Information about The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy

The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy show logo
Created by	Maxwell Atoms
Voices of	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 seasons	7
No. of episodes	80 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time	22 minutes approx.
Broadcast
Original channel	Cartoon Network
Original run	August 24, 2001 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Common rating
Great Britain	TV-PG
United States	TV-Y7 FV

The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (Sometimes shortened as "Billy & Mandy" or "Grim Adventures"), created by Maxwell Atoms, is an American animated television series aired 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.

Overview

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 (even though the pilot episode of Billy and Mandy appeared on the former Nickelodeon show Oh Yeah! Cartoons). 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 part of Grim and Evil, the series The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy was 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, with two Evil Con Carne cartoons and one Billy and Mandy cartoon). 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 2004, Evil Con Carne was given another short-lived run with the newly created intro and end credits, only to be canceled again. "Grim and Evil", in its original form, has not been seen on TV since 2003. Some characters from Evil Con Carne, usually Skarr, occasionally appear on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.

The show ended 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.

Recently, Maxwell Atoms has announced plans for a spin-off show, Underfist, starring key characters from Billy & Mandy [1]. It was originally "announced" at Comic-Con 2007, during the final Billy and Mandy Comic-Con panel. It is to be aired in 2008, and was pitched some time last year. Billy, Mandy, and Grim themselves will be making brief appearances, but sparingly.

Plot

Billy and Mandy are two 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 its soul (an homage to the classic film The Seventh Seal). If the Reaper wins, he would get the hamster and Billy's soul; if he loses, the children will keep their souls.

Grim, assured of his victory, says that, if they win, he will be their best friend "forever and ever". Grim takes Billy and Mandy to Limbo, where they compete in Grim's favorite game—limbo. However he lost because Mandy cheated, and 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, 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

The show takes place in Modern Day Endsville, Billy and Mandy's hometown. Endsville's location has not been determined, although the city has been seen several times with palm trees, hot summers, and a beach, suggesting that Endsville is located in a southern and coastal part of the United States. However, in the episode Dumb Wish, it is shown that it snows there in November. Unless it was a freak storm, Endsville should be located in a cool climate. Cities such as Los Angeles have been referenced. The age of the town is also indeterminate, as it has appeared in flashbacks of Harold's youth ("The Taking Tree"), the early 1900s ("Who Killed Who?"), and medieval times ("Billy and Mandy's Jacked Up Halloween"). Like many American cities, Endsville has a financial district, mall, schools, fire and police departments, museums, and a beach. Endsville also has a volcano and a nuclear power plant. It could also be certain that Endsville is located in New York - because in Jeffy's Web, the Statue of Liberty can be seen as Billy tries to hang on to it.

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 Hell. Grim's scythe can also summon monsters, supernatural creatures, and various Underworld inhabitants to Endsville. Grim also can use his scythe to reap souls.

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, which in reality, disbanded in 1946. 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.

The universe is also Evil Con Carne's universe: the characters meet, briefly. 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. Hector, the star of Evil Con Carne, also makes a brief appearance, along with Boskov the Bear (who Hector is attached to), Cod Commando, and Skarr (3 other characters on the show) in a crowded jail cell in the episode "Duck!", (leading us to believe they were victims of the ghost duck), which provoked Hector to point out that he's "not even in this stupid show anymore"; in the episode "Chicken Ball Z" he sells his island to Mandy for $50,000 she earned in the karate tournament.

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 such as Mandy becoming a giant brain eating meteor in Little Rock of Horror. Often the episode will end with no resolution at all.

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," 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 centered around recurring characters may even grow into a larger canon and cause changes to the characters.

Billy and Mandy often breaks the Fourth Wall, and the characters often mention previous episodes in a humorous manner. 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 viewer (her comments are usually insults to the episode). This is commonly at the beginning of every show (except My Fair Mandy, and possibly Wild Parts/The Problem With Billy), where she gives the audience some form of message. She may also appear in various guises. What message she gives, and/or what guise she appears in, are specific to the episodes shown. For example, in the case of Hurter Monkey/Goodbling and the Hip-Hop-Opotamus, she says to the audience that she's "only got one nerve left, and you're getting on it." In another episode, she literally got up and walked out of the television upon knowing that the episode will, once again, be about pets (something very common in the universe of Billy and Mandy). If the current show is showing episodes from Season 1/2 or if it's random episodes from various seasons however, Mandy uses her message from Dumb Luck/Nobody Loves Grim ("It's not enough to succeed, others must fail."). Billy also breaks the fourth wall a great number of times as well as Grim, who says he can read subtitles backwords.

Characters

Main article: List of characters in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

Voice cast

Voice Actor	Character
Richard Steven Horvitz	Billy Harold (Billy's Dad)
Grey DeLisle	Mandy Aunt Sis (Billy's Aunt, Gladys's Sister, Nergal's Wife and Nergal Junior's Mom) Milkshakes(Billy's cat)
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	Jeff 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
"Weird Al" Yankovic	Squid Hat

Music

The score composers for the series are Gregory Hinde and Drew Neumann. The first season was composed by Guy Moon (when it was Grim & Evil). 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!', the dance done when the citizens are brain-robbed is similar to Michael Jackson's Thriller. In Billy and Mandy's Big Boogie Adventure, Voltaire plays the song 'Land of the Dead' in the opening credits. In the same episode, Billy himself actually sings a song which Maxwell Atoms and Gregory Hinde wrote called Scary-O. The song Boogie Wonderland by Earth, Wind & Fire with The Emotions is played during the closing credits. In the episode "Battle of the Bands" the song 'Darkness' by the band SPF 1000, composed by David Ivy, who sold the rights to the song to the show, 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. In the credits, at the end it sounds like a voice saying something in reverse. When reversed, Maxwell Atoms says, "No, No, this is the end. You're watching it backwards!"

Crew

Maxwell Atoms: Creator, Executive Producer, Storyboard, Story, Co-Director John Mcintyre: Supervising Director, Director, Storyboard (seasons 1 and 2) Robert Alvarez: Director, Animation Director Gord Zajak: Story (Seasons 1 and 2) Julie Hashigushi: Director, Supervising Director (seasons 3 and up) Dave Brain: Director (seasons 1 and 2) Paul McEvoy: Story, Storyboard Brett Varon: Storyboard C.H Greenblatt: Storyboard, Story

TV movies

A 80-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. 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 80-minute Billy & 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." ^[1]

A second movie, was aired on July 6th, 2007. It was half of the length of the previous one.

Video game

Main article: The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (video game)

A video game based on the series was developed by Midway for the GameCube, Wii, PS2 and GBA. It came out on October 2 2006, and was released as a Wii launch title on November 19th.

DVD releases

The complete first season of Billy & Mandy was released on DVD on September 18, 2007. ^[2] The following special features include^[3]

• Commentary on Battle of the Bands/Little Rock of Horror/Dream a Little Dream with Maxwell Atoms and Billy (voiced by Richard Horvitz)
• A behind-the-scenes interview with Maxwell Atoms
• Mandyisms (A collection of Mandy's phrases from the beginning of each episode)
• Burp-O-Rama (Night of the Living Grim/Brown Evil Pts. 1 & 2 with burping sounds throughout the episode)
• Skarr-O-Vision feature (Evil Con Carne/Emotional Skarr/Evil Goes Wild shown with Skarr's facial scar over the screen)
• A music video for Voltaire's "BRAINS!"
• A Mr. Snuggles virtual pet
• Bonus Evil Con Carne episodes.

The made-for-TV movie, Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure was released on April 3, 2007.^[4] The DVD contains widescreen and full screen version of the movie, 5.1 Dolby Digital and Stereo Surround sound selections, the episode "Bully Boogie", and interviews with the voice actors.

Additionally, select episodes from the series have been featured on various Cartoon Network DVDs.

• Cartoon Network Halloween Volume 1 - 9 Creepy Capers (August 10, 2004) — Billy and Mandy's Jacked Up Halloween
• Cartoon Network Christmas Volume 1 - Yuletide Follies (October 5, 2004) — Son of Nergal
• 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
• Cartoon Network Christmas Volume 2 - Christmas Rocks (October 5, 2005) — Battle of the Bands
• Cartoon Network Halloween Volume 3 - Sweet Sweet Fear (September 12, 2006) — The Bubble With Billy
• Cartoon Network Fridays - Volume 1 (September 19, 2006) — Herbicidal Maniac
• Cartoon Network Christmas Volume 3 (October 3, 2006) — Billy and Mandy Save Christmas
• Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure (April 3, 2007) - Bully Boogie

See also

• List of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy episodes
• Evil Con Carne

References

External links

• Official UK Website
• Super Cartoon Network
• Billyemandy.s9k - Site Fan language portuguese
• Official Site
• The "Shnissugah" site from the episode 5.11 The Secret Snake Club.
• Grim Adventures on Templelooters
• Mandy's Advice Column
• Sparagmos Industries Maxwell Atoms' Blogspot

Cartoon Cartoons
• Courage the Cowardly Dog • Cow and Chicken • Dexter's Laboratory • Ed, Edd n Eddy • Evil Con Carne • The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy • Grim and Evil • I Am Weasel • Johnny Bravo • Mike, Lu & Og • The Powerpuff Girls • Sheep in the Big City • Time Squad • What a Cartoon! • Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?
Other Cartoon Network original series
Camp Lazlo • Chowder • Class of 3000 • Flapjack • Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends • Out Of Jimmy's Head • My Gym Partner's a Monkey • Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi • The Life and Times of Juniper Lee • Squirrel Boy • Zoot Rumpus

•  • [ e] The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
Characters:	Grim Billy Mandy Irwin Other Characters
Media:	Episodes Video Game
Crew:	Maxwell Atoms C. H. Greenblatt Kris Zimmerman
Voice cast:	Main cast: Greg Eagles Grey DeLisle Richard Steven Horvitz Vanessa Marshall Jennifer Hale Recurring cast: Rachael MacFarlane Armin Shimerman Jane Carr John Vernon David Warner Jake Thomas Martin Jarvis Jess Harnell Chris Cox Debi Derryberry Dee Bradley Baker Phil LaMarr Diedrich Bader Guest stars: Voltaire "Weird Al" Yankovic Louie Anderson Billy West
Cartoon Network Invaded:	Cheese A Go-Go The Eds Are Coming That Darn Platypus Strange Trout from Outer Space / Cheese Orbs Billy and Mandy Moon the Moon