Early Concept (Pilot)

Originally, the show Jimmy Two-Shoes was intended to be targeted at a more mature audience. Its initial conception centered around the idea of Jimmy, a well-mannered, do-gooder kid who died in an accident, and was sent to Hell. released in 2004

Little is known about what the show would do with this concept other than provide mature comedy. The main sources of information for the initial premise are from concept art, rumors, and staff claims. The details herein are ones which attempt to focus on critically analyzing the concept art, and the comments of those who worked on the show.

Initial Premise

A probable population in Hell. Notice Jimmy bringing a smile to an unhappy monster's face.

Exactly how Jimmy met his end is unknown -- but it's often believed that Jimmy was run over by a bus. Regardless how he died, the decision of his after life was accidentally chosen to be Hell. As Hell is often depicted as a place of eternal damnation for very bad people, Jimmy, being an overly optimistic and innocent young boy, would be very out of place. Specifically, Jimmy would seem to be the only good and happy person in the underworlds' population.

From early concept art, it was postulated that such denizens would likely consist of:

• Pirates & Vikings
• Sock Burglars & Bandits
• Crusaders from the holy wars
• Evil / Mad Scientists & Monsters
• Corrupt Business Men / Wealthy Capitalists
• Serial Killers
  • Even perhaps the inclusion of famous ones (Ex. The clown [bottom] could depict John Wayne Gacy)
• Famous horrors from horror movies (Ex. Jason from "Friday the 13th")
• Fascist Dictators (Ex. Hitler)
• And hellish creatures such as Demons and Imps

For Jimmy, Hell is a fresh and new place to explore and enjoy. Much like the premise of the current show, Jimmy makes it his mission to put a smile on everyone's face, despite how almost the entire population is made of evil people.

A big part of why J2S would be unsuitable for a young audience was it's graphic slapstick.

One of his main method's of doing so is exploiting the fact that he, like the rest of the people in hell, are 'undead'. Meaning any and all damage sustained by the cast would only inflict pain, including those which would be fatal. Should a character 'die', from their injuries, they would be brought back to life in hell. Jimmy uses this gimmick to entertain himself, and others by hurting / exploiting injuries on his body in amusing ways.

Main Characters

Jimmy

Personality wise, Jimmy seems largely unchanged from his early concept, and his depiction in the aired show. There are a few noticeable differences, but most of which consist of the changes in Jimmy's attire, other than his 'undead' ability. Concept art and model sheets depict Jimmy wearing a light gray dress shirt, a dark gray bow-tie, brown slacks and pointy dress shoes. Additionally, no detail is present in Jimmy's ears.

Lucifer (Lucy)

Jimmy would often be seen as a nuisance to Hell's ruler: Lucifer (nicknamed 'Lucy'). As to his design, Lucy makes the underworld a place of eternal suffering and misery; those who were sent to Hell, were determined to deserve punishment for their sins.

This behavior is similar to his depiction in the aired show: ruler of Miseryville, and CEO of Misery Inc - distributor of horrible and nasty products to make the population miserable.

Heloise

To combat Jimmy's overwhelming positive nature, Lucy instructs Heloise, the spirit of a serial killer and Jimmy's neighbour, to torture him. Even with her horrible, endless attempts to make him miserable, Heloise wouldn't stop Jimmy from making fun of every situation he was thrown in. Eventually, Heloise would develop a crush on Jimmy, and often switch between loving and torturing him.

This behavior is also similar to her depiction in the aired show, discounting her origin as a serial killer, and adding her hyper intelligence and her position at Misery Inc.

Beezy

Due to a lack of early concept art, model sheet, or comment by a creator, it is commonly believed Beezy was not a planned character during this stage in the show's development. But recently, a single image of Beezy has popped up, depicting him drinking gasoline with a frozen Jimmy alongside him (see gallery). His shorts are patterned differently, but otherwise, it appears he is not much different from the final product.

Plot

There is no knowledge of any story that was planned to structure the series. It's existence is possible, but it's likely the current show reflects what early episodes were planned to be: Miscellaneous adventures featuring graphic humour, with possible satire.

Animation Tests

There are a few animation tests known to exist that demonstrated the idea of the show with its early concepts. The videos of these tests have never been released, but there are three known screenshots that likely belong to the demo reels.

According to Edward Kay, co-creator of Jimmy Two Shoes, and Phil Postma, original designer for the concept, the pilot was actually a six-minute non-for-air demo made and paid for by one of the investors. Originally made as an exclusive Teletoon production for the studios' tween demographic at the time, the hell references and other mature elements were removed and aged down once the U.S. broadcasters for Disney XD came on board, as they we're aiming for a more conservative market. The designs we're also altered as the producers didn't like them. Although it is speculated that Charlie Schlatter was the voice of Jimmy, and Jessica DiCicco the voice of Heloise, Kay confirmed Cory Doran indeed voiced Jimmy in the demo.

Changes

Through very few known images, the gradual change from the early concept themes to the final concept can be seen. Early promotional images and character shots show Jimmy and Beezy wearing their finalized attire, with early designs of other characters, like Lucius and Heloise.

Most of these pictures are very small changes to the look of other characters, and they neither fully confirm nor disconfirm the possibility that the show changed from the mature themes.

Gallery

Scenes

Coloured Scenes and Character Sheets - Sean Scott

Character Concept

Blue Sketches - Phil Postma

Only known model sheet for Jimmy

Forged. Cut and pasted from official art to mimic a model sheet.

Forged. Poses are taken from scene in "Mysterious Mister Ten"

This image is seen in the February section of 2006 on his blog before the image of Heloise shocking Jimmy above in the "Scenes" section. Posted on Sunday, February 19, 2006

Forged. Old low quality coloured version of a Jimmy sketch page. The artists deviant art account no longer exists.

Areas

Little is known about what specific areas would be included within the underworld, other than what was included in the aired show. Most of these scenes were done by Joshua Gay. Other concepts can be found here.

Other

Pictures that show changes in the development, or other early concept scenes. (Note: This is not a place for fan-created images.)

Scene in Episode "Mysterious Mister Ten" which showcases various early poses of Heloise

Scene in the episode "Scent of a heinous" in the frame there is an early pose of Lucius

The only known picture of Beezy from the early concept.