The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Why this is the Greatest kids show on TV.
Malach loves The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. You all should watch it. If you have never seen it, it is fairly easy to catch. It is a Cartoon Network Staple, and gets broadcast 10 times a day.

A basic plot. Billy and Mandy are two children from Endsville, a typical US suburb. One day, they were playing with Billy's hamster, who dies, the Grim Reaper (Grim) appears to take the animal away. Mandy refuses to let the Grim Reaper take the hamster and challenges him to a contest. If Grim wins he keeps the hamster, if Billy and Mandy win, Grim must become their "best friend forever and ever". Grim challenges them to limbo, which he has never lost. Of course he loses. He then begins his servitude with Billy and Mandy.

And servitude it is, they make Grim do their chores and boss him around. Grim slowly begins to act like a typical human, spending much of his time watching TV, eating junk food, and playing video games. He develops this love-hate relationship with the children, and hopes to break free from his enslavement. Hilarity ensues.

Usually, the plot centers around some mundane thing, which turns supernatural in nature. Dimesion Traveling is common. The show deals with many a supernatural an obscure reference from everything to Cthulhu, Dune, Harry Potter, 1920's film, Ancient Egypt, Pagan Gods, Edgar Allen Poe, Asgard, and such. There is plenty of gross humor (ie Billy washes his hair with feces thinking it is shampoo), and absurd violence (ie Billy is riding a bike, flips over the handle bars, and shreds his face down to his skull). It is FUNNY for adults as well as kids, but more for adults.

Characters
Billy: Billy is the typical happy-go-lucky idiot. According to the show, he has a functioning IQ of -5. He has a number of unpleasant habits, including nose-picking, flatulence, male chauvinism and unapologetic idiocy. Prone to surprising (if nonsensical) fits of rage, he is extremely hyperactive, with a knack for causing all kinds of disasters and ending in various parallel dimensions, usually by experimenting with Grim's supernatural items.

Mandy: Billy's closest "friend", although completely contrasting character: with an acerbic attitude, evil personality ("I believe in abusing and exploiting the stupid"), and often surprising intellect and knowledge of the supernatural. She is rude to practically everybody, even her parents. She is completely sadistic and dark; ruling over everyone, constantly bossing people around. She is a fearless fighter who will stand up to schoolyard bullies and monsters from the underworld without flinching.

Grim: is the the personification of Death, portrayed as a scythe-wielding skeleton in a black hooded robe. He is thousands of years old, as he was a child at the time of the Neanderthals. His accent and language use suggests that he is Jamaican. He enjoys all kinds of chaos, despair, and torture , and many other dark things.

There are other minor characters, most notable Irwin, and nerdy African American (similar to Urkel), who is in love with Mandy. He ends most every sentence with the phrase "YO!".

To set up our clip.
Mandy has entered a Beauty Contest to get her enemy Mindy (typical Cheerleader) by winning it. Grim brings in a Underworld Beauty Consultant, who dolls up Mandy. They realize if she smiles (which she has never done), she will win. They go through a some typical rounds of a beauty contest (swim suits, western wear) and not so typical (Gom Jabbar - "IT BURNS!"). It comes down to the last talent display, and Mandy is tied with Mindy. Mindy does the human canonball from one cannon to the other, and the judges are impressed. It comes all down to Mandy . . .



This is perhaps best describes Billy and Mandy in a 3 minute video. If you have a half hour, you can watch a great episode, Keeper of the Reaper over at YouTube.

I am Malach, So Beautiful!