Ed Edd n Eddy and The Never-Ending Summer

With a ten-year run, Ed Edd n Eddy is considered one of Cartoon Network’s most successful original series. The show began in 1999, and it revolves around the lives of the Eds and the cul-de-sac kids. For the Eds, every day is summer, and every day represents a new opportunity to scam the cul-de-sac kids out of their quarters.

During the first five seasons, the shows characters seem to be stuck in a never-ending summer vacation where parents don’t exist.

For me, the premise worked. I get that it was fantasy, but that's what most kids want.

Jawbreakers and Pranks

The Eds all have the same name, Edward, but they go by different nicknames, and their personalities couldn’t be further apart.

Ed is the kindhearted, dim-witted one, who usually handles anything that requires physical strength.

Then there’s Edd, who goes by Double-D. He's the smart one, and the most neurotic.

Eddy is the schemer, the leader. He concocts all of these ridiculous plans to get the rest of the kids in the cul-de-sac to give the Eds money, just so they can buy jawbreakers.

Their biggest flaw is that they think they're smarter than everyone else.

They underestimate the neighborhood kids and all of the great pranks end up failing.

Not to be Outsmarted

But what really makes this show is the characters. They've all got some weird quirks that make them memorable.

There's Jonny 2x4, who can't go anywhere without his best friend plank, an actual plank of wood. It would seem that Jonny is the easiest to manipulate, but when he realizes he's being tricked he gets angry and scary.

Then there's Jimmy and Ed's younger sister Sarah, the real terror. She loves and protects her flamboyant best friend Jimmy, and constantly loses her temper and tortures the Eds, leaving their bodies tangled and misshapen.

There's Kevin who's too cool for school and who seems to hate Eddy the most.

Kevin and Nazz, the neighborhood's pretty girl that Eddy crushes on, are usually seen hanging out together. And then there's Rolf, the foreigner, who seems to be there just to add an element of otherness.

The Eds don’t travel far beyond the cul-de-sac, other than a nearby trailer park, where the Kanker sisters live and also to a candy store for jawbreakers.

Time & Torture

The Kanker sisters are basically the neighborhood bullies. They have crushes on the Eds and they terrorize all the kids in the cul-de-sac. And when I say terrorize I really mean it. They will torment anyone they come across, but they seem to get the most satisfaction out of beating the Eds.

While it seems the Eds would have an advantage against the cul-de-sac kids, simply because each of them possesses a certain skill, very few of their plans succeed.

The Eds are always trying to trick the kids into giving them quarters, but they usually fail, or are bombareded by the Kanker sisters.

When their plans fail, they end up in some sort of prison or obstacle created by the other kids, like a layer of cement of a jungle gym.

Even though they fail, it's great watching them try as their schemes get better and better throughout the series.