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 61
Original broadcast date: January 20, 2006
Mandy's Comment: Mandy walks out into the middle of the screen and says, "Things are not always as they seem," in Grim's voice.

61A. The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name
Written by Jeremy Bargiel and Alex Almaguer / Storyboard by Alex Almaguer

Billy finds his true love and immediately accuses Grim of attempting to steal her away, even though the Reaper is fairly vocal about being repulsed by her. Too bad for Billy -- Blandy turns out to be a shape-shifting monster from the nether realm that takes on different forms in order to sow misery and dissention.
Interestingly, Billy's true love looks and sounds a whole lot like Billy himself. Her name, Blandy, is a combination of Billy's and Mandy's names. Richard Horvitz plays Billy, Billy's Dad and Blandy in this episode.

Most notable moment: When Mandy finds out about Billy's girlfriend she wonders, "Who is this pathetic, lonely, desperate, desperate, desperate, desperate, desperate, desperate creature?"
(In my opinion, this episode was full of nothing BUT notable moments. I just picked this one because I'm partial to anything Mandy says and does. But I could have chosen about 20 other things!)

A little in-joke...in the "Monster Manual," the monster mentioned on the page opposite Blandy is "Greenblatt." Carl Greenblatt/C.H. Greenblatt is a frequent writer on the show and is also a voice actor -- in fact, he did Fred Fredburger just last week. Episodes he wrote or storyboarded (or both) include the perennial favorites such as "Duck!" and "My Fair Mandy" among many, many others.

Today's vocabulary lesson: twitterpated, adj., confused by affection or infatuation. Yup, it's a real word.

The title of this episode is a quote from Oscar Wilde. I personally think it was in questionable taste to pick this particular phrase, which is probably exactly why they did it. That, and because it's funny in this context, if not in the original one.

61B. Major Cheese
Written and Storyboarded by Brett Varon

Grim is upset when Mighty Moe, a very old man, figures out a way to fend off death forever -- and writes a book about it, so that everyone can learn how. In order to trick Mighty Moe into eating unhealthy food (in the hope that it will kill him and then Grim can actually reap him instead of continually awarding him "Bonus Years for Good Health Habits"), Grim dresses up as "Colonel Major Cheesepuff," a freakazoid combination of the Mr. Peanut Guy and Colonel Sanders.

Most notable moment: After Billy does something particularly stupid, Grim turns to Mandy and asks plaintively, "Why do you hang out with him, Mandy?"

There's a fun Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope) moment, when Grim tells Mack the truck driver, "You needn't worry about my imminent electrocution," and Mack replies, "I needn't worry about your imminent electrocution." Grim continues, "This isn't the truckload of books you're looking for." This is right out of a scene where Obi Wan Kenobi uses mind control on a soldier of the Empire, who is stopping anyone who resembles the descriptions of Luke and Obi Wan.

This isn't all that big a deal, but there's a problem with the coloring when Grim, Billy and Mandy enter the gym and walk through the front room which is full of treadmills. Billy comments that it's like a retirement home for hamsters, except with tvs. Anyway, you can clearly notice that Mandy's hair is more like strawberry blonde than blonde.

Sadly, there was no little story going on during the credits, not even on Saturday morning. I think that the "20 Years Later" end to "The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name" would have been PERFECT here. I just hope they aren't going to stop doing the little vignettes at the end. However, this is a great opportunity to hear the backwards speech that I referred to in Episode 57.

62A. Modern Primitives
Written by Maxwell Atoms and Alex Almaguer / Storyboard by Alex Almaguer

Trying to dig to the center of the earth (because it's warmer there, don't you know!?!) Billy discovers a caveman frozen in a block of permafrost right under his front lawn. (Notice the open sewer pipe dripping green goo into the ground, no doubt having something to do with the Endsville nuclear power plant we always see in the background of the opening credits.)

Confession time: I can't stand the Flintstones and I don't see how putting Fred Flintstone into the episode made it funnier in any way than using a generic caveman would have. (Speaking of cavemen, is it just me, or is anyone else sick to death of that darned Geico commercial with the Neanderthals?)

Most notable moment: After pointing out to Billy that the story is essentially ending exactly where it started, Mandy comments, "What a waste of an episode." (I thought it; she said it.)

Wicked Witch of the West moment: Grim is crushed when the block of ice containing Fred lands on him, and we see his black-and-white-striped stockings and ruby slippers protruding from under it. Then his legs shrivel up and blow away, leaving only the ruby slippers.

ET moment: While he, Mandy, Billy and Irwin are riding on a bicycle, Grim magically raises it into the air using his scythe. The moment reminds Grim of a certain movie that makes him cry every time at the end.

Flintstones moment: Well, the whole ep is a Flintstones moment, which makes perfect sense because Adam Burton (Maxwell Atoms) began his career with Hanna-Barbera. The episode uses a lot of annoyingly old-school cartoon music. Using the bird's beak to play a record is pure Flintstones. Also, note that when Fred and Ms. Butterbean first fall into the Principal Goodvibes car (and we find out that Goodvibes has been living in it), Fred sticks his legs out of the undercarriage and drives the car by running off with it, just like in the old cartoon. (Later, though, it appears he's actually driving it using the motor.)

Oft-repeating Grim moment: After Billy shaves him, Fred's skin splits down the middle to reveal his skull. I don't know why the writers like to do that kind of thing so much, but they sure do.

"Billy Ocean" moment: Pudd'n brings the remains of Captain Deadwood's peg leg to class for show and tell.

Age of the Dinosaurs moment: Billy describes the age of dinosaurs as including betamax tapes, floppy disks and acid-washed jeans with holes in them on purpose. Ah, those were the days.

62B. Giant Billy and Mandy All Out Attack
Written by Jeff Prezenkowski and Alex Que / Storyboard by Alex Que

Even though Mandy demands that Grim accompany her to plague Mindy's slumber party, Grim goes against her orders and instead takes Billy and Irwin to mystical Japan, the land of giant monsters. Mandy is in a very bad mood indeed by the time she tracks them down.

This is a spoof of monster movies like Godzilla or Gamera, and of Japanese TV shows like any incarnation of Ultraman. Even the episode title sounds like a typically bad English translation for the title of a Japanese monster movie.

Mandy wears pants for the first time I can remember...at least, she shows up in Japan wearing a jump suit of the kind so popular back in the 60s and 70s, when live-action TV shows like Ultraman were first run. She's in a yellow jumpsuit with black stripes down the sides, made so popular by Bruce Lee movies like Game of Death.

Most notable moment: Billy asks Grim to turn him into a giant so he can be part of a giant monster fight. Grim replies, "Normally I'd object to this kind of misuse of me powers -- but since you're most likely to be destroyed, I'm game." (The most notable moment I would have picked, except I am trying not to use Mandy quotes all the time: "Put down the giant idiot and his ugly pet turtle.")

"Attack of the Clowns" moment: Billy gets to say "Destroy Us All" once again!

Lots of spoof monsters and heroes in this episode:

Cragera -- obviously meant to be like Gamera, the turtle who flies by spinning around shooting sparks out of his arm and leg holes. Lame! Cragera, like Gamera, is drawn in by the need to rescue children in peril. Gamera has his own song, sung in Japanese by shrill children's voices. Irwin starts to sing the Cragera song when the giant turtle says he can only be strong enough to beat his enemies if the children unite in song for him.

Kittyra -- 3-headed cat, body of a duck, wings like a dragon, spits hairballs on his enemies.

Megagorillasaur -- Mandy in a giant mechanical suit.

Super Happy Hyper Monster Fighter Billy -- Billy turned into a giant hero by Grim, with all the accompanying (fake) Japanese lettering during the transformation, and all the silly posturing.

Gorillasaur vs. Whatsit -- the Monster Maul and Brawl movie Billy and Irwin wanted to watch, about a guy in a gorilla suit battling a fake bird on a string.

Grape Ape -- big purple ape with his head stuffed into a volcano by Cragera. There actually was a Grape Ape, back in the 70s. Another Hanna-Barbera, um, classic.

While the credits roll, we see Billy ringing the doorbell of the Rubble's place back in Bedrock. Betty Rubble (voiced by Grey Delisle) is doing the dishes and humming "Flintstones, meet the Flintstones..." so she asks Barney to get the door. When Barney opens the door, there's Billy being such an idiot that Barney finally hits him over the head with a club and knocks him out. When Betty asks who was at the door, Barney replies that it was "proof against evolution."

Episode 63
Original broadcast date: March 20, 2006
Mandy’s Comment: Whewwwww....eh, I'm outta here.

63A. The Wrongest Yard
Written by Tim McKeon and Ian Wasseluk / Storyboard by Ian Wasseluk

Endsville never wins the game,
even the principal thinks we’re lame;
Shoot the basket, run the base,
It doesn’t matter ’cause we’re always last place.
Go, Endsville!
Yeah!!

Plot
Billy and Irwin try out for the football team! Billy ends up tied to a tackling dummy for purposes of team training but Irwin, astonishingly, turns out to have a good passing arm and becomes the quarterback. He freezes up so badly during his first game that Mandy starts shouting plays from the stands, leading the team to its first win ever. Coach Kilgore appoints Mandy head cheerleader so she can continue to call plays from the field. Under Mandy’s aegis, the Endsville Pee-Wee League football team not only wins that first game, but goes all the way to the state finals. Meanwhile, ex-head cheerleader Mindy is contacted by Carrie Ann, the patron saint of cheerleaders, who communicates in rhyme via a magical cheerleading trophy. She says she wants to help Mindy get the cheerleading job back, but every bit of her advice backfires, taking out the Endsville team members instead of Mandy. By the end of the championship game, the team is down to just three players: Billy, Irwin and Sperg.

Most notable moment: Carrie Ann gives Mindy a super plasma gamma ray gun to use on Mandy and enthuses, " Go, evil science, yeah!"

Miscellaneous
Grim is hardly even in this episode. I don’t know what that’s about, but maybe it’s a good thing because he looks pretty darned silly in his male cheerleader costume. I must admit the costume was a very clever touch, though.

Factoids:

Grey DeLisle does the excessively perky voice of Carrie Ann.

The Wrongest Yard spoofs the football movie title, "The Longest Yard."

There’s a nod to "Star Wars, Episode III," as Mandy huddles with Billy, Irwin and Sperg, discussing the final play of the game. Mandy explains that they’ll have to resort to old-school cartoon antics in order to win, and Irwin asks, "Is it possible to learn this power?" Mandy responds solemnly, "Not from a football coach." This is a re-creation of the scene where Anakin Skywalker wonders if it’s possible to learn to keep people alive using the Force. Palpatine responds, "Not from a Jedi." †(Thanks, Courtney!)

Endsville’s Coach Kilgore has the same last name as the character in "Apocalypse Now" who famously remarked, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like victory." Then there’s fictional author Kilgore Trout, arguably Kurt Vonnegut’s favorite character. I don’t know if any of this is significant ­- it’s also possible that the writers simply thought that a name with the words ‘kill’ and ‘gore’ in it sounded like a good name for a football coach.

63B. Druid, Where's My Car?
Written by Maxwell Atoms and Mike Diederich / Storyboard by Mike Diederich

Plot
Billy loses his kite in a giant oak tree. Grim suggests that throwing something else into the tree might dislodge the kite, but nothing Billy tries does the trick and eventually anything in Endsville that isn’t tied down gets tossed into the tree, including Mandy! Even the scythe can’t get the tree to let go, so Grim and Billy consult a Druid about how to deal with it. At this point the story divides in two as we follow Mandy’s adventures in the tree, and Grim and Billy’s attempts to become Druids in order to learn the sacred ceremony that will cause the tree to let go.

Most notable moment: When Billy first loses his kite in the tree, he tries to get it down himself but he can’t. Angrily he cries, "Stupid, lousy, dirty, nasty, stinky, rotten, poopy, cruddy tree!" He’s fine with every word except ‘poopy,’ which he whispers. I guess he has that word confused with a different word - one that definitely would get his mouth washed out with soap if his mother heard it!

Allusion to Previous Episode
Grim tells Billy, "This is the last time I save you from a tree." This is a reference to "The Taking Tree," in which Billy was eaten by the tree in his front yard, and in order to get him back, Mandy and Grim had to bring the tree something it wanted more than Billy.

Factoids:

In the Celtic social system, Druid was a title given to learned men and women possessing "oak knowledge" (or "oak wisdom"). The oak was an important sacred tree to the Druids, so it’s all the funnier when Basil Tarragon takes a chainsaw to it at the end.

Everyone has probably heard of Druids, but may not know much about them. Druids revere the natural, the life energy. For more information, click here

The Druid, Basil Tarragon, is named after two edible herbs.

During the ending credits we see Billy throwing everything he can think of into the tree, trying to dislodge Mandy or the kite. The final thing he tosses is a car, which then causes everything to fall in a big heap right on top of him.

This episode we introduce a new feature: Courtney’s Billy/Mandy Moments of the Week. These are hints that Billy and Mandy actually like each other, no matter how many times Mandy tells Billy to go play in traffic, or Billy offers her up to brain-eating aliens. If there is a hint in any given episode, Courtney will find it and fearlessly expose it to the light of day!

Hello, everyone; my name is Courtney. Some of you may know me from such classic (ha) fanfics as "Love That Dare to Repeat Its Name" and "Changes." OPH e-mailed me and asked if I might be interested in writing my own little contribution to her episode guide, and I couldn't pass it up! So without further ado, I will now bring you this episode’s Billy/Mandy moments.

Sadly, Billy and Mandy barely interact in "The Wrongest Yard," though it is kind of cute that she was there for his football game. ;) Even if she does blame Grim for dragging her along... We struck a bit of gold in "Druid, Where's My Car?" though! I was already pretty happy when a distraught Billy hugged Mandy for comfort - and notice how the look on her face was barely one of disgust, I might add. Even the way she slapped him afterwards honestly seemed to be more of a "snap out of it!" kind of slap than a "don’t touch me!" kind. This must be the case, because Mandy, having decided to help Billy get his kite down (and it didn’t take much to talk her into it, either), then takes hold of Billy’s hand and leads him away. This situation has happened before in reverse: Billy leads Mandy away by hand in "One Crazy Summoner." But even *I* never thought we would see the day Mandy would take his hand of her own free will like that. She’s really a more drag-’em-by-the-shirt or upper-arm kind of girl, so just the fact that she would do something as gentle as hold his hand is a bit suggestive, I think. I also love the fact that, for once, the tables were turned, and Mandy was the one in trouble...Billy didn't fail to attempt to rescue her. Even if he was the one who tossed her into the tree in the first place.

Episode 64
Original broadcast date: March 21, 2006

Mandy's Comment: "You’re down to earth, but not down quite far enough." (Action accompanying comment: we see and hear Mandy as though we are at the bottom of a grave she’s been digging, and at the end she starts shoveling dirt back in.)

64A. Herbicidal Maniac
Written by C.H. Greenblatt / Storyboard by C.H. Greenblatt

The Plot in a Nutshell
Skarr blames Billy when he develops a green thumb - all over his body.

The Story
A seemingly-indestructible weed in Skarr’s yard starts a chain of events that culminates in the ruination of Skarr’s beautifully-tended garden, inadvertently turning Skarr into a "chlorophyllic freak." The upside is that Skarr develops a mean green thumb and wins the Good Neighbor Award for having the best yard. The downside is that he gets peed on, pecked by a woodpecker, eaten by hungry vegetarians, abducted by an amorous swamp thing, and has spider eggs laid on him - all while trying to kill Billy, whom he blames for his metamorphosis into a plant.

Most notable moment: Billy brings a riding lawn mower to cut down the intransigent weed, but his driving skills leave much to be desired. He mows down every plant and shrub in Skarr’s yard, but somehow misses the weed every time. (Ooops, missed it. Missed it again. Whoops...) He does finally manage to run over Skarr, though.

About the Author
I knew this episode would be really good as soon as I saw that C.H. Greenblatt was the writer. Greenblatt, you may remember, wrote classic episodes like "Duck!" and "My Fair Mandy," co-wrote the absolutely hilarious "Attack of the Clowns" with Gord Zajac, and is the voice of Fred Fredburger.

Miscellaneous Notes

Skarr buys his ‘farm-fresh fertilizer’ from Cow of "Cow and Chicken."

The green tendrils coming out of the earth squeeze Billy tightly until he perfectly resembles one of those squeeze-toy Popping Martian thingies.

Visual Fun
Notice that Skarr uses Evi-Yawn bottled water on his garden.

Anatomy Lesson
Gluteus Maximus may sound like a name worthy of a god in the Roman pantheon, but it’s really just a fancy term for butt muscles!

Public Service Announcement
We already know that STOP, DROP AND ROLL works with fires of earthly origin, but now we find out that it works for fires caused by supernatural energies as well!

64B. Chaos Theory
Written by James Silverman and Mike Diederich / Storyboard by Mike Diederich

The Plot in a Nutshell
Grim, Billy, Mandy and Irwin restore chaos to the universe when Eris takes some time off to date Hoss Delgado.

The Story
While bargain shopping at the Endsville Costmo, Mandy realizes that she has never seen the store so clean and in order. She soon discovers the reason for the hyper-organization: Hoss Delgado has been dating the Goddess of Chaos, thus bringing order to her crazy life; and that has thrown everything else out of whack. The universe is already dangerously close to being totally in order, so Mandy convinces Hoss to break up with Eris. Then it is up to Grim, Billy, Mandy and Irwin to restore chaos by breaking the news to Eris, either gently or otherwise, that Hoss intends to dump her.

Most notable moment: Hoss reminisces about a particularly tender moment between himself and Eris: "You’ve never really been loved until you’ve been eaten by a giant bug. Rrowrr," he says. "I may never grow up," Billy replies, looking ill.

About the Author
James Silverman, co-author of today’s episode, is production coordinator for the show. His name has been used in a couple of episodes as an in-joke, most recently in "Prank Call of Cthulu" as the name of the rapping monster who answers the phone when Mandy calls Cthulu’s dimension trying to find Billy.

Allusion to Earlier Episode
When Mandy asks Delgado how long he’s been dating Eris, he replies, "Since Episode 47" - by which he meant, since "Guess What’s Coming to Dinner?"
But don’t go looking for "Guess What’s Coming to Dinner?" as Episode 47 in the Templelooters Episode Guide. The numbering system I use still includes "Grim & Evil" in the mix, so "Guess What’s Coming to Dinner?" is Episode 53 here.) AND, I should point out that by Cartoon Network’s own system, "Guess What’s Coming to Dinner?" is actually Episode 48. But who’s counting? (Clearly not the people who decided it was Episode 47 instead of Episode 48!)

After It’s Over
While the credits roll, we see a skull wearing a red baseball cap, lying exactly where Skarr left Billy. We hear ambient neighborhood noises like barking dogs, cars passing by on unseen streets, and birds and insects. This, I assume, is to make us think that Billy never escaped from Skarr’s murderous attack. But then Billy walks into the frame and says, "Oh, here’s where I left that silly skull. Come on, I’ll put you on mom’s pillow where you belong."

Episode 65
Original broadcast date: March 22, 2006
Mandy's Comment: Caution. Contents may have shifted during shipping. (Mandy is looking into what appears to be a nearly empty box.)

65A. A Grim Day
Written by Jeff Prezenkowski and Alex Que / Storyboard by Alex Que

The Plot in a Nutshell
A day without Billy and Mandy brings Grim to the sudden, unwelcome realization that he actually does need two kids to keep him occupied and to help him solve his problems.

The Story
Although he’s thrilled to have a free day, Grim hardly knows what to do with himself when neither Billy nor Mandy is in need of his company. So he kills time by chopping down flowerbeds, turning bunnies into evil monsters and tempting Skarr with the ultimate power of the scythe. When Skarr refuses to return the scythe, Grim recruits Mindy and Pud’n to help him - because, as he puts it, "I’ve become accustomed to a certain lifestyle. Not a good lifestyle, but one where I do everything with a couple of horrible brats…I mean, kids."

Most notable moment: Immediately after Grim comments, "Like anyone in their right mind would ever make ‘The Grim Adventures of Pud’n and Mindy’, " we see Billy and Mandy watching that very show on television. As Mindy and Pud’n torture Grim horribly, Mandy remarks, "Not bad, but they could go a little heavier on the cartoon violence." "Destroy him, destroy him!" Billy yells at the TV. New Reaper Skarr waits on Billy and Mandy hand and foot.

Visual Fun

When Skarr tears off his shirt, we see a scar under his missing left nipple that matches the one under his missing left pupil.

The giant garden gnomes all have yellow teeth and scars under their missing left pupils.

With a Song in My Heart
Skarr announces his intention to landscape the entire planet to bloom under his rule by quoting some of the lyrics to "Edelweiss": Bloom and grow, bloom and grow, bloom and grow….forever. "Edelweiss," from the musical The Sound of Music, is such a saccharine-sweet song that it’s doubly amusing when spoken in Skarr’s strident tones.

The song is so short that I can quote the lyrics right here:

Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Every morning you greet me
Small and white, clean and bright
You look happy to meet me
Blossom of snow may you bloom and grow
Bloom and grow forever
Edelweiss, Edelweiss
Bless my homeland forever

About the Authors

Jeff Prezenkowski and Alex Que also wrote the utterly inspired episode "Giant Billy and Mandy All Out Attack."

Prezenkowski is listed as Cartoon Network’s Executive in Charge of Production for "My Gym Partner’s a Monkey."

Alex Que is a storyboard artist for "Dora the Explorer."

65B. Pandora’s Lunch Box
Written by Nina Bargiel and Ian Wasseluk / Storyboard by Ian Wasseluk

The Plot in a Nutshell
Mandy unwillingly finds herself bonding with a strange new girl in class who is constantly trying to get the other students to open her lunchbox.

The Story
Dora, a new student with an odd obsession about her lunchbox joins Mandy’s class. She impresses Mandy by upsetting the heck out of Mindy and eventually, to Mandy’s surprise, she and Dora become friends. Dora spends most of the episode trying to convince someone - anyone - to open her lunchbox, but somehow no one ever does. In fact, quite a lot of the humor of the episode derives from the various reasons why it never happens. Even Billy notices and says, "You know, the girl with the lunchbox that she’s always trying to get people to open but can’t because something keeps interrupting them at the last second."

Grim might have realized Dora’s true identity sooner, but he was constantly getting sidetracked by the fact that something about her reminded him that his favorite show was about to start, and he had to run right off to watch it.

In the end, Dora tricks Mandy into opening the lunchbox by mentioning that she’s cooked up something inside for Mindy and the cheerleaders, and asks Mandy if she wants to see what it is. So Mandy trustingly opens the lunchbox ­- and unleashes Pandora’s Curse on humanity. Normally Mandy wouldn’t care about unleashing desolation, mayhem and gloom on the world, but she is so angry at being tricked into opening the box that she insists on returning things to the way they were before the box was opened.

In my opinion, the ending to this episode was heavy-handed and not particularly humorous. Floyd, a regular contributor to the ep guide, commented that Mandy usually bares her fangs with more wit and style than here, and I agree completely. The girl who once described herself as "charmingly cynical" certainly does not display any charm here.

Most notable moment: When Grim asks Mandy why he should help her return the world to its state before the box was opened, Mandy replies in a fiery voice, "You’re gonna do it or so help me, I’ll pull your stupid cloak through your eyes and use it as reins to ride your bony butt back to the darkest pits of the underworld from whence you came!"

Visual Fun

A poster on the wall in Miss Butterbean’s class says, "READ A BOOK, STUPID."

After the box is opened, Dora stands in such a way that her shadow is cast against the stadium bunting. Check out the shadow, it has horns!

This episode is the "Grim Adventures" version of Pandora’s Box.
Pandora’s Box is a classic Greek myth that we were all taught in childhood. Click here for the adult version, which contains more detail than you probably really want to know.

Miscellaneous Facts

Pandora is purposely drawn to look like a rather deranged version of Dora the Explorer.

Although the title "Dora the Explorer" is never mentioned, this episode pokes a little gentle fun at the show when Billy says, "Is it that show about the little girl that wanders around the jungle without any adult supervision, averting crises and conversing with wild animals with the aid of her foreign-language-speaking monkey?"

About the Authors
As of this date:

Nina Bargiel has co-written Happy Huggy Stuffy Bears (with Spencer Laudiero); He’s Not Dead, He’s My Mascot and also House of No Tomorrow (with Alex Almaguer), Home of the Ancients (with C.H. Greenblatt); and Billy and Mandy Save Christmas (with Jeremy Bargiel).

Ian Wasseluk has also co-written "Aren’t You Chupacabra to See Me?" (with Jeremy Bargiel); "Billy Idiot" (with Alex Almaguer) and "The Wrongest Yard" (with Tim McKeon). He also wrote the segment about Junior in "Wishbones."

Courtney’s Billy/Mandy Moments
First of all, let me say that these two episodes are some of my absolutely favorites now; the first is HILARIOUS, and the second was such a different style for an episode, but it worked REALLY well in my opinion.

Anyways, in A Grim Day, we have a shot of Billy and Mandy at the end of the episode watching The Grim Adventures of Pudd'n and Mindy together, and that General Skarr is now the new Grim. I love this; it's like they're saying it doesn't matter who their friend slave is, Billy and Mandy have been and always will be friends of their own free will - their relationship is different from their relationship with Grim.

At the beginning of Pandora's Lunch Box, Ms. Butterbean introduces Dora to the class and tells her to take a seat next to Billy. He immediately moves his desk so that it's right next to hers, and starts babbling on about all the things they can do together and how they can be "bestest best friends!" Next thing we know, Mandy has grabbed Billy, dragged him over so that his desk is touching hers, and tells him, "Now stay, boy!" This could be taken as Mandy merely keeping Billy from harassing the new kid, but notice how after Dora says she likes Mandy's style, Mandy tells her she hates new kids, implying she wasn't doing it for Dora's sake. If she doesn't like new kids, then I really can't think of any other r eason for her to drag Billy back over to her. Tying this back in with the first episode, isn't it curious that Mandy would go through such an effort to keep Billy around, yet she seemed fine with replacing Grim with Skarr?

After It’s Over
While the credits roll, we see Miss Butterbean’s class again. Mindy is still giving Dora her take on the other students. Sperg shoots a paper spit wad at Dora but she deflects it back on him using her lunch box.

Episode 66
Original broadcast date: March 23, 2006
Mandy's Comment: If stupidity got us into this, why can't it get us out?

66. Billy and Mandy vs. the Martians
Written by Maxwell Atoms, Nina Bargiel and Jeremy Bargiel / Storyboard by John Bahn and Mike Diederich

The Plot in a Nutshell
The Martian Grim Reaper finds a loophole in Grim's bet with Billy and Mandy that Grim can use to get out of his rash promise to be their best friend forever.

The Story On a day when Grim is particularly upset with Billy and Mandy, a stranger offers him a way to get out of his bet with them. Turns out that the promise is only valid on Earth, and if Grim leaves the surface of the planet, he won't have to be their friend any longer. Grim eagerly joins the stranger, who eventually reveals himself to be Morg, the Martian Reaper. Once aboard Morg's spaceship, the Martian Reaper convinces Grim to help him conquer the Earth. Grim goes along with the plan because Morg is very persuasive, but he eventually decides he doesn't trust Morg after getting an extremely unconvincing explanation for the presence on the ship of the ashes of various other Reapers. In the meantime, Billy, Mandy and Irwin follow Grim to Mars by stowing away in his magic trunk. When the two Reapers return to the Earth to conquer it by turning everyone into zombies, the three children steal a Martian spaceship in order to follow them back. Morg captures Billy and uses his brain to power the Braincaster, a machine that broadcasts distracting thoughts to zombies, keeping their minds occupied and allowing the Reapers to control their every action. Of course, Billy's hideously stupid brain breaks the machine. Billy then presses a button that shoots Morg off into the atmosphere, but it's pretty clear he could come back if the writers wanted it! Grim resigns himself once again to being Billy and Mandy's best friend forever.

Most notable moment: On the way back from Mars in the stolen spaceship, Billy and Irwin pester Mandy, "Are we there yet??" Exactly as if she were a parent, she replies warningly, "Don't make me pull this thing over."

Stuff in Grim's trunk this episode:

The Holy Grail

Merlin's underwear

Medusa's head

Fancy Jake (Grim's favorite childhood toy)

Miscellaneous
It is worth mentioning that Futurama has an episode with a similar plot: brain creatures come to earth and everyone except Fry gets stupid. The title of this episode is "The Day The Earth Stood Stupid." (Episode 36 - the seventh episode of the third season)

The Uranus Joke
Morg can't stop laughing whenever Grim says "Uranus," which reminds me of something else from Futurama. Fry makes a Uranus joke that no one understands, and Farnsworth explains to Fry that astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all. Fry asks what the new name is, and Farnsworth replies, "Urectum." And then he offers to help Fry locate it. ("A Big Piece of Garbage," Season 1, episode 8)

Allusion to Previous Episode
Billy comments to Grim that if he has learned anything from this experience, it's that you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose. This is something that Mandy said to Billy in "Get Out Of My Head!" which was originally episode 3C before they separated the "Evil" episodes from the "Grims".

References

Grim's comment, "You kids ruined half of me bed knobs and all of me broomsticks," comes from the title of a 1971 movie about witchcraft, Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

Grim's magic trunk being bigger on the inside than on the outside is a reference to the TARDIS, the "spaceship" in the long-running British TV series, Dr. Who, which is indeed bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. In that show, TARDIS stand for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space, which has nothing to do with Grim Adventures, but I just thought I'd mention it since I happen to know it.

Clap on, clap off -- the Martian Reaper has The Clapper to turn his lights on and off.

Admiral Wolverine Lightningbolt is the kind of ID you will get assigned over at Cartoon Network when you sign up for their games and so on. Billy refers to the name as "the three coolest words in the universe," and I don't know if that's supposed to be a joke because "lightningbolt" is technically supposed to be two words (which means that the phrase actually is four words long) or if it's just a comment about the weirdness of the random-word generator that comes up with the names.

About the Authors
Nina and Jeremy Bargiel are sister and brother. They also wrote the Christmas Special together.
Mike Diederich has storyboarded many, many episodes going all the way back to "Mortal Dilemma" in 2001.

After It's Over
While the credits roll, we see Billy and Irwin back on Mars. They are rolling around in the Martian dirt. Billy says, "I feel like I just ate a ton of raw meat, fell into a coma for 6 days and fell out of a moving vehicle into a pile of vomit." Irwin replies, "That's exactly what happened, yo, except it's only been one hour." Then he notices that Billy has what looks like a beard. "Dude, you've got something on your face," he points out. "What's that?" Billy says, and then the "beard" turns into some kind of critter that screams at the sight of Billy and jumps onto Irwin. After a struggle, Irwin finally gets it off his face and says, "Tastes like chicken."

Episode 67 Original broadcast date: May 12, 2006
Mandy's Comment: Ordinary morality is for ordinary people.

67A. Dumb-Dumbs and Dragons
Story by Maxwell Atoms and Alex Almaguer / Storyboard by Alex Almaguer

The Plot in a Nutshell
Billy thinks he needs to slay a dragon in order to become a hero like his idol, Hoss Delgado, and convinces Grim to take him to the greatest dragon-slayer of all time for lessons.

The Story
Billy is impressed when Hoss Delgado beats up Grim, and vows to become a "hero" just like Hoss. Grim sees a possible way to get rid of Billy and takes him back in time to train with Sir Boss Delguapo, a medieval Hoss Delgado look-alike. Boss sends Billy off to kill the fierce dragon, Killdozer. But Billy bonds with Killdozer and realizes he can't do it. In the end, Billy becomes a hero -- at least to Killdozer -- when he saves the dragon from being slain by Boss Delguapo.

This episode sounds like it should be the "Grim Adventures" version of Dungeons and Dragons.
But the story has pretty much nothing to do with D&D at all.

Most notable moment: After Billy sends Delguapo to present-day Endsville, he runs face-to-face with Delgado. The two men stare at each other for a long time but don't recognize that they look exactly the same. After Delgado is out of earshot, Delguapo mutters, "Man, that guy was ugly!"

Killdozer
The dragon's name, Killdozer, has many meanings. Take your pick:

It's a band from Milwaukee

It's a 1974 made-for-TV movie about a bulldozer running amok

It's the short story by Theodore Sturgeon that the above movie is loosely based on

It is a reference to Marvin Heemeyer, a Colorado man enraged over a zoning dispute and fines for city code violations at his business. He armor-plated a bulldozer and destroyed the property of the people he felt were responsible for ruining his business.

Miscellaneous
Oh, I get it! By working me nearly to death doing all these chores, you were secretly teaching me combat training! Boss puts Billy through the usual training sequence seen in most martial arts movies, referred to here as "the training montage footage." Most readers will probably know the concept best from "The Karate Kid" (or even "Kill Bill," which I'm only mentioning so I don't get a flood of letters reminding me about it). But any chopsockey worthy of the name will have one.

The Real Heroes
The show cleverly makes the point that the term has become so overused in the past few years that no one knows what it means anymore:

Delguapo is a hero; he beat Grim up.

Irwin's a hero; he stopped wetting the bed.

Billy's dad is a hero; he ate 12 pizzas without throwing up.

Skarr's a hero; he popped a really big zit.

There was a mention like this in the previous episode, "Billy and Mandy vs. the Martians," where Billy called NASA "the real heroes" because an unmanned Mars probe happened by just in time to save him, along with Mandy and Irwin.

References

"When Hoss says, "See you in Tartarus" that's like saying "See you in hell." The kingdom of Tartarus is said to be the lowest region of the underworld, deeper even than Hades.

"El Guapo is a band.

About the Authors
I hardly need to mention that Maxwell Atoms is the series creator, but I'm going to anyway. Alex Almaguer has storyboarded many episodes dating back to "Grim vs. Mom" which originally aired on July 19, 2002. The first Grim Adventures episode he was given writing credit for was the absolutely wonderful "Whatever Happened to Billy Whatsisname?" which premiered October 29, 2004.

The Plot in a Nutshell
Grim goes out to dinner with his boyhood hero, Dracula. They get totally lost in the desert on the way to the restaurant but when they finally get there, Dracula stiffs Grim for the bill.

The Story
Grim offers to accompany Dracula to Fanny's Diner for the Early Bird Special, but Dracula insists on driving and they end up getting completely lost in the desert. After Dracula drives the car headfirst into a fissure, they hitch a ride with truck driver who is clearly meant to be a half-crazed Louis Anderson (and is in fact voiced by Anderson) but they part company when the truck lands headfirst in the exact same fissure with Dracula's car. Grim and Dracula are attacked by a giant scorpion and split up after a fight over Dracula not sucking the poison out of Grim's bones. Grim is picked up by a Sand Bandit and goes home with him. Eventually Grim realizes that Dracula actually had sucked the scorpion poison out of his bones, so he goes to find the vampire in a borrowed sandcrawler and takes him to Fanny's Diner for the Early Bird special. But when Dracula skips out on the bill, Grim is completely disgusted.

This episode is the "Grim Adventures" version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Check out the book by Hunter S. Thompson here. (I'd put up a link to the movie version, too, but the book is the original story, and it's far better.)

Most notable moment: Dracula the vampire insists that he doesn't suck.

Miscellaneous
Notice that after Grim tries to eat the cactus, his mouth moves as though he is saying something - but they don't use the dialog because the song is going on.

Why the Scythe Doesn't Work THIS Time
Grim forgot to charge up it that morning.

Allusion to Earlier Episode
The Sand Bandit attacks Grim by coming up to him and saying "Raggle-fraggle." This is reminiscent of the picnic-flashback scenes in "Here Thar Be Dwarves" (episode 30B), which was also written by Carl Greenblatt (with Gord Zajac).

With a Song in My Heart
This song, "Like An Angry Woman," is almost believable as a country-western long-distance trucker's anthem. I checked the credits but couldn't find who wrote it, so I can't put any acknowledgement here, which I normally would when I post song lyrics. However, it was sung by Jim Cummings, and thanks to Number One at the Templelooters Grim Forum for pointing that out to me.

Through miles of sand and bleached white dirt
They shambled on till their ankles hurt.
The buzzards sailed high overhead
Ridin' on currents of thick, hot dread.
And the sun burned their hearts like an angry woman,
It scorched their souls like an angry woman,
Oh, like an angry woman.

And then out of the west blew a breeze of luck
18 wheels on a big black truck.
An angel of mercy what was wrapped in steel
With an unwashed man stinkin' up behind the wheel.
And the road stretched on like an angry woman,
And the cab smelled like french fries like an angry woman,
Phew…an angry woman.
What's that smell?

The sun dropped low down in the sky
Like a pair of pants on an urban guy.
Their stomachs cried out with a rumbling roar
Till they just purt' near couldn't walk no more.
They tried to eat a cactus like an angry woman,
And scorpions chased them down like an angry woman,
…an angry woman.

He drove fast
He drove far
He busted them dunes in his big ol' car.
The buzzards fled at the sight of him
At the sight of the one they call Grim.
They went over the speed limit like an angry woman,
They caused property damage like an angry woman,
Oh man,
Just like an angry woman.

References

At the beginning of this episode, Billy and Mandy are watching Jeopardy! on television. You have to listen very carefully to hear this, but while Grim is saying goodbye to them, you can hear a woman's voice saying "I'll take Cancelled TV Shows for 300, Alex." Trebek answers "This show starred a bear with an evil brain attached….Oh, come on, surely someone has seen that show!" Although personally I don't know how anyone could have seen it, since Cartoon Network barely gave it chance to stand on its own, the answer of course is "Evil Con Carne."

Black Maw, the logo on the truck, is an in-joke inserted into the episode for fun. It refers to a group that Greenblatt is involved with. In-jokes like that can be a lot of fun - at least for the people who have any idea what's going on.

"We are all hollow men," Grim hallucinates after being stung by the scorpion. This is probably a reference to T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Hollow Man." Or not. In any case, it's a rather famous poem -- read it here.

Some of the desert scenes make it look like they're on Tatooine. Scenes from Star Wars include the sand bandit, the house where Luke's uncle lived, and the sandcrawler.

About the Author
Carl Greenblatt has written and/or storyboarded many of the most well-received Grim Adventures episodes, and has also done voices (notably Fred Fredburger). His latest project is called "Chowder," a cartoon that has been accepted as a series by Cartoon Network. No date has been set for the premier as of this writing. He has posted some "Chowder" art on his blog at Nerd Armada.

After It's Over
While the credits roll, we see Bert the truck driver talking to the sand bandit. He basically repeats the conversation he had with Grim and Dracula, talking about his fingernail arts and crafts, admitting that sometimes he uses toenails instead, and swearing the sand guy to secrecy.

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.