Earthanasia
| "Earthanasia" | |
|---|---|
| 7 episode | |
| Original air dates | 22 December 1977 (Tuesday — 9 p.m.) |
| Guest appearance | |
| (none) | |
"Earthanasia" is the suspected finale of the award-winning British comedy television series The Goodies.
This episode is also known as "The End of the World Show" and "The End of the World".
Written by The Goodies, with songs and music by Bill Oddie.
Plot
It is very late Christmas Eve and Bill and Graeme are preparing for Christmas. A carol service on the radio is interrupted by an announcement that the world is going to end at midnight, because the United Nations has decided that this is the best route forward, because of the ever-worsening problems of racism, over-population, inflation and strikes.
Tim arrives wearing a placard stating "The End of the World is Nigh" (also able to say: "Meanwhile, eat at Tim's hot chestnut stall", and "Tim's nuts are nicest". The word "is" is on a drawer, which holds the chestnuts.), little realising how accurate the words actually are.
Bill, telling Tim that there is going to be no Christmas Day, "On the other hand as you well know, tomorrow never comes. And do you know why?!" Tim comments: "No." Bill then says: "Because my dewy-eyed Timbalina, TOMORROW WE'LL ALL BE DEAD! DEAD! DEAD! D, E, D, D! DEAD! HAVE YOU GOT THAT?!?!"
When Graeme Tells Bill he's breaking it too hard Tim doesn't believe them until they show him what's happening on the Radio Times Magazine Tim started to panic, Since The Goodies knew there isn't gotta be a christmas this year Graeme decided to christmas forward before midnight so that will them time to do what they can to do last moments on earth. Tim realizes something about afterlife that he have to make a confession about his sins even though he never commit any deadly sins even he wants to, He try to make one with Bill's help but he'll never give Tim a quick one so Bill gives him the quickest one and that is anger and violence by strangling and Graeme joins in, When The Goodies calm down Bill decided that he had enough and walk off to enjoy his last moments of wild fun Tim wants to join him but Bill saids that he's too inhibited and since there's nothing that Tim can do then Graeme came up the idea to devote the rest of his life by curing Tim's inhibitions to make him a new person.
Bill doesn't want to waste some time with physiotherapy but Graeme needs his help to pare away Tim's externals namely the Union Jack waistcoat he's wearing with a underlying reason of Tim's problems and that gets Bill interested to remove the waistcoat but Tim didn't wants them to find out until they did.
It is revealed that Tim has a huge hangup about his belly button (even going to the lengths of covering it with a lacy A-string - "It's a G-string, but a little higher up!") so Graeme tries another solution to released Tim's inhibition by doing touch therapy to overcome the shame they feel in their body so Tim touched Bill first by touching his face then Bill touched Tim last by touching his belly button and it didn't worked Tim got offend by Bill's sneakiness when he said "He touched my belly button!" he panics "OH I SAID IT!", "I SAID THAT WORD", "HE TOUCHED MY BELLY BUTTON!",and covers his face with a bin, So Graeme decides to use hypnosis to regress his childhood while Bill Dressed up as Tim's mother, However this makes Tim's shame and inhibitions about his belly button even worse, as Bill bears an uncanny resemblance to his mother (especially the bushy beard!) and revives awful memories of Tim being embarrassed that he didn't want to "let your old Mum scrape the fluff out of your belly button" or for her to attend "the big parade on Belly Button Sunday" because he was so ashamed of her appearance. After Bill apologizing Tim for pretending to be his mother he decide to do some ironing to spend his last eight minutes as he laments that "it's the end for Derby County and the Muppets Graeme wondering why the Muppets Tim saids "Yes when we go they go too you know, Oh I do hope they don't suffer. So it gives Graeme an idea to destroying Tim's belief that the Muppets are real by convincing him that Muppets are just dollies and shatters Tim's illusions of Kermit ("a green sock"), Miss Piggy ("a pair of y-fronts and a mop head"), Fozzie Bear ("a woollen jumper with a hat on") and others such as Waldorf and Statler with brilliant mimicry. This revelation is enough to send Tim berserk then Graeme says: "It works I released his inhibitions through anger and violence. My work is at an end, I can die a happy man." Tim comes screaming into the room carrying the oven before smashing it into Graeme. Tim then runs off again as Greame picks himself up, saying: "You shouldn't 've hit me with that! You've ruined the cake!"
The Goodies share their feelings, worst embarrassments and mutual recriminations with the others, leading to complete personality overhauls for both Tim and Bill. Bill returns to the office dressed unrecognisably in a fancy suit, tie and shiny shoes with his beard shaved off and a wig like long-haired peruvian gerbil in an attempt to show Tim the real Bill and want to be with him at the end as a mother he never had which shocked Graeme, Tim comes back into the room, showing off his bellybutton. Shocked, Bill says: "Cover up your nakedness!" to which Tim replies: "This isn't nakedness. This is my... BELLY BUTTON!!" Bill, even more shocked, says: "Wash your mouth out.", The Goodies were short on time for christmas and the end of the world and start singing all of the christmas carols and passing presents to each other. Tim and Bill look anxiously at the clock as it reaches midnight, but there is a surprising final revelation from Graeme, who says that the world wouldn't end at midnight. Tim asks: "What have you done?" to which Graeme replies: "I put the clock forward; only about 1/2 minute." The world then explodes (an explosion sound is played with the white background, followed by a BBC1 ident with the mirror globe spinning until it blows up).
Revelations
- Bill states that he has bought himself a skateboard for Christmas (but as the episode progresses, it becomes clear that he already owns one).
- Bill lists his fantasy women as Jane Fonda, the Three Degrees and Ivy Benson's trumpet section.
- Tim sings part of the famous David Rose composition, the Stripper.
- Bill shaved his beard off for this episode, certain that it would get a laugh, but the audience's reaction is one of shock more than amusement. He also appears bald, but this effect was created by his wearing a bald cap on top of his ordinary hair, and another wig resembling his ordinary hair on top of that.
Cultural references
DVD and VHS releases
This episode has been released on both DVD and VHS.
References
- "The Complete Goodies" — Robert Ross, B T Batsford, London, 2000
- "The Goodies Rule OK" — Robert Ross, Carlton Books Ltd, Sydney, 2006
- "From Fringe to Flying Circus — 'Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980'" — Roger Wilmut, Eyre Methuen Ltd, 1980
- "The Goodies Episode Summaries" — Brett Allender
- "The Goodies — Fact File" — Matthew K. Sharp
External links
- ("Earthanasia" is listed under an alternative title at IMDb)