Bizarre, disturbing, and adored by countless kids in the '90s, The Ren and Stimpy Show went down in a flame of controversy after five seasons. But that hasn't stopped its creators — and Paramount — from trying to resurrect it, more than once.
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00:00Bizarre, disturbing, and adored by countless kids in the 90s, The Ren & Stimpy Show went
00:06down in a flame of controversy after five seasons.
00:09But that hasn't stopped its creators, and Paramount, from trying to resurrect it more
00:13than once.
00:14In an era where R-rated movies like Rambo and The Toxic Avenger received kid-friendly
00:20Saturday morning adaptations on network TV, it's probably not shocking that some original
00:25cable TV properties of that era were pretty adventuresome, too.
00:29While shows like Nickelodeon's Rugrats and Doug appealed to audiences of all ages, Rocko's
00:34modern life appealed to an older audience.
00:37"...Oh baby, oh baby, oh baby, Rocko!"
00:42And then there was The Ren & Stimpy Show.
00:45Gross, absurd, and sometimes obscene, it definitely felt directed at teenagers, but it became
00:51wildly popular among kids and adults alike from its very first airing in 1991.
00:56Ren & Stimpy ran for five years, despite parental protests, spawning flatulent dolls, grotesque
01:02action figures, board games, video games, comics, coffee mugs, bath towels, valentines,
01:07bubble gum, yo-yos, you name it.
01:10Episodes faced various bans and threats, and lots of questionable content was edited out
01:15of episodes both before and after airing, and depending on where the episode was being
01:19shown.
01:20But after five seasons, the cult classic ran out of steam.
01:26Some executive shuffling involved Nickelodeon terminating series creator John Crisfalusi's
01:35contract in 1992.
01:38Years of bad blood between the network and Crisfalusi resulted in disaster, with the
01:42creator often delaying episode delivery, increasing the show's budget.
01:47Crisfalusi also hated Nickelodeon's tendency to stifle and censor material.
01:51No one on either side was talking by the time the show forged on under new producer Bob
01:56Camp, Crisfalusi's ex-partner.
01:58Nickelodeon also moved production of the show in-house, and audiences could feel the shift
02:03in quality between seasons.
02:05Some blamed voice actor Billy West, who was already voicing Stimpy, for stepping in as
02:09Ren's new voice, which was previously handled by Crisfalusi himself.
02:14"'Stimpy, you bloated sack of protoplasm, I shall kill you!"
02:20But Ren and Stimpy still had a vivid afterlife.
02:22Viacom moved reruns of the show to networks that appealed more directly to teenagers and
02:26young adults.
02:27First, Ren and Stimpy found a natural home on MTV, where teenagers and adults could binge
02:32episodes of the show between airings of Beavis and Butthead.
02:35But by the time 2003 rolled around, the show was ready for a true continuation.
02:40Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon was born in an attempt to create a fully uncensored,
02:45free-wheeling version of the program that was directed at the adults who watched the
02:49original series.
02:50And in this new show, Ren, once again played by John Crisfalusi, is engaged in an explicitly
02:55romantic relationship with Stimpy.
02:58Intended to lead off a packed animation block for Spike TV, Adult Party Cartoon suffered
03:03the same fate as Striperella and Gary the Rat.
03:06All were quickly canceled and forgotten.
03:08Fortunately, Ren and Stimpy survived the indignity of being abruptly canceled, and as of early
03:142024, reruns still air in some of Comedy Central's foreign markets.
03:18Rumors of a second sequel attempt began floating around in the early 2020s.
03:23Alongside the successful Paramount Plus relaunch of Beavis and Butthead and Disney's animated
03:27X-Men, Ren and Stimpy eventually joined a whole bunch of other 90s cartoons in receiving
03:32the remake treatment, and was planned for Comedy Central.
03:36Unlike the axed Daria spinoff Jodi, which was greenlit at the same time, the new Ren
03:40and Stimpy powered forward, despite delays due to COVID.
03:44While the studio was relatively quiet on the development and release of the show, plenty
03:48of leaks have told the story of how production has progressed.
03:51In late 2023, a full segment leaked online, as well as a variety of production art.
03:57By the spring of 2024, two more full segments leaked, and by July, the full series had leaked
04:03online.
04:04Around the same time, multiple episodes had premiered in France, but as of October 2024,
04:09nothing official has shown up in the United States.
04:12And according to fans and former creators, maybe that's for the best.
04:16Artist Bill Ray, responsible for much of the look of the original series, posted on
04:20Facebook about being invited back to the show alongside other alumni, only to be sidelined
04:25and eventually forced out by a new writing staff that he described as inexperienced.
04:30Chris Felucci was also not welcomed back to the show, or even given a creator credit,
04:35due to serious grooming allegations leveled against him beginning in 2018.
04:39According to many involved, production was instead focused on approaching Ren and Stimpy
04:43from a younger, more diverse viewpoint, while ignoring show quality in the process.
04:49Co-creator Bob Camp, however, expressed that he wanted fans to allow the reboot to find
04:53its own voice, despite expressing his own dissatisfaction about how it was handled.
04:58Fans for the most part haven't reacted kindly either, with many criticizing the animation
05:02and a much softer approach to the violent, gross humor of the 90s iteration.
05:07And even though Billy West returned to voice the title characters, some viewers who caught
05:11the online leaks have also criticized his vocalizations, claiming that he's too old
05:15to reprise the role now, so the audience seems torn between wanting the old guard to return
05:20and casting them out entirely.
05:23As of now, ten episodes are confirmed to have been made, but they all remain in limbo as
05:27Paramount decides what to do with them.