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76-404: " Fire Dogs " is the eighth episode of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show . It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on September 29, 1991. A homeless and starving Ren and Stimpy roam the streets, where Ren devours the last morsel of Stimpy's cat litter; he is horrified to find out despite enjoying it, and breaks Stimpy's litter box much to Stimpy's chagrin. Suddenly

152-517: A bonus feature. A set for "Seasons Three and a Half-ish", containing all of season three and the first half of season four up to "It's a Dog's Life/Egg Yölkeo", followed on June 28, 2005. Season Five and Some More of Four completed the DVD release of the Nickelodeon series on September 20. Like the previous DVDs, some scenes were removed in these releases. A two-disc set dubbed The Lost Episodes

228-492: A cat, but Ren saves him by noting his relative stupidity to the Fire Chief. The duo are hired as firefighters , despite Dalmatians being traditionally used as assisting positions. Stimpy looks forward to work, while Ren uses the opportunity to eat and relax, noting that the odds of a fire is quite low, only for them to be assigned their first mission. A fire breaks at an apartment building and the duo are assigned to evacuating

304-518: A child-friendly show, shifted its target group to ages 12 and up, resulting in a darker and more mature storyline. Animated film theatrical series include all early animated series: Animated Weekly (1913), The Newlyweds (1913 — 1915), Travelaughs (1913, 1915 — 1918, 1921 — 1923), Doc Yak (1913 — 1915), Colonel Heeza Liar (1913 — 1917, 1922 — 1924), Kapten Grogg  [ sv ] (1916 — 1922), Les Aventures des Pieds Nickelés (1917 — 1918),

380-648: A cultural touchstone in the mid-1990s, and were featured in works such as the films Clueless (1995), The Cable Guy , and Jack (both 1996). Ren & Stimpy placed 31st in TV Guide 's list of "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" in 2002. The cover story of the October 2001 issue of Wizard , a magazine for comic book fans, listed the 100 Greatest Toons ever as selected by their readers, with Ren & Stimpy ranked at number 12. Other entertainment journals similarly hold Ren & Stimpy as one of

456-541: A demented Peter Lorre from the film The Maltese Falcon . When Nickelodeon terminated Kricfalusi's contract, Billy West , already the voice of Stimpy, took the role using a combination of Burl Ives , Kirk Douglas , and a slight "south of the border accent" for the rest of the Nickelodeon run. West voiced Stimpy for the Spümcø and Games Animation episodes, basing the voice on an "amped-up" Larry Fine . Some notable artists and performers who voiced incidental characters on

532-408: A hot-tempered, psychotic, "asthma-hound" Chihuahua , and Stimpson J. "Stimpy" Cat (also voiced by Billy West), a dimwitted and happy-go-lucky Manx cat . The duo fill various roles from episode to episode, including outer-space explorers, Old West horse thieves, and nature-show hosts, and are usually at odds with each other in these situations. While the show was sometimes set in the present day,

608-441: A kiss and is horrified by her appearance. Stimpy puts out the fire with a massive pile of kitty litter. The duo are rewarded for their bravery with golden fire hydrant helmets, only for Mrs. Buttloaves and some dogs appear nearby, barely holding the urge to urinate. An Ask Dr. Stupid segment airs midway in the episode, where Stimpy answers a boy's question about school in a nonsensical way. John Kricfalusi stated that Fire Dogs

684-496: A late-night block for shows that appeal to both children and adults. The immediate influence of the show was the spawning of two "clones". Kricfalusi's previous employer Hanna-Barbera produced 2 Stupid Dogs , in which Kricfalusi contributed jokes. Walt Disney Television Animation produced The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show to mimic the show's success. The Disney series failed to gain any recognition and remained obscure. However, The Ren & Stimpy Show had

760-487: A live-action host presenting different cartoons, each cartoon parodying a different genre. Ren and Stimpy were pets of one of the children in Your Gang , serving as a parody of the "cat and dog genre". The network's vice president of animation production Vanessa Coffey was dissatisfied with the other projects but liked Ren and Stimpy, singling them out for their own series. Production of the series' pilot episode began in

836-598: A local station of a television network broadcasts an animated series as a part of its own programming, the time-slot will vary by region. All early animated television series, the first being Crusader Rabbit (1950 — 1959), are comic cartoon series. However, later series include sports ( Speed Racer , Captain Tsubasa , Slam Dunk ), action ( Hajime no Ippo , G.I. Joe ), science fiction ( Mobile Suit Gundam , Tenchi Muyo ), drama ( Neon Genesis Evangelion ), adventure ( Dragon Ball ), martial arts ( Baki

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912-460: A set time period in "segments", including several such shorts. When advertising is taken into account, the cartoon itself may be only 15 — 20 minutes of the half hour, although Netflix and many other streaming companies do not show commercials. There are also series with a very short episodes lasting approximately five minutes; they have recently become more common in Japanese animation . If

988-475: A wider influence on the future of animation. Mike Judge credits the success of Ren & Stimpy reruns on MTV for the network's willingness to commission Beavis and Butt-Head . Writer Larry Brody credits Ren & Stimpy for leading a new golden age of animation, as other networks followed Nickelodeon and invested in new cartoons, opening the way for more adult-oriented satirical shows like Beavis and Butt-Head . David Feiss , an animation director of

1064-432: A year after the original Nickelodeon run ended. The Ren & Stimpy Show received widespread critical acclaim. Matt Groening , creator of The Simpsons , praised the show for its outrageousness and called it "the only good cartoon on TV" other than The Simpsons ; he was later critical of Kricfalusi's firing. Terry Thoren, former CEO and president of Klasky Csupo , said that Kricfalusi "tapped into an audience that

1140-583: Is considered to be one of the progenitor series of the brand. The Ren & Stimpy Show has received widespread critical acclaim from critics and audiences, with praise going to its visuals, animation, and surreal nature. However, it has also generated significant controversy for its dark humor , adult humor , violence, and shock value . This controversy contributed to the production staff's altercations with Nickelodeon's Standards and Practices department, in addition to Spümcø's failure to deliver episodes on time, all of which led to Kricfalusi's termination from

1216-483: The Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes DVD. In February 2016, Deadline Hollywood reported that characters from Ren & Stimpy were scheduled to appear in an upcoming Nicktoons feature-length film. Three months later, Variety reported that Nickelodeon was in negotiations with Kricfalusi about another revival of the characters. Bob Camp and William Wray revealed in an April 2016 panel discussion that Kricfalusi

1292-478: The 1990s, more mature content than those of traditional cartoon series began to appear more widely, extending beyond a primary audience of children. These cartoon series included The Simpsons , South Park , Family Guy , Futurama , The Ren & Stimpy Show , Rocko's Modern Life , Beavis and Butt-Head , King of the Hill , and Duckman . Canadian computer-animated series ReBoot , which began as

1368-553: The Buttloaves family. Mrs. Buttloaves throws her baby out of the window, who is revealed to be comically obese, but the weight is fairly manageable for the duo. Her horse, revealed to be Mr. Horse , makes the grave mistake of landing on his feet, breaking both of his feet and landing on top of the duo; he is forced to drag himself to safety despite the extreme pain. Ren and Stimpy try to save Mrs. Buttloaves' increasingly absurd collection of animals, who are all of gigantic stature to

1444-405: The Fire Chief morphs into Ralph Bakshi and invites the duo to stay with him. The Ren %26 Stimpy Show The Ren & Stimpy Show , commonly referred to as simply Ren & Stimpy , is an American comedy animated television series created by John Kricfalusi and developed by Kricfalusi, Bob Camp , Jim Smith and Lynne Naylor for Nickelodeon . Originally produced by Spümcø ,

1520-459: The Grappler ), and other genres. The first animated sitcom was The Flintstones (1960 — 1966), produced by Hanna-Barbera . It was followed by other sitcoms of this studio: Top Cat (1961 — 1962), Jonny Quest (1964 — 1965), The Jetsons (1962 — 1963, 1985, 1987) and Wait Till Your Father Gets Home (1972 — 1974), an adult-oriented animated series in

1596-483: The animation would feature sponsored products to tie in with the cartoon, but in lieu of real advertisements, it featured fake commercial breaks advertising nonexistent products, most notably "Log". Kricfalusi cited Carbunkle Cartoons, an animation studio headed by Bob Jaques and Kelly Armstrong, for beautifully animating the show's best episodes, improving the acting with subtle nuances and wild animation that could not be done with overseas animation studios . Some of

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1672-710: The best cartoons of the '90s and cartoons for adults. In 2003, a reboot of the series helmed by John Kricfalusi, titled Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" , was launched on a late night programming block on Spike TV and was rated TV-MA . The new series is more adult-oriented than the original, and features an explicitly homosexual relationship between the main characters, strong profanity, graphic violence and female nudity. Billy West declined to participate in Adult Party Cartoon , saying that it "wasn't funny" and joining it would have damaged his career. Eric Bauza subsequently replaced West as

1748-419: The character George Liquor was removed, being changed to "George American". Many other episodes included someone smoking a cigar, pipe, or a cigarette. Several episodes had violent, gruesome, or suggestive scenes shortened or removed, including a sequence involving a severed head, a close-up of Ren's face being grated against a man's stubble, and a scene that was shortened where Ren receives multiple punches to

1824-484: The duo find a job notice recruiting dogs by the Fire Department, which allows only Dalmatian dogs for the job. Fortunately, Ren has a bucket of "Dalmatian Paint" that allows both him and Stimpy to be painted the colors of Dalmatian dogs. The duo apply for the job, only to be attacked violently by the Fire Chief, who had mistaken the duo for circus midgets. While applying for the job, Stimpy lets slip that he's

1900-484: The early 20th century, where a director supervised the entire process. These methods are in contrast with animation production methods in the 1980s, where there was one director for animation and a different director for voice actors, and the cartoons were created with a "top-down" approach to tie in with toy production. Animator Vincent Waller compared working on Ren & Stimpy and SpongeBob SquarePants in an interview: "Working on Ren and Stimpy and SpongeBob

1976-531: The episode, voicing their displeasure towards their work. American journalist Thad Komorowski described Fire Dogs as an episode that featured "amateurish drawing and animation" that reflected its troubled production. By contrast, the American critic Andy Patrizio praised Fire Dogs as an "insane" episode that was his favorite of the first season. An episode of Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" named Fire Dogs 2 takes place directly after this episode;

2052-427: The episode. Years later on Spike TV, the show's revival, Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" , debuted with this banned episode as their unofficial pilot, even receiving a TV-MA rating. Games Animation, however, was allowed to include more risqué content and even occasional graphic violence , despite "Man's Best Friend" not featuring any of both. The series ran for five seasons, spanning 52 episodes. The show

2128-431: The episodes from the second season, "Svën Höek", did have footage reinserted from a work-in-progress VHS tape, but with an editing machine timecode visible on-screen; the scene was later restored by fans. Three other episodes ("Powdered Toast Man", "Dog Show", and " Big House Blues ") contain extra footage that was not originally broadcast on Nickelodeon. The DVD set even includes the banned episode " Man's Best Friend " as

2204-425: The first season of the show holds a rare 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 12 reviews from critics, though the remaining seasons have not been rated. The show came to garner high ratings for Nickelodeon, having double the viewership of the other Nickelodeon cartoons for its first season and later averaging three times their viewership. Due to the first season's high ratings, Nickelodeon renewed

2280-509: The first season, namely Lacewood Productions in Ottawa or Carbunkle Cartoons in Vancouver, the task was sub-contracted out to Fil-Cartoons at Manila to save costs. Despite the rush, "Fire Dogs" was still finished late. Much of the footage intended for "Fire Dogs" was vandalized beyond repair at Fil-Cartoons, with Kricfalusi and Carbunkle founder Bob Jaques who worked as animation director on

2356-575: The format. Time Life released several episodes of The Ren & Stimpy Show in a "Best of" set in September 2003. This set is now out of print . On October 12, 2004, Paramount Home Entertainment released the first two complete seasons in a three-disc box set; although the cover art and press materials said the episodes were "uncut", a handful of episodes were edited, due to the use of Spike TV masters where Spike TV would cut some scenes from episodes to make room for longer commercial breaks. One of

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2432-669: The material particularly funny; they were merely doing what was expected". The series ended its original run on Nickelodeon on December 16, 1995, with "A Scooter for Yaksmas", and had a total of five seasons and 51 episodes, although one episode from the final season, "Sammy and Me/The Last Temptation", remained unaired. Almost a year later, the episode aired on Nickelodeon's sister network, MTV , on October 20, 1996. The animation production methods used in The Ren & Stimpy Show were similar to those found in Golden Age cartoons of

2508-408: The meaning of "safe" as "spend a third of what they spend now per picture, hire proven creative talent, and let them entertain." He estimated Spümcø's run of The Ren & Stimpy Show cost around $ 6 million to produce. The relationship between Kricfalusi and Nickelodeon deteriorated to the point where Kricfalusi would communicate with Nickelodeon only through his lawyer. News outlets and several of

2584-442: The original series, Kricfalusi showed apparent disregard for meeting production deadlines, with only three out of the ordered nine episodes being completed on time. After the first three episodes aired, Spike's entire animation block was removed from its programming schedule and three more episodes, already in production and completed by the time Adult Party Cartoon was canceled, were subsequently released three years later in 2006 on

2660-435: The point Ren refuses to hold up the stretcher. When it is time to save Mrs. Buttloaves, Ren rides the ladder to her residence, only to be horrified by the height; Mrs. Buttloaves holds Ren in her mouth as she descends, causing a massive earthquake that destroyed buildings and a crater in place of the original apartment. Grateful for the rescue, she practices cardiopulmonary resuscitation on an unconscious Ren, who mistook it for

2736-539: The production of the new reboot nor will he receive any compensation from it. Originally set to be produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio , production on the reboot has been moved to Awesome Inc in October 2021, while Snipple Animation announced their involvement in September 2022. According to West, development was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States , contrary to earlier rumors that

2812-523: The project had been canceled. Paramount Global (at the time operating as ViacomCBS), the parent company of Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, has not responded to requests for a comment about the status of the show, though West reiterated that it was still in production. On September 14, 2021, West confirmed that he was reprising his roles as Ren and Stimpy. Other returning crew members from the original series include Bob Jaques , Chris Sauve and former Spümcø alumni Robyn Byrd, who previously advocated to get

2888-691: The reboot canceled. Series regular Bob Camp was also assigned to return for the reboot, but was dismissed from the project due to creative differences. The reboot was originally supposed to premiere on July 12, 2024 on Comedy Central in Latin America, but has since been delayed for unknown reasons. The reboot made its debut on Comedy Central in France on July 1, 2024. Sony Wonder initially distributed collections of episodes of The Ren & Stimpy Show on VHS , which were not grouped by air dates or season. For instance, The Classics Volume 1 VHS

2964-479: The rights for Nickelodeon's programming on home video transferred from Sony to Paramount Home Video. Paramount only released one video of The Ren & Stimpy Show , "Have Yourself a Stinky Little Christmas", which was a re-release of a Sony video from 1993. In 2005, Paramount released The First Ten Cartoons on UMD , only for playback on Sony's PSP portable video game system. Presumably due to poor sales of UMD movies and shows, no further episodes were released on

3040-510: The second disc were not completely uncensored, Turbine Classics offered to send everybody proof of purchase of an uncensored disc. The set comprises a mix of the known US airings and the German TV airings which included some exclusive scenes of various episodes. Since the set is the first to include all scenes ever broadcast worldwide, it is considered the first truly uncensored DVD release of the series. Seven action games based directly on

3116-492: The series aired on Nickelodeon from August 11, 1991, to December 16, 1995, with its last episode airing on MTV on October 20, 1996, spanning for a total of five seasons and 52 episodes. The series follows the misadventures of Ren Höek , an emotionally unstable and psychotic chihuahua dog; and Stimpy , a good-natured and dimwitted Manx cat . It is the third to be aired of the original three Nickelodeon animated series known as " Nicktoons ", alongside Doug and Rugrats , and

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3192-486: The series for twenty additional episodes in November 1991, alongside the second season of Rugrats and the second and third season of Doug . The show for a time was the most popular cable TV show, with several airings being the most-watched scripted cable TV show in 1993 in the United States. The show quickly developed a cult following in college campuses, and was included in the launch of Nickelodeon's SNICK ,

3268-467: The series' staff ascribe the tension to episodes not being delivered promptly. Author Andy Mangels , writing for Wizard magazine, commented that "Kricfalusi's lax treatment of deadlines angered not only the networks, but his loyal viewers as well." However, some of the delays were attributed to Nickelodeon's prolonged approval process and withdrawal of approval from scenes and episodes that had been previously approved. Another point of contention

3344-526: The show for the next two years while encountering issues with Nickelodeon's Standards and Practices department. The show was known for its lack of early merchandising; according to Wray, the initial lack of merchandise was "the unique and radical thing" about The Ren & Stimpy Show , as no toy company planned for any merchandise for the show, and Nickelodeon did not want to use "over-exploitive" merchandising. Kricfalusi described his early period with Nickelodeon as being "simple", as he got along with Coffey,

3420-463: The show in 1992. Games Animation would produce the remaining three seasons of the series. One episode was initially left unaired in North America until it was broadcast on MTV on October 20, 1996. A reboot for adult audiences, Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" , was produced by Kricfalusi and Spümcø and aired in 2003 on Spike TV . Only three episodes were aired before the series

3496-439: The show were Frank Zappa (in his final public performance before his death), Jack Carter , Stan Freberg , Tommy Davidson , Randy Quaid , Gilbert Gottfried , Rosie O'Donnell , Dom DeLuise , Phil Hartman , Mark Hamill and Soleil Moon Frye . The Ren & Stimpy Show features a wide variety of music, spanning rockabilly , folk , pop , jazz , classical music , jingles , and more. The opening theme, "Dog Pound Hop",

3572-529: The show were altered to exclude references to religion, politics, alcohol, violence, and tobacco. The episode "Powdered Toast Man" had a cross removed from the Pope 's hat and the credit was changed to "the man with the pointy hat". The same episode had a segment featuring the burning of the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights that was removed, while in "Dog Show", the last name of

3648-441: The show's crew tended to avoid "contemporary" jokes about current events. The show extensively features off-color and absurdist humor , as well as slapstick akin to animated shorts of the 1950s. The show features a host of supporting characters. Due to the nature of the show, they do not have consistent appearances or even designs; those who do appear repeatedly have different roles in each appearance. They may either be part of

3724-460: The show's earlier episodes were rough to the point Kricfalusi felt the need to patch up the animation with sound effects and "music bandaids", helping the segments "play better, even though much of the animation and timing weren't working on their own". KJ Dell'Antonia of Common Sense Media describes the show's style as changing "from intentionally rough to much more polished and plushie-toy ready." Kricfalusi originally voiced Ren, styled after

3800-513: The show's most notable visual trademarks is the detailed paintings of gruesome close-ups, along with the blotchy ink stains that on occasion replace the standard backgrounds, reminiscent of "holes in reality or the vision of a person in a deep state of dementia". This style was developed from Clampett's Baby Bottleneck , which features several scenes with color-cards for backgrounds. The show incorporated norms from "the old system in TV and radio" where

3876-428: The show, went on to create Cartoon Network 's Cow and Chicken . John Kricfalusi became a teacher of sorts for Fred Seibert , and was the first person Seibert called while looking for new talent for the project What A Cartoon! . Writer/animator Allan Neuwirth writes that Ren & Stimpy "broke the mold" and started several trends in TV animation, chiefly the revival of credits at the beginning of each episode,

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3952-415: The sole executive of the program. When another executive was added, they wanted to alter or discard some of the Ren & Stimpy episodes, but Kricfalusi says the episodes stayed intact since he did a "trade" with Coffey: he would have some "really crazy" episodes in exchange for some "heart-warming" episodes. Kricfalusi also said that the program was the "safest project [he] ever worked on" while explaining

4028-451: The stomach from a baby. In the second-season episode " Sven Höek ", during the scene where Ren fantasizes about Stimpy and his cousin Sven's deaths after they break all of his prized possessions, his line "Then...I'm going to gouge your eyes out...yeah..." was cut. One infamous episode, " Man's Best Friend ", was banned by Nickelodeon for its violent content. Neither Nickelodeon nor MTV would air

4104-577: The storyline or make cameo appearances with little bearing on the plot. Some, such as Mr. Horse , are exclusively cameo-based, spontaneously appearing as a running gag. George Liquor makes his first appearances in the show through cameos or as a supporting character, as demonstrated in " Dog Show " and " Man's Best Friend ". According to animator William Wray , John Kricfalusi created the characters Ren and Stimpy in 1978 for "personal amusement" while studying at Sheridan College in Ontario , Canada. He

4180-1046: The style of All in the Family . The Alvin Show from Ross Bagdasarian Sr. and Beany and Cecil from Bob Clampett are also sitcoms. The 1980s and 1990s were a renaissance of the animated children and adult television series. Various broadcast networks and media companies began creating television channels and formats designed specifically for airing cartoon and anime series. Companies that already had these types of formats in place began to revamp their existing models during this time. Most of this animations were American-based or Japanese anime. Listed below are examples of television networks and channels that include animated programs. American British Japanese Canadian Australian Examples of animation-focused networks and channels are listed below; but some of them aired live-action programs occasionally. American South Korean Canadian Japanese During

4256-439: The summer of 1989 after Kricfalusi pitched and sold The Ren & Stimpy Show to Nickelodeon. The pilot was produced by Kricfalusi's Los Angeles-based animation company, Spümcø , and screened at film festivals for several months before the show was announced in Nickelodeon's 1991 cartoons line-up. The series premiered on August 11, 1991, alongside Doug and Rugrats as the original Nicktoons . Spümcø continued to produce

4332-550: The television series were released between 1992 and 1995. Aside from these dedicated titles, Ren, Stimpy, and other characters from the series make appearances in the Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker , Nicktoons Racing , Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots , Nicktoons MLB , Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix , Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl , Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway , and Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 . A Ren & Stimpy game by Acclaim Entertainment

4408-403: The use of grotesque close-ups, and a shift in cartoon color palettes to richer, more harmonious colors. A direct influence can be seen in the series SpongeBob SquarePants with the physically extreme drawings that contrast with the characters' usual appearance, the "grotesque close-ups". Series veteran Vincent Waller currently serves as a showrunner on SpongeBob . The characters became

4484-402: The voice of Stimpy in the series, while Kricfalusi reprised his roles as both Ren and Mr. Horse. The series premiered with the banned Nickelodeon episode " Man's Best Friend ", before debuting new episodes thereafter. From the first episode, fans and critics alike were put off by this revival, which featured the consumption of bodily fluids such as nasal mucus , saliva and vomit . Much like

4560-430: The week during a prescribed time slot , including for example saturday-morning cartoons , prime time cartoons , late night anime , and weekday cartoons ; series broadcast only on weekends. The duration of an episode also varies. Traditionally, they are produced as complete half-hour or nearly half-hour programs; however, many are presented as animated shorts of 10 — 11 minutes, which can be combined for filling

4636-471: Was "written in an afternoon" as to fill the quota of episodes ordered for the first season in October 1990. Bob Camp called "Fire Dogs" "a regular cartoon, lots of mayhem and running around and physical humor. It's not the usual bizarre fare". The episode was by all accounts rushed at the Spümcø studio with as little work as done as possible. Instead of being drawn in and painted at the usual sub-contractors for

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4712-400: Was a lot hipper than anybody thought. He went where no man wanted to go before – the caca, booger humor ". Jonathan Valania of The Morning Call called it "high voltage yuks and industrial-strength weirdness", John Lyttle of The Independent described it as "a gooey media meltdown, absolutely grotesque and instantly recognisable" and did not consider it a children's cartoon. As of 2024,

4788-473: Was a turning point in the show, with the new episodes being a considerable step down from the standard of those that preceded them. Ted Drozdowski, resident critic of The Boston Phoenix , stated that "the bloom faded" on Ren & Stimpy . Animation historian Michael Barrier writes that while the creators of the Games episodes used crude jokes that were similar to those used by Kricfalusi, they did not "find

4864-470: Was also granted a LaserDisc set (the only ever LaserDisc release from Sony Wonder, and the only LaserDisc of a Nickelodeon original series), The Ren & Stimpy Show -- The Essential Collection: Classics I & II , was released in 1995. This included all the episodes previously released on VHS from the Classics I and Classics II volumes, as well as the shorts included on said VHS releases. Eventually,

4940-512: Was canceled due to both production delays and negative critical reception from both critics and fans of the original series, with three additional episodes (all incomplete at the time of the cancellation) being released straight to DVD in 2006. On August 5, 2020, Comedy Central announced that they had ordered a second reboot of the series to be produced without the involvement of Kricfalusi. The series centers on Ren Höek (voiced by John Kricfalusi in seasons 1–2; Billy West in seasons 3–5),

5016-442: Was composed by Chris Reccardi and written by Charlie Brissette and John Kricfalusi. A cover of this song, performed by Wax , is included on the 1995 tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits , produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records . The program's staff did not want to create an "educational" series, a stance that bothered Nickelodeon , leading to the series being criticized by parent groups. Some segments of

5092-461: Was developing a new Ren & Stimpy short that would be shown in theaters with the third SpongeBob SquarePants film , and later said that they were "not invited to that party" and would not be involved with the short's production. However, Kricfalusi later denied making such a cartoon on Twitter . Despite this, an animatic of the short that was originally made as a promotion for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water before being cancelled

5168-429: Was inspired to create Ren by an Elliott Erwitt photograph, printed on a postcard, called "New York City, 1946", showing a sweatered chihuahua at a woman's feet. Stimpy's design was inspired by a Tweety cartoon called A Gruesome Twosome , where the cats in the animation had big noses. When Nickelodeon approached Kricfalusi, he presented three shows, among them a variety show titled Your Gang or Our Gang with

5244-469: Was performed by a group of Spümcø employees under the name "Die Screaming Leiderhôsens"; they include developer Jim Smith , animator Chris Reccardi and production assistant Scott Huml. Three Ren & Stimpy albums have been released. In 1993 a compilation album, You Eediot! , was released as a soundtrack album. The album's front cover is a parody of The Beatles ' 11th studio album Abbey Road . Stimpy's rousing anthem titled "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy"

5320-633: Was planned for the Atari Lynx but never released. Marvel Comics optioned the rights to produce comic books based on Nickelodeon properties in 1992. The initial plan was to have an anthology comic featuring several Nicktoons properties. Marvel produced 44 issues of the ongoing series, along with several specials under the Marvel Absurd imprint. Most of these were written by comic scribe Dan Slott . Animated series Animated television series are presented daily or on certain days of

5396-404: Was produced by Kricfalusi's animation studio Spümcø for the first two seasons. Beginning with season three (1993–94), the show was produced by Nickelodeon's Games Animation. The episode "Man's Best Friend" was produced for season two, but the episode was shelved and debuted with the show's 2003 reboot . Another episode, "Sammy and Me / The Last Temptation", aired on MTV on October 20, 1996, almost

5472-618: Was released as a bonus feature on the Cans Without Labels DVD in May 2019. On August 5, 2020, it was announced that a new Ren & Stimpy reboot has been greenlit by Comedy Central , along with Daria and Beavis and Butt-Head . Though a new creative staff has been employed, Billy West was expected to return along with a few of the original series' writers. Due to the sexual abuse allegations surrounding him , it has been confirmed that Kricfalusi will not be involved in

5548-460: Was released in 1993 and included three episodes from Season 1 ("Space Madness", "Untamed World" and "Stimpy's Invention"), as well as the short segment "Breakfast Tips" and a "Log" commercial. Other Nickelodeon compilation tapes, including two themed after the SNICK programming block, were also released containing individual Ren and Stimpy cartoons. Perhaps because of the show's adult following, it

5624-497: Was released on July 17, 2006, featuring both the aired and unaired episodes from "Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon". Paramount released "The Almost Complete Series" 9-disc set that combines the individual season discs into a single package, on February 6, 2018, and was re-released on January 11, 2022. The original series was released entirely as a 9-disc set in Germany on October 4, 2013. After people said that two episodes on

5700-793: Was the direction of the series. Kricfalusi cites the episode " Man's Best Friend " as the primary reason for his dismissal; the character George Liquor is depicted in the episode as an abusive father figure, and Nickelodeon did not want the show to be so frightening and dramatic. Nickelodeon terminated Kricfalusi's contract in late September 1992 and offered him the position of consultant for Ren & Stimpy , but he refused to " sell out ". The network moved production from Spümcø to its newly founded animation studio, Games Animation , which later became Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Bob Camp replaced Kricfalusi as director, while West, having refused Kricfalusi's request to leave along with him, voiced Ren in addition to Stimpy. Fans and critics felt this

5776-538: Was very similar. They're both storyboard-driven shows, which means they give us an outline from a premise after the premise has been approved. We take the outline and expand on it, writing the dialogue and gags. That was very familiar." The show's aesthetics draw on Golden Age cartoons, particularly those of animator Bob Clampett from the 1940s in the way the characters' emotions powerfully distort their bodies. The show's style emphasizes unique expressions, intense and specific acting and strong character poses. One of

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