Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" - History

History

The original series was known to be 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. 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 TNN wanted an "extreme" version of The Ren & Stimpy Show. TNN gave Kricfalusi greater control of the writing and contents of the episodes than the control given by Nickelodeon. Kricfalusi produced seven new cartoons aimed at adult audiences. A few of the head storyboard artists, screenwriters, and animators returned from the original Ren and Stimpy 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.

Many of the original voice cast members returned with the exception of Billy West, who said this series wasn't funny and believed being in it would hurt his career, which led to Eric Bauza filling the role of Stimpy. West shared the role of Stimpy with Eric Bauza for one episode, but the show in question, "Man's Best Friend", was produced during the Spümcø era of Nickelodeon, when West was still with the show. Cast members Harris Peet and Cheryl Chase also returned, and Kricfalusi's father Mike Kricfalusi and long-time childhood friend Tom Hay provided some voices.

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. In June 2003, the new series began airing as part of an animation block also featuring Gary the Rat, This Just In, Stripperella, and digitally remastered episodes of the original Ren and Stimpy series, subtitled "Digitally Remastered Classics". Kricfalusi wrote the first episode, "Onward and Upward", based on requests from fans from the Nickelodeon era. The episode portrayed the characters as bisexual: In one scene, Ren informs Stimpy, "I'm the pitcher, you're the catcher."