Earthworm Jim, the fast talking invertebrate from the eighties, is about to get a brand new TV series.
Anybody old enough to remember floppy disks and tape decks will likely recognize the iconic mix of a lowly worm wrapped up in a powerful two legged space suit. Earthworm Jim was an icon of 1990s video games, and now that oddly memorable hero is about to come crashing into TV screens once again. Developer Interplay Entertainment Corp and AAP have combined forces to bring Jim back from a long running hiatus. The odd adventurer was last seen on CRT displays back in 1996 as part of a 23 episode run on The WB, but now it seems high time for a return.
After the Intellivision announcement of a fourth Earthworm Jim game, and the return of publishing labels like Microprose, the nostalgia factor is high and ripe for this earthworm in a robotic suit to head out into a huge cosmos. Throughout the new show, Jim will fend off an absurd mix of excentric enemies while navigating a host of strange new worlds, ultimately trying to get home to Earth. Interplay released a glimpse of the ageless earthworm, which you can see over on the new Earthworm Jim series website, and Writer and Producer Michel K Parandi has high hopes for the new outing.
“I remember loving Earthworm Jim as a kid,” Parandi says. “And there’s so much potential in this story universe: a galaxy full of animals battling for power. Jim is an earthworm in a universe where Earth is nothing more than a myth. His struggle to find meaning is surreal and comical, but it’s also relatable”.
Passion Pictures, who you might know from their League of Legends and Agents of Mayhem work, will be involved in the animation so you can expect these new adventures to look fantastic. If you didn’t happen to be holding a controller when Earthworm Jim crashed onto the Sega Genesis in 1994, then there’s still plenty of time to find a retro store and dust off an old copy of the first game. Alternatively, maybe just check out Steam where Interplay’s best looking action worm is available right now.