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 (See: Origin of Ren and Stimpy).
Although 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 boogers 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. Many parents of young children were critical 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.
Nickelodeon eventually fired Kricfalusi from his own creation and systematically censored the cartoon. Eventually, several episodes were deemed unairable and have never been broadcast by Nickelodeon again.
In 2004, Ren & Stimpy landed at number 17 on UK Channel 4's list of the 100 Greatest Cartoons. |
