Evil Con Carne | |
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Genre | |
Created by | Maxwell Atoms |
Story by |
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Voices of |
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Composers | |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 22 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
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Producer | Louis J. Cuck (line) |
Running time |
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Production company | Cartoon Network Studios |
Distributor | |
Release | |
Original network | Cartoon Network |
Audio format | Stereo |
Original release | August 24, 2001 October 22, 2004 | –
Chronology | |
Preceded by | Grim & Evil (2001–2003) |
Related shows | The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy |
Evil Con Carne is an American animated television series created by Maxwell Atoms for Cartoon Network.[1] The series centers on wealthy crime lord Hector Con Carne, who is reduced to his brain and stomach after an assassination attempt and subsequently implanted onto Boskov, a purple circus bear. Aided by scientist Major Dr. Ghastly and military leader General Skarr, Hector now oversees criminal organization Evil Con Carne, continuing his quest for world domination.
The series first appeared on Cartoon Network during the show Grim & Evil, along with sister series The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. Thirteen more half-hour episodes of Grim & Evil were produced for 2003, the two series became separate programs later that year. While The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy went on to run for six seasons, Evil Con Carne only ran for thirteen full episodes (22 airings) and ended on October 22, 2004.[2] After the show's end, its characters would frequently make cameo appearances in Billy & Mandy, with General Skarr becoming a recurring character. An official series finale, titled "Company Halt" (which was also a crossover with Billy & Mandy), aired on March 16, 2007.
Premise
Once upon a time, there was a jillionaire playboy who was blown up in a tremendous explosion. His brain survived... (Stomach, too!) ...and was attached to the body of a stupid circus bear. I am that brain. My name is Hector Con Carne, and I will one day rule the world! (He laughs maniacally.)
— Hector Con Carne's brain (and stomach), in the opening title sequence
Hector Con Carne (Phil LaMarr), a wealthy crime lord and evil genius bent on taking over the world and the League of Nations, was caught in an explosion initiated by his nemesis, Cod Commando (Maxwell Atoms), a soldier for the Secret Paramilitary Organized Response Kommand (S.P.O.R.K.). The explosion scattered most of his body across the world. He was rescued by the scientist Major Dr. Ghastly (Grey DeLisle), who placed his living remains into two containment units: one for his brain, and the other for his stomach. These two units were later installed into Boskov (Frank Welker), a purple Russian circus bear, giving Con Carne's brain control over (almost) all of the bear's actions and movements.
Hector, Dr. Ghastly and his military leader, General Skarr (Armin Shimerman), then created a secret laboratory on an island with a bunny-shaped mountain known as "Bunny Island" (a parody of Ernst Stavro Blofeld's lair in the James Bond movies). Gathering an army, Con Carne resumed his quest for world domination and made a new goal: to find his missing body parts. The group's schemes typically end in failure, often due to the behavior and conflicts within the trio: Skarr is tired of being directed by Hector and wishes to overthrow him; Ghastly cares more about her unrequited love for her boss than world domination; while Hector is narcissistic, megalomaniacal, and irritable towards his henchmen.
Voice cast
Main
- Phil LaMarr as Hector Con Carne
- Grey DeLisle as Major Dr. Ghastly
- Armin Shimerman as General Skarr, Hector's Stomach
- Frank Welker as Boskov the Bear
- Maxwell Atoms as Cod Commando
Additional voices
- Charlie Adler as Snowman
- Gregg Berger as Baliff
- Susanne Blakeslee as Mrs. Con Carne
- Michael Dorn as Rupert the Reindeer
- Greg Ellis as Lady of the Lake
- Kathryn Fiore as Heidi
- Quinton Flynn as Max Courage
- Mark Hamill as Judge Bukowski
- Jess Harnell as Policeman
- Roger L. Jackson as Mojo Jojo Impression
- Tom Kenny as Warren, Huckleberry Hound Impression
- Maurice LaMarche as Estroy
- Rachael MacFarlane as Nurse Buffy
- Scott Menville as Rick Courage
- Edie Mirman as Angel
- Masasa Moyo as Kablamity Jane
- Robert Picardo as Cod Commando's singing voice
- Jim Rash as Ensign Slaughter
- Peter Renaday as Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Courage
- Rino Romano as Destructicus Con Carne
- Charlie Schlatter as Tony
- Judy Tenuta as Announcer
- Billy West as Gollum
Production
A viewer's poll to decide a new Cartoon Network animated series, titled Big Pick, was held on the internet from June 16 to August 25, 2000.[3] The three choices for short films to become animated series were The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?, and Longhair and Doubledome. After the event, the Meet the Reaper short film won with 57% of the vote.[4] While Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? became an animated series in 2002, Longhair and Doubledome appeared at another Big Pick event, but lost once again. An original short/pilot for the series titled Evil Con Carne was produced in 2000, shortly after the Billy & Mandy short. The two ideas were ultimately combined into a single show, as Cartoon Network desired a show that had a "B cartoon" as a middle segment (a format found in the Dial M For Monkey and The Justice Friends shorts in Dexter's Laboratory, and the I Am Weasel segment on Cow and Chicken).[5]
The resulting show, Grim & Evil, premiered on August 24, 2001, and was put on hiatus on October 18, 2002.[6] In 2003, 13 more half-hour episodes of Grim & Evil were made, but aired when Cartoon Network separated the two series, and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Evil Con Carne earned their own full-length series later that year. After production wrapped on both series' new seasons, the network gave Maxwell Atoms a decision to choose one show to continue, while the other would be dropped from production. Atoms ultimately went with Billy & Mandy, and the final season of Evil Con Carne subsequently aired in 2004. He embraced the network's decision to drop one of the two series, as he considered being in charge of producing both shows difficult.[5]
After Evil Con Carne was cancelled, its characters appeared in The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. The first cameo was in the episode "Chicken Ball Z" which ended with Mandy purchasing Hector's Bunny Island. General Skarr moved to Billy's neighborhood in the episode "Skarred for Life" after Bunny Island was bought out by an "entertainment corporation that didn't want competition in world domination". Since then, General Skarr went on to become a recurring character in Billy & Mandy. In the episode "Company Halt", Con Carne and Ghastly appear in Endsville, in order to recruit Skarr and revive Evil Con Carne (the organization, not the show) in another attempt to take over the world; naturally, like most of their other schemes and misadventures, it ends in failure when Skarr turns against Hector once he tries to destroy his garden in an attempt to kill Billy, and crushes him with a giant catapult (which they were to use to destroy the neighborhood), causing Ghastly and the rest of the army run away. According to Tom Warburton, characters from Evil Con Carne were originally set to appear in the television special "The Grim Adventures of the KND".[7] Hector, General Skarr, and Dr. Ghastly (strangely, they're "costumed" by Lazlo, Raj, and Clam) did briefly appear in the crossover's end credits in a crossover with Camp Lazlo titled "Evil Camp Carne".
On July 29, 2016, the series aired re-runs for a single day on Cartoon Network's sister channel, Boomerang, in the United States, despite the schedule for Boomerang saying that The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy was airing in its timeslot.[8]
Censorship
When the show was running as a segment on Grim & Evil, the two part episode "The Smell of Vengeance" was subject to censorship in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The episode centered on Hector and his army using an oversized stink gun on New York City, unleashing a stench that sends its citizens into a frenzy. A particular scene featured people jumping off of the World Trade Center prompted the decision. "There are the twin towers, and you see tiny, little people hopping off the roof of the towers into the water", said Linda Simensky, then senior vice president of animation for Cartoon Network. "I mean, two weeks ago you wouldn't have thought about it. What were the chances of anyone jumping out of the World Trade Center?" In response, Atoms reworked the episode so it took place in rural Kansas instead; despite these changes, the episode was still suspended from broadcast rotation.[9]
Episodes
Most of the episodes did not air in production code order.
Season | Series | Episodes | Separate | Originally aired | ||
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First aired | Last aired | |||||
1 | Grim & Evil | 6 | 9 | August 24, 2001 | October 19, 2001 | |
2 | 7 | 7 | July 19, 2002 | October 18, 2002 | ||
3 | Evil Con Carne | 5 | 11 | July 11, 2003 | October 22, 2004 | |
4 | 4 | 8 | October 1, 2004 | October 22, 2004 | ||
Crossover | The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy | 1 | N/A | March 16, 2007 |
Season 1 (2001)
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Storyboarded by | Original air date | Prod. code | |||||
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1 | "Pilot" | Maxwell Atoms | Maxwell Atoms | TBA | August 24, 2001 | 01a | |||||
Hector orders Major Doctor Ghastly to make him a new body after Boskov messes up. Note: This is the original short pilot produced in 2000, but unseen until the broadcasting in 2001. | |||||||||||
2 | "Emotional Skarr" | Brian Hogan | Maxwell Atoms | Bob Camp and Joe Orrantia | August 31, 2001 | 01b | |||||
General Skarr tries to kill Hector with Major Doctor Ghastly's latest device: a giant robotic dog. | |||||||||||
3 | "Evil Goes Wild" | Dave Brain | Gord Zajac | Greg Miller | September 7, 2001 | 01c | |||||
After Boskov is captured by park rangers, Evil Con Carne releases the other captured bears in hopes of world domination. | |||||||||||
4 | "The Smell of Vengeance" | Dave Brain | Maxwell Atoms | Greg Miller | October 5, 2001 | 02b | |||||
Brian Hogan | Maxwell Atoms | Maxwell Atoms | October 5, 2001 | 02c | |||||||
Major Doctor Ghastly invents the Almighty Stink Ray, which Hector uses to threaten the world for a ransom. SPORK sends in their only noseless soldier, Cod Commando, to stop him. Note 1: General Skarr was absent in Part 1, and had only three lines in Part 2. Note 2: This episode is the first fourteen-minute episode to air. | |||||||||||
5 | "Devolver" | Brian Hogan | Maxwell Atoms | Mike Stern | October 12, 2001 | 03b | |||||
Bob Camp | October 12, 2001 | 03c | |||||||||
General Skarr accidentally walks through Major Doctor Ghastly's devolving ray and begins to revert to primitive forms, including a giant ape that starts to terrorizes the Evil Con Carne base. Note: This episode is the second fourteen-minute episode to air. | |||||||||||
6 | "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" | Brian Hogan | Vincent Davis | Bob Camp | October 19, 2001 | 04b | |||||
Dave Brain | Vincent Davis | Bob Camp | October 19, 2001 | 04c | |||||||
Boskov goes into hibernation the day Hector plans to launch a large invasion. Note: This episode is the third and last fourteen-minute episode to air. |
Season 2 (2002)
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Story by | Storyboarded by | Original air date | Prod. code |
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7 | 1 | "Bring Me the Face of Hector Con Carne" | Dave Brain | Gord Zajac | Matt Sullivan | July 19, 2002 | 03a |
Major Doctor Ghastly discovers that Hector's face may still be intact and sends out a search party to get it. This episode also reveals how Ghastly and Hector met, as well as how Hector was defeated by Cod Commando the Cod fish in the first place. | |||||||
8 | 2 | "Search and Estroy" | Dave Brain | Gord Zajac | Alex Almaguer | July 26, 2002 | 06b |
Hector and Major Doctor Ghastly create a disintegration gun. When Estroy creates a better version and invites Evil Con Carne to dinner, Hector plans to steal the upgraded version. | |||||||
9 | 3 | "Everyone Loves Uncle Bob" | John McIntyre and Brian Hogan | Gord Zajac | Trevor Wall | August 2, 2002 | 04a |
Hector takes over a Mr. Rogers-type children's show in an attempt to rule the world by influencing children. Note: Major Doctor Ghastly was present in the episode, but however she was silent in this episode, and General Skarr only had two lines in this episode. | |||||||
10 | 4 | "Evil on Trial" | John McIntyre and Robert Alvarez | Gord Zajac | Mucci Fassett | August 9, 2002 | 02a |
After General Skarr turns Hector in to the FBI for money, Major Doctor Ghastly acts as Hector's lawyer in court. | |||||||
11 | 5 | "The Time Hole Incident" | Dave Brain | Gord Zajac | Nora Johnson | October 4, 2002 | 05b |
Major Doctor Ghastly invents the Temporal Confabulationater Izationizer Unit – a time machine that works so well that Ghastly, Hector, and Skarr end up meeting their future selves and Destructicus Con Carne, son of Ghastly and Hector, as both an infant and an adult. | |||||||
12 | 6 | "Christmas Con Carne" | John McIntyre and Robert Alvarez | Gord Zajac | Alex Almaguer | October 11, 2002 | 05c |
Rupert the Green-Nosed Reindeer saves Christmas when Hector tries to ruin it. | |||||||
13 | 7 | "The Pie Who Loved Me" | John McIntyre | Gord Zajac | Alex Almaguer | October 18, 2002 | 06c |
In a musical episode full of different genres, Evil Con Carne makes pies for everyone on Earth, keeping them busy eating while Hector attempts to dominate it. |
Season 3 (2003–04)
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Storyboard by | Original air date | Prod. code |
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14a | 1a | "Gutless!" | Juli Hashiguchi | Story by: Gord Zajac | Mucci Fassett | July 11, 2003 | 07a |
While planning to invade Buckingham Palace in Great Britain, Hector's stomach falls ill and makes him lose confidence in the plan. | |||||||
14b | 1b | "Day of the Dreadbot" | Juli Hashiguchi | Story by: Gord Zajac | Brian Kindregan | July 11, 2003 | 07b |
Hector gets fed up with his army and replaces it with robots, which overthrow the Evil Con Carne island. | |||||||
14c | 1c | "League of Destruction" | Pat Shinagawa | Story by: Gord Zajac | Alex Almaguer | July 11, 2003 | 07c |
Hector believes that all of the evil geniuses in the world are keeping each other from conquering the Earth, so he unites them all to come up with an ultimate plan. All of the evil geniuses end up arguing, instead. | |||||||
15a | 2a | "Son of Evil" | Juli Hashiguchi | Story by: Gord Zajac | Mucci Fassett | July 18, 2003 | 08a |
Destructicus Con Carne, the son of Hector and Major Doctor Ghastly, comes back from the future to help his parents. Hector is disappointed in his son when he finds out Destructicus is a crime fighting super hero. Note: In the beginning of the episode, it shows a parody of Samurai Jack. | |||||||
15b | 2b | "The Right to Bear Arms" | Randy Myers | Story by: Gord Zajac | Mike Diederich | July 18, 2003 | 08b |
Major Doctor Ghastly invents a new machine called the Cerebro-Ransmuter 2000, which is meant to transfer Hector from Boskov's head to General Skarr's. An error causes the two to switch arms, instead. Note: Hector mentioned the name of the franchise Scooby-Doo. | |||||||
15b | 2c | "The Trouble with Skarrina" | John McIntyre and Robert Alvarez | Story by: Gord Zajac | Matt Sullivan | July 18, 2003 | 08c |
Evil Con Carne's enemy, Estroy, builds a robotic woman for General Skarr in revenge after he and Ghastly ruined his chrome polisher. Skarr does not realize it is a trap and ignores all of the warnings he is given. | |||||||
16a | 3a | "Go Spork" | John McIntyre and Robert Alvarez | Story by: Gord Zajac | Trevor Wall | August 1, 2003 | 09a |
A response team called SPORK tries to stop Hector from brainwashing the world with a telemarketing scheme. | |||||||
16b | 3b | "Boskov's Day Out" | Juli Hashiguchi | Story by: Gord Zajac | Alex Almaguer | August 1, 2003 | 09b |
Major Doctor Ghastly takes Boskov for a walk in the park while Vlad, Boskov's old trainer, tries to get Boskov back. | |||||||
16b | 3c | "Cod vs. Hector" | John McIntyre and Randy Myers | Story by: Gord Zajac | Alex Almaguer | August 1, 2003 | 09c |
Hector, Boskov, and Cod Commando realize they have got to work together to survive on a deserted island. | |||||||
17 | 4 | "Max Courage!" | John McIntyre and Robert Alvarez | Gord Zajac | Alex Almaguer | August 15, 2003 | 05a |
Major Doctor Ghastly captures an old friend and forces him to help her build a destructive machine. | |||||||
18 | 5 | "Ultimate Evil" | Shaun Cashman | Story by: Maxwell Atoms and Alex Almaguer | Alex Almaguer | October 22, 2004 | 06a |
Tired of consistently failing at his attempts to rule the world, Hector orders General Skarr to make Boskov into a vicious monster. Boskov in his new form manages to take down Cod Commando and the entire army of SPORK on his own, but when General Skarr pushes Boskov too far, Boskov starts attacking Hector and Skarr for mistreating him. Only Ghastly is able to stop Boskov. Cameo appearance(s): The Powerpuff Girls Note: Although this was aired in 2004 during the second and final season, alongside The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy's "Five O'Clock Shadows", this was the only original episode of Evil Con Carne's first season to not be part of Grim & Evil. |
Season 4 (2004)
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Story by | Storyboard by | Original air date | Prod. code |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
19a | 1a | "No No Nanook" | Juli Hashiguchi and Phil Cummings | Mike Diederich | Mike Diederich | October 1, 2004 | 10a |
Hector tries to freeze the Earth, but accidentally disrupts the planet's gravity in the process. | |||||||
19b | 1b | "Teenage Idol" | Juli Hashiguchi and Robert Hughes | Maxwell Atoms | Maxwell Atoms and Octavio Rodríguez | October 1, 2004 | 10b |
Hector requires the aid of a legendary living stone idol to rule the world. However, the idol is immature and only agrees to help Hector if he can date Major Doctor Ghastly. | |||||||
20a | 2a | "The Mother of All Evils" | Juli Hashiguchi and Robert Hughes | Maxwell Atoms and Alex Almaguer | Alex Almaguer | October 8, 2004 | 11a |
Hector is nervous because his blind mother visits him and does not know that he is only a brain and a stomach. | |||||||
20b | 2b | "The HCCBDD" | Shaun Cashman and Phil Cummings | Maxwell Atoms and Brett Varon | Brett Varon | October 8, 2004 | 11b |
Hector is depressed that he has not been able to take over the world yet, and feels he is missing something. Then Major Doctor Ghastly creates the HCCBDD, which she intends to show Hector the following day. Even though he does not know what it is, Estroy tries to steal the HCCBDD, only to figure out it is Hector's surprise birthday party. | |||||||
21a | 3a | "Gridlocked and Loaded" | Juli Hashiguchi and Steven Socki | C. H. Greenblatt | C. H. Greenblatt | October 15, 2004 | 12a |
Evil Con Carne plans to steal gold from a ship, but ends up getting stuck in traffic for hours. | |||||||
21b | 3b | "Fool's Paradise" | Phil Cummings and Juli Hashiguchi | C. H. Greenblatt | Mary Hanley and Maxwell Atoms | October 15, 2004 | 12b |
Evil Con Carne goes on vacation, where Hector has a good time, Major Doctor Ghastly is bothered by Estroy, and General Skarr has a bad time. | |||||||
22a | 4a | "Jealousy, Jealous Do" | Robert Hughes and Juli Hashiguchi | C. H. Greenblatt and Maxwell Atoms | Mike Bell and Maxwell Atoms | October 22, 2004 | 13a |
Hector gets a new secretary who turns out to be a Swedish spy that Major Doctor Ghastly is jealous of. The secretary flirts with Boskov, not knowing that only Hector knows the plans she is trying to obtain. | |||||||
22b | 4b | "Hector, King of the Britons" | Brian Sheesley | Maxwell Atoms, Vincent Waller, Grey DeLisle, Phil LaMarr, Armin Shimerman, Rosalind Ayres, and Greg Ellis | Vincent Waller | October 22, 2004 | 13b |
Hector wants to rule Britain, so he goes to Great Britain to find Excalibur, but the Lady of the Lake may not give it to him even after he does things to prove himself worthy. |
Crossover special (2007)
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Story by | Storyboard by | Original air date | Prod. code |
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S1 | 1 | "Company Halt" | Kris Sherwood | Maxwell Atoms and Alex Almaguer | Alex Almaguer | March 16, 2007 | 6-05 |
As General Skarr is once again annoyed by Billy, Hector Con Carne and Major Dr. Ghastly arrive in his house with the intention of luring him back to the recently relaunched Evil Con Carne world domination organization. Although initially refusing to rejoin, Skarr later accepts with the condition that Billy and the other neighbors be destroyed. After weeks of living together and preparations, Evil Con Carne's ultimate weapon is revealed to be an army of tanks that shoot giant rubber bands. In the end, their all-out attack over the neighborhood is foiled when Billy tricks Hector into shooting Skarr's garden and they get into a fight, causing Hector to get crushed by the one of the tanks. Note: This episode aired as a segment of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. |
Home media
Five episodes are included as bonus features in the Season 1 DVD set for The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. On August 16, 2018, the entire series was added to the iTunes Store under a single volume.
Product | Season(s) | Episodes | Format | Release date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Season 1 | 1–2 | 6 (1–4, 10) | DVD | September 18, 2007 | |
Evil Con Carne: The Complete Series | 1–4 | 22 | Digital purchase | August 16, 2018 |
See also
References
- ^ "New 'toons for Network". The Robesonian. February 25, 2001. Archived from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
- ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 52. ISBN 9781476672939.
- ^ Forkan, Jim (February 25, 2001). "Cartoon Network Shows Off Four New Series". Multichannel News. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
- ^ Dempsey, John (August 29, 2000). "'Billy & Mandy' beats out 'Robot,' 'Longhair' to get greenlight". Variety. Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
- ^ a b "What's In My Head Podcast - Maxwell Atoms: The creator of Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy! | RSS Podcasting". RSS.com. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
- ^ Macmillan, Alissa (February 22, 2001). "'toon Net Sets 2 New Series". NY Daily News. Archived from the original on May 9, 2012. Retrieved May 15, 2011.
- ^ Warburton, Mr (2010-03-29). "warburtonlabs: GRIM ADVENTURES OF THE KND!". warburtonlabs. Archived from the original on 2018-12-12. Retrieved 2019-05-25.
- ^ "Evil Con Carne on Boomerang". YouTube. July 29, 2016. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
- ^ "Cartoon World Is Playing It Safe". Los Angeles Times. 2001-09-22. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
External links
- Official website (archive)
- Evil Con Carne at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Evil Con Carne at IMDb