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Ren and Stimpy (characters)
Encyclopedia
Ren and Stimpy, created by John Kricfalusi
, are the titular characters in the Canadian
/American
co-produced animated television series The Ren and Stimpy Show
and first appeared in the pilot episode
, titled Big House Blues.
-Hound
" Chihuahua
with a fairly long, rat-like, pink tail. In the series he is portrayed as being greedy, insane, delusional, paranoid, violent and insecure (in short, mentally unstable). Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Ren as "scrawny," "dyspeptic
," and "violently psychotic
." On some occasions Ren "lost his mind" in a "cumulative process," resulting in Ren becoming, in Goodman's words, a "screaming klaxon, neon-pink eyes dilating into twin nova
e inches above his jagged, monolithic teeth
." Andy Meisler of The New York Times
described Ren as "adventurous," "intelligent," and "emotionally brittle."
Kricfalusi originally voiced Ren in a manner that he describes as "a bad imitation
of Peter Lorre
." Billy West
said that he auditioned to play Ren; the creators of the series believed that having West voice both Ren and Stimpy would give him too large of a workload. West voiced Ren after Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi; Kricfalusi would return for the Spike TV episodes and unaired episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show. Chris Edgerly
would voice the character in the game Nicktoons MLB
though. In the pilot, Pierre Decelles provided Ren's signature diabolical laughter, while West performed Ren's laugh in the series. Although he does threaten Stimpy with bodily violence due to constantly getting annoyed with his stupidity, Ren does care for Stimpy. His catch phrase
is, "You eediot" and what is your problem you sick little monkey variations thereof, harkening back a memorable quote by Lorre as Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon
: "You... you imbecile. You bloated idiot. You stupid fat-head you."
Kricfalusi complained about Nickelodeon executives requesting for Ren to have "a softer side." Bill Wray
said that Ren was his favorite character to write for; Wray described Ren as "fun" because "you can make him mean." In 1993 he added that "It drives me crazy when I tell people I work on the show and they always say, 'Make Ren meaner.'"
-style buttocks
, flat feet, and a brain
the size of a peanut
(despite some intelligence, such as cooking
and inventing; he is also the main antagonist of the show, and has some other knowledge such as monetary counting and knowing that pork fat floats on beans). Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Stimpy as "obese," and "brain-damaged." Andy Meisler of The New York Times described Stimpy as "bosom," "barrel-chested," and "good-natured."
Stimpy's trademark facial expression is a blissfully ignorant smile with his tongue
flopping out. Most of the time when he gets excited, he says his famous catchphrase, "Oh, Joy!" or simply "Jooooooy". Stimpy is named after an art school
classmate of Kricfalusi, whose nickname was "Stimpy Cadogen" ("Killer Cadoogen" was Stimpy's pseudonym
in several episodes, and in a few others he is referred to as Stimpleton Cadogen). West said that he based Stimpy's voice on a "sped up" Larry Fine
of the Three Stooges
. West described Stimpy as one of his favorite characters. Eric Bauza
voiced Stimpy in Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" and Nicktoons MLB
.
Stimpy likes to create destructive electronic devices and feels a fixation for, in the words of Andy Meisler of The New York Times
, "sensory pleasures of fresh kitty litter."
Wray described Stimpy as his favorite character to draw. Wray said that Stimpy does not have "a huge range of emotion."
West said in an interview that he did not wish to voice Stimpy in the Adult Party Cartoon because he believed that the series was not funny and that voicing Stimpy in it would damage his career.
stated that he believes that Kricfalusi created the Ren and Stimpy characters around 15 years prior to the interview for Kricfalusi's and Kricfalusi's friends' personal amusement during the university
years; Kricfalusi attended Sheridan College
in Canada. Wray said that he had initially "forgotten about" the characters. When Nickelodeon
requested new series, Kricfalusi assembled a presentation called "Your Gang," similar to a children's show with a live action host presenting various cartoons. Each cartoon parodied
a genre, and Ren and Stimpy parodied the "cat and dog" genre. Vanessa Coffey, the producer of the show, said that she did not like the general idea, but that she liked Ren and Stimpy.
Kricfalusi originally created Ren and Stimpy as the pets of George Liquor
and Jimmy The Idiot Boy.
Kricfalusi received inspiration, used when drawing the first drawings of Ren, from a black and white photograph of a chihuahua in a sweater next to a woman's feet.
Jeffrey P. Dennis said in the journal article "The Same Thing We Do Every Night: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Cartoons" that Ren and Stimpy are within a world where "gay identities cannot exist," so the series portrays homosexual romantic desire as "anomalous and perverse." Dennis added that the critics of the series "made much" of the homosexual connotations of Ren and Stimpy, such as their sharing of a house and bed, their reminiscing of a wedding, and Stimpy's "giving birth" to flatulence. Dennis said that Ren is "socially and sexually" the aggressor in the relationship; in addition he says that some episodes portray Stimpy as "a stereotypical 1950s wife" who cleans, cooks food, and irons Ren's underwear. Dennis stated that the aspects "may adhere to a reading of a sexual relationship." Dennis concludes that the relationship between Ren and Stimpy is a parody of heterosexual relationships rather than an actual homosexual or an actual romantic relationship. Dennis adds that in other situations Ren and Stimpy are "read more appropriately" as coworkers, enemies, friends, and house pets. Dennis argues that Yogi Bear
and Boo-Boo are more consistently homosexual than Ren and Stimpy. Dennis also stated that the scenes of Ren and Stimpy as a couple emulate a heterosexual couple instead of being a union between two men.
In a response to Dennis' statements, Martin Goodman of Animation World Network
said that Kricfalusi had outed
Ren and Stimpy as homosexual. Martin added that while the Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" had not yet been released and therefore Ren and Stimpy had not been explicitly portrayed as homosexual, Ren and Stimpy would qualify as a consistently homosexual couple since they share a bed, live as partners, discuss a planned wedding, and had a "child," with the child being flatulence
.
John Kricfalusi
Michael John Kricfalusi , better known as John K., is a Canadian animator. He is creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show, its adults-only spin-off Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon", The Ripping Friends animated series, and Weekend Pussy Hunt, which was billed as "the world's first interactive web-based...
, are the titular characters in the Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
/American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
co-produced animated television series The Ren and Stimpy Show
The Ren and Stimpy Show
The Ren & Stimpy Show, often simply referred to as Ren & Stimpy, is an American animated television series, created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on the titular characters: Ren Höek, a psychotic chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a good-natured, dimwitted cat...
and first appeared in the pilot episode
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
, titled Big House Blues.
Ren Höek
Ren is a scrawny "AsthmaAsthma
Asthma is the common chronic inflammatory disease of the airways characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and bronchospasm. Symptoms include wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and shortness of breath...
-Hound
Hound
A hound is a type of dog that assists hunters by tracking or chasing the animal being hunted. It can be contrasted with the gun dog, which assists hunters by identifying the location of prey, and with the retriever, which recovers shot quarry...
" Chihuahua
Chihuahua (dog)
The ' is the smallest breed of dog and is so named for the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. Chihuahuas come in a wide variety of sizes, head shapes, colors and coat lengths.-History:...
with a fairly long, rat-like, pink tail. In the series he is portrayed as being greedy, insane, delusional, paranoid, violent and insecure (in short, mentally unstable). Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Ren as "scrawny," "dyspeptic
Dyspepsia
Dyspepsia , also known as upset stomach or indigestion, refers to a condition of impaired digestion. It is a medical condition characterized by chronic or recurrent pain in the upper abdomen, upper abdominal fullness and feeling full earlier than expected when eating...
," and "violently psychotic
Psychosis
Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
." On some occasions Ren "lost his mind" in a "cumulative process," resulting in Ren becoming, in Goodman's words, a "screaming klaxon, neon-pink eyes dilating into twin nova
Nova
A nova is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion in a star caused by the accretion of hydrogen on to the surface of a white dwarf star, which ignites and starts nuclear fusion in a runaway manner...
e inches above his jagged, monolithic teeth
Tooth
Teeth are small, calcified, whitish structures found in the jaws of many vertebrates that are used to break down food. Some animals, particularly carnivores, also use teeth for hunting or for defensive purposes. The roots of teeth are embedded in the Mandible bone or the Maxillary bone and are...
." Andy Meisler of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
described Ren as "adventurous," "intelligent," and "emotionally brittle."
Kricfalusi originally voiced Ren in a manner that he describes as "a bad imitation
Imitation
Imitation is an advanced behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's. The word can be applied in many contexts, ranging from animal training to international politics.-Anthropology and social sciences:...
of Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre was an Austrian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner.He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial killer who preys on little girls in the German film M...
." Billy West
Billy West
William Richard "Billy" West is an American voice actor. Born in Detroit but raised in the Roslindale neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, Billy launched his career in the early 1980s performing daily comedic routines on Boston's WBCN. He left the radio station to work on the short-lived revival...
said that he auditioned to play Ren; the creators of the series believed that having West voice both Ren and Stimpy would give him too large of a workload. West voiced Ren after Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi; Kricfalusi would return for the Spike TV episodes and unaired episodes of The Ren and Stimpy Show. Chris Edgerly
Chris Edgerly
Christopher "Chris" Edgerly is an American actor and voice actor.Edgerly was born in Silver Spring, Maryland, he moved to Savannah, Georgia at the age of two with his mother, and two brothers...
would voice the character in the game Nicktoons MLB
Nicktoons MLB
Nicktoons MLB is a baseball game released for the Nintendo DS, Wii, and Xbox 360. The game was developed by High Voltage Software and published by 2K Play...
though. In the pilot, Pierre Decelles provided Ren's signature diabolical laughter, while West performed Ren's laugh in the series. Although he does threaten Stimpy with bodily violence due to constantly getting annoyed with his stupidity, Ren does care for Stimpy. His catch phrase
Catch phrase
A catchphrase is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through a variety of mass media , as well as word of mouth...
is, "You eediot" and what is your problem you sick little monkey variations thereof, harkening back a memorable quote by Lorre as Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon (1941 film)
The Maltese Falcon is a 1941 Warner Bros. film based on the novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett and a remake of the 1931 film of the same name...
: "You... you imbecile. You bloated idiot. You stupid fat-head you."
Kricfalusi complained about Nickelodeon executives requesting for Ren to have "a softer side." Bill Wray
Bill Wray
William York Wray is an American cartoonist and landscape painter, notable for his Urban Landscape series of paintings, his many pages for Mad and his contributions to The Ren & Stimpy Show...
said that Ren was his favorite character to write for; Wray described Ren as "fun" because "you can make him mean." In 1993 he added that "It drives me crazy when I tell people I work on the show and they always say, 'Make Ren meaner.'"
Stimpson "Stimpy" J. Cat
Stimpy is a red and white, rotund Manx cat with a blue nose, purple eyelids, no tail, hands with gloves that have fingernails, humanHuman
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
-style buttocks
Buttocks
The buttocks are two rounded portions of the anatomy, located on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds, and comprise a layer of fat superimposed on the gluteus maximus and gluteus medius muscles. Physiologically, the buttocks enable weight to...
, flat feet, and a brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
the size of a peanut
Peanut
The peanut, or groundnut , is a species in the legume or "bean" family , so it is not a nut. The peanut was probably first cultivated in the valleys of Peru. It is an annual herbaceous plant growing tall...
(despite some intelligence, such as cooking
Culinary art
Culinary art is the art of preparing and cooking foods. The word "culinary" is defined as something related to, or connected with, cooking. A culinarion is a person working in the culinary arts. A culinarian working in restaurants is commonly known as a cook or a chef. Culinary artists are...
and inventing; he is also the main antagonist of the show, and has some other knowledge such as monetary counting and knowing that pork fat floats on beans). Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman of Animation World Magazine described Stimpy as "obese," and "brain-damaged." Andy Meisler of The New York Times described Stimpy as "bosom," "barrel-chested," and "good-natured."
Stimpy's trademark facial expression is a blissfully ignorant smile with his tongue
Tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat on the floors of the mouths of most vertebrates which manipulates food for mastication. It is the primary organ of taste , as much of the upper surface of the tongue is covered in papillae and taste buds. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva, and is richly...
flopping out. Most of the time when he gets excited, he says his famous catchphrase, "Oh, Joy!" or simply "Jooooooy". Stimpy is named after an art school
Art school
Art school is a general term for any educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. The term applies to institutions with elementary, secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, or graduate or...
classmate of Kricfalusi, whose nickname was "Stimpy Cadogen" ("Killer Cadoogen" was Stimpy's pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
in several episodes, and in a few others he is referred to as Stimpleton Cadogen). West said that he based Stimpy's voice on a "sped up" Larry Fine
Larry Fine
Louis Feinberg , known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American comedian and actor, who is best known as a member of the comedy act The Three Stooges.-Early life:...
of the Three Stooges
Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the Stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe,...
. West described Stimpy as one of his favorite characters. Eric Bauza
Eric Bauza
Eric Adrian Bauza is a Canadian-American voice actor and artist. His notable roles include Stimpy of Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon and Slip & Slide D'Peel of Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island. He also voices Rodolfo/White Pantera for El Tigre on Nickelodeon, Storm Shadow, Destro, and Tunnel...
voiced Stimpy in Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" and Nicktoons MLB
Nicktoons MLB
Nicktoons MLB is a baseball game released for the Nintendo DS, Wii, and Xbox 360. The game was developed by High Voltage Software and published by 2K Play...
.
Stimpy likes to create destructive electronic devices and feels a fixation for, in the words of Andy Meisler of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, "sensory pleasures of fresh kitty litter."
Wray described Stimpy as his favorite character to draw. Wray said that Stimpy does not have "a huge range of emotion."
West said in an interview that he did not wish to voice Stimpy in the Adult Party Cartoon because he believed that the series was not funny and that voicing Stimpy in it would damage his career.
History
In a 1993 interview by a comics magazine, Bill WrayBill Wray
William York Wray is an American cartoonist and landscape painter, notable for his Urban Landscape series of paintings, his many pages for Mad and his contributions to The Ren & Stimpy Show...
stated that he believes that Kricfalusi created the Ren and Stimpy characters around 15 years prior to the interview for Kricfalusi's and Kricfalusi's friends' personal amusement during the university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
years; Kricfalusi attended Sheridan College
Sheridan College
Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning is a diploma and degree granting Canadian polytechnic institute with approximately 15,000 full time students and 35,000 continuing education students...
in Canada. Wray said that he had initially "forgotten about" the characters. When Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
requested new series, Kricfalusi assembled a presentation called "Your Gang," similar to a children's show with a live action host presenting various cartoons. Each cartoon parodied
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
a genre, and Ren and Stimpy parodied the "cat and dog" genre. Vanessa Coffey, the producer of the show, said that she did not like the general idea, but that she liked Ren and Stimpy.
Kricfalusi originally created Ren and Stimpy as the pets of George Liquor
George Liquor
George Liquor , most famous for his appearances on The Ren and Stimpy Show, is a cartoon character created by John Kricfalusi and is a mascot for Kricfalusi's defunct animation studio, Spümcø. Kricfalusi portrayed George Liquor as a patriotic, outspoken, politically conservative blowhard...
and Jimmy The Idiot Boy.
Kricfalusi received inspiration, used when drawing the first drawings of Ren, from a black and white photograph of a chihuahua in a sweater next to a woman's feet.
The characters and homosexuality
Kricfalusi discussed the sexuality of the characters in a January 28, 1997 interview with the San Francisco Examiner.Jeffrey P. Dennis said in the journal article "The Same Thing We Do Every Night: Signifying Same-Sex Desire in Television Cartoons" that Ren and Stimpy are within a world where "gay identities cannot exist," so the series portrays homosexual romantic desire as "anomalous and perverse." Dennis added that the critics of the series "made much" of the homosexual connotations of Ren and Stimpy, such as their sharing of a house and bed, their reminiscing of a wedding, and Stimpy's "giving birth" to flatulence. Dennis said that Ren is "socially and sexually" the aggressor in the relationship; in addition he says that some episodes portray Stimpy as "a stereotypical 1950s wife" who cleans, cooks food, and irons Ren's underwear. Dennis stated that the aspects "may adhere to a reading of a sexual relationship." Dennis concludes that the relationship between Ren and Stimpy is a parody of heterosexual relationships rather than an actual homosexual or an actual romantic relationship. Dennis adds that in other situations Ren and Stimpy are "read more appropriately" as coworkers, enemies, friends, and house pets. Dennis argues that Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear is a fictional bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. Yogi Bear was the first breakout character created by Hanna-Barbera, and was eventually more popular than...
and Boo-Boo are more consistently homosexual than Ren and Stimpy. Dennis also stated that the scenes of Ren and Stimpy as a couple emulate a heterosexual couple instead of being a union between two men.
In a response to Dennis' statements, Martin Goodman of Animation World Network
Animation World Network
Animation World Network is an organization for animators, with an extensive website with news, articles and links for professional animators and animation fans. AWN also publishes a printed journal, "Animation World"....
said that Kricfalusi had outed
Outing
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...
Ren and Stimpy as homosexual. Martin added that while the Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" had not yet been released and therefore Ren and Stimpy had not been explicitly portrayed as homosexual, Ren and Stimpy would qualify as a consistently homosexual couple since they share a bed, live as partners, discuss a planned wedding, and had a "child," with the child being flatulence
Flatulence
Flatulence is the expulsion through the rectum of a mixture of gases that are byproducts of the digestion process of mammals and other animals. The medical term for the mixture of gases is flatus, informally known as a fart, or simply gas...
.
See also
- List of characters in The Ren and Stimpy Show
- The Ren and Stimpy ShowThe Ren and Stimpy ShowThe Ren & Stimpy Show, often simply referred to as Ren & Stimpy, is an American animated television series, created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on the titular characters: Ren Höek, a psychotic chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a good-natured, dimwitted cat...
- Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"