Grim and Evil The Grim Adventures Of Billy and Mandy Episode Guide written by J. Fisher May not be reposted Grim Adventures Of Billy and Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy and Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy and Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy and Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy and Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy and Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy and Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy and Mandy Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy

Episode 49
Original broadcast date: June 28, 2005
Mandy's Comment: "Smile. Tomorrow will be worse."

49A. Runaway Pants
Written by Maxwell Atoms and Alex Almaguer/ Storyboard by Alex Almaguer

This episode is subtitled, "The Billy Zone," and is a pretty good takeoff of "The Twilight Zone," complete with opening titles just like it, a Rod Serling-type narrator, segments in black & white, and so on.

A pathetically out-of-shape Billy convinces Nergal Junior to turn himself into a pair of pants that Billy can wear to help him win the President's Fitness race. But after Junior turns into the pants, he can't stop running and he can't change back into himself again. So Billy is stuck running and running and running. He even wins the President's Fitness Award but he can't stop running long enough to accept it. The narrator comments that some say Billy and Junior are still running to this day. In the end it turns out the narrator has invented the whole story and the entire cast descends on him with blood in the their eyes, furious that he has been "making up crud," as Mandy so eloquently puts it. She holds up a hand in front of the camera and says, "Turn off that camera. Nothing to see here," while in the background we can hear everyone beating the crap out of the narrator. Hmm, can I say that here?

Most notable moment: Grim becomes incensed when the narrator refers to him as being "forced to befriend mere children" and is just beginning to protest indignantly that no one forces him to do anything when Mandy emerges from the house and commands him to do her next day's homework.

49B. Scythe 2.0
Written by Maxwell Atoms and Mike Diederich / Storyboard by Mike Diederich

Grim spends a day in the garden utilizing the scythe's blade to prune bushes but the blade becomes too dull to use for magic and while Grim is trying to sharpen it, it breaks into hundreds of shards. In a clever take-off of James Bond movies, Grim asks the man in charge of all the top-secret reaping gadgets in the underworld to fix his scythe. "F", however, has something else in mind: an upgrade on the original which he calls Scythe 2.0. Grim still wants his old scythe fixed but he agrees to use Scythe 2.0 in the meantime, thus exposing the highly advanced and automated scythe to his extremely peculiar relationship with Billy and Mandy. Scythe 2.0 is disgusted and comes to the conclusion that Grim is obsolete. It decides to go out reaping on its own, but first, it wants to kill Billy and Mandy! Grim is determined that if anyone is going to kill Billy and Mandy, it's going to be HIM. So he borrows the Doom Buggy (another invention of F's) and captures Scythe 2.0 after a ferocious battle, then gets his original scythe back and that's the show. Frankly, I think this is one of the best Grims ever.

Most notable moment: Grim uses the scythe to prune the bushes into topiaries of Mandy and Billy and then he whacks off their bushy heads.

As the credits are running, we see F showing Grim and Mandy "the infamous Mask of Terror." One look, he assures them, will scare the life out of anyone who gazes into its face. However, after trying and failing to scare Mandy, the mask starts shrieking and sobbing. F turns to Grim and comments, "I say. Is she one of ours?"

Episode 50
Original broadcast date: June 29, 2005
Mandy's Comment: "Get me a cheeseburger with no onions, a small order of fries, and a soda." Okay, this is a repeat of Mandy's Comment on Episode 35 (Original broadcast date: October 22, 2004) How disappointing! Sometimes my favorite thing on the show is her comment!

50A. Firebird Sweet
Written by Drew Neumann and Aaron Springer / Storyboard by Aaron Springer

Billy prepares to cram the entire contents of a box of Frosted Golden Apple Scraps into his mouth, but discovers that the phoenix packed in the box has eaten almost every bit of it. While fighting over the last morsel, the phoenix stuffs Billy's head into its mouth and won't let go. Turns out Frosted Golden Apple Scraps are made in Eris-Zona, so Grim, Mandy and Billy (with the phoenix still trying to swallow his head) go there to ask Eris for help getting the bird off of Billy. Eris refuses to help. Finally, Mandy takes a piece of the cereal and throws it into the gap between Eris's front teeth. The bird lets go of Billy and swallows Eris's head instead.

Most notable moment: At the end of the episode, the program makes fun of itself by showing Grim, Mandy and Billy sitting on the couch watching "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy." Grim turns off the TV and says, "That was a pretty good episode." Mandy replies, "That depends on what you mean by good." The camera moves to the left and we see that Thud (a character from this episode) is sitting on the couch next to Billy, and they are both eating cereal. Billy asks Thud to pass the milk. Now here's the part I'm not sure about. There's a voice-over, just like they do over the credits every night. I don't know if this time was on purpose (poking more fun) or an accident...did the voice-over start and then stop when in mid-sentence when an engineer somewhere realized it wasn't really the end of the show? During the voice-over, Thud passes the milk to Billy and Billy says, "That was really excellent service," while Thud blushes (that's a joke that goes back to something that happened during the episode). Whether the voice-over was on purpose or not, it really looks just like the end of the show, but it's only the half-way point.

50B. The Bubble with Billy
Written and Storyboarded by Brett Varon

Billy's constant stupid little requests make Grim angry enough that when Billy asks him for a piece of gum, Grim gives him a "bottomless gumball machine" so that Billy won't bother him about it anymore. He also clearly tells Billy not to swallow any of the gum. Ahem. After Billy swallows the gum, bubbles start coming out of his every orifice. Then Grim tells Mandy that once they clean the gum out of Billy's stomach, Billy will develop an unimaginably horrible rash from another dimension, he'll itch and sweat and might even be quarantined in his room. Sounds good to Mandy. The problem is getting Billy to empty his stomach and not swallow any more gum.

Most notable moment: Irwin thinks Billy is gone for good, so he asks Mandy if they can change the title of the show to "The Grim Adventures of Irwin and Mandy," and comes up with an idea for the pilot...something about being chased by an evil, supernatural cloud of bubbles...which of course comes true. As the bubbles released by Billy float around Irwin, he runs off in a panic. Mandy and Grim watch him go.

While the credits are running, we see Billy stuck in his room because of the rash. He calls Miss Butterbean and asks if she has any gum. The gumball dispenser is enjoying Billy's discomfort so much that Billy breaks it. The gumball machine mutters, "cruel and unreasonable boy". Billy scratches and scratches.

Episode 51
Original broadcast date: June 30, 2005
Mandy's Comment: "Control, Alt, Delete." This is a repeat of Mandy's Comment on Episode 41 (Original broadcast date: April 8, 2005) -- I already complained about repeat comments in yesterday's synopsis, so I won't do it again...but grrrrrr.

51A. Billy Idiot
Written by Ian Wasseluk and Alex Almaguer / Storyboard by Alex Almaguer

Billy submits an audition dance tape to Mrs. Pollywinkle's Super Special Fine Arts School for Gifted Children and he gets accepted to train there. But it turns out the head of the school is an evil witch who has been stealing the souls of the innocent dance students to make sure she will continue to remain the greatest dancer of all time. The price of tuition is Billy's soul, and even Grim can't help because Mrs. Pollywinkle overpowers him by turning his scythe into a huge snake and using it to tie him up together with Mandy. So it's Billy's dad, Harold, to the rescue.

Most notable moment: When the acceptance letter arrives from the school of dance, Grim thinks it must be a fake. "You're right, Grim," Mandy replies. "Billy's never been good at anything. Don't these people watch the show?"

Mrs. Pollywinkle's school looks very much like "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" both inside and out (at least, until it burns down).

51B. Home of the Ancients
Written by Nina Bargiel and C.H. Greenblatt / Storyboard by C.H. Greenblatt

Grim is sentenced to 50 days of community service for gross misuse of his power (using the moon as a bowling ball). He is assigned to the "supernatural wing" of Withering Heights Assisted Living Facility, where all the old-school monsters live: the Werewolf; Dracula; the Bride of Frankenstein; the Blob and so on. The monsters all feel useless because modern children find them corny. They are seriously considering giving up and "passing the baton to a new generation of knife-wielding maniacs," so Grim sets out to prove to them that they are still scary.

Most notable moment: When Grim's plan goes predictably awry, Mandy comments that the road to stupid is paved with good intentions.

While the credits roll, we see Grim still trying to convince the old-school monsters that they are scary. He asks a man in the street which is more scary: the really scary monsters or a glass of water? The man is terrified of the water, so Grim tries to bribe him $5 to answer "the monsters". Dracula wants to drink the water and the man begs to be allowed to leave. Poor Grim!

Episode 52
Original broadcast date: July 29, 2005
Mandy's Comment: "It's you and me against the world. We attack at dawn."

My Fair Mandy
Written and Storyboarded by C.H. Greenblatt

Mindy goads Mandy into entering a beauty pageant, but it's apparent that Mandy won't have a snowball's chance of winning if she can't learn to smile.

Most Notable Moment: Principal Goodvibes tells Mandy that the only way for her to know whether she's pretty or not is if a panel of three judges tells her she is.

After Mandy's smile disturbs the natural order of things, there is a very clever take-off of a memorable sequence from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is one of my all-time favorite movies, but I won't recommend it to you if you haven't ever seen it -- chances are you'd be bored stiff by it because the pacing is very slow compared to what we're used to nowadays.

This is the second episode to feature a photograph of someone as an in-joke. The first time it happened was in "Irwin Gets A Clue," where I was wondering if the picture was of Maxwell Atoms (Adam Burton) himself. If anybody knows who the subject of either of these pictures is, please feel free to write in.

During the credits we see Irwin trying to get Mojo Jojo's tight belt unfastened so he can breathe.

Note: Although the Friday Night crew was trying to make it seem that this is the first time Mandy has ever smiled, it most definitely is not. "Get Out of My Head!" was the first episode in which we see a real smile on Mandy's face -- but it was really Billy doing it. Then in "Educating Grim," we see Mandy as an adorable little girl without a scowl in sight. She has also smiled several very mean smiles, once in the very first episode,"Meet the Reaper," and once in "A Dumb Wish." An extremely dreamy smile appears on her face in "Crushed." In any case, I have to say that in this episode we still don't actually get to SEE the smile, except from such a long distance that you can't really make it out. So that whole Friday Night thing was pure hype, and totally unnecessary in my opinion. (This is my dislike of the Friday Night format coming out!)

I think is one of the best episodes, and judging from some comments I have received from viewers, a lot of people seem to agree.

Episode 53
Original broadcast date: August 5, 2005
Mandy's Comment: Today's password is...mmfth yagh (or something equally unpronounceable)

53A. One Crazy Summoner
Written by Maxwell Atoms and Micheal Diederich / Storyboard by Micheal Diederich (I give up...however they spell Diedrich's name any given week is the way I will spell it, too)

Mandy discovers an anaconda menacing Billy's parents in their kitchen. Neither Grim nor Billy shows any interest in helping to get rid of the snake but Billy comes up with the idea of contacting Nigel Planter, who he says will be able to talk to it. However, it turns out that Nigel is not a Parseltongue, but a Partialtongue, which means he can only talk to snacks. In any case, he is having a crisis of his own that he wants Billy and Mandy to help him with. He has a crush on Herfeffenie Pfefferfeffer, the most beautiful witch at Toadblatt's -- but she is dating Dorco Malfly, Nigel's archenemy.

Most notable moment: Nigel asks if they will help him win Herfeffenie's heart. Mandy says no, Billy says yes, and Grim asks if they will get to eat it afterwards.

Here are the answers on Harry's dad's test:
1. Crabs
2. Moist Figs
3. Tapeworm
4. Cliff Vorhees
5. E. Robles
6. Maxwell

Continuing with their tendency to slip in-jokes into the show: Cliff Vorhees is a background designer; Eric Robles is a character designer; and Maxwell is Maxwell Atoms.

53B. Guess What's Coming to Dinner
Written by Maxwell Atoms and Jim Schumann / Storyboard by Jim Schumann

Billy's dad and mom leave for their second honeymoon on the very day that they had invited Principal Goodvibes over for dinner to see if he could recommend Billy to get into Rollington Academy for the Gifted. So Billy asks Hoss Delgado and Eris to pretend to be his parents for the meal. The chaos Eris creates mixes perfectly with Hoss's thickheadedness: she serves giant alien zombie lobsters for dinner, and he blasts chunks out of the house while attacking the monsters.

Most notable moment: "Oh dear, this is terrible," laments Eris, as Hoss systematically destroys the house, "...I forgot to buy lemons and butter."

By the way, it turns out that Rollington Academy is a military school, and to a background of "Hogan's Heroes"-type music, Billy does situps, is chewed out by the drill sergeant, digs trenches with a spoon, has soap put in his mouth while being chewed out by the drill sergeant, does more situps, and in the grand finale is tied to a stake blindfolded awaiting execution.

While the credits roll, we see Hoss Delgado regaining consciousness in the Puppet Dimension that Eris kept threatening to send him to during the episode.

54A. Mommy Fiercest
Written and Storyboarded by Brett Varon

The magic of the scythe turns Billy's parents back into children, whereupon Gladys and Mandy immediately bump heads over who's going to dominate Billy. Meanwhile, Billy struggles mightily to understand why, as he eats a piece of bread, it gets smaller and smaller and eventually goes away.

Most notable moment: Mandy watches the young Harold and the young Gladys flirting with each other and remarks, "Get a playpen," in total disgust.

54B. The Taking Tree
Written by Brian Larsen and Maxwell Atoms / Storyboard by Brian Larsen

Billy's Captain Fathead action figure, a mayonnaise jar, the back of Billy's pants, Grim's scythe and Mandy's Nancy Drool novels have all vanished by the time Grim figures out that the tree in Billy's front yard is a Taking Tree, the kind of tree that keeps taking things and won't return anything until you give it something better. What the tree wants is a very rare baseball card and what it now has is -- Billy. Which is just fine with Grim, until Mandy reminds him that the tree also has his scythe. He desperately wants that back in order to triumph over Amy Cooper, a little girl in his karate class who constantly makes fun of him. So Grim and Mandy set out to locate the baseball card.

Most notable moment: After looking into the Taking Tree, Billy says, "Not only did I find Captain Fathead, but I found Carmen Sandiego and Waldo." (Thanks to "Destroy Us All," a member on the Grim Forum, for this suggestion. I thought there were so many notable moments in this episode that I couldn't decide which to use!)

While the credits roll, we see Harold doing nothing but watching a fly until suddenly his tongue darts out and he eats it. This is something out of "Mommy Fiercest" -- the scene where Grim makes Harold wait outside the bathroom. It didn't make it into the episode, but it ended up being used during the credits.

55A. Reap Walking
Written by James Silverman and Louie del Carmen / Storyboard by Louie del Carmen

Overnight film taken from a surveillance camera seems to point to Grim as the one who tethered 13 very rare and endangered white-winged owls to a flagpole, then smeared them with rat mucous.

Most notable moment: Billy pulls the face off his skull when he sucks the waffle mix from the beaters while the electric mixer is running. (Okay, I don't necessarily think this is the most notable moment but I have a reason for picking it.)
"Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" is lampooned as "Fister's House for the Crazy Weirdo Made-Up People."

The signature "ˇMucha Lucha!" moment turns into Billy doing "ˇMukaka Rocka!".

There's yet another nod to "Scooby-Doo" when Billy's mom declares, "I would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddlesome kids," as the camera pans to Scooby-Doo and friends, but Mandy orders the camera to pan down to look at her and Billy.

Harold mentions "Second Breakfast," which is a term from Lord of the Rings.

55B. The Loser From the Earth's Core
Written by Maxwell Atoms and Aaron Springer / Storyboard by Aaron Springer

Nergal's "weekend" stay with Billy's family lasts over a year until he finally reveals the reason for the extended visit: ashamed of having lost 599 games of "Crypt of Failure" in a row, Nergal could not face his family any longer. Grim, Billy and Mandy then set about to teach Nergal not only to accept the fact that he's a failure, but to be the best failure he can be.

Most notable moment: Billy's face is mowed off his skull when Nergal carelessly tosses a rotary lawnmower at him. (Seem familiar? Something similar happened in "Reap Walking.")

In a nod to Lord of the Rings, Nergal remarks,"I will travel the road to acceptance, although I do not know the way."

While the credits roll, we see Nergal getting into an elevator, realizing he forgot his lunch pail and then struggling to retrieve the pail while the elevator doors close around him.

56A. Ecto Cooler
Written and Storyboarded by Maxwell Atoms (no one else would have the nerve)

Billy channels Lord Byron via ectoplasm coming out of his mouth.

Most notable moment: In a line worthy of Mojo Jojo, Billy rephrases "I'm a poet and I didn't know it" as "I am a poet and I didn't even know that I had the ability that I might be."

Not wanting to buck an ongoing trend, in this episode they have Principal Goodvibes's face melt off his skull at the sight of Sperg's mother (who, by the way, turns out to be a total and complete dish instead of the fat, ugly lump one might expect.)

In a nod to Yoda of "Star Wars," the green ectoplasmic Lord Byron comments, "Trained well and strong with coolness you are...but not that strong."

Byron tells Billy, "Fear is the mind-killer that brings total annihilation." Lord Byron must have been reading Frank Herbert's Dune in the afterlife...this is from The Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear which goes:
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

For a quick biographical sketch of Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron) click HERE. Order a copy of the excellent book Dune HERE.

56B. The Schlubs
Written by Maxwell Atoms / Storyboard by John Holmquist

Grim is outraged to learn that the animated series "My Troubled Pony" was cancelled at the end of its first season, coming to a cliffhanging season finale. (As far as Grim is concerned, "My Troubled Pony" is one of the best series ever: "It's got comedy and drama. It's a dramedy. It's got fun and art. It's a dramedy fart.") He's willing to pay to have the series completed, but discovers that he's down to his last 2 cents, having spent all the rest of his money on liposuction. Coincidentally, he discovers a colony of Schlubs living in the weird-looking mushrooms on Billy's lawn. And Schlubs can be melted down into gold bricks...assuming Grim can catch them.

Most notable moment: After Grim realizes that he needs money and that the Schlubs can be melted down into gold, Mandy walks away muttering, "I can already see where this is going. Call me if you need a stern talking-to"

While the credits roll, we see the ending to "My Troubled Pony" as drawn and voiced by Billy. Needless to say, it's awful...but Grim pays Billy his last 2 cents for it anyway.

This isn't the first time the show has dabbled in things going backwards. In the original "Grim and Evil" format, the ending credits are just the beginning credits run backwards. There is also backwards speech on the standard "Grim Adventures" closing credits. According to IMDb, it's Maxwell Atoms himself, saying, "Now, now, you're watching the show backwards!" You will only hear it, though, when they show the credits without any talking over them.

The Prank Call of Cthulu
Written by Maxwell Atoms, Alex Almaguer and Mike Diederich / Storyboard by Alex Almaguer and Mike Diederich

The title is a take-off on HP Lovecraft's story "The Call of Chthulhu."
Billy's search for a phone without caller ID leads him to his own basement, where on the wall hangs The Phone of Cthulu, the most dangerous phone in the universe. After being warned by Grim that using the phone could awaken an ancient, slumbering creature who will rise from the murky depths and destroy the world, Billy just can't wait to try it.

Most notable moment: After Billy and Irwin are sucked through the phone to Cthulu's dimension, Grim wonders why he can't just leave the boys right where they are. Mandy replies, "Because 'The Grim Adventures of Mandy' doesn't sound as good as 'Billy and Mandy'."

I'm sure the writers of this show have been waiting for years to be able to say, "It looks like Endsville for Endsville," and this was their chance. (Thanks to Floyd for sending the lyrics to me so I didn't have to transcribe and retype them!) It looks like it's Endsville for Endsville
The Endsville we all love was just a fluke
We have tentacles, sharp teeth,
And great big gills,
But the sushi in this town all tastes like puke.
It looks like it's Endsville for Endsville
The Endsville folk have really lost the fight
We have sunk into some
Weird amebic ooze
So, flush it down and don't forget to wipe.
(toilet flushes)

There's a moment in this episode where Grim walks into the cafeteria and says he wants the calimari, and most of the occupants of the cafeteria, which are some kind of squid or other, turn to look at him. But Mandy did it first and she did it better! In "Toadblatt's School of Sorcery," Mandy terrorizes the Sorting Squid as it's just about to settle on her head when she says, "Good. I'm in the mood for calimari." Much funnier.

WWhile the credits roll we see Grim on the phone trying to order a pizza and then being sucked into the phone line by Cthulu, who has been trapped there by the trick Mandy pulled on him.

For a brief overview of Cthulhu, HP Lovecraft's creation, click HERE.

You can actually read "The Call of Chthulhu" on line. Click HERE.

Christmas Special (Episode 58)
Original broadcast date: December 2, 2005
Mandy's Comment: Bah. Humbug. (Then a foot comes down on her head, just like they used to do on Monty Python.)

Billy and Mandy Save Christmas
Story by Maxwell Atoms / Written by Nina Bargiel and Jeremy Bargiel
Storyboard by C.H. Greenblatt, Shawn Cashman, Debbie Cone, Brett Varon, and Maxwell Atoms

When Santa Claus is turned into a vampire on Christmas Eve, Billy, Mandy and Grim go into action to save Christmas.

Normally I don't "review" the shows, I just give a short synopsis and mention some parts that I found particularly funny. But in this case, I can't help saying that I found this episode very disappointing as a whole. It seems to me that the people who write cartoons for Cartoon Network are well-practiced in telling very clever, concise stories of 11 minutes or less; maybe not quite as good at writing half-hour stories; and not very good at all at writing stories longer than a half hour. (And don't get me started on The Powerpuff Girls Movie!!) In this case, I felt like the story completely fell apart after the first 20 minutes. On top of everything else, I don't understand how they can even call this a Christmas show...it has next to nothing to do with Christmas, and everything to do with the writers trying to gross everyone out to the best of their ability.

Most Notable Moment: Mandy sings "Up On the Roof Top" (á la Shirley Temple) to placate the vampire santa, and when she's done, Grim and Baron Von Ghoulish use candy canes to pull the corners of her mouth up into a smile.

There's a nod to Star Wars in that when Billy, Mandy and Grim come to the North Pole, they find Luke Skywalker hanging upside down with the big white critter menacing him.
Billy's face comes off yet again when he gets it stuck to some ice.
Fans of the movie A Clockwork Orange may find it interesting to know that Malcolm McDowell voiced Baron Von Ghoulish, the vampire who performs "Singing in the Rain" while filing and polishing his teeth.
Repeating themes in the show: the eyes literally following everyone around the room; snowballs seemingly coming out of nowhere to hit people in the face; Billy's "Billy Was Right" dance.

Here's the little song Grim and Von Ghoulish sing on their way back to Santa's.
Thanks to Cassie for sending the lyrics

We're off!
Yes, we're off!
We're off to save Christmas!
Off to save Christmas!
And it's cold.
Super cold!
Because we forgot our jackets.
Yes, we forgot to bring our jackets.
So we'll freeze!
And we're lost!
Oh so lost!
And we cannot feel our fingers!
Yes, we cannot feel our fingers!
And.... * Mandy cuts them off. *

During the credits there are a lot of clever little bits. Grim rips open all the Christmas presents and emerges with...a scythe! Mandy gets coal in her sock. The doll's eyes roll around from one side of the screen to the other. Baron Von Ghoulish sweeps up. Billy does the "Billy Was Right" dance. And Billy with his nose so bright becomes the lead reindeer as Santa delivers the presents.

59A. Billy Ocean
Written by Tim McKean and Alex Almaguer / Storyboard by Alex Almaguer

Grim gets so annoyed with Billy at the beach that he throws him into the ocean, where the hapless boy is serenaded by a crab and then swallowed by a giant whale.

Most notable moment: Aboard ship, Mandy holds an entire conversation with Grim as though he's actually responding to her, while he is puking over the edge of the railing.

What they borrowed from: Not one, but two Herman Melville books, Billy Budd and Moby Dick; the biblical story of Jonah and the Whale; the fairy tale Pinocchio -- and dare I mention, the parting of the Red Sea? Also, Ziggy the Crab sings "Under the Ocean," a lampoon of the facile rhymes in "Under the Sea," from The Little Mermaid:

Welcome to the sea, where everything is free
but don't you ever think about escaping because
Under the ocean
Under the ocean
Where everything's wetta (wetter)
and it sure beats the ghetta (ghetto)
So try to behave
or you'll rot in a grave
of water and salt
and it'll all be your fault.
So take it from me
your crustacean M.C.
don't drink the water 'cuz it's full of fish pee.
So don't bring no drama
Leave that for your mama
Come, ah (this word could be 'comma' for all I know)
Chillin' in the Bahamas
Ridin' a lama
Sweatin' in a sauna
while eatin' a banana
Billy:
eh, I don't wanna (and he eats the crab)

59B. Hill Billy
Written and Storyboarded by Brett Varon

As Billy pursues his dream of becoming a world-class chicken juggler, Grim Adventures turns into a black-and-white 30's-style cartoon -- right down to the low-fidelity sound track and the scratches in the film.

Most notable moment: When the black and white format overtakes Grim, he looks down at his altered bones and says in disgust, "Oh, great. There goes my whole design ethic!"

At the beginning of the story when Billy is glued to the TV, we can see that he's watching "Evil Con Carne." The reference to Billy as "The One" is taken from, I assume, The Matrix, as Wendell the Dirt Gnome has been waiting for someone to come who will talk Uncle Chokey into going back into the chicken juggling biz.

The Skeleton Dance performed by Grim and friends is from "The Skeleton Dance," a very old Disney cartoon. This ground-breaking cartoon originally premiered May 10, 1929. Produced by Ub Iwerks; music by Carl Stallings, adapting Edvard Grieg's "March of the Trolls". In the book 50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time, it is listed as Number 19, second only to "Steamboat Willie" in cementing Disney's popularity. (Thanks to Floyd for looking this up and telling me about it!) The DVD collection it's in (Disney Treasures, Silly Symphonies) is very pricey, but if you like that "rubber hose school of animation," you can order it here.

While the credits roll, we see the color version of Billy pulling the color cow's tail over and over and over...and the color cow doesn't look nearly as happy about it as the jolly black-and-white one did!

The Keeper of the Reaper
Written by Richard Horvitz, Kristen Lazarian and C.H. Greenblatt / Storyboard by C.H. Greenblatt
(Richard Horvitz is the voice of Billy and Billy's dad. This is the second episode for which he has been given writing credit; the other was "Bad News Ghouls.")

When it looks like Billy's family is about to move away, Mandy and Billy become embroiled in a nasty custody battle over who's going to get to keep Grim.

Most notable moment: Mandy's parents admit under oath that they are scared of their fearsome daughter, and her father wonders aloud if perhaps they should have given her to the wolves that showed up to take her when she was born.

"It's like I'm in some bad cartoon," Grim laments at one point in this episode. Well, I don't know about "bad," but I sure would agree with "weird." After the last three episodes, each more bizarre than the other, I'm starting to think that they were told ahead of time that this is going to be the final season for the show so now they're now doing everything they've ever wanted to do, no holds barred, since it doesn't matter anymore.
Now, I don't actually know this for a fact. I'm just speculating, so don't worry about it!<

This episode introduces the dumbest character since Billy, Fred Fredburger.

When Billy's dad says, "Hang in there, baby" to Milkshakes, who is hanging by his claws on the end of a plank of wood, Harold is referring to a poster that was very popular back in the late 60s and early 70s. It was of a cat hanging by its claws from a tree branch. (A situation that Milkshakes has also found himself in many a time.)

When Mandy tells Irwin she wants the truth, Irwin replies, "You want the truth? You want the TRUTH?..." I believe that Irwin is just working his way up to the famous line, "You can't handle the truth," when Fred Fredburger decides he has to go peepee and Irwin never gets to say it.

Judge Roy Spleen is a takeoff on the name Judge Roy Bean. (See the movie, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, starring Paul Newman and directed by John Huston.)

Here are the words to KEEPER OF THE REAPER, as best I can make out between my own ear and the somewhat-faulty closed captioning:

Billy:
Please vote me the Keeper of the Reaper!
I wanna be the Keeper of the Reaper!
His skiny white bones are mine to own, to do with as I see fit.
Give him to me and I promise my love won't quit.
Mandy:
I disagree about the Keeper of the Reaper!
It should be me who's the Keeper of the Reaper.
Grim's not a toy for an idiot boy who can't even tie his shoes!
If Billy wins then we all surely lose.
Grim:
Don't I get a say in the Keeper of the Reaper?
I'll make you all pay for the Keeper of the Reaper!
All my rage is bound up in this cage, held back by these iron bars--
I'll never get rid of the mental scars.
Judge Roy Spleen:
I don't care who's the Keeper of the Reaper!
I'm losing my hair over Keeper of the Reaper!
A mountain of stress is crushing my chest, I'm going blind in one eye--
And it's all because of that stupid guy!

Billy: Time to make you ill, old-school style!
Grim is the corner in my square
Mandy: Grim's the chocolate in my eclair
Billy: Grim is the freshener in my air
Mandy: Grim's the conditioner in my hair
Billy: Grim is the picnic in my bear
Mandy: Grim is the cushion in my chair
Billy: Grim is the renaissance in my fair
Mandy: Grim is the anger in my stare
Billy: Grim is the stain in my underwear
Mandy: Somehow I knew you were gonna go there!

All together:
We all need the Keeper of the Reaper,
I want to see the Keeper of the Reaper.
Grim: All this singing is driving me nuts
Fred: I just want some nachos...
Chorus: Why not just cut Grim in half?
Judge Spleen: My ulcer's eating up my guts
Fred: How I miss my nachos...
Chorus: That would be a real good laugh!
Mandy: I totally hate that we have to debate
Billy: That whether it's me or you
All: It's obvious to everyone here
It's obvious to everyone here
It's obvious to everyone that
Fred: I have make poo poo

While the credits are running, we see Fred Fredburger getting ready for bed. When he gets into the bed, the vampire-juror who sat next to him during the custody battle is already in the bed! The vampire says "How many times do I have to tell you, this is MY house?" Fred replies, "Yes."

This website is not affiliated with Cartoon Network or Maxwell Atoms. It is a fan run site only and is the result of several donated hours. Please do not steal our content.