Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"

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Ren and Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"

The Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" title card.
Format Animated series
Created by John Kricfalusi
Starring John Kricfalusi
Eric Bauza
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 12 (10 shows)
Production
Running time approx. 0:30 (0:11 per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel Spike
Original run June 26, 2003 – October 20, 2004
Chronology
Preceded by The Ren and Stimpy Show
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Ren and Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" was an animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for the American cable network TNN (later to become Spike TV). The series was an adults only-revival of the popular animated series The Ren and Stimpy Show, considered by some[who?] to be a children's series, which had previously aired on the American children's cable network Nickelodeon. It aired on June 26 to July 26, 2003, and was officially canceled a month after it debuted. It was rated TV-MA in the United States.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] The original Ren & Stimpy series

The original series was very controversial, and its creator had been known for disputing content with censors. When Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi in 1992, the Nickelodeon-owned studio Games Animation took over the series, leading many animators to quit the series. The Ren and Stimpy Show was canceled in 1996.

[edit] Viacom hires John Kricfalusi to produce a version of Ren & Stimpy

In 2002, Viacom hired John Kricfalusi to produce a new version of his series for an updated version of the TNN network devoted specifically to programming for male audiences. Kricfalusi said that Spike TV wanted an "extreme" version of The Ren and Stimpy Show.[1] TNN gave Kricfalusi greater control of the writing and contents of the episodes than the control given by Nickelodeon. Kricfalusi produced 7 new cartoons aimed at adult audiences.[2]

[edit] Old and new talent come to work

A few of the head storyboard artists, writers, and animators returned from the original The Ren and Stimpy Show series, such as Vincent Waller, Eddie Fitzgerald, and Jim Smith, but most of the animation and writing team were a new team of artists, specifically instructed and headed by Kricfalusi himself. Some of the new talent that worked on APC were Katie Rice and Nick Cross. Many of the original voice cast members returned with the exception of Billy West, which led to Eric Bauza filling the role of Stimpy. Veteran Ren and Stimpy cast members Harris Peet and Cheryl Chase also returned, and Kricfalusi's father Mike Kricfalusi provided some voices.

West said in an interview that when Kricfalusi asked him to voice Stimpy, West replied by saying that he did not wish to voice Stimpy in this cartoon. West said in an interview that he believed that the cartoon lacked humor and that voicing Stimpy in it would damage his career.[3]

[edit] Carbunkle Cartoons

All of the episodes were animated at Carbunkle Cartoons, the studio that Kricfalusi would send his best episodes to be animated at during the Nickelodeon years (including "Space Madness", "Black Hole" and "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen"), in association with Big Star Productions.

[edit] Premiere on Spike TV

In June 2003, the new series began airing as part of an animation block also featuring Gary the Rat, Stripperella, and digitally remastered episodes of the original Ren and Stimpy series, subtitled "Digitally Remastered Classics".

[edit] "Onward and Upward"

Kricfalusi wrote the first episode, "Onward and Upward," based on requests from fans from the Nickelodeon era.[2] The episode portrayed the characters as homosexuals: In one scene, Ren informs Stimpy, "You're the catcher, I'm the pitcher." Ren then dives under the covers and frolics with Stimpy.

[edit] Trouble with advertisers

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, along with the network's entire animation block, the show was taken off the air.[4]

[edit] Cancellation

In the spring and summer 2004, Kricfalusi completed 2 new episodes (each an hour-long), and those episodes (along with "Naked Beach Frenzy") were shown at film festivals and special screenings. The network had planned to start Adult Party Cartoon's 2nd season in August 2004, but cancelled that plan at the next-to-last minute.

The network officially cancelled Adult Party Cartoon around November 2004 (and Kricfalusi shut down his studio in Canada shortly thereafter), but in 2005, Kricfalusi announced that all of the Adult Party Cartoon cartoons were coming to DVD, and that the possibility exists for new The Ren and Stimpy Show episodes to be produced on the back of successful sales. [5] Kricfalusi has stated to have great interest in making direct-to-video episodes to avoid TV restrictions. The entire run of cartoons was released in July 2006 as Ren and Stimpy: The Lost Episodes.

[edit] Episode list

  • "Man's Best Friend"
  • "Onward and Upward"
  • "Ren Seeks Help"
  • "Fire Dogs 2: Part 1" (sometimes alongside the original "Fire Dogs")
  • "Fire Dogs 2: Part 2"
  • "Naked Beach Frenzy" (originally titled "At the Beach")
  • "Altruists: Part 1"
  • "Altruists: Part 2"
  • "Stimpy's Pregnant: Part 1"
  • "Stimpy's Pregnant Part 2: The Blessed Event"
  • "Man's Best Friend" was originally to be aired in the second season, but the episode was banned by Nickelodeon and had not been aired until Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon". Spike's official episode lineup on their website seemed to suggest that they consider "Man's Best Friend" a part of the Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" series, but this episode in general is not counted as one of the three episodes from this series that aired in the U.S.
  • "Naked Beach Frenzy", "Altruists" (parts one and two), and "Stimpy's Pregnant" (parts one and two) were not aired on television in the United States (although "Onward and Upward", "Ren Seeks Help", and "Fire Dogs 2" (parts one and two) were), but are finished episodes released on the Ren and Stimpy: The Lost Episodes (a collection of the episodes of Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon") DVD set. Despite this, the complete series aired on various networks in other countries.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Bio In Progress," John Kricfalusi's Stuff at Blogspot
  2. ^ a b Who's Who in Animated Cartoons. 188.
  3. ^ "Billy West Interview." UnderGroundOnline
  4. ^ Nick Digilio interview with John Kricfalusi
  5. ^ "The Ren and Stimpy Show DVD news: John K. chats: talks about APC & other show DVDs, says R&SS to get 'Ultimate' DVDs with more extras!," TVShowsOnDVD.com

[edit] External links