'Ed, Edd n Eddy' was the last ever animated series to be painted and inked by hand. The later episodes have wonderful animation and great animation acting, but this first episode has something intimate, even quaint about it. It was originally optioned for Nickelodeon and it wouldn't look out of place alongside shows like 'Angry Beavers', 'Rocko's Modern Life' and 'CatDog'. With its John Coltrane-like jazz score and its ambitiously daring writing, it's probably the most Nickelodeon show on Cartoon Network.
What's striking about this episode is Edd, my favourite character in the show. In the early episodes he was much more relaxed and willing to go along with Eddy's schemes, but after seeing so many failures he becomes this nervous wreck by the end of the series.
This also applies to his voice. In the early episodes his voice was very quiet and raspy, but by the end of season one his voice is a mincing near-falsetto, probably, again, because of the stress put on him by his misadventures. I'm not complaining, his voice is adorable no matter what.
It's also worth noting that at the end of the episode, Eddy casually remarks that "a little childhood trauma builds character". Given Eddy's own troubled childhood, the line is funny yet sad at the same time.