Ren and Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon (also known as Ren and Stimpy: The Lost Episodes) is an American adult animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for the cable network Spike TV. The series was developed as an "extreme" revamp and spin-off/reboot of The Ren & Stimpy Show, which previously aired on the American cable network Nickelodeon, and is known for being significantly more vulgar and inappropriate than the original series. The series originally ran from June 26 to July 24, 2003, and was abruptly removed from the network after just three episodes. It received negative reviews from both fans and critics.
History[]
The original Ren & Stimpy Show premiered alongside Rugrats and Doug as one of the original Nicktoons on children's network Nickelodeon in 1991. The show's creator, John Kricfalusi, had many altercations with the network, eventually culminating in his termination. In 2002, about a decade after Kricfalusi's termination, Viacom (which owns Nickelodeon) contacted him to produce a new version of his series for an updated version of TNN, Spike TV, which was devoted to programming for male audiences. Kricfalusi said that TNN wanted an "extreme" version of The Ren & Stimpy Show.[5] TNN gave Kricfalusi greater control of the writing and contents of the episodes, and he produced six new cartoons aimed at adult audiences. Some of the head storyboard artists, screenwriters, and animators returned from the original Ren and Stimpyseries, 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. In a similar vein to the original series, Kricfalusi ran into problems with meeting production deadlines, with only three out of the nine episodes ordered by the network being completed on time.
Some of the original voice cast members returned, with the notable exception of Billy West, original voice of Stimpy and second voice of Ren and Mr. Horse, who turned down the role, as he did not consider it funny and that participating in it would damage his career. Eric Bauza was hired to replace West as Stimpy, while Kricfalusi reprised his roles as Ren and Mr. Horse. 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, in association with Big Star Productions. Kricfalusi had previously relied upon Carbunkle during the Nickelodeon years, and he subcontracted animation of many original series episodes (including "Space Madness", "Black Hole" and "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen") to that studio.
The new series began airing in June 2003 as part of an animation block also featuring Gary the Rat, Stripperella, and digitally remasteredepisodes 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. Advertisers objected to some of the new show's content, particularly that of the risqué episode "Naked Beach Frenzy" which did not air in the show's original run, causing trouble with scheduling. The show stopped airing after three episodes when TNN's animation block was "put on hold".
The remaining episodes were set to resume in August 2004 along with the premiere of Spike's new animated series Immigrants but both shows were pulled and never aired again.
Kricfalusi shut down Spümcø shortly thereafter following a lawsuit filed by Carbunkle for failing to pay the animation studio for their services. In 2005, he announced that all of the Adult Party Cartoon cartoons that were fully produced were coming to DVD, which was released on July 18, 2006.
Episodes[]
| No. | Title | Directed by | Story by | Storyboard by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Onward and Upward " | John Kricfalusi | Vincent Waller | Vincent Waller, Eddie Fitzgerald, Fred Osmond, and Ray Morelli |
June 26, 2003 | APC08 |
| Tired of living inside a homeless man's mouth, Ren and Stimpy move to classy new digs: the inside of a spittoon after Stimpy pools his secret stash of money into it. | ||||||
| 2 | "Ren Seeks Help " | John Kricfalusi | John Kricfalusi and Richard D. Pursel | Steve Stefanelli, Helder Mendonca, Jeff Amey, Derek Bond, Tavis Silbernagel, and John Kricfalusi |
July 3, 2003 | APC07 |
| After Ren does something so horrible to Stimpy that it leaves Stimpy in hysterical grief and Ren in guilt, he realizes how cruel he can be to his beloved pal and tries to apologize to him, but Stimpy refuses to forgive him, so Ren goes to see a psychiatrist. After a depressing walk from places to places, he walks to the "help" apartment and seeks psychiatric help from Dr. Horse, to whom he tells his dysfunctional early years, and why he became such an abusive psychopath in the first place. | ||||||
| 3 | "Fire Dogs 2 " | John Kricfalusi | John Kricfalusi, Richard D. Pursel, Eddie Fitzgerald, Vincent Waller, and Jim Smith |
John Kricfalusi, Jim Smith, Eddie Fitzgerald, Vincent Waller, and José Pou |
July 17, 2003 (Part 1) July 24, 2003 (Part 2) |
APC05 (Part 1) APC06 (Part 2) |
| The fire chief was so impressed with Ren and Stimpy's heroic deeds from the first "Fire Dogs" cartoon that he mutates into Ralph Bakshi and moves in with them, and to also go out on a bachelor's life to eat pizza; however, Ren and Stimpy are disgusted by his habits. | ||||||
| 4 | "Naked Beach Frenzy " | John Kricfalusi | John Kricfalusi, Mike Kerr, Jeff Amey, and Caroline J. Alvarez |
Jeff Amey, Steve Stefanelli, Matt Roach, and Nick Cross |
July 18, 2006 (DVD) | APC01 |
| Ren and Stimpy enjoy a day at a nude beach. | ||||||
| 5 | "Altruists" | John Kricfalusi | Vincent Waller, John Kricfalusi, Mike Kerr, Eric Bauza, Jeff Amey, and Richard D. Pursel |
Vincent Waller, Jeff Amey, Nick Cross, and Matt Roach |
July 18, 2006 (DVD) | APC03 |
| Ren Höek, renowned lover of humanity, and his friend Stimpy decide that they must do everything in their power to help a couple of misfortunates; a woman and her handicapped (headless) son, by building a house for them. | ||||||
| 6 | "Stimpy's Pregnant " | John Kricfalusi | John Kricfalusi, Jeff Amey, Richard D. Pursel, Matt Roach, Steve Stefanelli, and Warren Leonheardt |
John Kricfalusi, Jeff Amey, Richard D. Pursel, Matt Roach, Steve Stefanelli, and Warren Leonheardt |
July 18, 2006 (DVD) | APC02 |
| Stimpy becomes pregnant with Ren's baby, causing Ren to at first abuse, and then respect Stimpy as a partner. Ren is at first disgusted with Stimpy's pregnancy, as he is forced to deal with his incessant loving moments with his child, such as attempting to explicitly eat for two. When Stimpy goes into labour, Ren is forced to start a driveby with other people on the highway. With help from the police, Ren and Stimpy successfully get to the hospital, where their child is delivered by Dr. Horse, only to learn that Stimpy was just constipated, although Dr. Horse does not have the heart to tell the anticipated "parents" this and so the waste is made to behave like an infant male, and was named "Little Ricky". | ||||||