 I've always been a fan of Ed Ed Eddy as a kid. I remember the first time I saw it even. It was at a motel up in Maine where my family used to stand a few days every summer, munching on a bagel as I flipped through the channels. Always hated having to figure out the channels up there. My parents never liked the show. They called it stupid and dumb. But that's what cartoons are. Dumb fun. Unfortunately, I'd started to watch Comedy Central instead of Cartoon Network, apart from growing up I guess, forgetting all about my beloved children's shows in favor of stand-up comedy and real shows. Oh recently, I met a friend who reignited my sparking cartoon interests. So, upon researching, I found that Ed Ed Eddy continued much longer than when I had stopped watching, even a season revolving around school life. It was quite a nostalgia trip to say the least. The trip didn't last for long though. After watching a few episodes on YouTube, I eventually viewed them all and that was it. The end. There's nothing I'd ate more than when a good thing ends. That is, if it really was the end. After a few hours of searching for news and info on the show, I eventually came across an online auction for someone's VHS collection of all the episodes. I distally bought the collection, wanting a more physical format for my childhood than just YouTube. A week later, my package arrived in the mail. The contents of the delivery were quite a few tapes, each having several episodes on them which the previous owner thankfully labeled clearly for me. That was when I noticed it. In the back of the box was one last tape. This one appeared rather dusty, as if the owner hadn't watched it before sending it to me. Instead of an episode title and running time on the label, it simply read, Ed Edd and Freddy. Freddy. A typo maybe? A joke? Or perhaps even some Halloween bootleg bag mixing a cartoon with a well-known horror film called, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Whatever it was, I was curious. So I placed it into my VHS player and readied some popcorn. The oddities began right at the title. Ed Edd and Blank. A narration at the start of the opening jingle omitted Eddie's name. Also, when the intro itself began, Eddie was oddly absent. In fact, he was replaced. Instead of the short-scheming miser, there was a rather tall boy with black hair and a red cap, smiling to the camera as the whistling played. The choreography of Ed and W was much different as well. Ed was running about like an excited pulpy while W chased after him. The boy in back was watching and chuckling silently at their eddics until the whistling stopped. When the opening ended, there was a slight pause. The screen stayed black for a while before the episode's title card appeared, a plain blue background with gray letters reading, goodbye. Now that was weird, as if the intro containing an unknown character wasn't enough. Now this ominous title card. Just like something out of those lost episode bull crap stories. Anyway, I digress. The title card faded away and revealed a scene of the cul-de-sac at night. Strangely, the audio appeared to be missing or muted. Although it was late at night, the strange boy from the opening was there, alone. He walked silently up to one of the houses. The boy moved painfully slow before opening the door and going inside. The scene suddenly shifted without warning. No comical fade like in most episodes. For this new scene, W was frantically observing his lab set with Glee. He was scribbling things down rapidly as the boy from before watched over his shoulder. Amazing! Stupendous! W would squeal, watching the beaker intently as the color changed to purple, his eyes widening in delight as he stood up. We did it Freddy! You were right! It worked! He exclaimed while turning to the boy who simply stood there, smiling. For a few more minutes, W would speak in technical jargon, praising Freddy for his insight and ideas. All of a sudden, the scene shifted back to the cul-de-sac at night and what I saw made me drop my drink. Coming out of the house was Freddy. He appeared emotionless and lost quietly dragging a garbage bag behind him. The only sound as Freddy dragging his bag across the sidewalk. As this soaked in, I simply watched, my eyes fixated on the screen as Freddy headed into another house for another scene switch. Freddy, help Rolf carry Victor to the pastor! Rolf said the scene while showing Rolf's iconic farm as he seemed ready for a day of work. Freddy was there again, smiling and nodding. He effortlessly lifted Victor the goat and carried him off. Rolf praised Freddy for his strength as they went into the pastor. Soon, Rolf broke into one of his usual strange folk dances. Freddy joined in with him as if he was completely familiar with Rolf's culture. The two danced in merriment for a minute or so before switching back to the night scene. Now, there were two bags dragged behind Freddy as he went to the next house. For the entirety of the episode, I found myself paralyzed, watching as he went from house to house, never speaking, never making a sound. Each house he entered showed a scene of him and the house occupant doing something together, and every time, it was a positive scene, playing press-up with Sarah and Jimmy or fixing black sweet heaven. Harnessly, I forgot the dark-hand imposing night scene during the ed visit, where Freddy basically angled a toy on a stick while it batted at it like a cat. But of course, my laughter ceased as Freddy left Ed's house with another garbage bag. I was scared of this Freddy boy and what he was doing. From what I saw, he looked like a demon, a seducer, jumping in and forming relationships before emerging with those bags, paving off to old bodies. This fear of mine was reinforced once all the houses had been visited. Hell, even the canker sisters trailer was shown. Freddy not possessed so many bags, he had to use a wheelbarrow just to carry them all. Once he had everyone, he went to a location that was never shown in any episode. A graveyard. Freddy brought the bags up to a hill, passing all the graves before moving to an open one, cut deep into the hill. Freddy looked into it as the cameras showed no bottom and sight. There was a bottom however, how else would I hear the fighting of his bags hitting the ground as he tossed them in, one by one. Once all the bags were in the hole, a wispy object appeared behind Freddy. Soon, a neary voice, so quiet, I had to rewind the VHS with my volume on max just to hear it, asked a simple question. Do you have them all? Freddy nodded. Are you ready? Freddy nodded again. As Freddy nodded, the scene faded out into black, slow, silent. I expected this to be the end. However, I was wrong, the episode had more to it. When the scene faded back, it was the cul-de-sac again. This time, it was morning and to my surprise, everyone was alive and well. However, they all seemed disoriented, wandering out of their home sweetly and chatting with everyone at once. The topic seeming to be that everyone had a nagging feeling that something was missing, that they had forgotten something important. As they pondered this, the sound of the truck could be heard. Moments later, a moving van pulled to a stop in front of one of the houses. The adults were cleverly hidden by furniture as they carried everything into the house, a second car pulling up behind it. Hello, everyone! A familiar voice filled the speakers. Jumping out from the passenger seat was, to my surprise, Eddie. His appearance was sudden, and from the looks of it, this was his first time meeting everyone. Despite his grand entrance, nobody seemed impressed, in fact, they had looks of disdain on their faces. The camera starts panning up to the sky, a sudden flash of light confused me, but after some carefully timed presses of the pause button, I saw it was a word flashed right across the screen, a word that explained everything. Replacement.