I was a mere five years old when Ren and Stimpy premiered on Nickeoloden. It was crude, immature, irrelevant and made very little sense. In other words, it was everything I wanted to watch but wasn’t allowed.
However, it being forbidden only made me want to watch it more and my earliest acts of rebellion became sneaking in a viewing at a friend’s house. Before I knew it, I was hooked and I can fondly remember spending many an hour in the pleasant company of Muddy the Muddskipper, Powdered Toast Man and our show’s namesakes.
Recently, I picked up a few discs off good old Netflix and decided to give the show another viewing, feeling nostalgic and whatnot. Is it as funny as I remember? Not really. It is as enjoyable? Surprisingly, yes. But in a different way.
The shows appeal comes not from the general grossness and humor as it did, but from the overall weirdness and strange beauty of the show.
As I grew older, American style animation became a interest of mine and I must admit that Ren and Stimpy is a surrealistically beautiful cartoon. The backgrounds grow and change every 10 seconds to fit the character mood, which elevates the sense of such mood. The imagery is striking and poignant which stands in huge contrast to the shows contemporaries.
The point here isn’t the plot, it’s all about the characters and their interactions with each other. In fact, you take Ren and Stimpy and can move them into almost any facet and the characters work. Put them in a trailer living together, and it works. Have them a pets without a home, searching for shelter and food and it works. Hell, put them in space and it still works. It’s all about the characters here and not necessarily what these characters are running around doing.
The humor isn’t really there anymore, but there is much more here than I originally knew and for that reason I have already filled up the Netflix Que. Look for part two of this retrospective blog in the coming weeks.
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