- Not to be confused with the Adult Party Cartoon episode, Ren Seeks Help.
"Ren Needs Help!" is the 23rd episode of Season 4.
Characters[]
- Ren
- Stimpy
- Fire Chief
- Muddy Mudskipper
- Shaven Yak
- Abner Dimwit (cameo)
- Haggis MacHaggis (cameo)
- Dr. Sloth
Summary[]
A catatonic Ren soaking in the tub with various items.
The episode begins with Ren being shown in a state of insanity, babbling to his several important possessions, including his favorite chair, Danny, and collection of glass coffee tables (Danny, Raymond, and Desi). Soon, Stimpy returns home, while Ren sits in a bathtub blank-eyed and crazily putting lipstick on. Ren tells Stimpy that he's fine. Stimpy decides to play golf in the house, getting his golf ball in Ren's chair. He uses his cleats to non-intentionally destroy the furniture and uses the golf ball to accidentally destroy the coffee tables. Ren comes out of his bath and sees his possessions are destroyed, but decides to act calm instead of injure a fearful Stimpy. He says that he has to go end it all, muttering and laughing. Stimpy becomes concerned, as Ren shuts him down, as he believes that Stimpy has had it coming. Ren tries to happily kill himself by putting himself into the trash compactor. Stimpy becomes concerned and calls the Shady Brain Farm insane asylum to take Ren away until he is completely calmed down. Soon, they arrive, and take away Ren, after accidentally taking his chair.
A few patients (including Ren) waiting for group therapy to start.
At the facility, Ren is content, as he can live among his own kind, which include the Yak from "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksman", the Fire Chief, Muddy Mudskipper, and several others. He is ordered to go to group therapy, where the therapist is Dr. Sloth. Ren finds group therapy boring and falls asleep. Mr. Fire Chief is in therapy because he believes that everything is fake, including food and the president. Next is Muddy, who has a problem with Yak, who has a problem with the word 'cheese' which causes him to scrape his behind with a cheese grater and get taken away to electric shock therapy, returning in a straitjacket. Finally, it's Ren's turn and he confesses that he has a roommate (Stimpy) that makes him mad and he smacks him when he does. The others are shocked and afraid, including Dr. Sloth and the other patients, who order him to leave. Later, Ren goes to bed and writes to Stimpy to come and visit.
A month later, Ren goes to lunch where Muddy is serving everybody creamed corn. Ren asks for steak, but gets the same thing.
Later, Stimpy visits Ren with a baby, that Ren joyously holds, but the child turns out to resemble the guard, much to his shock.
Ren gets taken away to be lobotomized after convincing the other patients to escape.
A month later, Ren gets the same meal and laughs it off. He begins to freak out, as he hates creamed corn, and says that there is one thing he hates more. Fire Chief thinks that it's cheese, which causes the Yak to freak out. However, Ren realizes something and tells the others that they aren't crazy, they're just freaks and stupid. Each of them aren't mad but suffering from their own problems. Ren tells them to escape, which all of them do, with the exception of him. Ren laughs, but for this, he is taken away and put into a straitjacket, to be taken to the Brain Room.
Later, a lobotomized Ren is put into a suit, tie, and wig on the moon, dressed as the president to give a speech, meaning that the Fire Chief was right.
Production Music[]
- Hollywood Epic – Jack Beaver (title card)
- Vampire A – Henryk Kuzniak; Tourmaline – Therese Brenet; Fateful Hour B – Henryk Kuzniak (opening)
- Junior Miss – Len Stevens (Stimpy comes home)
- Mesmeris – Otto Sieben, John Fiddy, Christopher Taylor (Ren in the tub)
- Main Street – Alec Gould (Stimpy playing golf in the house)
- Point of Departure E – Gregor Narholz (Ren comes out of the bathroom)
- Declamatory Chords – Alan Braden (stings when Ren sees the damage Stimpy caused)
- Easing Tension – Paul Orm, Peter Orm [CPM] (Ren is furious with Stimpy)
- Drama Link (l) - Hubert Clifford (briefly overlays "Easing Tension")
- Unsolved Mysteries – Graham Preskett (Ren’s going to kill himself)
- Air Raid – Gerhard Trede (“Don’t you even bother!”)
- Trouble Spot – Van Phillips (“You’ve had this coming for four years!”)
- Drums and Timpanis – Hans Conzelmann, Delle Haensch (truck arrives)
- Charleston – Hans Conzelmann, Delle Haensch (“Goodbye, Ren! Bye! Have fun!”)
- Trouble Spot – Van Phillips (exterior of castle)
- Miss World (b) – Tony Kinsey (Ren in the mental hospital)
- Harp Gliss 2 – Otto Sieben (Ren falls asleep)
- Okarina Jodler – Georg Schwenk (therapy)
- Cold Sweat – John Scott (“Problem? What problem?”)
- Point of Departure I – Gregor Narholz (“Oh no you don’t, he wants me to say it!”)
- Dramatic Cue (d) – Ronald Hanmer (“No! Don’t do it!”)
- Dramatic Cue (g) – Ronald Hanmer (yak goes crazy)
- String Sustain – David Farnon [CPM]; Trouble Spot – Van Phillips (lights dim)
- Smouldering Fury (a) – Trevor Duncan (Ren describes his problem)
- Dangerous F – Mladen Franko (everyone’s freaked out)
- Light-Hearted Links (1-6) – Eric Spear (Ren’s dejected)
- Static Link F – Gregor Narholz (everyone talks about Ren after he leaves)
- Sphere Crystals – Gregor Narholz (that night…)
- Strangle – Trevor Nightingale, Will Thomson [CPM] (Ren writing a letter to Stimpy)
- Harp Gliss 2 – Otto Sieben (calendar)
- Blood and Sand – Ronald Hanmer (lunch)
- Springtime for Lovers – Len Stevens (Stimpy visits)
- Harp Gliss 2 – Otto Sieben (calendar again)
- Blood and Sand – Ronald Hanmer (lunch again)
- Dramatic Cue (g) – Ronald Hanmer (yak goes crazy again)
- Unsolved Mysteries – Graham Preskett (Ren begins to rant)
- Hi-Hat – Derek Holt, Gary Moberley [CPM] (drums that play during Ren’s rant)
- Flute Link (d) – Richard Myhill (“I got it all figured out!”)
- Unsolved Mysteries – Graham Preskett (Ren confronts the fire chief)
- Oddball – David Mellor [CPM] (Ren confronts Muddy)
- Charge – Richard Myhill (“Whee!”)
- William Tell Overture – Gioacchino Rossini (Ren’s put in a straitjacket)
- Static Link F – Gregor Narholz (shot of Ren’s face)
- Balow, My Babe – Patrick Gowers (clothes put on Ren)
- Hail to the Chief – Graham De Wilde (ending)
Trivia/Goofs[]
- If you listen closely, you can hear "Look at you!" in the background before Ren actually says it. This is only present on the DVD master, however.
- The Shaven Yak from "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" appears once again, as a mental patient who grates his behind with a cheese grater whenever he hears the word "cheese". It's implied that the yak is given shock therapy, as the lights begin to dim after he's taken away.
- Ren seems to resemble Ronald Reagan in the last scene where he is lobotomized, due to the black wig and deep voice. Ronald Reagan's joke about bombing Russia is also referenced.
- The crossword puzzle Dr. Sloth is working on while pretending to take notes has the words "Dumb", "Idiot", and "Commie" on it.
- Ren tells Stimpy that he's "had it coming for four years", a reference to how this episode aired as part of the fourth season.
- Despite that, the show had only been running for three-and-a-half years at the time this episode aired.
- When Ren first sees Dr. Sloth hanging from the overhead branch, it's empty. But, in the next scene, there are some berries hanging from the branch.
- When Stimpy finds Ren in the bathtub putting on lipstick, Ren's teeth are clean. But when the camera zooms in onto his mouth, suddenly there's stains on his teeth.
- This is one of the few episodes where Ren's madness is taken to an extreme level, as he was shown at the beginning of the episode to be crazily muttering to himself. He sits in a dirty bath, putting on lipstick, and ends up attempting to kill himself with the trash compactor after his possessions are destroyed.
- This episode was banned for its disturbing subject matter.
- This episode and the Adult Party Cartoon episode "Ren Seeks Help", hold many similarities. Both deal with Ren being forced to seek help because of a problem involving Stimpy and, despite the treatment that he received throughout the episode, still ends up not being cured by the conclusion.
- Unlike the Adult Party Cartoon episode, Ren was taken away to an insane asylum after Stimpy made a call to get Ren immediate mental help. In the Adult Party Cartoon episode, "Ren Seeks Help", Ren goes to a psychologist, Dr. Mr. Horse, on his own volition for mental help after having an extremely horrible argument with Stimpy, but was eventually taken away to an asylum at the end after an extremely brutal fight with Dr. Mr. Horse.
- Audio of Randy Quaid laughing as Anthony's dad is recycled for the old man mental patient holding the doll during the establishing shot of the mental institution.
- Likewise, the maniacal laughter heard while Ren is writing his letter to Stimpy is Whacky's laughter from "Hard Times for Haggis", after he had ripped the Haggis doll to pieces.
- This is another episode in which a character tries to commit suicide, including Haunted House, Hard Times for Haggis and Dog Tags.
- When everyone is going to the Therapy Session,there's a random man that later doesn't appear on the room