The long running era of the Saturday morning cartoon has officially ended, but no one can stop you from fulfilling your true weekend calling. Cartoons and Saturday mornings were made for each other and no one can tell us otherwise. It is to that end that we maintain vigil, bringing you animated selections each Saturday morning until the internet dies, or until we run out, good thing there’s always reruns.
“The Ren & Stimpy Show” (7 out of 10) Created by John Kricfalusi; Directed by John Kricfalusi and Bob Camp; Written by John Kricfalusi, Bob Camp, Jim Smith, Vincent Waller, Bill Wray, Jim Gomez, Richard Pursel, Chris Reccardi, Ron Hauge, and Vince Calandra; Starring John Kricfalusi and Billy West; Originally aired August 11, 1991.
“The Ren & Stimpy Show” commonly called “Ren & Stimpy” was an early nineties animated series that ran on Nickelodeon. I’ve always been surprised that Nickelodeon chose to air the show with its gross-out humor and controversial subject matter, and having watched the show again in preparation for this column I’m still baffled by it.
“Ren & Stimpy” was one of the three original Nicktoons along with “Rugrats” and “Doug” which are both good in their own rights but don’t seem like they’d sit at the same lunch table with “Ren and Stimpy.”
The series was created by John Kricfalusi and pitched to Nickelodeon as part of a larger variety show, Nickelodeon homed in on the cat and dog duo and asked to have a series developed around them. Despite the studio having requested the show, it was in constant battles with their Standards and Practices department over particular content, with many requests to alter or remove material. Considering what made it into the episodes I’m curious what was removed.
In the first two seasons Ren, a Chihuahua with anger management problems, was voiced by Kricfalusi and Stimpy, a dimwitted but well meaning cat, was voiced by Billy West. Beginning in season 3 West took over voice duties for Ren as well.
The show didn’t have much overarching story aside from the occasional return gag. Each episode planted the titular characters in a new situation, most of it happening right here on earth, while some episodes took the characters into space or into historical or fictional settings.
Most episodes created a situation that would put the characters at odds with one another, usually when Ren became enraged by some unintentional slight set upon him by Stimpy. That animation style utilized unsettlingly detailed close ups and disturbing imagery, in the episode embedded below you’ll see a scene of Stimpy grooming for bed, while the initial removal of hair and cleaning of his nose are disgusting to be sure, the scene escalates when Stimpy removes his eyes, blinking gaping sockets, and places them into a contact case. He then closes the case, smashing his eyeballs with portions oozing out of the case.
To my recollection no animated series had explored that kind of territory before, and if they did, none saw the popularity that “Ren & Stimpy” did. It’s really no surprise that the show gained as large and ardent a following as it did, or that it had so many run ins with the Standards board.
The series ultimately ran for five seasons and produced a total of 52 episodes as well as one that was produced but pulled in its entirety.
For the truly courageous you can see that banned episode, it was aired as the pilot of the rebranded series “Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon” along with a handful of others. The show ran at night on Spike as part of their animation block but was cancelled quickly. As the name suggests, “Adult Party Cartoon” delved into even more fringe territory such as nudity, the consumption of body fluids, and sexual situations, including an explicit sexual relationship between the titular characters. Billy West did not reprise his role stating that that he didn’t think the show was funny and being a part of it would damage his career.
The show has been cited as having paved the way for shows like “Beavis and Butt-Head” and it’s arguable that something like Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim might not exist if “Ren & Stimpy” hadn’t shown us what cartoons can be like if we’re willing to throw away the rules. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying the impact that “The Ren & Stimpy Show” had on the industry and the way viewers take in cartoons. So this week we’re honoring the dog and cat that opened our eyes, then made us take soap to them.