth's Core". Because of the many similar occurrences, the show is [[Television rating system|rated]] in the [[United States of America|US]] as ''TV-Y7-FV'', where ''FV'' means a higher degree of the fantasy violence. In "[[Meet The Reaper]]", the pilot episode, as soon as the shot of [[Limbo]] appears, Billy and Mandy slowly form up in a gag as their layers of being fall on them one by one: first as skeletons, then as their muscles, and finally their skin. (this happens in the opening sequence as well) The same happens to Billy's hamster, except a bit quicker. Also in an episode where Billy is sent to military school, the last clip shows him blind-folded, tide up to a pole with bullet holes on the wall behind him implying that he's about to be executed by gun fire. |
The show sometimes uses an extreme [[Television rating system|fantasy violence]], even to the point of showing gore. In the episode "[[Night of the Living Grim / Brown Evil (part 1) / Brown Evil (part 2)|Brown Evil]]", [[Hoss Delgado]] battles hordes of [[zombie]]s, using [[chainsaws]], [[guns]], and his other gadgets. The remaining zombies combine into a giant decomposing monster, and the episode ends with the monster blowing up, causing a rain of the body parts and then Mandy comments "Only in America". In "[[Spider's Little Daddy / Tricycle of Terror|Tricycle of Terror]]", Billy crashes his bike into a tree on the way to get some lemonade, destroying his face and exposing his [[cranial|skull]]. Similar face ripping gags are seen in "[[Reap Walking / The Loser from the Earth's Core|Reap Walking]]" and "Loser From The Earth's Core". Because of the many similar occurrences, the show is [[Television rating system|rated]] in the [[United States of America|US]] as ''TV-Y7-FV'', where ''FV'' means a higher degree of the fantasy violence. In "[[Meet The Reaper]]", the pilot episode, as soon as the shot of [[Limbo]] appears, Billy and Mandy slowly form up in a gag as their layers of being fall on them one by one: first as skeletons, then as their muscles, and finally their skin. (this happens in the opening sequence as well) The same happens to Billy's hamster, except a bit quicker. Also in an episode where Billy is sent to military school, the last clip shows him blind-folded, tide up to a pole with bullet holes on the wall behind him implying that he's about to be executed by gun fire, similar to might had happened in a [[concentration camp]]. |
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===Cannibalistic humor=== |
===Cannibalistic humor=== |
Revision as of 21:05, 1 April 2007
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy | |
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File:BillyAndMandy.jpg The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy show logo | |
Created by | Maxwell Atoms |
Starring | Richard Steven Horvitz Grey DeLisle Greg Eagles Vanessa Marshall Jane Carr Rachael MacFarlane Jennifer Hale Dee Bradley Baker Phil LaMarr Maxwell Atoms Diedrich Bader |
Country of origin | United States |
No. of episodes | 78 |
Production | |
Running time | 22 minutes approx. |
Original release | |
Network | Cartoon Network |
Release | August 24, 2001 – present |
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, created by Maxwell Atoms, is an American animated television series that currently airs on Cartoon Network. The two main characters, Billy and Mandy, have obliged the Grim Reaper, here usually called Grim, to be their best friend forever after having won a bet over a sick hamster through a game of Limbo.
The show's existence is largely the result of a viewer poll. An Internet and call-in event called the Big Pick was held from August 24 to August 25 in 2000. The three final choices were Grim and Evil, Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?, and Longhair and Doubledome. Out of the three, Grim and Evil won. The first season appeared on Cartoon Network in 2001. Robot Jones would later be made into a full series despite losing; Longhair and Doubledome would reappear with another pilot episode in another Big Pick-style show later on, only to fall short once again.
Originally labelled Grim and Evil, the series The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy as the main segment. In each show, a segment of Evil Con Carne was put between two Grim cartoons, serving as Grim's backup (sometimes it was the other way around). In 2003, the network separated Grim from Evil and gave both a full length show. The short-lived Evil Con Carne show was cancelled once all the already-made episodes were aired. In 2005, Evil Con Carne was given another short-lived run with the newly created intro and end credits, only to be cancelled again. Some characters from Evil Con Carne occasionally appear on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.
The show is scheduled to end post-production in Spring 2007, after having 78 full half-hour episodes, which is as many half hours as Cartoon Network has given to any of its series. This is according to Maxwell Atoms's blog on MySpace. The show has stopped airing in Teletoon, but is going to be brought back in Fall of 2007 for another run with new episodes.
Plot
Template:Spoilers Billy and Mandy are two 10-year-old children from Endsville, a typical "Anytown, USA". One day, while they are celebrating the 10th birthday of Billy's old pet hamster, Mr. Snuggles, the Grim Reaper appears. He comes to reap the old hamster's soul, but, to his surprise, Billy and Mandy are not afraid of him at all. Mandy refuses to give Grim the hamster and offers to play a game for it - if he wins, he would get the hamster and Billy; if he loses, they may keep it. Grim is sure in his victory, so he says that if they win, he will be their best friend "for ever and ever". Grim takes Billy and Mandy to Limbo, where they compete in Grim's favorite game—limbo.
On the verge of victory, Grim asks Mandy for "any final words", to which she calls out "kiss kiss", triggering Mr. Snuggles into a spasmodic attack that causes Grim to lose his balance. Grim is doomed to be the "best friend" of these two children, a task he suffers with no small amount of disdain and mockery from other supernatural creatures. Grim is very depressed in the first days of his servitude, but as the time passes, he gradually adapts to the new life. Now, he behaves like a normal human, watching television, films, using the Internet and playing video games, eating fast food and ice cream, and doing many other "normal" things. On several occasions, Grim even behaves effeminately: wearing dresses, sniffing and picking flowers, and engaging in elaborate personal hygiene routines. Although he is fairly adapted to the new life and has a kind of love-hate relationship with the children, he despises Billy and Mandy, hoping that he will eventually break free from his servitude.
Setting
Most of the show is set in Billy and Mandy's hometown of Endsville. Endsville is in an indeterminate location, however in episode "Chicken Ball Z" Mandy is leaving the Dojo where she and Billy train in Kung Fu when she walks past a wood plank wall with graffiti and play bills some of which read: "Born In E.L.A" (a possible reference to the movie "Born in East L.A."), "La Migra" and "Go Angels" (possibly a reference to The California Angels) all signs that could place Endsville somewhere in Southern California. The age of the town is also indeterminate, as it has appeared in flashbacks of Billy's dad's youth ("The Taking Tree"), the early 1900s ("Who Killed Who?"), and medieval times ("Billy and Mandy's Jacked Up Halloween"). Another strange characteristic of the town is the volcano that appears in the background of multiple episodes.
Grim ostensibly comes from the Underworld, so the show makes frequent forays onto his turf. Grim's scythe is able to produce cosmic rifts through which the characters can visit different planes of existence, including afterlife variations like nirvana, Asgard and Lower Heck. Billy and Mandy have traveled with Grim to places like the Halls of Time (where they accidentally flip over their hourglasses, resulting in them aging backwards and eventually disappearing), the Circus of Fear (where real human children are considered part of the freak show), and even the Underworld's lunch room (which is open to "staph" only). Grim's scythe can also summon monsters, supernatural creatures, and various Underworld inhabitants to Endsville. Grim also can use his scythe to reap souls, even though Mandy specifically told him in the episode "Mortal Dilemma", "No Grim Reaping!"
The show universe, in addition to frequently violating the laws of physics, also contains a number of historical variations and anachronisms. Abraham Lincoln is President, save for "Ecto Cooler", where he appears as a ghost and is a personal friend of Billy. The world police organization is not the United Nations, but the League of Nations (disbanded in 1946 in reality). The presence of what appears to be a Communist leader in the League of Nations may also suggest that the Soviet Union has not dissolved in this universe. In this and many other ways (such as the anti-romance between the characters, and bizarro beliefs in race and sex) it resembles George Herriman's Krazy Kat.
The universe is also Evil Con Carne's universe: the characters meet, briefly, in the episodes "Chicken Ball Z" (a parody of Dragon Ball Z) and "Duck!". In the third season episode "Skarred For Life", General Skarr meets the characters in what could be seen as a full crossover. Skarr is now a recurring character in the show, and he struggles with fighting his addiction to war. He usually overcomes his desire for power by making cornbread or gardening.
Continuity
There is limited continuity between episodes, allowing for the destruction or alteration of the world, or with the disappearance, horrific transformation, or (implied or not) death of the main characters. Often the episode will end with no resolution at all. For example, in the episode "Halls of Time", Billy, Mandy, Grim and Irwin all disappeared forever after their life hourglasses were turned upside down. In the episode "Chocolate Sailor", Billy turns into chocolate syrup and in Sickly Sweet, Mandy is turned into a giant monster by the "Mask of the Beast". In "Dumb Wish" Mandy wishes for everybody to go away, and the episode ends with Mandy staring at the blank screen of her television after she has realized she is the only remaining human on the Earth. And in "Billy and Mandy Begins", Billy, Mandy, Grim and Irwin supposedly die at the end of the episode (they are eaten by a sea serpent).
However, there are a few exceptions to the usual lack of continuity. Characters that have appeared in the previous episodes may return again, such as Pinocchio, who debuted in "Nursery Crimes" and returns in "Billy Ocean", and Lord Pain from "House of Pain" who returns in "Everything Breaks" and Boogey from "Bully Boogie" returns in Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure, and the characters usually show awareness of the previous events during these shifts. The events centred around recurring characters may even grow into a larger canon and cause changes to the characters: in the episode "Love is Evol Spelled Backwards" Nergal marries Billy's Aunt Sis, and they have a son Nergal Jr who debuts in the episode "Son of Nergal". Similarly, General Skarr moved into a house next door to Billy after he retired from villainy and remained there ever since. He is now struggling to adapt to a new lifestyle, but often gets lured to a great supernatural power available next door.
Billy and Mandy often breaks the Fourth Wall, and the characters often mention previous episodes in a humorous manner -- for instance, in "Druid, Where's My Car?" Grim says to Billy, "This is the last time I'm saving you from a tree," referring to the episode "The Taking Tree"; in "Keeper of the Reaper", Li'l Porkchop says that he had been Billy's pet for 11 minutes -- the length of his debut episode. However, the one who breaks the fourth wall most frequently is Mandy. She often seems aware of the audience and comments on current events directly to the "camera," such as "It's like stupid in stereo," "Who writes this stuff anyway?" "Idiots..." and "What a waste of an episode." In the episode "He's Not Dead, He's My Mascot" Mandy actually leaves the episode, saying "Not another dumb pet episode. I'm going to skip this ep." Mandy also shows up in front of an entirely black background in the beginning of each episode (except "That's My Mummy/Toys Will Be Toys") to say something sensible yet almost completely random.
Characters
Grim is the Grim Reaper, the personification of Death, here portrayed as a scythe-wielding skeleton in a black hooded robe and speaks with a Jamaican accent. He is thousands of years old, as he was a child at the time of the Neanderthals. He enjoys all kinds of chaos, despair, and torture (except his own), martial arts activities (he attends a children's kung-fu class), and many other dark things.
By losing a limbo contest to Billy and Mandy, he is fated to be their "best friend" forever. He needed some time to adapt to the new life, but now he watches television, films, he can use the internet and play video games, eat fast food and ice cream, and many other "normal" things. Although he still despises Billy and Mandy and has tried to finish with them on a few occasions, these are limited to a few nerve-breaking rage moments as he seems to have taken his current humiliating position for granted and for the most part doesn't do anything to resist the status quo, except for whining and ranting.
Ironically, though he continually professes his hatred of Billy and Mandy, Grim is quite protective of the kids and has rescued them from an innumerable number of fixes.
Billy is an extremely happy-go-lucky child, with an IQ of -5. He has a pink, oversized nose (which is a large source of cartoon humor and running gags), wears a blue and white striped shirt, and has red hair covered by a red hat. Like his father, he has a number of very unpleasant habits, including (but not limited to) nose-picking, eating a number of things that can be best described as unpleasant,flatulence, and taking things that don't belong to him. Prone to surprising (if nonsensical) fits of rage that even Mandy has shown hints of being unnerved by. He is extremely hyperactive, with a knack for causing all kinds of disasters and ending in various parallel dimensions, usually by experimenting with Grim's supernatural items. He also has developed a great phobia of spiders over the course of the series. Due to his sheer unpredictability (sometimes to the point of defying the laws of physics) he is the only one that has been know to completely take Mandy by surprise on a consistent basis. Because of this he is also the only one Mandy can't seem to bring totally under her control (which in a deeper sense may be the sole reason she chooses to consistently keep tabs on him).
Mandy is Billy's closest friend, although her character stands in stark contrast with Billy: a blonde, noseless girl, with an acerbic and sarcastic attitude, wicked intellect, evil personality ("I believe in abusing and exploiting the stupid"), and has shown an ability to dominate almost everyone around her through fear alone. Mandy herself is fearless and will stand up to schoolyard bullies and monsters from the underworld without flinching (a fawning Irwin has described her as a "tiny Valkyrie"). She rarely smiles. In the episode "My Fair Mandy", the act of her smiling causes reality to fall apart. Also, in the episode Crushed, Mandy smiles after falling for a boy (named Piff by Billy and Irwin). She is rude to everyone, including her parents, who fear her very presence. Appearing as something of a downer in the very first episodes, she has since become more dark and powerful; her role with Billy has also changed from a good friend to ruling over him, constantly bossing him and Grim around (although her concern for Billy's safety has survived intact for one reason or another whenever he goes missing) and isn't above bricking Billy in his own bedroom to reprimand him, though he is one of the few characters in the show she has shown hint of compassion to. Billy and Grim have tried several times to "cut Mandy's down to size" through mystical means, even removing her nerve at one point, but Mandy always somehow manages to come out on top once more to torture them back into submission in some way.
Voice cast
Voice Actor | Characters |
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Richard Steven Horvitz | Billy Harold (Billy's Dad) |
Grey DeLisle | Mandy Aunt Sis (Billy's Aunt, Harold's Sister, Nergal's Wife and Nergal Junior's Mom) |
Greg Eagles | Grim Sperg |
Vanessa Marshall | Irwin Claire (Mandy's Mom) |
Jennifer Hale | Gladys (Billy's Mom) |
Dee Bradley Baker | Phil (Mandy's Dad) |
Phil LaMarr | Dick (Irwin's Dad) Dracula Irwin's Grandmama |
Diedrich Bader | Hoss Delgado |
Rachael MacFarlane | Eris Mindy |
David Warner | Nergal (Seasons 1 - 2) |
Martin Jarvis | Nergal (Season 3 onward) |
Debi Derryberry | Nergal Junior |
Maxwell Atoms | Piff Jeff the Spider (Billy's son, Billy sat on Jeff's egg squishing/birthing the very large spider) |
Jane Carr | Pud'n |
Armin Shimerman | General Skarr |
C. H. Greenblatt | Fred Fredburger |
Music
Several episodes feature music performances. The episode "Little Rock of Horror", which parodies the musical version of The Little Shop of Horrors, features a song by Voltaire, titled 'BRAINS!'. In the episode "Battle of the Bands" the song 'Into The Darkness' by the band SPF 1000, composed by David Ivy, who sold the rights to the song to the show. In the show, the song was performed by Grim and a garage band "Purple Filth" for the Battle of the Bands contest. In the Christmas Special "Billy and Mandy Save Christmas", song Round and Round by Ratt is played during the credits, and also is played in the credits of the video game.
Structure
![]() | This article possibly contains original research. |
Gross humor
The show frequently uses gross-out humor, dealing with bodily functions or mutilation (without blood). For example, Billy blowing green mucus out of his nose onto his cat; Billy talking about how a person at his school vomited onto a wall, and how the rest of the students ate it and got sick, but how he did not, despite "going back for seconds"; and Billy digging through his cat's litter-box and claiming that he "found another piece of candy," which is implied to be fecal matter; also in "That's My Mummy", it is implied that Billy doesn't understand a difference between a dog feces, steak sauce, and shampoo. Sometimes, Mandy states:"I'm going to kick your-" but is interrupted by Grim, who says: "But, Mandy..." This is covering up Mandy saying "I'm going to kick your butt." A similar time was when Irwin called Grim "Lady Grim." Grim said, "Don't make me go medivel on your-" but is interrupted by Irwin, who says "As I was saying.." covering for Grim saying "I'll get medieval on your ass." Also, in Billy Ocean, Mandy says "Billy will have to be passed through the whale's...", but is interrupted by Captain Deadwood by saying "But Mandy! That could take hours." In Scary Poppins, Mandy makes yet another crude statement when she says "I don't really give a-" but is then interrupted. In "Reap Walking", Billy says he "found some chocolate near Saliva's doghouse", again implied to be fecal matter. In the episode "Keeper of the Reaper", the character Fred Fredburger uses the restroom, and comments later that "the nachos made his poopoo really stinky". Also in the episode "That's my mummy" Billy screams at Irwin "I saw something horrible in the bathroom, and then I saw a mummy!!!" Also in one episode when Billy was explaining how bad his day was, his hand was put into a pencil sharpener. When it came out it looked like a pencil, although in actuality the hand would have been severely mutilated and bleeding. Also in Herbicidal Maniac during General Skarr's pool party, Pud'n says someone dropped a "candy bar" in the swimming pool.
References To Other Works Of Fiction
The series often parodies horror—the horror film The Ring is parodied in Aren't You Chupacabra to See Me?, and The Little Shop of Horrors is parodied in Little Rock of Horror. In the episode Tricycle of Terror, Billy is given a possessed tricycle, a plotline similar to Stephen King's novel Christine, in which a teenage boy buys a possessed antique car. It also pokes fun at Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, referring to them as the new person to strike fear in the hearts of children in lieu of Dracula, the Bride of Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man. Also in the episode Grim for a Day, Billy must fulfill Grim's duty to kill Mr. Voorhees, in homage to Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies. Another example of a horror movie take-off would be the episode Tickle Me Mandy, which was a mimic of the Child's Play movie series, about an evil killer doll that no one believes is truly evil except for the doll's owner, a young boy. In the episode Wishbones, the Pud'n's story is a spoof of the cult horror movie Donnie Darko.
The series has parodied many famous scenes from popular movies, such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Stargate, Akira,"Jurassic Park", Fight Club, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Over the Top, The Matrix, and Kill Bill. Harry Potter is a recurring theme—several episodes are based on "Nigel Planter" (Harry Potter) and "Toadblatt's School of Sorcery". For example, in the episode Toadblatt's School of Sorcery, the Sorting Hat was parodied as a "singing squid," played by "Weird Al" Yankovic. In the episode Secret Decoder Ring, Billy's "decoder ring" translated text from back of the cereal box as a picture of a woman asking for help. This is a homage to Princess Leia Organa's plea for help broadcast from R2D2, the famous scene from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. In the episode Here Thar Be Dwarves there is another Star Wars parody where Billy is asked by the dwarves to infiltrate the Elf cookie factory and shut down the 'main power generator.' The episode also contains a parody of the meeting of Council of Elrond from The Lord of the Rings series, where the fast food industry is divided among the humans, halflings, druids, elves and dwarves. In the episode Giant Billy and Mandy All-Out Attack, Mandy is seen jumping out of a helicopter, wearing the same jumpsuit that the lady in the movie Kill Bill did. It is also a little play on words (i.e., Kill Bill as opposed to Kill Billy.)
Other frequent subjects of parody are Frank Herbert's Dune series and H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. There are many offhand references to the Dune, such as gom jabbar being the part of the beauty pageant in the episode My Fair Mandy, and Lord Byron saying "You must not fear. Fear is the death that brings total obliteration." in the episode Ecto Cooler. The entire episode Mandy the Merciless is a parody of God Emperor of Dune. Cthulhu Mythos is parodied in the episode Big Trouble in Billy's Basement, in which the "Bad Book" recalls the Necronomicon, with Billy needing Grim's scythe to summon Yog-Sothoth. Another example of Cthulhu Mythos parody is the episode Prank Call of Cthulhu, a parody of The Call of Cthulhu. They often parody "Army of Darkness" with the character "Hoss Delgado" who like the main character Ash from "Army of Darkness" also has a chainsaw in place of a hand. Hoss Delgado also resembles Snake Pliskin, the hero of John Carpenter films, Escape from New York and Escape from LA. Hoss, like Snake Plisken, has an eye patch, five o'clock shadow, and is usually seen wearing the same outfit Pliskin wears in Escape from LA
A reference to The Matrix is found in the episode The Secret Snakes Club vs. PE when the children joining the Secret Snakes Club are asked to eat either a blue cupcake or a red cupcake. The show also references other shows that are on Cartoon Network. In one episode, the television shows "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends". They continue to go on by having a "Special Report" with the announcer saying "Sorry for interrupting the mindless programming...". In that same episode, the villian says "I would have gotton away from it, if it wasn't from those meddling kids". The camera then switches to the Scooby-Doo Gang. Then Mandy says "Hey, he means us." Fred Flintstone is featured in an episode.
Double Entendre humor
Sometimes the show features more adult-oriented double entendre humor, unusual given its kid-friendly rating. In "That's My Mummy", necrophilia was implied. Irwin's father revealed that Irwin's mother is actually a mummy. He said that they "have managed to make it work all these years, leaving a whole lot of questions that don't need to be answered." Billy alludes to Grim watching a pornographic film in "Sickly Sweet", when he tells Mandy that Grim "was watching my Mom and Dad's special DVD.". In "Mommie Fiercest" Billy described his mother as "ancient and grappling with the onsets of menopause". In Billy and Mandy Begins, Billy reveals that he is the product of unplanned parenthood. In an episode where Billy's action figures come to life, at least one of the toys seems to be gay - named Prof. Gaylord, and in "One Crazy Summoner" it appears as though both Toadblatt and the singing squid are gay, assuming they're both male, as the squids gender is never actually stated. In "Substitute Teacher", Nergal states how beautiful Nergal Jr.'s mother is, and they face each other. Abstract sound effects are heard and the camera pans to Nergal Jr. saying, "Yuck! Old people love!" In another episode, Billy's dad has bought a new car and states that he has reached 'Stage 3', which Billy rightly understands to be the third stage of his dad's mid-life crisis, the 'Muscle-car stage'. Billy then states that the next stage is the 'Trophy wife'. In the episode Nergal's Pizza Billy sings a song while baking the pizza, then Billy says "I got a little gas but I'm kickin' some-" and then farts covering his final word. In Hey, Water You Doing?, it shows Billy marrying two women, and before they fight Billy yells "Catfight!". In Keeper of the Reaper Jeff the giant spider says that Billy is his dad, which causes all the characters to get grossed out, but they calm down when Grim says he just hatched the egg.
Fantasy violence
The show sometimes uses an extreme fantasy violence, even to the point of showing gore. In the episode "Brown Evil", Hoss Delgado battles hordes of zombies, using chainsaws, guns, and his other gadgets. The remaining zombies combine into a giant decomposing monster, and the episode ends with the monster blowing up, causing a rain of the body parts and then Mandy comments "Only in America". In "Tricycle of Terror", Billy crashes his bike into a tree on the way to get some lemonade, destroying his face and exposing his skull. Similar face ripping gags are seen in "Reap Walking" and "Loser From The Earth's Core". Because of the many similar occurrences, the show is rated in the US as TV-Y7-FV, where FV means a higher degree of the fantasy violence. In "Meet The Reaper", the pilot episode, as soon as the shot of Limbo appears, Billy and Mandy slowly form up in a gag as their layers of being fall on them one by one: first as skeletons, then as their muscles, and finally their skin. (this happens in the opening sequence as well) The same happens to Billy's hamster, except a bit quicker. Also in an episode where Billy is sent to military school, the last clip shows him blind-folded, tide up to a pole with bullet holes on the wall behind him implying that he's about to be executed by gun fire, similar to might had happened in a concentration camp.
Cannibalistic humor
The show has even displayed several acts of cannibalism. In "Tastes like Chicken", Mandy was suspected for being a cannibal, and in the end, it was implied that she has eaten Irwin, after spitting out his glasses. The episode "Little Rock of Horror" involves a giant alien meteorite eating brains of everyone in the town, while singing the song "BRAINS!". Pinocchio, who appeared in episodes "Nursery Crimes" and "Billy Ocean", believes that the only way to become a real boy is to devour Billy's flesh and is willing to do this to the point of insanity. In "Which Came First?", Pud'n states they'll have to eat each other to survive, while Sperg imagines Billy and Irwin with a milkshake and burger for a head. At the end, Sperg has eaten Pud'n's limbs, exposing Pud'n's bones, after which Sperg says with Pud'n's limbs in his mouth "Tough luck for you, kid." In "Hey, Water You Doing?", King Triceps fakes the voice of Mr. Snarkle and tells the Googan priest "We should eat them", and then you can see the fish people cooking Billy on a rotisserie. There has also been several scenes in which Irwin is constantly eaten by several species of monsters. And in the video game, there is a giant chicken from "Which Came First?" as a playable character, and there is a fried chicken as a health restorative item. And in Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure, when Billy, Mandy, Grim, and Irwin are in the pot, Billy said he wish he'd be eaten by a biker gang.
DVD releases
Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure DVD feature is scheduled for release on April 3, 2007.[1] According to the cover design on Maxwell Atoms' blog, the special features for the DVD is a widescreen, surround sound version of the movie, the episode "Bully Boogie", and interviews with the voice actors. At Wondercon 2007, Maxwell Atoms announced that DVD season sets are going to be made, and that a Season 1 DVD set is being made.
Also, some episodes have been featured on various other Cartoon Network DVDs.
- Cartoon Network Halloween Volume 1 - 9 Creepy Capers (August 10, 2004) — Billy and Mandy's Jacked Up Halloween [1]
- Cartoon Network Christmas Volume 1 - Yuletide Follies (October 5, 2004) — Son of Nergal [2]
- Ed, Edd, n' Eddy, Volume 1 - Edifying Ed-Ventures (May 10, 2005) — Nursery Crimes
- Cartoon Network Halloween Volume 2 - Grossest Halloween Ever (August 9, 2005) — Night of the Living Grim [3]
- Cartoon Network Christmas Volume 2 - Christmas Rocks (October 5, 2005) — Battle of the Bands [4]
- Cartoon Network Halloween Volume 3 - Sweet Sweet Fear (September 12, 2006) — The Bubble With Billy [5]
- Cartoon Network Fridays - Volume 1 (September 19, 2006) — Herbicidal Maniac [6]
- Cartoon Network Christmas Volume 3 (October 3, 2006) — Billy and Mandy Save Christmas [7]
TV movies
A 90-minute TV movie called Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure aired on March 30, 2007, with DVD release coming out few days later, on April 3, 2007.[1] In the UK, the movie aired on February 14th, 2007 on Cartoon Network. In Canada, the movie aired on March 17. 2007 on Teletoon. "In the 90-minute Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure, when Grim is stripped of his powers by the denizens of the underworld, Billy, Mandy and Irwin must take matters into their own hands." [2] There's also a second movie planned called Wrath of the Spider Queen that is said to air later in 2007.
Video Game
A video game based on the series was developed by Midway for the GameCube, Wii, PS2, GBA, and PC. It came out on October 2 2006, and was released as a Wii launch title on November 19th.
See also
References
- ^ a b Lacey, Gord (2006-12-08). "Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy - Ready for a Boogey Adventure?". TVshowsonDVD.com. Retrieved 2006-12-13.
- ^ Ben (2006-03-05). "TV Movies Form Backbone of New CN Slate, Live Action Downplayed (Updated)". Toon Zone. Retrieved 2006-05-28.
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External links
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