Space Madness

Plot

Ren and Stimpy decide to watch television, and Stimpy notes that their favorite live-action drama, the science-fiction show The Adventures of Commander Höek and Cadet Stimpy, is airing. Stimpy dresses as Space Cadet Stimpy while watching. In the show, Commander Höek and Space Cadet Stimpy are the two-animal crew of a spacecraft who have traveled further into space than any dog and cat before, having made the journey to the Crab Nebula a dozen times over 36 years.

Realizing they have no duties for another six years, the duo try to think of what to do with their leisure time. A ticking clock sound distresses Ren, but it is revealed to be Stimpy tapping the table. Stimpy prepares a three-course meal of space food tubes, which pushes Ren to his breaking point and he begins showing signs of "space madness". Ren takes a bath and calms down temporarily, but when Stimpy turns off the gravity, Ren snaps after thinking of Earth foods he misses.

He eats a bar of soap, believing it to be an ice cream bar from his childhood, and after floating in a body of water, he accuses Stimpy of trying to take the soap away. Ren disperses the water and threatens Stimpy with a toothbrush, then forcefully brushes his own teeth. Stimpy restrains him. Ren records a captain's log, believing Stimpy has attacked him and has space madness.

To control Stimpy's apparent madness, Ren assigns him to guard the History Eraser Button. The Announcer Salesman tests Stimpy's limits, appearing physically to intimidate him. Stimpy presses the button, and the Announcer Salesman treats it as a cliffhanger, but he and the duo are erased from existence. The show's logo appears, but the duo are also erased, implying the button affected reality. A fictional advertisement for Sugar Frosted Milk airs midway through.

Production

The story was conceived in 1990 at Spümcø and pitched in the spring of 1991. Series creator John Kricfalusi stated in a 2008 interview that both "Stimpy's Invention" and "Space Madness" were rejected by Nickelodeon before he convinced them to let him produce the episodes, and they became the show's two most popular episodes. By June 1991, animation was sub-contracted to Carbunkle Cartoons in Vancouver; it was the first episode in the series animated by that studio and the first not animated by Lacewood Productions.

Critic Thad Komorowski wrote that much of the episode's quality came from Carbunkle Cartoons, which gave it a cinematic quality unusual in American animated TV series. Jim Smith and Chris Reccardi handled storyboards, and layout artist Jim Gomez helped write the story. Tension arose between Bob Jaques, Carbunkle's chief and animation director for the episode, and Kricfalusi. Jaques complained about a scene where Ren floats in water while eating a soap bar, stating that Kricfalusi tried to redraw the scene after sending it to Carbunkle, and that the design of the water varied from layout to layout.

Coloring was assigned to Fil-Cartoons Studio in Manila; their work was described as even worse than Lacewood's output. Kricfalusi despised working with the studio, and Jaques felt their cheap performance ruined his enjoyment of the episode. Fil-Cartoons also animated the sister episode "The Boy Who Cried Rat!".

Reception

Thad Komorowski gave the episode five out of five stars, calling it the first genuine masterpiece of The Ren & Stimpy Show and the episode that made the show popular. Jonathan Barkan praised "Space Madness" along with its sequel "Marooned" as playing almost like demented Star Trek episodes. Rob Harvilla wrote that the episode features a surreal plot and Ren's colorful insults, and praised the voice acting as phenomenal, noting that John Kricfalusi and Billy West performed with stupendous, indelible voices. Harvilla also noted that his enjoyment of the show today is tainted by the sexual abuse allegations against Kricfalusi that emerged in 2018.