Ren & Stimpy

Fandom
Name:	Ren & Stimpy
Abbreviation(s):	R&S
Creator:	John Kricfalusi
Date(s):	1991-1996, 2003
Medium:	television animation
Country of Origin:	United States
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Ren and Stimpy are two animated characters who are best known for starring in The Ren and Stimpy Show which aired on Nickelodeon (and occasionally MTV) from 1991 to 1996. It followed the adventures of Ren Hoek, a psychotic and bossy Chihuahua and Stimpson "Stimpy" J. Cat, a fat and dimwitted Manx cat.

The series originally premiered on August 11, 1991, alongside "Doug" and "Rugrats" as the first three original "Nicktoons". The show won praise for its animation style which resembled the older cartoons of companies and studios like Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbara.

It was popular with kids, but it also became a favorite of older teenagers and adults, which lead to it being shown on Nickelodeon's sister station, MTV, as well.

It was also marred with controversy from the beginning, mostly involving the show's "gross-out" content, also production deadlines were missed. During the middle of the second season, creator John Kricfalushi and his Spumco studio were fired from the show.

A team led by producer Bob Camp and the newly formed Games Animation, Inc. (which would later evolve into Nickelodeon's in-house animation studio) did the rest of the series.

In 2003, Kricfalusi brought the characters back in a second series called Adult Party Cartoon which aired on Spike TV (now Paramount) as part of the channel's late-night adults-only animation block intended to cash in on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Initially, 6 episodes of Adult Party Cartoon were made, but only 3 episodes aired before it was canceled.

In 2020, Comedy Central announced a second revival, it was not known if Kricfalushi, Camp, or anyone else who worked on the previous two shows would be involved. Several weeks later it was stated the revival had been cancelled.

Fandom

The series became popular with both kids and adults during it's run, but there is a strong divide between the Spumco (the first season and a half) and Games (the second half of season 2 to season 5) version of the show. Nevertheless, the dog and cat duo often appear alongside other classic Nickelodeon/90s animation characters as part of the fandom and in tributes. Recently, the show's reputation and legacy have come into question (once again) after it was revealed in 2018, that Krifalushi had several sexual relationships with a number of teenage girls whom he mentored and worked with.

Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.