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Tooncrap #32 - Ren & Stimpy Adult Party
Cartoon: Stimpy's Pregnant
Literal Tooncrap
Spumco: 2003
Written by: Raymond Gallant
WARNING: THE
FOLLOWING INDUCTION CONTAINS SCENES THAT WILL DISTURB SOME PEOPLE.
DISCRETION ISN'T JUST ADVISED, IT SHOULD BE FREAKIN' MANDATORY!
Well, this is it. The big one. I've inducted a good 100 things over the
course of Tooncrap's existence. But the one that always is asked of me
if to induct the Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon. A show that many
consider to be one of the worst cartoons of all time. And I'm incline to
agree. Trust me, waiting on this one wasn't my feelings against the
displeasure most people have with the series. I waited because damn
people, this is stuff that will mess with your very soul.
Let's go back to 1991. Nickelodeon was starting to break into more
original content, and with it came the birth of Nicktoons. And one of
the first three Nicktoons to debut was Ren and Stimpy, a cartoon from
the disturbed mind of John Kricfalusi. The show was unlike anything on
television at the time. It reveled in disturbing imagery and wacky gross
out humor. It was like someone took the garbage pail kids cards, and any
other disgusting thing kids loved and splayed it on a screen for all
ages to enjoy. I remember loving it as a kid, and even to this day I
find John K's original run to be some of the best cartoons of all time.
Knowing how to do wacky comedy and visual disgust perfectly.
But a show as controversial as Ren and Stimpy would have to have its
limits. Ones that Kricfalusi didn't care for. Eventually John K. was
fired after years of disagreements with the brass at Nickelodeon
Studios, and the show lasted for a while longer under the Games
Animation Banner and without the man who birthed it. Kricfalusi would
continue on with his Spumco brand through internet videos, and another
short lived series worth considering for Tooncrap, The Ripping Friends.
In 2002, Viacom would come knocking at the door of Kricfalusi again to
revive Ren and Stimpy for the rebranded TNN, now known as Spike TV. It
would be one of three cartons for their seemingly doomed from the start
animation block which was a clear intent to compete with Adult Swim. And
thus The Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon was born. And I as a
longtime fan of the original series could not wait for this. I was
excited from the news of its announcement up until the first episode
aired... which I hated immediately.
It feels like the show went from smart gross out humor and kid friendly
innuendos to disturbing and without any veil to the relationship between
Ren and Stimpy. I'm far from a person who has an issue with homosexual
or bisexual characters, and if you watched the original series they
couldn't have telegraphed it any more, but now it just feels like they
were literally shoving it in the faces of the fans. It also felt like
the magic the series once had in writing was left with usually overly
long and drawn out jokes in order to make the time limit for each
episode.
The show was quickly cancelled after only three episodes aired, and the
remainder of the series (to which there were only six made) would see
air on DVD later on. One of those episodes is the one I'm covering
today. Will I review the rest? If I don't want to live in a psych ward
for my remaining years, I'd advise against it. But in this case, we'll
see. But seeing as how last month I tackled how Family Gut got
disturbing with their pregnancy storyline, it's time to top that with
Stimpy's Pregnant. An episode that its sure to warp all and entertain a
mere few.
So, let's get into the long awaited one. Let's review this thing.
After a narration telling us that this episode is a tribute to mothers
everywhere (gee, I'm sure they're delighted for this tribute), we open
our episode with Stimpy vomiting and belching, which eventually wakes up
Ren. His awakened state nearly leads to him hitting Stimpy, until he is
told the good news. It turns out that somehow that he has impregnated
the cat.
Ren's first response is none too surprising.
Stimpy objects aborting the child, which infuriates Ren some more. And
after making it more and more obvious to the viewers that yes, these two
had sex and that Ren must have "good seed", it still angers the
Chihuahua since they don't have jobs to support a kid, and you know the
whole being a father thing. But once he learns that he may have a kid
that looks like him and can aid in abusing Stimpy more, his mood takes a
180 and he's suddenly all for it.
Next up begins the biggest problem with this whole cartoon. Other than
of course everything else so far. Our second act is a long skit with Ren
talking on the phone about how virile he is while Stimpy is constantly
doing everything for him while preggers. Mowing the lawn, getting him a
cold beer, moving a piano, all while getting no appreciation. Now a joke
like that would probably be funny for maybe ninety seconds. this joke
takes up six minutes of the episode. Sure it means a lack of disturbing
imagery for a while, but it's still dull as dirt with barely anything to
chuckle about.
This is followed by another long gross out joke where Stimpy, now
succumbing to cravings, makes a snack with everything from fish bottoms,
to chicken eyes, to ice cream and creamed corn. It's not even funny
gross out humor that tries to top itself with how crazy it can get. It's
just another five minutes of Stimpy raiding the fridge for whatever he
can add to his pile. The ultimate payoff for this is we see Stimpy's
boobs fly out, and it ends with him licking his ass hole.
Boy, I sure wish I was watching Space Madness right now.
So after half the episode being padding to the nth degree, we finally
get to the main event. Stimpy's water breaks, and the baby is arriving.
They drive to the hospital, but get stopped by a cop (literally drawn as
a pig) for speeding. When they tell him of their plight, he leads the
way. When traffic gets in between them, they try to ensure new life by
shooting and killing the drivers in front of them.
They arrive to the hospital with the contractions getting worse. They're
greeted by their doctor, who of course is Mr. Horse. He tries to get the
baby to come out when he's told by his sheep nurse about some unsettling
news involving this pregnancy. Now let's be honest, this twist coming up
was one we all figured was coming, but even so, it doesn't excuse it
from existing at all. It turns out that Stimpy was never pregnant at
all, just really constipated. And the "baby" is a giant turd.
Any logical person would of course tell Ren and Stimpy of the situation,
but since it's made the two closer together, Doctor Horse doesn't have
the heart to do so. He continues with the birthing, as the baby comes
out in poop clumps. After it's all over, he forms the remainders into a
baby and gives it to Ren and Stimpy. They're happy and name it "Little
Ricky" (because let's just piss all over one of the greatest shows of
all time), and we end this episode.
And that's "Stimpy's Pregnant". And now I know why I waited so long to
review anything Adult Party related. The comedy is lackluster, the
disturbing content is so vile it's hard to find any real enjoyment out
of it (even if gross out humor is your thing, this does feel dire), and
it drags. And when it drags it's more of a chore to sit through. I
haven't sat through every episode of this run, so I don't know if this
is the bottom of the barrel in terms of the worst in the series, but
it's definitely one of the most horrid things I've ever inducted for
this blog.
Hell, this plot was done better in the original series with the episode
"Son of Stimpy", where Stimpy had a fart that became his son. It had
comedy, some actual emotion, and never felt like it took forever and a
day on one or two jokes. Where this on the other hand never gets funny,
has no emotion, and feels like pain to sit through. And in the end, it
proves why I love the original series still to this day, and when
Kricfalusi was on a leash it actually provided more entertaining
content.
And in conclusion, with that ending, I can now literally say I've seen
actual factual Tooncrap... and now I feel like driving a screwdriver
into my brain to forget I did. Thank you Ren and Stimpy!
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