Starring:
John Kricfalusi as Ren Höek/Dr. Mr. Horse/Others (voice)
Eric Bauza as Stimpson J. “Stimpy” Cat (voice)
Special Features:
Storyboard Comparisons
Featurettes
Production Art
Introductions by Weird Al Yankovic and John K.
Other Info:
Fullscreen
Dolby Digital Stereo Sound
Running Time: 169 Minutes
Synopsis:
These episodes originally aired on Spike TV’s “Adult Part Cartoon” in 2003. The following is from the DVD cover:
“We know what you need! If you were a kid when Ren & Stimpy came out, you’ve probably gone through that shameful change in your life. Well, so have Ren and Stimpy! These shiny new cartoons reflect those very changes and fulfill your newest, most urgent needs.
John K. answered your mail! Yes, in fact, with this impressive new volume of handsome cartoon product, John K. has responded directly to your fan requests. John and his top Hollywood cartoonists wrote these babies in 1991 to satisfy your desperate pleas. Unfortunately, they were rejected by his bosses as being too naughty for kids even though you were asking for them! Well, now you’ve grown up and thanks to Spike TV, John K. finally got to make the cartoons that you wanted all along!”
Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes is not rated, but it’s safe to say it at least qualifies as being R rated in content.
Mini-Review:
Imagine if you found a video called “SpongeBob SquarePants – The Lost Episodes”. Imagine you played it and saw the familiar characters of SpongeBob and Patrick playing on the beach and doing their usual antics. Then imagine them suddenly doing masturbation jokes, fondling naked women’s breasts, giving a cartoon woman a bikini wax, and getting jammed up a hairy man’s butt. You’d probably be a little bit shocked. That’s pretty much what it was like watching “Ren & Stimpy: The Lost Episodes”. Though there are plenty of warnings on the cover, I wasn’t expecting the level of crudeness that appeared in these once relatively clean cartoons. If these cartoons were live action, they’d be soft core porn. Seriously.
Though I liked Ren & Stimpy, this whole DVD has a very creepy vibe to it. It’s like the animators are playing out their strange sexual fantasies on the screen using cartoon characters they enjoyed as kids. It feels entirely uncomfortable watching it. The sad thing is that even with this “adult” content, they aren’t funny. They rely entirely too much on sexual jokes and it simply isn’t funny. The supposedly censored shows were a lot more enjoyable mainly because they had to be more creative with the humor. That creative edge is gone in favor of hormone driven stories that make porn seem like Shakespeare.
This video and many of the bonus features are hosted by Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi. The guy is really slimy. He seems like someone that has just come out of an adult video store and is eager to chat with you about his ‘hobby’. In the DVD featurettes, he dwells on the naked women in the cartoons, the sexual situations, and the ‘hot women’ at his animation studio. It doesn’t help matters that most of the people he’s interviewing are swigging beer while raving about how these cartoons are masterpieces. (Oddly, the usually clean cut Weird Al Yankovic introduces the DVD and he’s the funniest thing on it.) When John K.’ isn’t going on and on about the sex in the episodes, he’s rambling about the history behind the show and it’s quite boring. Also among the bonus features you’ll find storyboards, art, and a bunch of interviews.
I’m not really sure who to recommend this to. You’d either have to be someone that enjoys ‘adult cartoons’ or some sort of Ren & Stimpy completist. Everyone else should really pass on this one.
