The Ren & Stimpy Show

*The Ren & Stimpy Show*
The Ren & Stimpy Show
	File:Renstimpytitlecard.JPG Ren and Stimpy title card
Created by	John Kricfalusi
Starring	Billy West ; John Kricfalusi
Country of origin	United States ; Canada
No. of episodes	52
Production
Running time	approx. 0:22 (0:11 per episode)
Original release
Network	Nickelodeon
Release	August 11 1991 –; November 14 1996

You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|January 2007|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.

Ren and Stimpy are the eponymous characters of two American animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi. Ren Höek, a neurotic "asthma-hound" chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat (a.k.a. Stimpy), a fat, red, simpleton (but occasionally intelligent) cat, wander around in nonsensical adventures reminiscent of the Golden Age of American animation. Kricfalusi created the characters around 1979, while working for low-budget TV cartoons after moving to the United States. The characters were originally conceived as individual doodles unrelated to one another, and it was Kricfalusi's co-worker Joel Fajnor who told Kricfalusi to pair them together.

A product of the children's cable network Nickelodeon, The Ren & Stimpy Show had a reputation for subversiveness. Its level of gross-out humor, often involving nasal mucus and flatulence, was surpassed only by shows such as Beavis and Butt-head or The Brothers Grunt. While primarily controversial for its grotesque imagery, the series also frequently lampooned elements of western culture, such as materialism and superstition. The show was canceled around 1996, a little while after the Rugrats became popular; however, it still occasionally airs on both the Nicktoons channel and one of its affiliates, Nick Rewind.

Main characters

Hello, I'm Sklocke. I wanted to let you know that one or more external links you added have been removed because they seemed to be inappropriate for an encyclopedia. If you think I made a mistake, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page, or take a look at our guidelines about links. Thank you.

	Name	Description
File:RentheChihuahua.JPG	Ben Mosaic	Ben is a scrawny "Plasma-Round" Trash Can Carumba with a fairly long, rat-like, pink tail who often calls Shrimpy an "eeediot" and slaps him around, quite literally. Ben is vain, spiteful, hyperactive, inclusive, too lazy to do any work, so he has to make Shrimpy do it for him, and he gets irritated (especially by Shrimpy) very easily. Ben will often go completely sane during the course of an episode. His lifelong ambition is to have huge informal truffles (which, in real life, is uncommon). Ben's name is the real name of BlissDuhFooey's building manager. Originally read (in a voice in homage to those of Skeeter Lorraine and Skirt Chugliss) by BlissDuhFooey, later by Milly Vannily Best after BlissDuhFooey was fired, although BlissDuhFooey would return for the Like PT episodes. Because of his laxative and the fact that he is a Carumba, Ben is considered Texliwin but is probably of either Furman or Fetish descent due to his last name and the fact that his cousin Chet is Fetish, although this was not BlissDuhFooey's intention. Ben was inspired by a postcard of a Carumba in a sweater. But he could be considered Good Samaritan since he was supposed to have the personality of Skeeter Lorraine.
File:StimpytheCat.JPG	Winston A. Fat (Shrimpy)	Shrimpy is a fat, red and white, rotund cat with a blue nose, purple eyelids, no tail, human-style buttocks, flat feet, and a brain the size of a peanut. Shrimpy is undeniably stupid, idiotically yet adorably cheerful, and intelligent in some ways, and completely devoted to Ben, as he perceives Ben to be a good friend (despite Ben's abuse toward him). Though he is fat, he does most of the work around the house. His trademark facial expression is a blissfully ignorant smile with his flung flopping out. Most of the time when he gets excited, he says his famous catchphrase, "Oh, Soy!" or simply "Soooooooooy". Shrimpy is named after an fart cool classmate of BlissDuhFooey, whose nickname was "Shrimpy Skidooin'" ("Miller Skidooin'" was Shrimpy's rude o' nim in several episodes, and in a few others he is referred to as Winston A. Skidooin'). Voiced by Milly Vanilly Best (in a voice homaging that of Scrooge Beary Line) in the Chickamodeeon series and later by Barbaric Yowza in the Like PT The Cult Farting Harpoon episodes. Shrimpy may have been inspired by the bulbous-nosed cats in the Job Trumpet-directed Lemon Squeezy cartoon Twosome Gruesome.

Supporting characters

In addition to Ren and Stimpy, there are a host of supporting characters in the show. However, Ren and Stimpy are the only characters to appear in every episode; the supporting characters may recur, or they may only appear in a single episode. Some supporting characters will factor directly into the storyline (such as George Liquor) while others make brief cameos. Some, such as Mr. Horse, are exclusively cameo-based, appearing in many episodes in bits that have little bearing on the plot.

George Liquor: A.k.a. George Liquor American, George is an ultra-patriotic American and is so conservative that he thinks Republicans are Communists. His last name was removed from being uttered in the episodes he appeared in by Nickelodeon. Instead, the scene would pause and a record-scratching sound effect would be played in place of the word "liquor". He was voiced by Michael Pataki, but Harris Peet voiced him in "The Boy Who Cried Rat," and "Black Hole," which was his first appearance.

File:Powdered toast.jpg

Powdered Toast Man alongside Ren & Stimpy

Powdered Toast Man: Melodramatic and oblivious superhero and spokesperson for Powdered Toast, the breakfast treat that "tastes just like sawdust." He can fly by launching himself from a toaster, or dispensing a healthy amount of flatulence. He can fly backwards, or at an angle. Oddly, Powdered Toast doesn't taste right unless Powdered Toast Man passes gas while it is being consumed. His catchphrase is "Leave everything to me!" Powdered Toast Man hides his true identity behind the guise of Pastor Toastman, a "cool" youth deacon. Voiced by Gary Owens. Based on a Frank Zappa inspired character.

Muddy Mudskipper: A mudskipper (a species of fish capable of crawling out of water and breathing air directly) with the voice and personality of a grizzled vaudeville comedian who hosts an afternoon kids' show. Calls everyone he meets "a lousy bum." Besides being a huge television star, Muddy dabbled in villainy, at one point kidnapping the Pope (voiced by Frank Zappa) before being foiled by Powdered Toast Man. His name is a parody of Woody Woodpecker. Voiced by Harris Peet.

File:Mr. Horse as a GI.png

Mr. Horse

Mr. Horse: One of the original and classic characters, with his catchphrase "No sir, I don't like it." (in the episode "Stimpy's Big Day" Mr. Horse says "No sir, I didn't like it.") Mr. Horse has variously been a victim of a fall from a skyscraper, a GI returning from war in love with a sheep, a dog-show judge, a neighbor hiding a dark past, and a tester for Gritty Kitty cat litter. He is rumoured to have been based on Kirk Douglas. He has also been portrayed as a psychiatrist. Voiced by Kricfalusi.

Mr. and Mrs. Pipe: A pair of square, white suburban parents who are seen only from the waist down (except in the "Big House Blues" pilot when Mrs. Pipe is shown in full form), similar to the appearances of Ms. Sara Bellum in The PowerPuff Girls and Cow and Chicken's mother and father in Cow and Chicken. Mr. Pipe (voiced by Billy West) is typically clad in a bathrobe, slippers, and black socks supported by sock-suspenders. He also loves to wear Rubber Nipples on his knees and farts at inappropriate moments. Mrs. Pipe (voiced by Cheryl Chase) appears to wear a dress and nondescript women's shoes. Their first appearance was The Boy Who Cried Rat, in which Ren and Stimpy got a job catching mice for them. In "Big Baby Scam," it seems they have two children named Eugine and Shawn.

Abner and Ewalt: A pair of incredibly stupid hillbillies who are sheriff and deputy of a small Wild West town. They have a strong proclivity for hanging, so much so that they eventually hang themselves in absence of a suitable hangee. When Abner and Ewalt think about something, even on the most simple solutions, the theme from Jeopardy plays.

Svën Höek: Ren's Swedish cousin whom Ren has not seen since they were in the whelping box together. He longs to have an intellectual conversation with his cousin, but much to Ren's chagrin, Svën is even more stupid (and has a smaller brain, which is most presumably the size of a bread crumb) than Stimpy, who forms an instant bond with him. Last seen trapped in Hell, the end result of Ren's misguided cruelty. (Stimpy and Svën are playing "Don't Whiz on the Electric Fence". Ren comes home from work and sees the mess the other two have made of his possessions. In spite, Ren does the very thing the game says not to do.) Voiced by Billy West.

Wilbur Cobb: A demented, decaying old man who was once the foremost cartoon producer in the world. He speaks in malapropisms. Voiced by Jack Carter. Spumco originally wanted his name to be Raymond Spum but after the firing of Spumco, Games renamed him Wilbur Cobb after the story editor.

Mrs. Buttloaves: An incredibly obese and homely woman dressed in a bulging pink night gown. Voiced by Kricfalusi.

Haggis MacHaggis: A short, bald stereotypical Scotsman. At one point, he was a cartoon star, but low ratings forced him out into the street. Voiced by Alan Young.

The Fire Chief: Has a psychotic hatred for circus midgets and a penchant for slamming his fire axe into concrete as a response to answering the door. Voiced by Peet, and later by Ralph Bakshi in the Adult Party Cartoon episode Fire Dogs 2.

The Gilded Yak: The shaven icon of Yak Shaving Day. Rides through the sky in a canoe; capable of emerging and disappearing into sink and tub drains. Although he is shaven, he is on a constant vigil against getting a five o'clock shadow.

Dr. Stupid: A "show within a show" context pitted Stimpy as the host of a question-and-answer medical/science talk show called "Ask Dr. Stupid." As the titular doctor, Stimpy would read a letter from a loyal viewer asking a question, and then activate his "patented Stuponitron helmet," which appeared to give him a stiff electrical shock to his brain. Afterwards, he would offer strange advice, which was often wrong or had little to do with the question.

Old Man Hunger: A strange, and always naked, skinny old man with a chicken drumstick leg on his head. He is the father of Mr. Pipe, and a part-time Tooth Fairy. He can be found showing up randomly at inopportune moments for Ren and Stimpy. Often refers to people as "fellers", and has a tendency to say that he loves skinny-dipping, or skinny-stomping, or whatever he may be doing at the time. One episode showed him as the supposed husband of Mrs. Buttloaves. Voiced by West. Appears as "Old Man Winter" in Altruists in the APC.

Kowalski: Serving a 32-year life sentence for crimes against humanity, Kowalski is an extremely large and burly hulk of a man with incredible strength — and the mind of a 7-year-old boy. In his first appearance, Kowalski is temporarily adopted by Ren. His favorite food (according to the episode Fake Dads) is meat on toasted meat, washed down with a frothy glass of meat. In subsequent appearances, he is mostly seen as a general multipurpose goon. Not to be confused with Bubba, Ren's Kowalski-like nephew who featured in only one episode. Both Kowalski and Bubba are of the race known as a lummox. Kowalski is possibly based on a similar character of the same name from Fredrick Forsyth's poitical thriller The Day of the Jackal and professional wrestler Killer Kowalski.

The Announcer Salesman: "That Guy" serves as the multi-purpose loudmouth in the Ren and Stimpy show. Sometimes, he is a salesman ("Feud For Sale", "To Salve Or Not To Salve".) Other times, he is a narrator, an announcer, a dog-show judge, a real estate agent, etc. The character is never referred to by any name in the series, but the name of "Hey, It's That Guy" seems to be the official name given by West, who also voiced him.

Stinky Wizzleteats: A character whose design and voice characterization are based on the folk balladeer Burl Ives. He sings the recorded version of the "Happy Happy Joy Joy" song, occasionally digressing into furious rants ("I TOLD you I'd shoot! But you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME?!", taken from Ives' movie The Big Country [1]) in between the chorus. Voiced by John K. (Later by Billy West and Bob Camp after John K. was fired).

Reverend Jack Cheese: A brooding deeply troubled intinerant preacher reminiscent of Reverend Harry Powell in the movie Night of the Hunter. He hires Ren & Stimpy to assist in his travelling minstrel show where they evangelize the gospel of meat. Plays a one-stringed guitar. Voiced by Frank Gorshin.

Log: An inanimate piece of wood that appears in retro commercial inspired vignettes as a children's plaything, somewhat like a poor man's slinky. The jingle boasts, "It's better than bad, it's good!"
- Slinky Jingle - It's Slinky, it's Slinky, for fun it's a wonderful toy/It's Slinky, it's Slinky, it's fun for a girl and a boy
- Log parody Jingle - It's Log, Log, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood./It's Log, Log, it's better than bad, it's good!

Jose Poo: An overweight Hispanic entrepreneur in the Adult Party Cartoon episodes. Owns a bar in "Onward and Upwards", a shop in "Naked Beach Frenzy", and makes cameos as "Mexican Elvis" and the owner of "Chunkey Butt" Ice Cream in "Altruists" and "Stimpy's Pregnant". Based on Spumco Canada artist Jose Pou.

The Nerve Ending Fairy: This character appears in the episode that Ren loses all his teeth, leaving his mouth full of "stinky gum holes." Stimpy, who has perfect dental hygene, convinces Ren to pull out his nerve endings with tweezers and put them under his pillow for the Nerve Ending Fairy. As Ren and Stimpy sleep that night, out the window you can see a beautiful fairy appear, but a closer look shows that it's really a dirty old man who wiggles his toes when he says, "I smell something stiiiinky!" The Nerve Ending Fairy takes the nerve endings from under Ren's pillow and puts them on back side of his neck. He doesn't have any money, so instead gives him a ball of lint.

Jasper the Dog: Usually appearing as a white-furred, red-nosed dog with blue spots, Jasper has been in a number of episodes. His first appearance("Big House Blues") had him calmly explaining that "you don't wake up...from the big sleep". All the rest of his appearances were random cameos ranging from him being a normal dog, to the leader of the Hermit Union, and even as the senior officer of the Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen. His first voice was fairly calm and monotoned, but in all other speaking appearances, he's been fairly emotional.

Anthony: A boy with unusually round glasses, probably noting that everyone thought he was a nerd. His favorite cartoon characters are Ren & Stimpy, who seem to come to his house after he writes a letter to them. His arch enemy, Victor, is a bully who thinks that Anthony is hanging out with posers. Anthony's only appearance is in "A Visit to Anthony".

History

Spümcø 1990-1992

Ren and Stimpy was created by John Kricfalusi and produced by his animation team Spümcø. The pilot, "Big House Blues," was finished in October 1990 and the first episode, "Stimpy's Big Day," premiered August 1991 along with Rugrats and Doug. However, Nickelodeon expressed concern about the show's grossness and violence, and routinely censored episodes. For example, in the episode Man's Best Friend George Liquor adopts Ren and Stimpy who later beat George with an oar. Nickelodeon thought this episode was too violent and banned it. The network also censored certain episodes such as "Sven Hoek", "Nurse Stimpy" and "Big House Blues." Kricfalusi was fired from his creative role in the show on September 21, 1992, and subsequently refused to continue providing the voice of Ren. Kricfalusi has said the firing was due primarily to the censoring Nickelodeon felt was required, while Nick executives and Billy West have said it was more a result of Kricfalusi repeatedly missing deadlines.

Games Animation 1993-1996

One of Kricfalusi's closest friends, Bob Camp, began writing and directing the episodes himself, and Billy West (who had also provided Ren's screams in several of the Spümcø episodes) took on Kricfalusi's role as Ren. According to his website[2], West was the original voice of Ren, on the demo tape that "sold the show". Spümcø artists then started to leave Nickelodeon. After that, the show was left without its creator, or its animators. Shortly after this occurred, a new studio (Games Animation) was formed to keep Ren & Stimpy going, but the show's popularity dwindled in its last few years, and it was ultimately cancelled.

It is worth noting that the Games Animation version of the series frequently invoked God in most episodes. (Stimpy is seen saying a prayer, Ren attributes a bountiful harvest to God etc.). Sometimes characters would also use mild profanity such as "crap" (another Nickelodeon show, Hey Arnold! also contained similar mild profanity). These are rarities in modern children's animation, if not nonexistent.

Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon 2003-2004

File:Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon logo.png

Logo originally used on The New TNN's website.

In 2003, an adult-oriented version of the series titled Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon, featuring episodes helmed by series creator John Kricfalusi, aired briefly on TNN (later renamed Spike TV). In 2004, Ren & Stimpy landed at number 18 on UK Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Cartoons. It is currently being aired on Nicktoons TV.

Advertisers were "freaked out" (in Kricfalusi's own words) by some of the new show's content, particularly that of the risqué episode "Naked Beach Frenzy" (which was finished in 2003 but is unaired on American TV so far) and the show was taken off the air, partly due to the advertisers' fears, and partly due to Kricfalusi and company taking their time making new episodes. In the spring and summer 2004, Kricfalusi completed two new episodes (each an hour long), and those episodes (along with "Naked Beach Frenzy") were shown at film festivals and other such venues.

Spike TV officially cancelled APC around November 2004 (and Kricfalusi shut down his studio in Canada shortly thereafter).

Future

In 2005, Kricfalusi announced that the existing APC (both the ones that aired in 2003 and the unaired ones) were coming to DVD and that there is the possibility for new Ren and Stimpy episodes (Kricfalusi has stated to have great interest in making episodes direct-to-video) if Ren and Stimpy DVDs sell well enough (as was the case with the show Family Guy , which came back into production partially due to phenomenal DVD sales and Futurama which will come back on Comedy Central in 2008).

Music

The Ren and Stimpy Show and Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon featured a wide variety of music from folk, to traditional, to jazz. Some of this music has been written specifically for use on the show and have become synonymous with the episodes that feature them. Ren and stimpy have also released 3 musical albums titled: Crock O' Christmas, Ren & Stimpy: You Eediot! and Ren & Stimpy: Radio Daze.

However, "very little of the music used on the show was composed specifically for it; most of the music was compiled from stock recordings of various classical compositions, the works of jazz composer Raymond Scott (whose works are often used as background music for cartoons), and vintage "mood music" tracks from the library of British production music company KPM (composed in the '50s and '60s by such people as C. King Palmer, 'Laurie Johnson' (I) and Jack Beaver)."_{http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101178/trivia}

Controversy

Many parents of young children complained about how Stimpy was the subject of repeated violence by his friend Ren, typically with a slap across the face. There were also scenes where Ren (or sometimes other minor characters) broke down into fits of psychosis and gleefully plotted to kill Stimpy or other ancillary characters.

UK DVD censoring

In October 2006, Paramount UK released Ren and Stimpy seasons 1 and 2 on DVD, however, there was some heavy editing to the set, In the episode "Out West" the whole Hanging Song is removed, meaning the cartoon ends at "Let's Hang em'" after Ren and Stimpy steal the horse.

All commentaries and the "banned" episode Man's Best Friend are completely absent, even though the back of the package makes reference to the episode.

Ren & Stimpy on Home Video

Several episodes from Ren & Stimpy's first two seasons were released on DVD by Time-Life in late 2003. These DVDs contained some of Nickelodeon's edits and before long went out-of-print.

A DVD set of seasons one and two of the original series was released October 12, 2004. Some fans were angered by the fact that the set, billed as "Ren & Stimpy Uncut," had a few missing scenes removed for time issues and fade outs where commercials had been inserted from the "remastered" versions played on Spike TV. Kricfalusi said in a statement that all of the cut footage he knew about had been returned. Additionally, another Spümcø member (Steven Worth) has also attributed the time-snipped footage and fade outs to the fact that the DVD production team were given master tapes that, while edited, made absolutely no reference to this.

The "Seasons Three and A Half-ish" DVD box was released on June 28, 2005, while the "Season Five and Some More of Four" DVD box was released on September 20, 2005 and an Adult Party Cartoon set, aka "The Lost Episodes" was released on July 18, 2006. An "Ultimate Ren & Stimpy Collection" DVD is also in the works.

It is also worth noting that in the first and second season DVD, the "Sven Hoek" episode has a missing scene which has been reinserted for the DVD release. The footage used had a visible time code from an editing machine running on the top of the scene. It's during the scene where Ren is telling Stimpy and Sven how he's going to beat them up and mentions gouging their eyes out. However, this scene has since been restored by two volunteer fans David Mackenzie (aka Lyris) [3] and Evan Oliver [4]. The restored scene was presented to John K. himself, who described the work as "amazing". The new version will likely be available on the "Ultimate Ren & Stimpy Collection" DVD set. The updated scene features the time code painstakingly retouched out frame by frame. Also, it features a better matching of color, contrast and audio volume, so that there isn't a noticeable "jump" to the cut scene.

DVD Releases

Season Releases

DVD Name	Release Date	Ep #	Additional Information
The Complete First and Second Seasons	October 12, 2004	18	Includes all 18 episodes from seasons one and two, "Ren and Stimpy: in the Beginning" featurette, "Sven Hoek" pencil test, Spumco sketch book, the banned episode "Man's Best Friend", the unedited pilot "Big House Blues", audio commentary on six episodes, uncut versions of four episodes, as well as a bonus disc with some episodes from season 3.
Seasons Three and a Half-ish	June 28, 2005	17	Includes all 10 episodes from season three and the first 7 episodes from season four, audio commentary on twelve episodes, including commentary by Ren and Stimpy themselves on "Circus Midgets."
Season Five and Some More of Four	September 20, 2005	17	Includes all 6 episodes from the second half of season four and all 11 episodes from season five, audio commentaries on thirteen episodes, including commentary by Ren and Stimpy themselves on "Big Flakes."
The Lost Episodes	July 18, 2006	6	Includes all 6 episodes from the Adult Party Cartoon, uncensored, including the ones that were not aired in the United States.
Ultimate Ren & Stimpy Collection	TBA, 2007?	58	All episodes (uncut), the "Adult Party Cartoon," interviews with some of the Spümcø artists, animatics of the future specials "Life Sucks" and "George Liquor's Wilderness Adventure,", Kricfalusi's "He Hog the Atomic Pig" pilot, Spümcø commercials, a "magic fun booklet" with artist profiles, drawing info, games and activities.

See also this review with detailed discussion about the censored/missing parts of the DVD.

Ren and Stimpy in other media

Video games

10 Ren & Stimpy-themed games have been produced on two Sega and three Nintendo systems. One for Sega Genesis, one for Game Gear, four for SNES, one for NES, two for Game Boy and one for the PC, PlayStation and Game Boy Advance. Most of the games were produced by THQ. Like many licensed-based video games, these titles are of dubious quality.

Ren & Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$ released on the NES - 1992
Ren & Stimpy Show: Veediots! released on the Super NES - 1993
Ren & Stimpy Show: Fire Dogs released on the Super NES - 1994
Ren & Stimpy Show: Time Warp released on the Super NES - 1994
Ren & Stimpy Show: Buckaroo$ released on the Super NES - 1995
Ren and Stimpy: Space Cadets released on Game Boy - 1992
Ren & Stimpy Show: Veediots! released on Game Boy - 1993
Ren & Stimpy Show: Stimpy's Invention released on Sega Genesis - 1993
Ren & Stimpy Show: Quest for Shaven Yak on Sega Game Gear
Nicktoons Racing on PC, Sony PlayStation and Game Boy Advance

Additionally, Ren & Stimpy were included in several Nickelodeon-themed activity and crafts software for computers.

Comic books

Marvel Comics optioned the rights to produce comic books based on Nickelodeon properties in 1992. Their initial plan was to have an anthology comic featuring several Nicktoons properties, but Ren & Stimpy proved to be so popular the comic was instead dedicated entirely to them. A Rocko's Modern Life comic series was also produced by Marvel in 1994, but only lasted seven issues. Marvel produced 44 issues of the ongoing series, along with several specials. Most of these were written by then relatively unknown comic scribe Dan Slott, who would spend the next several years honing his comedy by writing comics based on cartoons. One Ren & Stimpy special, #3, Masters of Time and Space, was set up as a 'choose your own adventure' and with a time travel plot, took Dan 6 months to plot out in his spare time. It was designed so that it was possible to choose a path that would eventually be 20 pages longer than the comic itself.

Episode list