Ren & Stimpy is an upcoming American animated adult series that airs on Comedy Central outside the US, based on the original 1991 Nickelodeon television series of the same name created by John Kricfalusi, who had no involvement in this reboot due to his pedophilia accusations in 2018. The reboot first premiered in France on July 1, 2024, however, the entire reboot got leaked on July 21, 2024 on 4chan.
Plot[]
Ren, a insane, psychopathic, and emotionally unstable chihuahua (is there really any other kind?), and Stimpson J. Cat, a good-natured, and dimwitted manx cat going by the name of Stimpy, return for more strange, unusual, weird, and really surreal adventures.
Cast[]
Main characters[]
Other characters[]
- Michael Kohler as Bus Driver, Mr. Horse
- Billy West as Computer, Bluebird
- Sam Richardson as Log Announcer, Chipper Bro-Dude, Satan
- David Kaye as Kids, Don, Roachard, Chet, Powdered Toast Man
- Debra Wilson as Clear Toilet Woman
- H. Michael Croner as Serious Announcer, Robbie Stumps
- Monét X Change as God
- James Adomian as Vlad, Walrus
- Jenny Jaffe as Demon
- Amy Sedaris as Jan Ladybug
- Harris Peet as Muddy Mudskipper, Fire Chief, Kowalski
- Bob Camp as Additional Voices
- Robyn Byrd as Additional Voices
- Cheryl Chase as Additional Voices
- Jay Preston as Haggis MacHaggis
Development[]
Announcements and Production[]
In February 2016, Deadline Hollywood reported that characters from Ren & Stimpy were scheduled to appear in an upcoming Nicktoons feature-length film. Three months later, Variety reported that Nickelodeon was in negotiations with Kricfalusi about another revival of the characters. Bob Camp and William Wray revealed in an April 2016 panel discussion that Kricfalusi was developing a new Ren & Stimpy short that would be shown in theaters with the third SpongeBob SquarePants film, and later said that they were "not invited to that party" and would not be involved with the short's production. However, Kricfalusi later denied making such a cartoon on Twitter. Despite this, an animatic of the short that was originally made as a promotion for The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water before being cancelled was released as a bonus feature on the Cans Without Labels DVD in May 2019.
On August 5, 2020, it was announced that a new Ren & Stimpy reboot has been greenlit by Comedy Central, along with Daria and Beavis and Butt-Head. Though a new creative staff has been employed, Billy West was expected to return along with a few of the original series' writers. Due to the sexual abuse allegations surrounding him, it had been confirmed that Kricfalusi will not be involved in the production of the new reboot nor will he receive any compensation from it. Originally set to be produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio, production on the reboot has been moved to Awesome Inc in October 2021, while Snipple Animation announced their involvement in September 2022. According to West, development was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, contrary to earlier rumors that the project had been cancelled. Paramount Global (at the time operating as ViacomCBS), the parent company of Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, has not responded to requests for a comment about the status of the show, though West reiterated that it was still in production. On September 14, 2021, West confirmed that he was reprising his roles as Ren and Stimpy.
Besides West, several of the shows original writers were set to return. Scandal-plagued series creator, John Kricfalusi, has been confirmed to not be involved with the production of the reboot due to the 2018 BuzzFeed allegations accusing him. People who worked on the original are also returning such as Bob Jaques, Chris Sauve and former Spümcø alumni Robyn Byrd, who despite working on the reboot, previously tried to get the reboot cancelled under the guise of it potentially leading John K to "lure young people to his studio".[1] However, Robyn Bryd was later shown to retract these claims, as after she started working on the reboot and was getting revenue from it, she closed the petition. Bob Camp was originally slated to be involved, but he later left due to creative differences.
Episode Leaks and Releases[]
On November 28, 2023, the models of Ren, Stimpy, and Walrus, and the episode Zen Ren were leaked.
On December 31, 2023, scenes and title cards from the upcoming revival were leaked, with the two episodes leaked revealed to be called "Screentime" and "All About Log".
On May 3, 2024, the entirety of the episodes "Aw Hell No!" and "Squatters" were leaked on 4chan.
On June 14, 2024, it was reported that the series will premiere on Comedy Central in Latin America and some European countries with the episodes "Renhattan", "Table for Human" and "Clean Toilet" in the month of July, pending its premiere in the United States[2].
On July 1, 2024, the episodes "Screentime", "All About Log" and "Milk Pulp" premiered in France. The show's Latin American debut has been delayed indefinitely for unknown reasons. On July 21, 2024, all the episodes were leaked on 4chan.
This reboot does not credit John Kricfalusi for creating Ren & Stimpy, but he does make a cameo appearance in the episode "Aw Hell No!"
Reception[]
Following the leaks, the Comedy Central reboot received a mixed reception. Fans criticized the show for its tamer animation, Billy West's performance as Ren and Stimpy (as a result of old age when the reboot started production, and him getting COVID near the end of production in September 2023), being writer-driven instead of being creator/storyboard-driven, and the lack of involvement from Bob Camp and other Ren & Stimpy veterans during the reboot's production. However, others still considered it to be better then Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" for its attempt at being a more faithful recreation of the original series, as well for having better pacing and characterization.
Like Adult Party Cartoon, this reboot has also garnered a satirical cult following on social media, comprising of people making memes based on perceived "bad jokes"; including one scene in "A Stimpy is Born" where Ren mentions a Beatles song (a band John Kricfalusi notoriously hated) and another in the same episode where an incidental female character (loosely based on one of the writers) describes how the piano teeth joke would play out to a fellow audience member.
Original Crew Responses[]
Due to behind the scenes turmoil during production, the reboot has brought the ire of some of the shows original staff members. Bill Wray criticized the reboot in a post on his Facebook account and denounced the writers of the reboot for seeing him, Bob Camp, and Jim Gomez as just "old white men" before resigning them from the show, while also suggesting that the show might be written off for tax purposes.[3] Bob Camp would also express dissatisfaction to some capacity. However, he encouraged fans to "give the show a chance to find its own voice" and expressed no ill will towards the staff.[3]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The reboot was going to premiere in Latin America on July 12, 2024, but for unknown reasons, it did not premiere and it was infinitely delayed.
- Nickelodeon Animation Studios was originally going to animate this reboot, but dropped out.
- The first Ren and Stimpy series to be developed by Awesome Inc. instead of Spümcø, due to its ceased operations.
- Unlike the original series, the show is not meant for kids at all, similar to Adult Party Cartoon, as the show is just for mature audiences only.
- In February, a page for the show on Tenor was created, possibly indicating that the project is still alive.
- The French voice actors of the original show's dub from France were changed to a new voice cast in Belgium in this reboot.
- The Italian dub of the reboot, although completed, only excerpts of it were posted on Comedy Central Italy's social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, and it also did not premiere on TV there. This dub keeps the voice actors of Ren and Stimpy from the Italian dub of the Games Animation era aired on the channel in Italy.
- According to Billy West in a podcast, the reboot would be also premiering on Paramount+, but unlikely to happen due to the possibility of the reboot ended up being cancelled as a tax write-off at Paramount.
- In a similar case to Adult Party Cartoon fans who tried to get the series a second season through a petition on the now-defunct website PetitionOnline, some certain fans of the Comedy Central reboot want a second season of the reboot, mainly using the aforementioned rumor of the second season supposedly happening, despite it being unlikely to happen due to Paramount and Comedy Central's poor treatment of the reboot (e.g. scarce official news and almost no official advertising coming from them), problematic production, accusations against the reboot team of harassing veterans of the original series and causing their dismissal from the reboot, the leaks of the reboot on the internet and its possible cancellation due to tax write-offs at Paramount.
Episodes[]
See also: List of Ren & Stimpy (reboot) episodes