Ed, Edd n Eddy Versus The New Three Stooges

Breakdown/Shakedown

To view the picture above as intended, simply turn computer upside down. Of course, it goes without saying that the BSC Kids site will not be held liable for incidental damages to said computer that might result–let the flipper beware!

That’s kind of silly advice, yes? But, turning a computer upside down to better see a picture on it that’s upside down right side up is just what either the Three Stooges (if they were alive today and still young and making films and cartoons) and Ed Edd n Eddy (if they weren’t cartoons) would probably do in a similar situation in order to better view the picture. This shared trait of Three Stoogery is the comic DNA that’s been handed down through the generations from the antics of the original Three Stooges, Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe, to the New School cartoon modern-day stooges, Ed Edd n Eddy. The question that we’ll attempt to answer here is, in this case, have the students surpassed the masters? Are the Three Stooges still the kings, or have they passed their crowns to the new generation?

Ed Edd n Eddy premiered on the Cartoon Network on January 4, 1999 and ran ten years to November 8, 2009. It ran six seasons, and there were 70 episodes made (as a whole), 134 (separate). It was produced by the A.K.A. Cartoon Company and created by Danny Antonnucci. Reruns are currently airing on the Cartoon Network.

The New Three Stooges cartoon shorts were interspersed with live-action scenes of the actual Three Stooges. The series was created by Norman Maurer and Dick Brown, and was produced by Norman Maurer. It premiered in October 1965 and ran to October 1966, with 156 cartoon shorts created. The pilot episode was called “That Little Old Bomb Maker.” As far as I know, it’s not being currently aired on any station. If any readers know of one, please mention it in the Comment area below.

Category 1 – Main Characters

Ed Edd n Eddy

Eddy (Voiced by: Tony Sampson)
Ed (Voiced by: Matt Hill)
Edd (Voiced by: Samuel Vincent)

The Three Stooges

Moe Howard
Larry Fine (Voiced by himself)
Curly-Joe Derita (Voiced by himself, Joe DeRita )

Who Wins?

Samuel Vincent, who does the voice of Edd “Double D” from Ed, Edd n Eddy, has also appeared in the anime roles of Athrun Zala from Gundam Seed, Peach Man (Tokajin) from InuYasha, and Julian Star from Cardcaptors. Other roles include Forge from X-Men Evolution, Baby Bugs, Baby Daffy and Baby Tweety from Baby Looney Tunes, and Aerrow from Storm Hawks. He is also known for voicing Krypto from Krypto the Superdog, Sonic the Hedgehog’s singing voice in Sonic Underground, and the title character and the alien Billy of Martin Mystery.

Matt Hill, who does Ed’s voice, is known for several other roles, including Kevin Keene/Captain N in Captain N: The Game Master, Kira Yamato in Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, the voice of Raphael in Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, Ryo Sanada in Ronin Warriors, and Artha Penn and Dragon Booster in The Dragon Booster.

Other cartoon voices Tony Sampson has done are Nasty Norman from Captain Zed and the Zee Zone, Tori Avalon from Cardcaptors, Young Andy from Fatal Fury: Legend of the Hungry Wolf, Tony from Fatal Fury 2: The New Battle, Miguel Aiman, Recap Narrator (ep. 26) from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Marco, Ryu Gil from Infinite Ryvius, Seikai’s Disciple (ep. 22) of Inuyasha, and Berserker in X-Men: Evolution, among various other characters.

While I really like the Three Stooges, had a license plate with their pictures on it, and am–as I type–wearing a T-shirt with their likenesses on it, they haven’t done any other cartoon voice work than as themselves, as far as I know. So, when it comes down to which cartoon has the better main characters, I’d say that the actors who do the voices of Ed, Edd, and Eddy have more experience doing many different cartoon voices.

This, in itself, does not necessarily make the main characters of Ed, Edd n Eddy the winners of this category–both shows have strong main characters–but, IMHO, Ed, Edd, and Eddy display more range and seem to be three-dimensional characters, each acting stooge-like in his own way, but each doing so differently from the others. For instance, Eddy is the main protagonist of the series and a greedy, ill-tempered con artist and loudmouth, as well as being the self-appointed leader of the Eds. He goes to great lengths to scam the other kids out of their money, even at the expense of his friends’ credibility. His efforts are all in the pursuit of jawbreakers, which he loves as much as he does money. Ed is the strongest and dimwitted workhorse of the group. His skin is yellow, unlike the other characters. He is known to laugh a lot, and he is happy most of the time. He has amazing physical strength which is humorously worked into many of the shows plots. Edd is a young inventor and neat freak. The most intelligent of the trio, he is never seen without his head covered in some manner, almost always by his trademark sock-like black ski hat, hiding a secret unknown to everyone besides Ed and Eddy. It’s just an opinion, of course, but I’m going to declare Ed, Edd, and Eddy the winners of this category.

Category 2 – Secondary Characters

Ed Edd n Eddy

There are only twelve characters in all. Most of the rest of the characters are the other children in the Cul-de-Sac Ed, Edd, and Eddy live on.

Jonny (Voiced by: David Paul Grove)
Jimmy (Voiced by: Keenan Christenson)
Sarah (Voiced by: Janyse Jaud)
Kevin (Voiced by: Kathleen Barr)
Rolf (Voiced by: Peter Kelamis)
Nazz (Voiced by: Tabitha St. Germain [Season 1], Jenn Forgie [Season 3] and Erin Fitzgerald [Season 2 & Season 4 – Season 6])
Kanker Sisters (May, Marie, and Lee; May is voiced by Erin Fitzgerald, except Season 3, when she was voiced by Jenn Forgie, Marie is voiced by Kathleen Barr, and Lee is voiced by Janyse Jaud)
Eddy’s Brother (Voiced by: Terry Klassen)
Wilfred (Rolf’s pig)
Victor (Rolf’s goat)

Secondary Characters – The New Three Stooges

Emil Sitka
Jeff Maurer
Peggy Brown
Margaret Kerry
Tiny Brauer

These were actors who appeared in what were called the “live action wrap-arounds,” that linked the cartoon shorts together. Forty-one of them were made. All of these actors also appeared in various of the Three Stooges’ movies/shorts. Emil Sitka and Tiny Brauer, who often played a “heavy,” (villainous character) were the only two who were in films with all of the four different configurations of Stooges. Emil was even sometimes referred to as “the Fourth Stooge.” He was likely the most successful of these actors, appearing with many other famous actors/actresses in movies, including Lucille Ball, Milton Berle, Red Skelton, Tony Curtis, Alan Hale, Walter Brennan, Dan Blocker, Joey Bishop, Bob Denver, and many others.

Who Wins?

There’s not much of a contest, IMHO, as to who is the winner of this category. That’s because, although the secondary characters in The New Three Stooges cartoons are all talented actors, the ones in the Ed, Edd n Eddy cartoons are much more unique and varied, and don’t just serve as “straight men” to the main characters. Hands down the winner of this category is Ed, Edd n Eddy.

Category 3 – Over-All Concept

The over-all concept of both cartoon series is pretty strong. The titles speak for themselves. If you like to watch crazy, antic cartoons or comedies full of pie fights and other mayhem, then you watch and are fans of anything involving The Three Stooges. If you want to watch what I would consider to be even crazier antics, involving adolescents and a couple of younger kids, then the cartoon for you would be Ed, Edd n Eddy.

According to the Ed, Edd n Eddy Wiki site, referring to the premise of the show, “The show revolves solely around the Eds, the other cul-de-sac children, and the Kanker sisters.[4] Subtle hints throughout the series pointed to where the cartoon took place, as it was revealed that the cul-de-sac is in a town called Peach Creek. As similar to the Peanuts series, no adults are seen, as well as the seeming lack of any other inhabitants and any other possible relations; besides Sarah being Ed’s little sister and a the running gag of Rolf and his mysterious family relations.”

Over-All Thoughts

The premise or over-all concept of both shows is followed pretty well. It seems to me, looking back on The New Three Stooges cartoons, that they were made mostly to try to prolong the careers of the Three Stooges and to make them more money and keep their names remembered for a new generation of viewers, Nothing wrong with any of that, and as they were airing when I first took an interest in the cartoons, I saw them fairly early in the morning, maybe about 7:00 or 7:30, right before I headed off to elementary school. I loved watching them, and other cartoons shown about the same time of the day, like Beanie & Cecil, The Sea Serpent, and Tennessee Tuxedo and his Tales. Today, comparing the animation, the story lines, the antics of both them and the characters from Ed, Edd, n Eddy, though, makes me realize just how far animation has come.

Favorite Episode/Moment

There are so many great episodes of both cartoon series that it’s difficult for me to decide which one(s) I like the best. I’ll just choose one episode from each series, though I really like them all. First, I’ll mention the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode that’s one of my favorites:

“Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Ed”: Ed asks Eddy why Edd is so smart, and Eddy tells him that Edd is not human. Much to Eddy’s amusement, Ed believes it and starts a quest to see Edd do something inhuman. The Eds get invited to a barbecue at Nazz’s place, and Ed thinks it is a ceremony to transform kids into bugs. Meanwhile, Eddy has gotten stuck in a pail–looking like a huge bug–frightening Ed, and the kids attempt to “squash” him.

Now, on to The New Three Stooges. I’ll choose the episode called “Dinopoodi.” It’s one in which the Stooges “win” a prize from a pet shop for a huge, ugly, long-nosed creature called a Dinopoodi. They don’t like what they won after they see it, and argue over who should be stuck with the winning ticket and the monstrous pet. They end up giving the ticket away to a little old lady. Of course, a man from the zoo overhears the conversation, and declares that the animal is very rare, and offers the old lady $25,000 for it. Then, the Stooges complain again about who’s to blame for costing them the chance to get that much money.

Intangibles

I’d say there are not as many intangibles as with some of the other cartoons I have and will discuss here. Both have okay theme songs, but nothing spectacular, though The New Three Stooges one is kind of catchy as a tune the cartoon Stooges play at the beginning of each episode using marching band instruments. There’s been a fair share of merchandising surrounding both cartoons, though much more involving the actual human Three Stooges, which weights this category somewhat in the favor of The New Three Stooges, though not a whole lot. But, the animation, plots, and characters of Ed, Edd n Eddy are far better, IMHO, than those of The New Three Stooges.

Over-All Thoughts/Ultimate Winner?

Both cartoons are “winners” in my book, though only one can be the champion of this match-up. Did the 3 Eds win the title, or have the Stooges fought them to a well-earned victory, proving they are still the only Stooges that count? As much as I love the Three Stooges, and their cartoons, I know that much of it is based on nostalgic feelings, and that they were one of my favorite cartoons as a boy. I still like them, though they’re dated and haven’t retained as much of their appeal with time. Still, I’m going to say that they got out-Stooged, and that Ed, Edd n Eddy are the winners of this historic cartoon match-up.

What do you feel? Who do you think is the clear winner of this match-up? Do you think it would be the New School cartoon, or the Old School one? Please leave your Comments below! I’m looking forward to reading your responses!