What people don't get about The Ren And Stimpy Show.

The Ren and Stimpy Show is widely misunderstood. Most people think that it was simply just a gross-out comedy show that had little to no effort put into it, and that the creator, John Kricfalusi, was some kind of deranged sociopath.

To me, though, this show was like the Renaissance for American animation, because it broke many grounds, being featured almost everywhere you looked.

So, what is this show about? Well, as the title says, it's about Ren Höek, and his good pal, Stimpy, as they find themselves in very odd situations.

And, for a while, the show became Nickelodeon's #1 cartoon, until that was overpassed by Rugrats, and that became overpassed by SpongeBob Squarepants.

The creator of this show, John Kricfalusi, wanted to make a cartoon show kind of like the classic Looney Tunes cartoons. Looney Tunes is known for its groundbreaking, surreal, and often wacky humor and characters, and The Ren and Stimpy Show was no doubt, inspired by that.

John Kricfalusi always hated the way that typical cartoons of the 60's to the 80's were. 60's cartoons were cool, but they always used limited animation. The same thing goes with 70's cartoons, and especially 80's cartoons.

They were always about some toy-line that was pretty cool, but then the cartoon was a little less cool, notably using limited animation and movements, causing a very dull appearance.

Looney Tunes and other cartoons back then, actually took risks. Rather than trying to save money on animation, or use the exact same animation style, they actually made every single frame dynamic, leading to a fluent cartoon that had a lot of charm.

John Kricfalusi and his crew, through a very grueling animation process, made this show. And the time and effort put into the animation, voice acting, and writing shows.

Some of my favorite episodes include Stimpy's Invention, Haunted House, and a few others.

It wasn't just the animation that has the appeal, though, it was also the demographic. You see, this cartoon was "made" for children, but in all honesty, teens and adults could probably enjoy it more, because of its style, and especially, the jokes.

Other cartoons on Nick at the time were focused on morality, which is something I don't think should be forced into fantasy media, especially when it strives to be funny. Not going to lie, though, Rugrats was great, because of its Jewish-themed episodes, but Doug was kind of a pushover. Mr. Dink, however, will always live on through memes.

Back to the point, this show bought in a wide crowd of people, and its animation was great. But, John K. caused himself to be fired from the team, resulting in the show losing quality. There were some great episodes that did come out of this time though, like Stimpy's Cartoon Show, and Jimminy Lummox, but other than that, the show wasn't so good as it once was.

And when John K. tried to bring back the show on Spike TV, it really sucked. Nickelodeon helped him accomplish his vision to create a funny cartoon, but at the same time, they harmed him by putting limits on his work.

But putting limits on his work was great, because it proved that his show could still appeal to children. When he tried to make it more edgy, it failed to do so.

I think the reason why the show is very misunderstood was because of a wide variety of factors.

1. The animation was very dynamic, and it wasn't cheap.
2. It had great writing, and the jokes were absurd, but funny.
3. The Adult Party Cartoon.
4. John K. should've learned more about ethics, so that way he could continue to work on his show.

Ultimately, we all have our views, and we should all try to respect them, even if we don't like them. Even if you still don't get the show, that's fine, because I might not get whatever you're into.

But we should all try to see good in things, and I think The Ren and Stimpy Show allows kids of a later generation to see the good in dynamic cartoons.

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