Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"

History

In 1991, the original Ren & Stimpy Show debuted on Nickelodeon alongside Rugrats and Doug as part of the network's first Nicktoons lineup. Its creator, John Kricfalusi, frequently clashed with the network, leading to his firing the next year. The series continued at Games Animation until 1995, ending with one final episode that aired on MTV in 1996. Roughly a decade after his dismissal, Viacom, Nickelodeon's parent company, reached out to Kricfalusi in 2002 to create a new version of the show for TNN/Spike TV, a sister network aimed at male viewers.

Kricfalusi stated that TNN requested an "extreme" take on the series. Given more freedom over writing and content, he produced six episodes intended for adults; among them, "Altruists" was a fresh concept from Eric Bauza, not a holdover from the original run. Mirroring his earlier troubles, Kricfalusi again struggled with deadlines and budgets, completing only three of the nine ordered episodes on time while spending the entire nine-episode budget.

Episodes

John Kricfalusi, the show's creator, handled directing duties for every episode, using the credit "John K." for the first five installments and "M. John Kricfalusi" for the last one. Originally, Vincent Waller was set to direct "Onward & Upward," and Derek Bond was slated to direct "Ren Seeks Help," with Kricfalusi acting as supervising director, but those plans shifted and Kricfalusi took over. A planned DVD episode called "Life Sucks," meant to precede "Ren Seeks Help," never made it to production in time. In that scrapped story, Ren declares his hatred for life, horrifying Stimpy, leading to a detailed examination of historical tragedies like the Children's Crusade to provide context for their heated argument. By the time the series was cancelled, some voice work had been recorded and roughly one-third of the storyboard was finished.

Reception and legacy

The revival of Ren and Stimpy was met with near-universal rejection from critics, audiences, and longtime fans. Rob Owen of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called it simply "just plain gross," while Charles Solomon of the Los Angeles Times noted it was only "adult" in the sense that it was unsuitable for children. Both Tucson Weekly and Exclaim! described the series as "disastrous." DVD Talk acknowledged the quality of the animation but felt the stories were hollow and relied on cheap shock value.

Matt Schimkowitz of Splitsider suggested the show targeted teenagers who had grown up with the original and were now supposedly ready for jokes about spousal abuse and eating boogers. A more positive review from PopMatters argued that the overwhelming grossness was both clever and satirical, not just pointless nausea. Thad Komorowski, a historian of the franchise, attributed the show's failure to a combination of factors, including the absence of key contributors like Bob Camp and Chris Reccardi, as well as the reuse of rejected episodes from the original series. He also felt that calling it one of the worst animated shows ever was an exaggeration.