Stimpy builds a device that changes Ren's angry behavior altogether, but will it last?
Plot
Stimpy decides to be an inventor and ends up inventing various devices and gadgets. He has a reluctant Ren try out his Cheese-O-Phone, which allows people to talk to cheese, regardless of their foreign tongues. Next he invents a shaver that allows people to get a close shave without even being there, which leads to him shaving off most of Ren's fur. Before Ren can strangle him, Stimpy presents him with a gift. The gift is Stimpy's latest invention, Stay-Put Socks (socks that never fall down). Ren is at first delighted, but then discovers that the socks are filled with glue. Stimpy departs to get the Stay-Put hat and raincoat, and Ren attempts to go after but can't get out of the socks. When Stimpy returns, he immediately notices that Ren is angry. Therefore, he decides to invent something that will make Ren happy all the time. After a long inventing session, he comes up with the Happy Helmet, a helmet to control Ren's happiness. Ren is thrust into a state of completely forced happiness. He begins doing nice things for Stimpy, such as cleaning out his cat box and ironing his underwear. Then Stimpy brings home a record of his favorite song ("Happy, Happy, Joy Joy" by Stinky Whizzleteats). The two of them begin dancing to the record. In the middle of the dancing, Ren runs into the kitchen and finds a hammer in one of the drawers. He uses the hammer to smash the helmet and then storms back into the living room and begins strangling Stimpy. It is then that he realizes how much he loves being angry and thanks Stimpy for making him enraged. The episode ends with a shot of Ren grinning into the camera while his maniacal laugh plays in the background.
Ask Dr. Stupid
From: Jennifer
Location: Bent Armpit Wyoming
Question: What is that ugly white slab in my can of beans?
Answer: The Queen Bean, and all other beans are the worker beans that serve her.
Production music
New World Symphony - Movement 4 – Antonín Dvořák (title card)
Dance of the Hours – Amilcare Ponchielli
Pageantry Processional – Ronald Hanmer
Non Stop – John Malcolm
The Nutcracker: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (stay-put socks)
Terror By Night – Hubert Clifford
Bits and Pieces – Ronald Hanmer
Romantic – Alan Braden
Poetic Love Theme B – Mladen Franko
Stormy Passage – Cedric King-Palmer
Symphony No. 6 Pastorale: 4th Movement – Ludwig Van Beethoven
Valse Diable – Alec Gould
Tomorrow the World – Cedric King-Palmer
Acts of Heroism (c) – Trevor Duncan
Heavy Affliction – Cedric King-Palmer
Night on Bald Mountain – Modest Mussorgsky (Stimpy putting the Happy Helmet on Ren)
Flight of the Bumble Bee – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (Stimpy activating the Happy Helmet)
Lambs in Clover – Jack Strachey
The March of the Ants – Sidney Crooke
Delicate Gay – Alan Braden
Happy Outing – Marc Lanjean (Stimpy arriving home)
This episode has been considered one of the show's most famous, and also one of the best episodes the show has ever made. It was praised for the song, Happy Happy, Joy Joy!, which was a popular hit from the series.
Watch Episode
Trivia/Notes
This episode is the last for Season 1.
This episode, as well as it's sister episode, Black Hole, are the only two episodes from the first season that aired in 1992 and it's because this episode had been delayed for very short months due to missing a deadline.
This episode includes the original "Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy" song.
There are cute animals and smiley faces painted above Ren's bed in this episode, due to the influence of the Happy Helmet that forced Ren to be happy.
This is also one of the few episodes where Ren and Stimpy are shown sleeping in seperate beds instead of one.
If it weren't for Stimpy's Invention, the whole series of Ren and Stimpy would have just lasted for only one season. But since it became a huge hit among fans, the show was renewed for a second season.
The current reruns shown on Nicktoons in the UK have cut out the scene where Stimpy displays the "Cheese-O-Phone".
The line "You sick little monkey!" was also used in an episode of South Park.
This episode was that close on being rejected as Nickelodeon executive believed that the episode that will "terrify children", probably due to Ren's creepy smile and his psychotic laughter throughout most of the episode. John K believed that they'll love the episode and it's story. Ironically, as the executive read the story of the episode, they started to love it asking him if he can make another episode that turns out to be a cult like Stimpy's Invention.
During the scene where Ren cleans out Stimpy's litter box, some of his crazy laughing was improvised by Billy West, the voice of Stimpy, who would later take over the role of Ren in the show's run.
According to the DVD commentary of "Stimpy's Invention", after Ren irons Stimpy's underwear, Stimpy would licked the underwear and stuck it on him. In the final production, he sticks the underwear on him without even licking it.
The episode was ranked #78 during Nick.com's "Top 100 Greatest Moments in Nicktoon History".
Errors
Like most episodes, Ren's tail keep disappearing and reappearing. This ends up becoming a running gag in the series.
At one point when Ren is on the couch, his right ear is transparent
Ren without his tail showing
In three scenes, Stimpy's nose is red instead of blue.
When Ren comes down the stairs to greet Stimpy, he is wearing a bathrobe. In the next scene, when he is coming toward Stimpy and reaching for his neck, the bathrobe is gone.
Stimpy tells Ren that the dial on the remote controls how happy he is, yet he presses the dial like a button.
During the scene with the stay-put socks, when Stimpy turns to Ren and says "They're full of glue!", his eyes do not move along with the rest of his body
When Ren was rubbing the Happy Helmet, when it cut to the jukebox and cut back to Ren, the drawers changed colors.
