Movies - TV
Billy & Mandy’s First Appearance Was Way Too Gory For Cartoon Network
By WITNEY SEIBOLD
Maxwell Atom's animated series "The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy" debuted on Cartoon Network on June 13, 2003, and ran for 84 episodes over the course of six seasons.
Atoms made his first animated short, "Billy and Mandy in: Trepanation of the Skull and You." In it, Billy and Mandy drill holes in their heads when he was a student.
"Trepanation of the Skull and You" fits squarely into the generation of "shock" animation. Atoms posted his early short on YouTube, explaining it was a copy in the comments.
“I was big into fringe culture at the time, and found trepanning fascinating. I also wanted to do something with this 'Billy' character I was obsessed with.”
Trepanning is the medical practice of drilling through one's skull and exposing the brain, hoping to increase blood flow and attain a constant mild euphoria.