Posted 01 September 2007 - 03:29 PM
And another one:
Eustace Strych,
Born into wealth and privilege, Eustace Strych is Jimmy’s kid rival and nemesis. Having access to his father’s vast financial resources Eustace attempts to compete with Jimmy and all his inventions to prove his superiority. Jimmy however doesn’t take Eustace seriously, or doesn’t consider him a worthy rival for the simple reason that Eustace buys his technology, where Jimmy works to create it. Because of this, Jimmy and Eustace immediately start off on the wrong foot and view each other with little more than contempt. It’s unfortunate since most realize that if one combines Jimmy’s brains with Eustace’s money, there would be huge advances in science making Jimmy famous and Eustace richer. Their personalities clash however; both are a too stubborn and too closed off to outside input to really accomplish anything together.
Eustace make his first appearance in “Billion Dollar Boy” where he challenges Jimmy in the Battle-Kite competition. He boasts the best Battle-Kite technology money can buy and seeks to dethrone Jimmy from his title. Eustace also wants to make a side wager for Goddard as well, but Jimmy refuses the bet as a matter of principle. As it turns out, Jimmy’s Battle-Kite is more maneuverable, faster, and more suitably armed for the contest and quickly eviscerates Eustace’s Kite from the air. The humiliation he feels at seeing his downed Kite, now a smoldering wreck at his feet, is almost more than he can bear. Seeking to avenge his defeat, Eustace invites Jimmy and the gang for a banquet at his mansion. At first Jimmy refuses the offer knowing full well it will simply be a “bash on Jimmy” fest. However Eustace notices a chink in Jimmy’s armor. He recognizes the romantic tension between Jimmy and Cindy and exploits it by openly flirting with her and Libby. Cindy welcomes Eustace’s overtures both to get back at Jimmy for the earlier Battle-Kite defeat, and to see if a spark of jealousy reveals Jimmy’s hopeless romantic interest in her. Interest he doesn’t fully understand and desperately tries to hide. The ruse works for Eustace as Jimmy is completely at the mercy of his feelings for Cindy and compelled to join them.
The banquet is just as he suspects, a rather fashionable Jimmy roast for the gang, but the festivities soon break down into another contest. Again the wager is for Goddard. Jimmy refuses initially but Eustace uses his trump card again by convincing Cindy to mock him. Her half hearted teasing is more than enough to bring Jimmy to the edge of his common sense. He agrees to wager Goddard in a fight to the death with Eustace’s robotic adaptoid. At first Goddard doesn’t fare so well in the fight as the adaptoid easily matches Goddard’s weapons with more powerful ones. Cindy, possibly feeling remorse for starting the fight, tries to appeal to Eustace’s sense of mercy. She is abruptly pushed away where Eustace makes a notable comment, “I no longer have any use for Neutron’s squeeze!” A simple statement that reinforces the notion that Jimmy and Cindy’s inevitable romance is obvious even to complete strangers. Goddard ultimately wins the contest with his “playing dead” trick (see Goddard Bio for more details) and Eustace’s father, fresh with Hugh’s fatherly advice, sends him to his room. Eustace’s loyal, and often mistreated; butler Blix happily administers the final humiliation.
It should be noted that Eustace is the only villain that truly recognizes Jimmy and Cindy’s sprouting love affair and uses it against them. Never is this more evident than in the episode “King of Mars.” In this episode, Cindy takes the “gloves are now off” approach to winning Jimmy’s heart. She is more demure, more feminine, and much more desirable to Jimmy than she has ever been in the past. Jimmy is initially resistant to the forces of Love that draw him closer to Cindy, and catches himself pining for her affection more than once. The fact that Cindy seems more than receptive to his affection is a scary concept for him at this stage of his life. He tries ignoring her, or reverting back to their former combative ways. Frustrated, Cindy storms off alone on the Martian surface where Eustace captures her. Cindy initially refuses Eustace’s offers of money and power, but the prospects of a jealous Jimmy is a welcome conviction. Unfortunately, consorting with the likes of Eustace once again ends badly for Cindy. Eustace gains the upper hand in retrieving the Martian power source at the hands of Cindy’s betrayal. Thinking quickly, the gang manages to catch up with Eustace near the Martian ziggurat that houses the power source. Jimmy and Eustace argue over who has sole possession of the energy source, but their stubbornness and greed overshadow the fact that the Martian statues are indeed alive and have horrifying plans of their own. They are forced to work together to thwart the Martian intensions to destroy Earth. The alliance is only temporary though. Eustace still swears undying vengeance on Jimmy.
Eustace’s final appearance comes to us once again in “League of Villains.” He, like all the others, is conscripted into King Goobot’s gang of nasty characters that have all met humiliating defeat at the hands of Jimmy Neutron. Eustace’s vast financial resources are not needed however, and he is paired with Professor Calamitous to carry out a specified portion of Goobot’s plan. His role, immobilize Jimmy’s friends with a hypnotic funky dance CD that causes uncontrollable dancing. He too ultimately ends up trapped in the cretaceous period with the others.
Eustace appears to have natural contempt for anyone of lower social standing than himself, his narcissistic view of the world of often his ultimate undoing as we see in the episodes that feature him. Perhaps a little humility would be a welcome asset to his personality seeing that he probably never has worked a day in his life. He is consumed with vengeance toward Jimmy and won’t rest until he defeats him. His faithful German Butler Blix usually accompanies him on his various travels.
Note: Eustace makes a small cameo appearance in “The Jerkinator.” His “War of the Worlds” style robot is also back to challenge Jimmy and Timmy. However, the power hours don’t seem to fit the normal chronology of the show. They should be viewed as stand alone features at best.
Eustace Strych is voiced by Rob Paulson.
DL..
