Follow TV Tropes

Following

YMMV / The Ren & Stimpy Show

Go To

YMMV tropes for the The Ren & Stimpy Show series

YMMV Tropes with Their Own Pages


  • Accidental Aesop: According to Bob Camp, he was able to convince Nick to let the crew make the notoriously gross "Ren's Toothache" by telling them that it would encourage kids to brush their teeth. He was only making an excuse, but as it turned out, several fans were so repulsed by the episode that it did convince them to brush their teeth more.
  • Adorkable: Stimpy's ditzy nature, happy-go-lucky attitude and being a Kind Hearted Simpleton make him quite lovable in his own special way.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: Is Stimpy as stupid as he lets on? Some episodes cast him as a Mad Scientist, but he could also be a Genius Ditz: brilliant in the laboratory, breathtakingly stupid outside of it. Though considering how inane his inventions and scientific advice can be (the segment is called "Ask Dr. Stupid," after all), his skills at science are probably marginal at best.
    • Is Stimpy really nice, or is he only being nice because Jiminy Lummox is his conscience? When Ren is loaned Jiminy, Stimpy seems to be intentionally trying to get under Ren's skin, such as by using his dentures to scale fish.
  • Americans Hate Tingle: According to YouTube, Japan doesn't like The Ren & Stimpy Show very much, likely due to the show's disregard for authority, which strongly clashes with the Japanese ideals for authority figures and the show's grotesque art style coming off as bizarre to Japanese audiences. That said, the series did get visual Shout-Out(s) in Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt and Shaman King, so it did have a small fanbase even there.
  • Awesome Art: Thanks to the show's heavy reliance on detailed storyboards, layout drawings being done in-house and a total lack of model sheets, it boasts some of the most fluid animation ever produced for television. Notable examples include:
    • The montage in "Stimpy's Invention" chronicling Stimpy creating the titular Happy Helmet, featuring an amalgam of precise, expressive character animation and elaborately-painted, richly atmospheric background work.
    • The climax of "Invention", in which Ren, convulsing in agony from the psychological torture the Happy Helmet is involuntarily wreaking upon him, violently destroys the Helmet (complete with some of the most outlandish and extremified staggers in TV animation history) while Stimpy, blissfully ignorant of Ren's torment, dances to the song "Happy Happy Joy Joy" in increasingly bizarre and surreal forms (culminating in a shot courtesy of prominent animator Mark Kausler in which Stimpy's buttocks convulse so outlandishly that they effectively resemble flags in the wind).
    • The scene (animated by Greg Manwaring) in which Ren and Stimpy attempt to sell Mr. Horse their titular wares in "Rubber Nipple Salesman", featuring fluid and highly-intricate facial animation which sell both Mr. Horse's initial paranoia and iconic... interest in walruses effectively.
    • The climax of the unaired "Man's Best Friend", in which Ren assaults George Liquor with an oar, features several shots animated comparably to a theatrical feature film of the period, with absurdly fluid motion and consistent character construction by TV animation standards.
    • Several painted layout shots within numerous episodes, such as the surprisingly atmospheric far shot preceding the main fight in "Mad Dog Hoek".
    • The climax to "Sven Hoek", in which an enraged Ren psychotically taunts Stimpy and Sven with a series of brutal proposed tortures, the ominous, disturbing tone of which is accentuated by his eerily slow-paced and intricately-timed movements (suggesting Ren to be embracing and relishing his loss of emotional control).
  • Awesome Music:
    • "Dog Pound Hop", the show's theme song written and performed by Die Screamin' Lederhosen, a band consisting of Spumco staff members Jim Smith, Chris Riccarti and Scott Huml (John K. helped write the song too). Huml's bongo playing in particular is amazing. And then there's the extended version with an equally awesome sax solo.
    • "Big House Blues," from the pilot episode of the same name and later used as the end theme, also written and performed by Die Screamin' Lederhosen and featuring some amazing guitar work from Jim Smith.
    • The eclectic selection of stock sound cues have some very memorable tracks of music, particularly cues like Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony" and "Clair De Lune", among other obscure pieces of classical music.
    • Cat Hairballs, done to the tune of "Jingle Bells." The accompanying music video is pretty good too.
    • The Royal Anthem of the Canadian Kilted Yaksmen, which uses the melody of "God Save The Queen"/"My Country, Tis of Thee".
    • In the German dub it's absolutely beautiful. Especially when Ren harmonizes with Stimpy.
    • "Yak Shaving Day" from the Crock O' Christmas album.
    • The absolutely epic "Climb Inside".
  • Base-Breaking Character:
    • George Liquor is by far the most polarizing character of the show. He's either, while very disciplinary, an entertaining foil to Ren and Stimpy, or he's a harsh, unlikable asshole who puts said characters through hell to get them where he wants them to be. The fact that he was John K.'s Creator's Pet didn't help matters.
    • Ren and Stimpy themselves might qualify too. Considering their notable flaws (Ren's mean-spirited behavior along with Stimpy's stupidity), one of them may be seen as being better than the other (sometimes for the reason that the other's flaw makes them be seen as unlikable to certain people). Of course, there are also those who Take a Third Option and like both, or neither.
  • Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The Royal Anthem of the Canadian Kilted Yaksmen.
    • Just what exactly was Mr. Horse doing to that poor walrus?
    • The first aired episode, "Stimpy's Big Day"/"The Big Shot" has an envious and lonely Ren cracking and yelling at a pillow that he shaped into a crude model of Stimpy. After he's finished, the pillow then speaks to the audience in an echoing voice, "He's talking to pillows, kids." This is never brought up again.
    • From the same episode, when we first see the "Hollywood" sign after Stimpy becomes famous, an animated image of Kirk Douglas pops up for a few moments, then descends back down. While it makes perfect sense if you're aware of John K.'s fondness of the actor and his work, at the time your average young fan was most likely asking "Huh?"
  • Bizarro Episode: The series is very offbeat to begin with, but even then some episodes stick out like a sore thumb, such as "Haunted House" (which was an unmade Tiny Toons episode that Spumco was supposed to have a hand in, but ended up making for themselves).
  • Creator's Pet: Bob Camp admitted to shoehorning Wilbur Cobb into more episodes simply because he felt bad for Jack Carter (Wilbur's voice actor), who wasn't getting any other work at the time.
    • Zigzagged with George Liquor. John K. loved the character and tried to write him into as many episodes as he could, but Nickelodeon executives (who emphatically did not like him) ended up vetoing the lion's share of his intended appearances.
  • Dancing Bear: For adult viewers, the show's appeal comes not (necessarily) from the humor itself, but seeing how much the show can get away with on a network intended for children. Adult Party Cartoon loses out on this context in its transition from Nickelodeon to Spike TV, becoming an Animated Shock Comedy in the wake of South Park.
  • Death of the Author: Animator Howard Beckerman once said that the reason this show was popular was that Ren and Stimpy genuinely loved one another. However, John K. insists that any and all Heartwarming Moments and tearjerkers are strictly parodic or "fake" pathos, satirizing the idea that you could get an audience to cry over anything if you used the right storytelling tricks. Now try telling that to a fan of the show and see how many of them actually thought the pathos was anything but 100% effective, if not necessary, in properly balancing out the Vulgar Humor. Many will point to Adult Party Cartoon as proof of this.
  • Designated Hero: Stimpy does mean well and is not openly mean like Ren, but his stupidity and lack of common sense causes him to do questionable acts such as messing with Ren's possessions and doing things that put Ren through the wringer.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • A literal example in Mr. Horse, since the character is based on Kirk Douglas.
    • Powdered Toast Man. It also helps that the he's voiced by Gary Owens.
    • And then there's Anthony's dad from "A Visit to Anthony".
    • And also the unnamed yak who goes bonkers in "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen".
  • Esoteric Happy Ending:
    • Ren and Stimpy's tearful reunion in "The Big Shot" is cut short by Ren slapping Stimpy repeatedly for giving away his 47 million dollar fortune.
    • In "Rubber Nipple Salesmen", Ren and Stimpy succeed in selling their rubber nipples to a suburbanite couple... who then kick Ren and Stimpy onto the backs of a couple of crazed bulls that they ride into the distance.
    • "Powdered Toast Man" ends with PTM becoming President of the United States after saving the Pope; in office, he promptly burns the Constitution to start a fireplace (which was edited on American TV after it first aired) as he spends time with his lovely assistant.
    • In "Man's Best Friend", after thrashing George Liquor half to death with an oar, Ren earns his approval and praise for being such a good guard dog. Ren and Stimpy are then rewarded with doggie treats, and the three of them dance happily to an upbeat Raymond Scott song (the aforementioned thrashing ended up being one of the things that pissed off Nickelodeon and led to them firing John later).
  • Fandom-Enraging Misconception:
    • Fans will rip you a new one if you ever tell them that the reason the show got cancelled was because of the episode "Man's Best Friend", or claim that John K was unjustly fired. During the first two seasons, John K. regularly fell behind on episode release schedules and ran over budget due to his rampant perfectionism. When Nickelodeon executives finally confronted him (after cutting him multiple breaks) John K gave a snotty, disrespectful response, stating that the episodes would take however long and cost however much they needed to. Having had enough of his inconsistency and awful demeanor they fired him (although the controversy surrounding "Man's Best Friend" certainly didn't help him when it came down to this point).
    • Acting as if John K. was the sole or most important creative voice behind Ren and Stimpy will likewise end with fans tearing into you for ignoring and downplaying the contributions of Bob Camp, Lynne Naylor, Bill Wray, and others.
  • Genius Bonus: In "Fire Dogs", Stimpy puts out the building fire with kitty litter; in real life, kitty litter is usually nonflammable, since it's often made out of ground up clay.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: While Ren and Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon is quite unpopular in the U.S., it has a small but strong fanbase in Eastern Europe (mostly in Poland).
  • Growing the Beard: The show definitely got off to a good start, but the second season is universally considered a significant improvement over season 1's helter-skelter quality, and by many to be the series' peak; Ren and Stimpy's personalities and voice work are more fleshed out, the drawings, animation quality and background art are much better (especially the episodes animated by Carbunkle) and the cartoons became much better in story structure, humor and pacing.
    • Billy West's performance as Ren during season 2 wasn't great (especially since he was being compared unfavorably to John Kricfalusi's original performance), but it improved greatly during seasons 3 and 4 as he refined his vocal take on the character.
  • Harsher in Hindsight:
    • As with most of his work, John K.'s history of abuse, pedophilia and unchecked mental illness revealed in 2018 makes several episodes a lot more awkward than intended;
      • The romantic tension between Powdered Toast Man and his implied-teenaged assistant unfortunately resembles how John K. groomed two teenage animators in the late 90s and early 2000s. The fact that the character's secret identities are a clergyman and a Catholic schoolgirl, respectively, also comes off a lot grosser in light of the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandals of the 2000s.
      • While the Games era showrunners admitted they were completely in the dark about John Kricfalusi's pedophilia until years later, making the John K ersatz Jack Cheese a Reverend, which are often tragically associated with child predators due to a long history of scandals in the church scene, unintentionally makes Jack Cheese come off as even more disturbing of a character now than he already was due to what we now know about John K, especially since Cheese puts on roadshows live for children.
      • The scene in "Rubber Nipple Salesmen" where it's implied that Mr. Horse (who, let's not forget, was originally voiced by John K himself) is doing depraved things to the walrus in his house. Most of the aforementioned grooming took place in John K.'s apartment. Mr. Horse's unhinged ranting beforehand makes it feel less like a joke and more like an on-camera confession.
      • There's a brief scene in "Stimpy's Fan Club" in which Ren reads a letter from a girl who's implied to have an abusive boyfriend. Awkward.
      • Ren's psychotic outbursts (such as in "Sven Hoek", "Stimpy's Fan Club", and APC's "Ren Seeks Help") and his generally unpredictable behavior become more terrifying than funny once you learn that John himself was suffering from ADHD and bipolar disorder, both of which went unchecked and were largely self-medicated with alcohol.
      • Similar to the above, once you learn that John K's toxic masculinity was largely due to his own hyper-masculine, disciplinary father, the show's obsession with jokes about cruel fathers (or "hell dads" as Billy West called them) goes from Black Comedy to a disturbingly naked display of trauma.
      • John K claimed that he got the rights to George Liquor back from the show on the conditions that Liquor "never becomes a child molester or mass murderer." While that never happened with Liquor himself, the former turned out to be the case for his creator.
    • In an example unrelated to John K: "Powdered Toast Man vs. Waffle Woman" featured a scene where New York City (including the World Trade Center) is destroyed by Waffle Woman's syrup attack. The episode also features a couple of angry Arabs. Unsurprisingly, the episode was banned in the US after the World Trade Center was destroyed for real by Al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001. However, the episode later aired on NickRewind complete with that one scene.
    • "The Littlest Giant", where Stimpy (playing The Littlest Giant) runs away from home after a long time of torture by "the big, mean giants". Made harsher by the fact that nowadays, bullying victims have often done pretty much the same, or worse (just look what happened to Phoebe Prince, or the many kids who come to school with weapons to get back at their tormentors and end up on the news for causing yet another school shooting).
  • He Really Can Act
    • This was one of Billy West's first major voice acting gigs and his performances as Stimpy proved right away that he had the chops. He gives the character an innocence that's both hysterically funny and, occasionally, quite tender. His double-duty as both characters in the Games episodes also prove his versatility. He also gets a few great performances as various side characters, particularly the insane yak in "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen."
    • John Kricfalusi turns in a few genuinely terrifying performances as Ren, usually when he freaks out (see his threatening Stimpy and Sven in "Sven Hoek" and his almost Shakespearean monologue when he contemplates killing Stimpy in "Stimpy's Fan Club"), not to mention some hilariously deadpan performances as Mr. Horse, despite not being well-known as an actor (of course, as mentioned under Reality Subtext, those freak-outs may not have always been acting).
  • Hilarious in Hindsight
  • Jerkass Woobie: Ren in "Stimpy's Fan Club".
  • LGBT Fanbase: Thanks to the ambiguity of Ren and Stimpy's relationship, the show is surprisingly popular with gay men. See Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales below.
  • Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: The show's homoeroticism was described by (openly gay) producer Jim Ballentine as being written by "angry, cynical young men who probably hate fags." Nevertheless, it's picked up a strong following among gay men for its "queer subtext."
  • Moe: Stimpy; C'mon now, don't deny it!
  • My Real Daddy: Even before John K. was ousted for his history of pedophilia and generally abusive behavior in 2018, people often credited Bob Camp & co as the show's real creative force, pointing their involvement in many of the series' best episodes, the fact that Camp directed 80% of the series, and the poor reception to John K's solo projects.
  • Nausea Fuel: One of the reasons why Moral Guardians and Media Watchdog groups hated the show almost as much as they did old-school Simpsons was because of how gross the show got. Now has its own page.
  • No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: The over-the-top Nausea Fuel and Vulgar Humor for a supposed kids' show did stir up the Moral Guardians, but ended up making the show more popular and into a cartoon classic.
  • Once Original, Now Common:
    • It cannot be overstated just how unlike anything else Ren and Stimpy was when it debuted. In a market that was dominated by corporate approved shows based on licensed characters, here was a show created by a core team of artists who wrote and designed everything themselves. It was the first hugely popular TV show to be entirely storyboard-driven rather than script-driven and the focus on visual storytelling pushed the limits of low-budget TV animation, resulting in some of the most fluidly-animated cartoons ever created since The Golden Age of Animation. To say nothing of the particular brand of absurdist, politically incorrect humor that Moral Guardians had all but driven to extinction by that point, which both kids and adult cartoon fans embraced wholeheartedly. Everyone then ripped it off immediately and while the more blatant R&S clones like The Shnookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show and The Wacky World of Tex Avery were dead on arrival, the fundamentals of the show (broader art, edgier humor, a singular creative vision, being storyboard-driven rather than script-driven and even grossout humor) became the norm within five years and have remained so to this day. Even as Merchandise-Driven content has crept back into mainstream animation, there's a greater focus on hiring a singular creative head to realize it, forgoing scripts for storyboards is largely preferred (if not required) and even the most economic animation is pushed to be as bold as possible.
    • In an age where cartoon showrunners are almost Household Names where almost every cartoon show now comes with a "created by" credits card in its title, modern viewers won't even blink at the "Created by John K." card. What they don't know is how hard Kricfalusci had to fight to get that credit, and that his "Rock stardom" while ultimately his downfall with Nickelodeon, also re-established cartoon creators and studios as actual creatives and not just Merchandise-Driven content mills they'd been treated as from the 60's through to even the early 90's. The modern cartoon landscape, with creators being known for their shows and getting credited for them, would not exist without Ren and Stimpy.
  • Only the Creator Does It Right: Some fans feel this way after John Kricfalusi was sacked. On the other hand, one could say that the show wasn't that much better even when he was involvednote , especially with regards to the infamous "Son of Stimpy" episode, with which he essentially subverted his own creation (itself intended to be subversive) by intentionally creating a Deconstructive Parody of pathos scenes that was both unfunny on purpose, and completely idiotic, even by the show's standards, all so he could prove a point about "fake pathos" (see the article in question for all of the "stinky" detailsnote ...).
  • Overshadowed by Controversy:
    • "Man's Best Friend" was banned due to a scene with Ren violently beating George Liquor with an oar. It was also one of the possible reasons why John Kricfalusi was fired from the show. Despite this, fans still consider it one of the funniest episodes of the show.
    • "Powdered Toast Man" got backlash due to the titular character burning the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights after being declared President, which was removed from reruns. Also in the episode, Powdered Toast Man saves the Pope (played by Frank Zappa); reruns later referred to him as simply "the man in the funny white hat," perhaps due to a similar outcry from Catholics.
    • The whole show fell into this in early 2018, due to two female cartoonists accusing Kricfalusi of statutory rape and possession of child pornography in light of the #MeToo movement. Even prior to the 2018 accusations, Kricfalusi was an example of this as his immense talent as an animator was often overshadowed by his notoriously bad temper, abrasive demeanor, his harsh criticisms of other animators and cartoons, the toxic work environment he created, his self-righteous views and his falling out with Billy West, who described his experience working on Ren & Stimpy as the "worst of my life", as well as Bill Wray and Bob Camp who saw their careers seriously damaged by their work on the show. Comedy Central openly stated that Kricfalusi will not be involved with their reboot of the show in any capacity - and even that didn't stop backlash towards it due to how heavily associated Kricfalusi is to the series.
  • Padding: The crew admitted to holding on several shots and frames longer than they had been intended if episodes ran short or to make up for lost airtime when production dragged on too long. The bumpers otherwise served this purpose.
  • Parody Displacement:
    • Fans of the LOG segments may not be aware that the famous jingle is a parody of the original Slinky jingle.
    • The "Loop of Death" music from an episode of Adult Party Cartoon is actually an old jazz number called "Hold That Tiger", and the recording used is from an old Betty Boop cartoon.
    • A generation of young adults are familiar with "You fat, bloated EEDIOT!" as a catchphrase of Ren's. A likely smaller percentage will recognize it as being paraphrased from Joel Cairo's breakdown near the end of The Maltese Falcon, or that Ren's voice and persona were largely based on characters played by Peter Lorre to start with (Billy West described Ren as "part Peter Lorre, part Burl Ives and part South of the Border").
    • For many people, the "Happy Happy Joy Joy" song has random and sometimes creepy Non Sequitur moments. It is actually a parody of actor Burl Ives who was also famous for singing nursery rhymes. The random "animal" lines are directly lifted from his songs, while the most violent lines are from his movie roles, most notably The Big Country. Needless to say, all these quotes are nowadays more associated with "Happy Happy Joy Joy" than anything else.
  • The Problem with Licensed Games: During the 1990s, there were several video game adaptations based off of Ren & Stimpy, and other than the Genesis' Stimpy's Invention and Game Gear's Quest for the Shaven Yak, they were typically not very good.
  • Quirky Work: John Kricfalusi was asked on his Reddit what he took when he thought of the series and replied "I get that a lot, but I just drink a lot of beer". The results include whole twenty-minute episodes dedicated to such premises as a talking fart and cheese transforming into a princess. The intro alone screams "This is the most fucked up thing you'll ever see". On the Happy Happy Joy Joy documentary, Bobby Lee described the series as "Tom and Jerry opened up a portal to Hell".
  • Seasonal Rot: The show is said to have lost much of its luster after John Kricfalusi's dismissal and his animation studio Spumco was replaced by Games Animation (later known as Nickelodeon Animation Studios) for Season 3 onwards. While the new showrunners made a valiant effort to preserve the gross and bizarre humor that characterized John K's run, the show completely lost its edge by the time Season 5 rolled around, resulting in its cancellation.
  • Signature Scene: The "Happy Happy Joy Joy" sequence from "Stimpy's Invention" is by far the most iconic scene in the series.
    • The scene from "The Cat That Laid the Golden Hairball" where an exhausted and hairless Stimpy passes out on the conveyor belt and gets stamped on the butt. It was so memorable that it was actually used as the last scene in the Music Video for Cat Hairballs.
  • Song Association: Due to it using so many stock music cues, some of these pieces of music have become strongly associated with the series.
  • Squick: All you need to do is look on this show's nausea fuel page to get some examples.
  • Superlative Dubbing: The show is relatively obscure in Germany, but has an excellent, highly acclaimed dub. The voices are completely different from the originals, and yet they maintain the spirit of the characters; the dialogue inflections are great (most of the time), and both Santiago Ziesmer and Oliver Feld inject energy and an abundance of emotion into the dub. Ziesmer is great at conveying emotion and even manages to sound scarier than John K. at times, and Feld, who is even better, displays more range in one role than he does in his entire repertoire. You have got to hear him to believe it; he very nearly bests Billy West at times. His voice is expressive and yet completely natural. Just watch any episode and you'll find out. The director of the dub is Nadine Geist, who while not always allowing everything dubbed, seems to really know how to push her actors to the limit. The best dubbed episodes are: Weltraumkoller ("Space Madness"), Robin Hoek and Schwester Stimpy (Robin Hoek and Nurse Stimpy), Der Kleinste Riese (The Littlest Giant) Stimpy's Sohn (Son of Stimpy), Stimpy's Fanclub and Koeniglich-Kanadische Yakreiter im Kilt (Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen).
  • Suspiciously Similar Song: The stock piece "Western Square Dance" by John Fox (which plays in "Galoot Wranglers") is a soundalike to "Rodeo - Hoe-Down" by Aaron Copeland.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Dr. Brainchild, who only appeared in the episode "Blazing Entrails".
  • This is Your Premise on Drugs:
  • Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: One of the most common complaints with the Games Animation episodes. While the series had always excelled in Comedic Sociopathy, it was also held together with the title duo's Bathos and Vitriolic Best Buds relationship in the first two seasons. Season Three-onwards not only amped up the darker humour, but Flanderized the characters' negative qualities (especially Ren), and often subverted any attempts at giving the show a heart over the original's palpable if incredibly twisted one.
  • Tough Act to Follow: The first two seasons are considered some of the greatest TV cartoons ever made. Fans are heavily divided on the Games era episodes. (i.e. seasons 3-5), but the reception of them has become more positive in recent years. And the less said about the "Adult Party Cartoon" revival, the better.
  • Ugly Cute: Both Ren and Stimpy qualify!
  • Unintentional Uncanny Valley:
    • Most, if not all, of the show's human characters have appearances that range from realistic, cartoonish, and grotesque, especially with those detailed close ups.
    • That female anthro chihuahua with a realistic head (whom Ren falls for) in "Marooned". Justified since she's really an alien in disguise.
  • Unintentionally Sympathetic: Surprisingly, Ren comes off as this in a few episodes. Sure, he's an abusive Jerkass most of the time but there are several instances where his anger toward Stimpy, over the top as it may be, would be otherwise warranted, such as "Stimpy's Inventions" where Stimpy forces Ren to be a guinea pig despite being told no more than once or "Sven Hoek", where Stimpy and Sven trashed and/or violated Ren's things for their own amusement. If you know your housemate has severe anger issues on top of a general derisive attitude and a history of physical abuse, and all of it is directed towards you, then why would you continue to do things that you know will set him off?
  • Unpopular Popular Character: Ren is often a unlucky No-Respect Guy, but outside the series, many fans favored him because of his psychotic personality and "You Eediot!" catchphrase.
  • Values Dissonance:
    • A recurring joke is the fire chief and his hatred of "circus midgets". Nowadays, the word "midget" is considered to be a very derogatory term for little people.
  • Vindicated by History: The Games Animation episodes had the misfortune of being overshadowed by the monstrous popularity of the first two seasons and the controversy of John K's firing, creating a narrative that Nickelodeon was too chicken to stand by the show's edgier content and just wanted something safe that made them money. Divorced from that, most would agree that the later seasons merely aren't as good as the classic first two seasons, just ever so slightly more conventional and with more filler episodes (the first two seasons had only 18 episodes combined. This, plus the Schedule Slip, made each episode all the more special), but were perfectly good cartoons in their own right, with several episodes that are just as funny as the Spumco ones. The creative staff who were labeled sellouts for migrating over to Games were themselves vindicated after John K.'s reputation took a nosedive in The New '10s, especially after Adult Party Cartoon proved that he needed them much more than they needed him.
  • What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Just look up an episode. Any episode. You will be surprised when you find out that it was rated TV-Y7 during its airtime, while containing suicidal jokes, the use of the word "crap" and loosely censored "hell", racist jokes, tons of demographically inappropriate humour, Ren's disturbingly realistic mental breakdowns, Body Horror, loads of Black Comedy and disturbing images, among many other things. The show came out at a time when cable television was starting to offer edgier content that you could only to pay to see. This meant that nobody was really certain exactly who would be watching it. This trope has become amplified in later years as the show is usually given a PG, 12 or 15-rating on most channels.
  • The Woobie:
    • Stimpy, at times. Especially true in "Son of Stimpy" and "The Littlest Giant".note 
    • Ren counts at times too, though usually he's more of a Jerkass Woobie.
    • Egg Yolkeo goes through a LOT of crap in his episode, before being accidentally eaten by Stimpy, so soon after learning how to say "I love you, daddy".
    • This show, of all things, managed to make us feel bad for a sentient fart in "Son Of Stimpy".
    • Both of them, in the episode 'Man's Best Friend'. They don't catch a break until the very end!
    • The music video for Cat Hairballs really puts Stimpy through the wringer. Throughout it we see Stimpy be farmed for every ounce of hairball possible. With all the licking and hwarfing noises turning particularly torturous by the halfway point, until Stimpy passes out and gets a brand coupe de grasse at the end.

Top