The Eds are Coming

"The Eds are Coming" is the fourth half-hour long special episode of Ed, Edd n Eddy, though it is considered a part of Season 5. It was aired as part of the Cartoon Network Invaded special on Cartoon Network.

Summary
Jimmy dreams that an alien spaceship invades the Cul-de-sac and carries it away. After Jimmy wakes up, it is discovered that the dream has had a large impact on him, as he is constantly imaging aliens around every corner. He is having a mental breakdown over this when Jonny states to the kids that aliens have invaded the cul-de-sac and are at Rolf's house. No one but Jimmy believes him at first, but Jimmy tells them that aliens do in fact exist, and that his dream is coming true. Nazz soothes the tensions between the believers and the skeptics by saying that something is certainly going on. Kevin suggests they go check Rolf's house, and when the kids do, they find that something is indeed up. This is proven when a giant wheel of cheese shoots out of the chimney and lands in the park; if this isn't an alien invasion, it is certainly something equally sinister.

Part One
The episode begins with Jimmy happily frolicking in his dream world full of candy, sunshine and stuffed animals; a world free from trouble and Eds, where just about everyone loves him. After taking a stroll around the grassy meadows of candy where the kids gather, he flies on butterfly wings to the cul-de-sac, where he finds Sarah. They rush towards each other to embrace when a giant blade falls from the sky and cuts them off. The sky turns pink, purple and red, tornadoes form, and the wheels act as giant saws, cutting a circle of earth away. Claws then descend onto Sarah's side and latch into the earth. The fissure made by the saws separates Sarah and Jimmy from each other, and the claws begin to lift the earth away. Jimmy leaps towards the abducted Sarah, but cannot grab onto her side, and only manages to hang on to a broken pipe protruding from it. Sarah reaches for him, but Jimmy's fingers slip, and he falls. At this point, Jimmy wakes up and finds Sarah in his room. He explains what happened during his nightmare, and Sarah comforts him, saying that nightmares are not real.

Jimmy and Sarah then head outside, ready to play. Jimmy is putting on his coat when he sees that there is mail. Among the mail is a postcard from Nebraska that looks suspiciously like part of the meadow in his dream. Jimmy flashes back upon what happened in his dream and begins to shake, terrified. Sarah leads him outside to play to play, but Jimmy still continues his terrified and unusual behavior.

Jonny and Plank are also outside. They are in the lane, looking for items to make "Harvest Hats" for the Sadie Hawkins dance. Plank tells his caretaker that they need a rutabaga, and Jonny suggests they go to Rolf's to find one. They are climbing over the fence when a green glow suddenly emits from the house. In a trance, Jonny and Plank walk towards the light.

Jimmy and Sarah are playing outside, but Jimmy is still unable to forget his nightmare. He's so out of it, in fact, that he's building ice sculptures of the robot claws from the sky. Sarah tells him to snap out of it, and Jimmy falls into her arms, tearful. Meanwhile, Edd is teaching Eddy math in his room, as Eddy needs a tutor. Edd turns to the board to complete a particularly complicated equation, and when he turns back around, he finds that Eddy has left his seat and gone to the window. Outside is a spectacle much more interesting: Jonny is pitching a fit over the aliens to the kids. Everybody is laughing at him, with the exception of Nazz, who notes his reddened face and suggests aloe vera for his apparent sunburn. Edd and Eddy then exit Edd's House, Eddy to watch, Edd to tell them to keep it down. Spotting Edd, Jonny tries to make sure that he believes him, but Edd, not knowing what's going on, can't confirm nor deny his belief. At this, Jonny wails to Plank about nobody believing them, and Jimmy stands up and tells Jonny he believes the tale of aliens. Sarah tries to cover him, but Jimmy ignores her, instead laying out a prophecy based on his dream. The rest of the kids don't believe them, but they aren't discouraged. At that moment, Sarah notices Eddy, and loudly asks where her brother is. Edd shows them a note (made of toilet paper) that he left on his door: "At Rolf's Needs Help". Nazz points out that something weird is definitely going on, and Kevin suggests they check his house.

At Rolf's, the kids and the two remaining Eds find several anomalies at his place: One of these is that the area around Rolf's house is extremely hot, especially when compared with the snowy surroundings. It is so hot, in fact, that Edd and Eddy, who venture in, shed their clothes as though it's a record-setting heat wave. Another anomaly is that Rolf's house is spewing some mysterious green gas and emitting a green light. The kids are debating what to do when a green, cheese-shaped meteor is shot out of Rolf's chimney and is sent flying to the playground. It lands with a giant explosion that sends a shockwave through the cul-de-sac. Edd notes that it landed in the playground, and Kevin leads them there. What they find is a giant, charred hole, inside which lies the still-smoking meteor. The kids are watching it when a hand suddenly thrusts itself out of the meteor. Everybody scrambles for a place to hide, and all find one somewhere on the playground. Edd and Eddy choose the swing set. Eddy is soon impatient, and after a few fearful glances at the playground, they make a break for it. They are running full-tilt when they slam into a creature covered in green slime.

When the slime falls off the creature, it is revealed to be Ed, shaking in just his underwear, socks, and shoes. He tells them of the horrible things that will happen if you get pulled into Rolf's house before fainting from the immense stress he's been under.

Part Two
After seeing Ed's mental breakdown, Kevin takes charge and tells the kids that they are going to attack Rolf's house and kill the aliens. Eddy is irritated, as he doesn't want Kevin to be the leader, but Kevin holds him off by suggesting that maybe he'd like to go in first, at which Eddy backs down. Edd then suggests that he search Ed's collection of comics to try and find information about the aliens. Kevin supports this, and Edd heads to Ed's house to search for information. The kids follow Kevin back to his place to plan their assault.

At Ed's, Edd is searching through a trove of comics. He looks at Attack of the Space Nose Miner and Square Dancers From the Outer Reaches before settling on Inappropriate Pinchers From Beyond. Inside, he finds something of note: the aliens featured have heat vision. This explains the copious heat outside Rolf's house, and Edd writes it on his notepad, adding it to some other conclusions he's found. At that moment, the cellar begins to creak. Edd looks around and, afraid of being the next victim, leaves for central command.

When Edd gets to central command, Ed peers through a peephole and demands a password. Edd, who is clueless, says that he knows no password. Ed then leaps out and attacks. Edd is eventually able to calm him down and convince his friend that he is really Double D. Ed then takes him inside to see Kevin. Inside, the kids are preparing for battle and readying weapons. Edd presents his conclusions to Kevin, and then demonstrates a new invention; a heat-retardant bodysuit made of frozen foods. Kevin accepts this, believing that it will be important in the war, and the kids get ready to leave. Before they go, Edd attempts to make a heartfelt speech about the trials and tribulations they will surely face, but is rudely interrupted by Kevin, who essentially gives them a pep talk before they charge out to destroy the aliens that invaded their cul-de-sac.

The kids gather behind a parked car by Rolf's before starting the assault. The first one out is Sarah, whose weapon of choice is a bottle of horrid dandelion perfume. Sarah creeps up to the house and tosses it in before running back. Before Sarah can make it to her side, however, the bottle comes sailing out again and lands on her head. Sarah faints from the stench. Ed is about to rush to her rescue, but Eddy has a better idea, and instead rudely throws Jimmy at Sarah. Jimmy returns with his wounded friend. The next attacker is Jonny 2x4, who is going to pull a Santa Claus and come through the chimney. This attack is defeated easily by his gigantic melon, however; instead of crashing into the living room and massacring the aliens, his head gets stuck in the chimney, inflates to the size of a blimp, and suddenly deflates again, leaving him numb and stuck. Kevin decides that it's now time for drastic action; it's time to use his Bowling Ball Cannon. He winds it up and demands ammo from Ed. Ed, in his classic idiocy, reacts poorly and panics, instead hurling his trashcan full of bowling balls at the house. The balls roll to the hedges bordering the house, and Ed calls victory with his cry of "Gutter ball!" At this, Kevin realizes that his troops flat-out suck. He tells them so and leaves, heading home, where he won't have to deal with such idiots. The kids run after him, and Jimmy begs him to stay. Nazz seconds this, and says that they do need him. Ed suddenly speaks up, quoting a passage from Zombie Aliens from Planet Rubark that says that to attract aliens, a human female must be used as bait. Nazz, offended by this stupid example of sexism, calls it for what it is, only for the other kids to turn to her with wide, devious grins.

Shortly thereafter, Nazz is underneath a streetlight in a pink dress. In her hair is a bow, to which is attached a giant price tag reading "Free!" Edd tries to make amends, but Nazz, in no mood to hear him, smacks him. The kids have moved to behind a hedge and watch the front door for alien activity. The figures inside notice the girl and look out. Kevin sees the multitude of aliens and notes that there are way too many to take on; the kids are in over their heads. The green light then suddenly stops from inside before coming on again more ferociously, beaming out of every window, door, and keyhole in the house. The door starts to creak open, and the kids panic, especially when a squid-like creature floats out, drifting fluids. Eddy, however, enticed by the prospect of a six-figure bracket, runs straight at the figure, brandishing his Alien Vacuum. Suddenly, the green light blinks off again, and the alien is revealed to be Rolf, who is for some reason wearing an octopus on his head. Eddy runs into him and throws Rolf off, disgusted by his normality. Rolf then starts to explain what happened: his "brood of bottomless bellies from the Old Country" arrived at his house today. He then gives Ed back his clothes, stating that his relatives were glad to be able to use them as towels, before fanning himself with Kevin's hat, as his relatives have turned the furnace up to its highest level.

Rolf then shows them into his house, where even more is explained. The green light is a slideshow projector, which is showing various snapshots. The squids are one of the customs his family has. Kevin, Jonny, and Plank leave after they find this out, knowing that Rolf was never really in any danger and that as such they don't need to stay. Rolf then tells Sarah that his cousin Bastian finds her really quite attractive; at this, Sarah screams and hightails it out, dragging Jimmy along behind her. Rolf, unperturbed, drags Eddy off, stating that his head will make a fine ottoman for his relatives (indirectly making one of Ed's predictions come true). Edd, always on the hunt for more culture, waxes poetic about how wonderful it will be to meet Rolf's enigmatic family and how many questions he has. This is not to be, though, as Ed grabs him and mournfully declares that there will be no more cheek pinching for him before dragging Edd out as fast as his legs can go. As the two leave, they pass by Nazz, who is still under the streetlight, and will presumably be out there past midnight.

As Nazz calls for somebody, anybody to help her, the camera zooms out, and reveals that the cul-de-sac is in the form it had in Jimmy's dream as it was carried away. As the camera zooms out more, we see that it is being carried away by a spaceship. The spaceship continues to pull it up and, once it breaks free of the atmosphere, carts it away to realms unknown.

Memorable Quotes
Jimmy: "Good day, world!" [he hums his usual song, then as he walks his teddy bears walk with him, then a butterfly takes off his pajama hat, and then, birds comb his hair] Jimmy: "I'm so awesome!" [he stops by to a railroad sign and jumps right into the tiny caterpillar train] Mr. Sun: "Good day, Jimmy!" Jimmy: "Good day, Mr. Sun!" [he grabs a giant lollipop] Jimmy: "Candy, candy, candy! Felicitations to you, fellow children of the cul-de-sac!" [he passes by Nazz, Kevin and Rolf who are sitting on top and eating a giant slice of pie] Kevin: "Felicitations to you, too, dear Jimmy!"
 * [In Jimmy's dreams]


 * Jonny: [emerging from a trash can with Plank & putting a tire on his head] "Right on! Wait till everyone sees our happenin' harvest hat for the Sadie Hawkins dance! [to Plank] What do we need now, buddy?" [he stops as if listening; looks at Plank, perplexed] "What the heck's a rutabaga? I betcha' Rolf's got one of those things!"


 * Eddy: [watching Jonny panicking outside] "Check it out, Sockhead! Inflato-head's busted an artery. What an idiot!"

Kevin: "Yeah, right, and I've got a Russian plate-twirling team camping out in my backyard!"
 * Jonny: "There's flesh-eating aliens invading Rolf's house Double-D! It said so, it did!"


 * Jimmy: "I've never been more real on my life Sarah! Nightmares are real!" [cries] "Giant blades will fall, slicing through the earth like a deep-dish flan! It's the end of humanity!"

Sarah: "Holy Macker-!" [She is interrupted as the explosion sends the kids, save for Edd and Kevin, flying into a streetlight.] Edd: "The playground!" Kevin: "Follow me!" [They reach the playground.] Edd: "What in Heaven's name is that?" Kevin: "Whatever it is, it reeks." ''[A hand reaches out of the meteor. The kids, save Kevin, panic and run to hide.]'' Kevin: [looking down at it] "It hatched, man!"
 * [A green meteor shoots out of Rolf's Chimney and lands in the playground, causing a giant explosion of some green gas.]


 * Ed: [recovering from his ordeal at Rolf's] "...squeezed...cheeks pinched...RIBS PRODDED! GRIZZLY-FACED BEINGS THAT SMELL LIKE MOTHBALLS!...I am so pooped."

Ed: "Protect yourself, large-noggined one, as they will use you as an ottoman for their scaly feet!" Jonny: [stricken] "No! Not the ottoman!"
 * Jonny: "The aliens experimented on Ed!"

Edd: "Password? I wasn't informed of any password." [Ed shuts the peephole] Hello? Ed: [Jumps out of safehouse; in menacing tone] "I see through your disguise, creature from beyond the stars!" [An extensive mauling takes place] Edd: "Ed… it's-a-me! Double… Dee-he-hee!" [Ed finally realizes that it is Double D after all] Ed: "Double D?! You're alive!"
 * Ed: [opens peephole, finding Edd at the door] "Password."

Jimmy: [humbly] "But Sarah, you said you liked my homemade dandelion perfume." [Sarah awkwardly smiles at Jimmy, and hides the bottle behind her back]
 * Sarah: [brandishing a scent bottle like a weapon] "This stink juice'll burn their nostrils off!"


 * Kevin: "Jimmy! Curlers don't count as weapons!"


 * Ed: "Don't look at the camera, don't look at the camera..."

Ed: [joyfully] "Pull my finger, Eddy!" [farts]
 * Edd: [listening to Eddy boast about how rich catching aliens will make him while looking at Ed squashed up inside the tank on Eddy's back] "Well, just let Ed out when you're done then."

Edd: [watching the ball completely miss] "I hope you're gonna pick those up." Kevin: [disgusted] "You guys are useless!"
 * Ed: [attacking by lobbing a trashcan full of bowling balls towards Rolf's house] "Go back from whence you came, aliens from the unknown!" [the balls miss the target, instead rolling to the sides] "Gutterball!"


 * Eddy: [peeking out anxiously as the aliens emerge] "There's so many of them!" [with dollar signs on his eyes] "I'm gonna be super rich!"

Kevin: "Oh man!!" ''[A few seconds after, Double D pops from behind the bush and yells in shock. Meanwhile, the car door opens wide.]'' Eddy: "Seven figure bracket, here I come!" [With the vacuum in hand, he charges up to Rolf's house.]
 * Nazz: [staring at the floating squid head at Rolf's door, yells] "Please don't eat me!!" [The kids hiding in the bush all huddle up in the air screaming]


 * Rolf: [emerging from his house to greet the Kids] "Hello, fellow neighborhood nothings!"

Ed: [looking at the relatives] "They are so otherworldly!"
 * Rolf: [indicating the squid-wearing faces at the window] "Relatives, yes! Rolf's brood of bottomless bellies from the Old Country."


 * Rolf: [handing Ed back his clothes after first flicking them to get rid of the green scum that was on his clothes] "Great Aunt and Uncle Yonick thank you for letting them use your clothes as emergency bibs, lower-in the-totem-pole-Ed Boy!"

[Sarah screams and runs away with Jimmy, breaking through the door in the process.]
 * Rolf: [looking at Sarah knowingly] "Oh-ho, Rolf suspects little Cousin Bastian wants a kiss under the membrane of a yak, she-who-gives-migraines."

Eddy: [screaming and struggling] "Argh, no! Lemme go! I don't wanna be an ottoman! Help! Ed! Double D!"
 * Rolf: [grabbing Eddy who is trying to leave the house] "Ed-boy, you must stay! Nana sees the footrest potential in your flat-as-a-pancake head!"

Ed: [grabbing Edd] "No more cheek pinching for Ed, Double D!" [Ed rushes out of Rolf's house with Edd, running past Nazz, who is still tied to the streetlamp.] Nazz: "Hello? A little help here? Guys!"
 * Edd: [excited to be invited to join Rolf's celebration] "Isn't it exciting? We finally have a chance to meet Rolf's enigmatic family. Oh, the questions about their culture and strange affinity to animal by-products are endless."

Themes
As a crossover event, a number of themes appear in this episode.
 * 1) The aliens have three eyes, are octopus-like in appearance and have shape-shifting powers (the octopus on Rolf's head and on one of Ed's comic books).
 * 2) The aliens are perceived as "brain suckers" (while the kids of the Cul-de-Sac are attacking Rolf's house, Eddy warns Ed that the aliens will suck Ed's brain out. They do in the credits of Billy and Mandy Moon the Moon).
 * 3) All of the episodes have a similar UFO in them. It can be seen at the end lifting the cul-de-sac into space.
 * 4) References to cheese (Ed's weird alien sayings have references to cheese and when he crashed in the playground, he was in what appeared to be a giant wheel of cheese).
 * 5) Morphing (Ed jumps on Edd saying "I can see through your disguise, creature from beyond the stars!")
 * 6) Four different colored boxes which Frankie delivered in "Cheese a Go Go" each appear individually in a subsequent chapter (A purple box under Jimmy's bed containing what appeared to be muffins, but what Sarah said were Belly Bomb Bon-Bons).
 * 7) Stupid character's brains are sucked out in the credits of Billy and Mandy Moon The Moon (Ed's brain is sucked out by the alien in end credits of Billy and Mandy Moon The Moon, causing the alien to act stupid and talk weird).

"Toy Twister" Game
The game "Toy Twister" was based on this episode. It was (and still is) hosted on cartoonnetwork.com. Toys fall from the sky from UFOs and the Eds capture the toys for cash. It has ten levels and, in each level, the player must capture a certain number of toys in order to go to the next level, starting in Level 1 with 5 toys and ending in Level 10 with 25 toys. It is also possible to collect junk, but that will make the player lose money.

Trivia

 * Goofs:
 * When they show Rolf's house from the top, the barn, shed, chicken coop, and other farm structures are nowhere to be seen.
 * In "Button Yer Ed," Rolf tells Ed not to wear a purple squid over his head because it goes against tradition, but Rolf does it in this episode as one of his traditions.
 * It is possible that when Ed did it, it was sacrosanct and that wearing a squid on your head must be done as part of a certain tradition and cannot be done at any other time.
 * Plank_ID.jpg first ending also included a slide with Plank as "Agent 314", which contains some interesting facts about him.
 * This episode reveals more of Rolf's family tree, as his cousins were visiting him from their home country. However, they appear only as silhouettes.
 * The episode is called "The Eds are Coming", but on the title card it is referred to as "The Eds are Coming, The Eds are Coming". The correct version is probably the latter, though the former is in all info-related sections.
 * This episode shows another weird tradition of Rolf where his family wears squids on their heads and Rolf makes a weird soup.
 * Kevin's basement is featured for the first and only time.
 * This is the only Ed, Edd n Eddy special episode that the Kanker sisters are absent from.
 * When this episode first aired during the Invaded block, the title card wasn't shown. This is most likely because the Invaded episodes involved a continuing storyline; in fact, in all subsequent airings of the other shows' specials, the title cards were shown, even though there were no title cards for the initial airing.
 * EEnE_invaded_newspaper.jpg is the second of the Cartoon Network Invaded episodes. This one is later referred to in My Gym Partner's A Monkey's Invaded episode in a newspaper.
 * Some of the weapons built are in this episode are the Alien Vacuum, the Bowling Ball Cannon, the Chunky Puff Gun, and Sarah's perfume (a gift from Jimmy).
 * Jimmy was probably going to use curlers, but Kevin told him they're not weapons. It could be a reference to what happened to Jimmy when he tried to get the quarter that was stuck to the ground in "One of Those Eds."
 * This is the first time we see the design of the Alien Invaders' suits. These suits are seen later in the other "Invaded" episodes.
 * To keep with the cheese-related theme of the "Cartoon Network Invaded" series, the meteor that blasted out of Rolf's house resembles a piece of cheese.
 * It was never revealed why Ed was shot out of Rolf's house in a meteor that resembled cheese, although it is possible that Ed could have been trying to escape from his tormentors. Alternatively, the aliens themselves may have shot him out.
 * Unlike the other specials, this one has the usual title card used in every non-special episode.
 * The title "The Eds are Coming" is a reference to Jack Jouett's "The British are coming!" It could also be a reference to the play "The Aliens are Coming! The Aliens are Coming!".
 * Ed breaks the fourth wall by saying "Don't look at the camera. Don't look at the camera..."
 * The aforementioned fourth wall break may also be a reference to Apocalypse Now, as a cameraman in the movie says this when instructing a soldier to go past for news footage.
 * When Nazz was tied to the light post and mailbox, the flag is on the side opposite Nazz, but in the scene when Rolf returned Ed's clothes, the flag was on the side Nazz was tied to.
 * The first ending to "Cartoon Network Invaded" shows that Ed is still abducted by the aliens and drinking his brain juice would render any alien a moron. Also with Ed are Fred Fredburger (from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy), Skip (from Camp Lazlo), Cheese (from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends) and Slips Python (from My Gym Partner's a Monkey). The second ending involved the aliens trapped on the moon and the Kids Next Door moonbase.
 * The first ending to "Cartoon Network Invaded" also shows a scene where Ed gives a wedgie to Eddy. The episode with this scene is "Fool on the Ed."
 * The credits state that Mr. Sun is voiced by Lupo D. Butcher. It is possible, however, that this is a nickname for Danny, or a corporate joke. The credits are certainly referencing Mr. Antonucci's critically acclaimed short film Lupo the Butcher.
 * Unlike the other specials, the A.K.A. Cartoon logo has the same background as all the other episodes of Season 5.
 * The postcard Jimmy was holding at the beginning of the episode says "Nebraska" on its front. This might mean that Jimmy has relatives or friends from Nebraska.
 * This is the last time Rolf wears his classic yellow and red shirt (with the exception of the movie), as he didn't wear it for the rest of the series due to winter weather in the Season 6 episodes "May I Have this Ed?" and "Look Before You Ed."
 * When Edd was researching about the aliens from Ed's comic books, the strange event of the door opening was never explained, although this was probably just a wind gust or similar event on top of Edd's mind playing tricks on him.