Evil Con Carne

''Evil Con Carne'' is an American animated television series created by Maxwell Atoms for Cartoon Network. 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 Russian bear. Aided by his scientist Major Dr. Ghastly and military leader General Skarr, Hector now oversees criminal organization Evil Con Carne, continuing his quest for world domination.

''Evil Con Carne'' began as a segment on '' Grim & Evil'', from which it was a spin-off, along with sister series '' The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'', on August 24, 2001. Although the segments were produced for ''Grim & Evil'', the series aired as a separate series from July 11, 2003, to October 22, 2004, on Cartoon Network.

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.

On December 1, 2023, 19 years after the show's final episode, reruns of ''Evil Con Carne'' began airing on Adult Swim on its throwback programming block, Checkered Past. Twenty-two episodes were produced.

Premise

Hector Con Carne (voiced by 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 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 generally abusive 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

Recurring voices

* Maxwell Atoms as Cod Commando
* Maurice LaMarche as Estroy
* Peter Renaday as Abraham Lincoln
* Rino Romano as Destructicus Con Carne

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. 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. 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. Another original short/pilot titled ''Evil Con Carne'' had been 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 "middle cartoon" as an in-between segment (a format found in the ''Dial M for Monkey'' and ''The Justice Friends'' shorts in '' Dexter's Laboratory'', and the '' I Am Weasel'' segments on '' Cow and Chicken'').

The resulting show, '' Grim & Evil'', premiered on August 24, 2001, and was put on hiatus on October 18, 2002. 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 & 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.

After ''Evil Con Carne'' was cancelled, its characters appeared in minor roles in ''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'', and General Skarr became a recurring character. According to Tom Warburton, characters from ''Evil Con Carne'' were originally set to appear in the television special "The Grim Adventures of the KND". Hector, General Skarr, and Dr. Ghastly briefly appear in the end credits as character costumes for Lazlo, Raj, and Clam in a '' Camp Lazlo'' crossover titled "Evil Camp Carne".

The series aired alongside ''The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy'' on Checkered Past.

Censorship

During its ''Grim & Evil'' run, "The Smell of Vengeance" was subject to censorship in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The episode's plot involves Hector and his army using a weapon that produces foul-smelling odors on New York City, sending its citizens into a frenzy. "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 temporarily suspended from broadcast rotation.

Episodes

Note: Most of the episodes did not air in production code order.

Season 1 (2001–04)

Season 1a (2001)

Season 2 (2002)

Season 1c (2003–04)

Season 2 (2004)

Crossover episode (2007)

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.

See also

* '' The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy''
* '' Grim & Evil''

Notes

References

External links

* (archive)
*

{{Rough Draft Studios

2000s American animated comedy television series
2000s American black comedy television series
2000s American children's comedy television series
2000s American comic science fiction television series
2000s American horror comedy television series
2001 American animated television series debuts
2004 American television series endings
American animated television spinoffs
American children's animated comic science fiction television series
American children's animated horror television series
Alternate history television series
Animated television series set in the United States
Fiction about brain transplantation
Television series by Cartoon Network Studios
American English-language television shows
Fictional depictions of Abraham Lincoln in television
Military science fiction television series
Animated television series about bears
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy
Supervillain television shows
Television series created by Maxwell Atoms
Television series set in the 2000s
Television series set in 2002
Cartoon Cartoons