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DAMN, THAT'S ONE GROOVY, SWINGIN', BASTARD!
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Ren and Stimpy take to the road in:
"RUBBER NIPPLE SALESMEN"
At some long-since lost to history date in the late 20th century, John Kricfalusi and his fellow cartoonist pals at Spumco had a revolutionary idea: "Wouldn't it be great if CARTOONS were made by CARTOONISTS?" This wacky group of stalwart animators was tired of having cartoons scripted by writers who couldn't draw, and produced by button-down business types whose idea of comedy was the parenting humor of Art Linklater O.D.'ed on Prozac-laced pudding pops and Xanax breath mints. You know what I'm talking about right? -- The kind of people who just don't 'get' cartoons (unless of course they are designed to sell toys), and end up producing crap like Tiny Toons or He-Man.
Well the cartoonists at Spumco presented this idea to the TV- pushers at Nickelodeon, and the Nickelodeons said that they agreed, and thus the great cartoon series THE REN & STIMPY SHOW was born. Now perhaps John K. and the gang should have seen the trouble that was coming, when, as the Spumco cartoonists signed their names on the dotted lines of Nickelodeon's contracts, the Nickelodeon executives started to break out in maniacal laughter, wringing their hands and twirling their mustaches like villains out of an old silent movie. Perhaps Spumco was so desperate to create a classic TV show that they ignored the warning signs, or perhaps they were simply naive, but ultimately, we, as television viewers, should probably be glad that they did, for otherwise we would not have known the sublime beauty that was Ren & Stimpy. So, even if in the end, that's just were John K. and Spumco got it, perhaps we should consider it to be a noble sacrifice they made to bring us our beloved cartoon duo. After all, throughout history, people have been persecuted and even killed for promoting unpopular and revolutionary ideas. Historical figures like Jesus Christ, Joan of Arc, and Martin Luther King Jr. are just some of the people who were murdered for bringing messages to the people, so perhaps the folks at Spumco got off easy. Certainly The Ren & Stimpy Show shook up the world of cartoons in much the same way these other figures shook up the worlds of organized religion or the societies in which they lived. It appears I may have gotten a bit ahead myself, however, as when we last left John K. and Spumco they were just signing the contracts to get The Ren & Stimpy Show off the ground, right?
The Ren & Stimpy Show premiered on the Nickelodeon network on the 11th of August, 1991, and became and instant hit. Young and Old alike thrilled to the adventures of homosexual lovers Ren (the egomaniacal and sarcastic asthma-hound chihuahua) and Stimpy (the lovable yet simple-minded pussy cat), who shared a swinging bachelor pad in upper Northwest Manhattan and slept in the same bed at night. The cartoon was an outrageous blend of old time cartoony style and Three Stooges-like slapstick hijinks, filtered through a healthy dose of surrealistic madness, and was literally unlike anything that had ever aired on television before. To the average viewer this was basically interpreted as "weird cartoons" and "fart and booger jokes," and for them that was enough. For the small number of viewers (such as ourselves) who were capable of looking at the show with a deeper gaze, the show revealed layer after layer of intense, psychosis inducing subtext, and the best episodes became increasingly interesting as we watched them over and over again, each time learning something new, each time our gaze penetrating deeper and deeper into the madness. As we continued to watch the same episodes over and over again, the layers of the show would be pulled back thinner and thinner, until they began to acquire a polished gleam, and reflected back to the viewers, like a fun-house mirror aimed at our very souls.
Many people were critical of the show, claiming that it was too gross or violent for children, but these people failed to see the show for what it truly was. Through all the slapstick violence that Ren may have inflicted on Stimpy, the series (under Spumco) never lost sight of the very sweet-natured love that the two characters held for each other, and it was this love that was truly at the heart of the show. Although Stimpy may have been the most openly affectionate of the duo, it was razor-tongued Ren, who, beneath his self-reliant exterior, really needed their love the most.
Ren and Stimpy learn that too much happiness isn't always a good thing in:
"STIMPY'S INVENTION"
1. Nickelodeon wanted the series to be less
"weird," "gross," and "violent."
2. Nickelodeon was unhappy with the sporadic
nature with which the cartoons were being
produced, and was forced to produce it
themselves in order to have the episodes come
out in a timely fashion.
3. Nickelodeon wanted to turn The Ren & Stimpy
Show into a more traditional, Saturday Morning
style of cartoon, along the lines of The
Smurfs or Tiny Toons
Strangely enough, the finished product that Nickelodeon produced on their own turned out to be anything but what they had claimed they intended to do. The violence on the show, if anything, actually increased under Nickelodeon's control. Ren & Stimpy were often subjected to violent, bloody beatings at the hands of other characters. In one episode, Ren dies of old age, and the episode ends with a worm feasting on his rotting corpse. Whereas, in the Spumco episodes, the violence occurred in the time-honored cartoon slapstick tradition (along the lines of The Three Stooges shorts, the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons, etc...), the violence in the Nickelodeon produced episodes seemed to be pointless and cruel, completely out of context, and often somewhat disturbing. In the Spumco episodes, when Ren would yell at or slap Stimpy, you knew that deep down he really loved him, and would only lash out at Stimpy because he was unable to articulate the true feelings he harbored towards his friend (one recalls the relationship Moe had with the other two Stooges as an example). In the Nickelodeon episodes, all indications of the tender feelings at the heart of Ren and Stimpy's relationship have been excised, and when Ren lashes out at Stimpy, it just seems as if he does it out of hatred and to bring himself a cruel sense of pleasure.
As for the issue of producing the episodes in a timelier fashion, it should first be pointed out that Nickelodeon's own constant interference with Spumco when they were attempting to produce the cartoons was probably one of the prime contributors to the episodes being delayed. Also, it should be pointed out that when Nickelodeon did end up taking over the production and started turning out the episodes themselves, they were far, far, worse at getting the episodes out on time than Spumco ever was. The episodes produced by Nickelodeon were notorious for not being produced in time to air, and many Ren & Stimpy fans (at least of the few who were still continuing to watch) didn't even bother to watch when a new season was scheduled to begin, or when a new episode was scheduled to air, because they knew that more often than not they would be greeted with a rerun instead.
As for the last reason Nickelodeon gave for firing Spumco, that they wanted to make Ren & Stimpy into more of "Saturday Morning Cartoon" type of show, while they may have done so on an isolated segment here or there, they certainly did not accomplish this overall. Nickelodeon's version of the show was far too mean- spirited and unseemly to be mistaken for the bland, yet syrupy- sweet cartoons which comprise your typical Saturday morning fare.
Want to guess at how Nickelodeon's version of Ren & Stimpy played out before the television audience? Believe it or not, the show stank, the audience left in droves, the public lost interest in the series, the ratings dropped, and the show got canceled. Go figure. Now, after you're done shedding a tear for Ren & Stimpy, you might want to dry out your eyes and continue reading, for there actually is a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.
Now don't get your hopes up too high, Ren and Stimpy ARE dead, but the folks at Spumco are not, and John K. and the gang are still hard at work trying to produce the kinds of cartoons your mother warned you about. If you haven't already, be sure and check out their website, SPUMCO'S WONDERFUL WORLD OF CARTOONS, at www.spumco.com. This is a great place to get caught up with America's favorite big-shot cartoonists. You can read articles about classic cartoons and read editorials by John K. in Spumco's Cartoon Magazine. You can read and purchase comic book stories featuring the adventures of some of Spumco's other classic cartoon characters, such as Jimmy the Idiot Boy, George Liquor - American, Cigarettes the Pussy Cat, and Jimmy's girlfriend Sody Pop. Of course the best feature of this website is that you can actually watch brand-new Spumco cartoons! Click on over to Spumco's Wonderful World of Cartoons, and you can watch serialized segments of a cartoon from "The Goddamn George Liquor Show" entitled "Babysitting the Idiot." It is balls-on motherfucking awesome, and I cannot urge you in the name of Great Caeser's Ghost enough to go check this shit out! Hands down, it is the greatest thing you are ever likely to find on the World Wide Web, and that's no cup of noodles.
Ren begins to lose his mind in:
"SPACE MADNESS"
VITAL STATISTICS:
CAST:
John Kricfalusi as Ren Hoek
Billy West as Stimpson J. Cat
CATCHPHRASE:
"You eediot!!!"
Ren & Stimpy Resources on the World Wide Web:
-The Spumco Ren & Stimpy Archive
-Members of the Royal Order of Stupid
-Spumco's Wonderful World of Cartoons
