1. What is R&S? "The Ren & Stimpy Show" is one of three new cartoon shows (collectively known as "The Nicktoons") produced by Nickelodeon, a Cable TV channel in North America. The two main characters are an "asthma-hound" chihuahua named "Ren Hoek" (with an umlaut over the o), and a cat named "Stimpson J. Cat". The show's attraction is its check-your-brain-at- the-door humor. It is suitable (and funny) for the whole family. 2. When/where can I see R&S? Currently, R&S can only be seen via cable TV or satellite. It airs on Nickelodeon Sundays at 11 AM (Pacific/Eastern). MTV's airings of R&S seem to have become irregular at best, or possibly even canceled. Good thing too, because MTV showings are inferior to the showing on Nick, since they stick the MTV logo on the lower right corner and have more commercials. MTV also compresses the audio badly. MTV also doesn't start the show on time. Incidently, MTV Networks, Inc., owns Nick. Aparently MTV is owned in large part by Viacom. 3. My site seems to get two R&S newsgroups. What's the deal? At the time a newsgroup for R&S was being discussed, the original idea was for the alt.fan group. Many (including this author) counter-proposed that it should be under alt.tv. When it came time to create the groups, both newgroups went out. It is the poster's opinion that since it is a TV show, it belongs in alt.tv. The alt.tv group is not called 'ren-and-stimpy' because that would be too long for certain (broken) news programs or operating systems. 'ren-&-stimpy' is inappropriate because it contains a non-alphanumeric character other than '- or _'. 4. How do I pronounce Ren's name? The name is apparently Dutch, and thus an English pronunciation will only be approximate. It ends up as "Hork" (rhymes with "pork"). They play with this in the show and intentionally mispronounce it "HO-ack" or "HO-ehk" from time to time. His first name rhymes with "pen," of course. 5. Who makes R&S? The creative force behind R&S is John Kricfalusi. He is also Ren's voice. John K.'s last name is pronounced "KRIS-fah-loo-see". From ebh@mink.att.com: He [John K] was a major creative force (under the [Ralph] Bakshi umbrella) behind the New Adventures of Mighty Mouse, and he was also involved with The Jetsons. Stimpy's voice is Billy West. Billy West is also the voice of "Doug," one of the other Nicktoons. West used to work at WBCN in Boston, which is famous for shock-radio. The creative organization is called "Spumco". The company motto is "The Danes call it quality." Aparently, however, according to one poster the motto is a non-sequiter. They just made it up because it sounded silly. The boy whose picture is shown with the motto is Jimmy, the retartded boy - the company mascot (From lazlo@triton.unm.edu). SpumCo is in Los Angeles (more info?). 6. What are the words to... ... the 'Log' song? "What rolls down stairs alone or in pairs rolls over your neighbor's dog? What's great for a snack and fits on your back? It's Log, Log, Log! It's Log, Log, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood. It's Log, Log, it's better than bad, it's good! Everyone wants a log! You're gonna love it, Log! Come on and get your log! Everyone needs a Log!" ... the Oath? "I do hearby promise only to watch the Ren & Stimpy show, to make underleg noises during the good scenes, to wear unwashed lederhosen every single day of the rest of my life." At least one poster claims 'underleg' is underling, but the concensus is for the former (underleg noises being farts, of course. Hardly an episode goes by that someone doesn't cut one). ... The Muddy Mudskipper theme song? "Who's the greatest mudskipper of them all? Who can skip in the mud with the greatest of ease? What kind of wonderful guy? Who can crawl like a dog without scraping his knees? Who's got segmented eyes? It's Muddy Mudskipper, it's Muddy Mudskipper It's the Muddy Mudskipper show!" ... Stimpy's "Gritty Kitty" poem? Gritty Kitty aint't so pretty, but it's really thick It fills my cat box oh so snug, it always does the trick I like to rub it on my toes and squish and squish and squish It ne'er offends my tender nose, like a smelly fish Its texture is a joy to me, it's just as smooth as silk It makes my little whiskers twitch, it stays crunchy even in milk I may not be the president, I may not be the pope But as long as I have Gritty Kitty, I shall never mope. ... The "Happy Happy Joy Joy" song? Hello, boys and girls. This is your old pal, Stinky _________. [*] This is a song about a whale. No! This is a song about being happy! That's right! It's the Happy Happy Joy Joy song! [chorus] Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy Happy Happy Joy Joy Joy! I don't think you're happy enough! That's right! I'll teach you to be happy! I'll teach your grandmother to suck eggs! Now, boys and girls, let's try it again! [chorus] If'n you aint the grandaddy of all liars! The little critters of nature... They don't know that they're ugly! That's very funny, a fly marrying a bumblebee! I told you I'd shoot! But you didn't believe me! Why didn't you believe me?! [chorus without last line] Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Happy Joy Joy Joy! * Stinky's last name is up for debate. Every time this author puts forward a suggestion, the firestorm rains anew. So the hell with it. Fill in the blank with whatever you want. 7. What is the meaning behind or origin of... [ Much of the items that seem like obscure or trivial humor are in fact non-sequiturs. There's no meaning. They're just there for the hell of it. ] ... The Crock-o-stimpy Bus? [ "Untamed World" ] Non-sequitur. ... "We're not hitchiking anymore! We're riding!" [ "Space Madness" ] From jeffy@athena.mit.edu: This is apparently from the movie "Centurion." The line was delivered by Kirk Douglass (see below). ... The face that rises and sets over Hollywood during "Stimpy's Big Day?" From ebh@mink.att.com: The face is apparently Kirk Douglas. According to John K., Kirk Douglas was the inspiration for Ren. ... The various narrations in the "Happy Happy Joy Joy" song? "I'll teach your grandmother to suck eggs" This aparently paraphrases an old saying. There are many film and TV uses of this phrase. It means (roughly) to teach someone what they already know. From zeus@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu: "The little critters of nature -- They don't know that they're ugly." This is a line from the film "Summer Magic" starring Berl Ives and Hayley Mills. [ more data, please ] 8. Is it "No sir, I _DON'T_ like it", or "No sir, I _DIDN'T_ like it"? Both. "Don't" is heard in "Stimpy's Big Day/The Big Shot," and "didn't" is heard in "Fire Dogs," and "Marooned." 9. Does anyone have a list of episodes? It is posted at the same time as this FAQ list. 10. What is the title of the one that spoofs "Wild Kingdom"? This is a point of controversy. The titles read "A Cartoon / Written by Jim Smith & John K. / Storyboards by Jim Smith / Directed by John K. / Untamed World". Some believe it is titled simply "Untamed World" under the theory that the first thing you see doesn't have to be the title. It would have been awkward to put the credits after "Untamed World" because of how the action goes. It would have been similarly awkward to start off with "Written by". "A Cartoon" was thus simply used to intro the credits. Some believe that since "A Cartoon" is capitalized and appears by itself that it must be a title, and call it "A Cartoon" or "A Cartoon: Untamed World". Official word from Spumco has reached the author (from jeffy@athena.mit.edu) that Spumco folk internally refered to it as "Nature Show". 11. Does Nickelodeon censor R&S? The opening titles contain scenes from "Big House Blues" and point to the possibility that Nickelodeon has cut scenes from the show. In particular, Nick's rendering of BHB does NOT show the scene where Ren is 'drinking from the porcelain bus'. Additionally, although Nick originally showed the entire "Magic Nose Goblins" ending, they have since then started doing a quick fade as the scene panned over the 'field of green'. There are other places in the series where editing may have taken place. In particular, in "Untamed World", there is a blackout, then a wipe to the next scene. Nowhere else does this take place. From jeffy@athena.mit.edu: There were a few incidences in "Big House Blues." In one scene, the dog- catcher asks R&S if they like to have fun; R&S agree. "Well go ahead, have fun!" [then, in the missing footage, the dogcatcher turns his back, and says in a feminine voice, "See if I care."] Also, during the sleep sequence, Ren ends up kissing Stimpy, then wakes up, screams, says something about having to "clean himself," and goes to toilet, drinking out of it (not vomiting into it). Or maybe it's eating, who can say. From ja1r+@andrew.cmu.edu: Like that other Jeff said, Ren dreams he's having a romantic encounter and ends up kissing Stimpy, at which point he instantly wakes up wide-eyed and dashes over to the PHENOMENALLY rusty and filthy prison toilet, takes a loooong drink to wash his mouth out (!), glares back and Stimpy and shouts, "HAVE YOU *NO* SENSE OF PERSONAL HYGIENE???" 12. What about the music? Apart from a few selections, there is not a single piece of original music in the whole show. Instead, R&S quotes extensively from the classical reprotoire, as well as 50's style TV themes and takes. Space prohibits a complete listing here. From Jeffy@athena.mit.edu: John K apparently wrote "The Muddy Mudskipper Show" theme, and the [words to the (?)] "Happy Happy Joy Joy" song. From jondr@sco.com: Chris Recardi wrote the [music to the (?)] HHJJ song. He has done work for Tiny Toon Adventures, among other things. From otg@csi.compuserve.com: The closing theme is not an original composition. It's a version of the Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett) classic blues "Killing Floor". No doubt. In fact, it's VERY similar to the arrangement on the Howlin' Wolf Chess Box. 13. Where can I get R&S... ... videos? Unfortunately, there is no way to obtain R&S except to tape it. Previous announcements that at least BHB was available on "Tournee of Animation" tapes were in error. ... GIFs? It used to be calvin.nmsu.edu (192.20.239.129), but that site is aparently closed. You might try piggy.ucsb.edu under the directory /pub/RnS. There is at least a quick-time movie of the opening there (from bebrown@ucsd.edu). Try garfield.catt.nmsu.edu:/pub/graphics/images/ren-n-stimpy or something like that. (from hughes@sol.csee.usf.edu) ... sounds? From jcp@gauss.rutgers.edu: ab20.larc.nasa.gov From bkariger@aunix.fullerton.edu: We can rightly claim to be the first to have contributed digital samplings of Ren & Stimpy audio to INet and several other networks. (Well, OK, we are 98% sure of it; and we would like to know of any other uploads, both earlier and later.) They originally appeared in the Info-Mac archives. (The Info-Mac archives are available (by using FTP, account anonymous, any password) in the info-mac directory on sumex-aim.stanford.edu [36.44.0.6]. Help files and indices are in /info-mac/help.) They are in the /info-mac/sound directory: ... shirts? They've now spread to most any mall T-shirt store. ... coffee cups? A company called "Custom Screenprinting" makes them (from bub@vuse.vanderbilt.edu). ... calendars? "Advance Comics Catalog" reports that a 18 month calendar for 1993 and 2nd half 1992 will be available in August from Andrews & McMeel. It'll cost $8.95 and will be in full color (from michaelb@sol.cse.fau.edu) ... comic books? Marvel Comics is planning on making a monthly R&S comic book. It's in the planning stages and is at least 4 months away. (from watts@csa3.lbl.gov). ... "Log," "Log for Girls," "Powdered Toast," etc? "You sick little monkey!" "Don't you know cartoons will ruin your MIND?!" -- Ren ... other products for the drooling fanboy in each of us? Stay tuned. 14. Is there a fan club? From: jeffy@athena.mit.edu Hahaha! It never occured to me, until I was looking at a just-finished copy of X Magazine #10 ("Big Ren & Stimpy Blow-Out" issue, plug plug) to post the address of the Almost-Official Ren and Stimpy Fan Club. So: Ren & Stimpy Fan Club 2930 Jacob St. Hamtramck, MI 48212 15. What about the future of R&S? One of the problems with R&S is the lack of material at the present time. Without commercials, the whole series would almost fit on a two hour videotape. This leads to constant rerunning. Nick aired the last unaired segments of the first season on Feb 23. Nick has paid for 20 new episodes next season. Starting dates range from March to August, depending on who you're talking to. The most reliable estimate seems to be August, since in March word has reached the net of "help-wanted" adds from Spumco appearing in animation trade magazines. A report in the Wall Street Journal says that Nick is changing their schedule to include R&S in their Saturday night lineup. The change is scheduled for sometime in August. It is possible that this schedule change/addition may herald the new season. From sm6t+@andrew.cmu.edu (Saul Markowitz): I was talking to Ron Weiskind (Television Critic for the Pittsburg Post-Gazette) the other day and he told me that starting in August Nickelodeon will show R&S at 8 p.m. on Saturday nights and on Sundays at 11 a.m. This includes many NEW episodes of the show! OH JOY!!!!