If there was ever an argument that censors were doing a good thing, look no further than the original Ren And Stimpy show. While many episodes were chopped up, or cut completely from showing (which were then made available when the DVDs were produced), censors were an important part of the creative process, forcing creator John Kricfalusi and his team of writers to become more sneaky with the off-color humor. While the show was still full of boogers, fart jokes and idiocy, a lot of the humor flew under the radar, which meant the cartoon was just as enjoyable to adults (meaning drunk college boys) as it was to children.

I make this comparison up front because, watching over Kricfalusi’s adults-only revival of the show, Ren And Stimpy: The Lost Episodes (a few shown on SpikeTV as Ren And Stimpy: Adult Party Cartoon) shows that, when freed from the chains of censorship and having the ability to run wild and free, John K. certainly doesn’t hold back at all, not one iota.

Oh, except with comedy. That’s mysteriously missing from the show.

Oops.

That’s not to say The Lost Episodes are a total waste. In fact, I’m going to recommend fans check out this DVD for two episodes that manage to break away from the standard format of the show (which consists of “poo is funny, nudity is funny, screaming is very funny.”) and bring to the table something missing from cartoons, even cartoons aimed at adults - unrelenting darkness.

The first one, Stimpy’s Pregnant, was initially pitched to Nickelodeon for its original run and was quickly shot down for being too suggestive. 13 years later, the same concept was pitched again to SpikeTV and green lit. The exact same punch line may have already been used before (which can be seen in Beavis and Butt-head, The Mike Judge Collection: Volume 2), but Stimpy’s Pregnant is full of true-to-life (though hideously exaggerated) tidbits that, while not bringing anything new to the table, still manage to touch on soon-to-be parental anxieties that go far beyond what most of the series was about.

The second episode that manages to break away from the format of the other episodes is the mind-blowing Ren Seeks Help. Bringing a much more cinematic look to the series, Ren Seeks Help is presented as a film noir featuring Ren visiting a psychiatrist in search for help after an incident involving Stimpy that is apparently so heinous, it can’t be shown on television. What follows is a series of flashbacks that shows us Ren’s entire life, from his lye-soaked birth to his childhood love of both torturing small animals and smoking as many cigarettes as possible. This episode isn’t funny in the traditional sense – it’s vile, ugly, confrontational and mean-spirited. It’s also what the entire series should have been the entire time.

It’s too bad the remaining four episodes are such clunkers – on the first disc, along with the worthwhile Stimpy’s Pregnant, Naked Beach Frenzy is exactly what you would expect from a title, only more so. The closer, Altruists, is an excruciating 40-minute (that’s an hour in television time!) tribute to The Three Stooges, wherein Ren and Stimpy decide to help a poor woman who has no home, no money, and a disabled son with a missing head. Their solution? A Robin Hood-esque scenario, which involves stealing from the rich, seducing guard ducks, dog-on-cat violence and gay innuendo. If you don’t like a single joke, too bad; 40 minutes allows for a lot of padding, and that means every joke that doesn’t land drags out minutes beyond what any human being can tolerate.

The second disc’s episodes (other than Ren Seeks Help) go from incomprehensible to intentionally horrid. Fire Dogs 2, a direct continuation from the original Nickelodeon short, features Ralph Bakshi as a dimwitted fireman who requests Ren and Stimpy’s company in his quests for pizza, loose women and softer, more malleable stools. Outside of the fecal antics, there is an interesting idea looming in the episode about co-dependency leading to violent tendencies, but the issue isn’t explored as much as it should have been. Rounding out the set is Onward and Upward, which was intended to be the most disgusting episode of Ren And Stimpy ever, where Ren and Stimpy leave their home (a bum’s mouth) to pursue much more posh living arrangements – in a dive bar spittoon. Think of every possible gag you can think of involving phlegm… It’s there. And it goes on longer than you would expect. In fact, that pretty much sums up the entire show.

Presentation
Clean, vibrant, colorful and lacking dirt, scratches and what-have-you, I wouldn’t be surprised if the show was developed digitally. In fact, a lot of the animation tends to be rather flimsy (though John K. in an interview suggests animation inconsistencies are encouraged, producing a much more interesting product) to the point where one wonders if it was developed in Flash animation. This is a lovely presentation of a product that looks like it was produced on the cheap. Comparing the opening (which is lifted from the original Nickelodeon airings) to the rest of the show is a good contrast: the opening is dull and washed out, while the remaining material is sharp and rather pretty.

The sound is presented in a stereo mix that lacks dynamics, but is distortion-free. The dialogue and sound effects are always clear, while the soundtrack pulls mostly from what seems to be older library material, and can be a little inconsistent at times due to the original source material. Even with musical limitations, the library-sourced score for Ren And Stimpy was always my favorite part of the series anyway.

Extras
After two lengthy introductions featuring “Weird” Al Yankovic (who taught me how to pronounce John Kricfalusi’s last name – possibly the most important extra in this set) and John K. Himself, we have the general meat of the extras: introductions for each episode, ranging from informative (John K. talking about the history of each episode) to slightly creepy (any of them featuring John K. plus a young woman), and interviews that close each episode. Overly casual (to the point where most of the participants are clutching beer cans in their fists), while all of them are worth checking out, they do tend to be excessively congratulatory about a rather dire television series that was canned after three episodes.

The extras are more on the technical side of things. In addition to the introductions and interviews, both Ren Seeks Help and Naked Beach Frenzy feature animatics, pencil tests, storyboards, side-by-side comparisons and character drawings. While my reaction to most of the series is apathetic at best, it might have been nice to feature such extras on each episode. But what’s here should be of interest to anyone into the nuts and bolts of animation.

Finally, I should remember to mention the previews that load up as soon as you put in the first disc. As usual, they’re unskippable and feature the same ol’ previews for South Park, Drawn Together, Ren And Stimpy, and Wonder Showzen. You’ve seen these before. You will probably see them again. Thanks, Paramount.

Overall
So let me try to understand it: a kid’s cartoon features fart jokes, and an adult party cartoon features the actual feces? Oh well, fans of the “adult” Ren And Stimpy will find a lot to treasure here, while people who grew up on the series like myself might see it as John K. grasping for a few paltry straws. The two stand-out episodes in this set are definitely worth looking into, but there’s a lot of sub-par material to wade through before getting to the goods. Although the comedy doesn’t hold up, the show is at the very least inventive. If you’re a fan of any incarnation of the infamous cat and dog duo, rent it.