Product Description

Did you REALLY think you were safe from the insanity and stupidity of Ren and Stimpy? Well, the demented duo is back for more madness with their friends Powdered Toastman, Jimmy Lummox, Jerry the Bellybutton Elf, crazy Wilbur Cobb, deranged circus midgets, and more! From girl scouts to brain surgery, from prehistoric times to Washington, D.C., from inside Stimpy Bellybutton, to inside Ren's face, get ready for a whacked-out ride! Oh, joy of joys!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30445 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2005-06-28
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: Animated, Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 373 minutes

Amazon.com
Though the third season of John Kricfalusi's much-loved Ren and Stimpy animated series has been the subject of much controversy among devotees of the show and its creator, there is still enough cat/dog insanity to warrant viewing. Some fans' problems with the season revolve around the fact that Nickelodeon, which was airing the program, removed Kricfalusi and his Spumco team from the show's production and replaced them with Games Animation, which reproduced Ren and Stimpy's signature artwork, but without the absurd spark of the first and second seasons (at least by those fans' estimation). However, a perusal of the 29 episodes compiled on this three-disc set (which offers the entire third season and a smattering of the fourth, which concludes on the Season Five and Some More of Four set) does turn up some worthwhile episodes, most notably "Ren's Pecs" (Ren develops a rippling physique after injecting fat from Stimpy's posteior), "Jimminy Lummox" (Stimpy's conscience takes the form of a monstrous singing lout), "Powdered Toast Man vs. Waffle Woman" (no explanation needed there...), and the surreal "House of Next Tuesday" (R & S visit the title domicile to escape giant ants). All this, plus several visits to "Untamed World," appearances by the irascible Wilbur Cobb, Jerry the Bellybutton Elf (who resides inside Stimpy's navel)--and scads of commentary tracks, including eleven from Kricfalusi and his Spumco team, and two from Ren and Stimpy themselves. Though the loyal may be divided on these seasons, completists will want to add this round of lunacy to their DVD animation collections. -- Paul Gaita

Customer Reviews

Nick's hostile takeover.
You probably know very well what happened after the second season of Ren and Stimpy: Nick lures away a few Spumco workers, opens up a company called Games Animation, and Ren and Stimpy started dwindling in terms of quality and consistency with the fifth and final season having the worst episodes ever.

However, in the earlier stages, most of these Games episodes were originally written/storyboarded at Spumco and are the true hits, so this set isn't a total waste. Some of these include A YARD TOO FAR, REN'S PECS, STIMPY'S CARTOON SHOW, BASS MASTERS, LAIR OF THE LUMMOX and a few others as well. In addition you'll also get JIMINY LUMMOX, AN ABE DIVIDED, FARM HANDS, REN'S RETIREMENT, HOUSE OF NEXT TUESDAY, and maybe IT'S A DOG'S LIFE and EGG YOLKEO, which although not Spumco episodes (or maybe some of them are), they're still somewhat funny and bearable to watch.

We're not all sure what kind of extras will there be, but if there's a lot in this set, that'll definitely make this set worth buying. So far all I know this there will be commentaries from the original Spumco crew and a few of the Games artists.

Oh, Joy...

Should've Skipped this Material and Released Adult Party Cartoon
Am glad I rented this set down at the local video store before spending any real money. While it's interesting to see what Games did with the characters after Spumco, the majority of the cartoons don't have anywhere near the overall appeal of the first DVD set. And despite the fairly high artistic quality of the cartoons, the majority are unfunny and just plain mean-spirited... lots of violence, weird drawings and psychotic nonsense... for no apparent reason. These reek of the output of "content creators"... you know, it's just an advertisement delivery device, so who cares what it's about, as long as it captures the desired demographic.

The exceptions are mostly the cartoons originated at Spumco: Lair of the Lummox, Salve or Salve Not, some moments of No Pants Today, Yard Too Far and Ren's Pecs. I did think two Games creations were ok... An Abe Divided and Egg Yolkeo... the former having a pretty humorous story, the latter having a bizarre, but humorous story and a great Disney-esque animation of Ren freaking out at the end... but that's it. The rest have little to no replay value. The commentaries on the discs with the old Spumco crew are interesting... mostly being a lament on the demise of their creation... but it would've been even better to hear what the Games folks were thinking when they made these... their absence is telling... one thing is for sure, they made these for the money, baby!

Instead Paramount should have brought out a set of all the Adult Party Cartoons... including the ones SpikeTV never broadcasted... and maybe with a "best of" Games episodes disc.

My advice, if you are in doubt, go rent this at your local video store first.

Intended for the most desperate fans, only.
During the 1980's, animator John Kristfalusi had been trapped in the same rut as animators during those days. A time in which animators had absolutely zero input in the creation or writing of the shows they were forced to put some semblance of life into by networks who would create new animated television shows out of a need for marketing. The result was that the state of animation as an medium for expression was well and truly dead.

Enter John Kristfalusi. Along with pioneering one of the first animated shows completely created and written by the cartoonists, he and his Spumco team created the most widely remembered and one of the most celebrated attempts to revitalize the animation industry with the incredibly groundbreaking "Ren and Stimpy Show"

So.... what the hell happened?

Immediately constrained by the limitations and the aggravation of censors and executives who would not allow the show to become what it truly had the potential to be, and a vast misunderstanding of the revolutionary concept of the "Creator-driven-cartoon" (A term that the network ironically coined), Kristfalusi and his team of animation revolutionists faced roadblock after frustrating roadblock from day one.

Finally, after 2 incredible seasons, and faced with the realization that their meddling was more trouble than it was worth, the network opted for a solution to this problem. However, their solution was one that only a network would think to make... They had removed the duties of working on the show away from Kristfalusi, and attempted to hire away his writers. However, the bulk of them remaining loyal, only a small handful of Spumco employees stayed on.

The result is the beginning of the end, chronicled with this set.
This set is far more educational than enjoyable, especially for most fans of The Ren and Stimpy Show.

Beginning halfway into season 2 (while Spumco episodes were in various production stages), and truly beginning with the 3rd set is when the downfall of the Ren and Stimpy show begins it's steady plummet into a sad, and miserable fate.

The beginning of Season 3 plainly shows the newly appointed company "Games Productions" running off of the vapors of old Spumco ideas, without any clear idea on how to utilize them.

Halfway into season three upon nearly running out of Spumco ideas to steal and re-hash is when the show plummets in every conceivable venture. As it soon begins to become apparent that fresh and interesting ideas have made way to generic plots, it's as if the team just stopped caring or trying.

At this point without a central director, with whole episodes having no directors, and only names used for those that oversaw more aspects of the cartoons than others in place of a Directors Credit. It is this set and the Seasons 4 and 5 set, of R&S that show glimmers of potential being washed down the drain. WIth no potential being left at the end save for a miserable and well deserved cancellation.

However, I should point out that despite my seemingly negative review of the episodes themselves, this set is far from illustrating the indignancies that The Ren and Stimpy Show would receive by seasons 4 and 5. Which makes this set worth picking uip along with one other all important saving grace:

Commentaries.

The commentaries on this set, shows many of the original team watching and their reactions to the downward spiral of the show. But this is not all they do.

The commentaries are exceptionally insightful, offering glimpses of what Spumco's full ideas would have been, what they could have done, and the direction they were headed before the show took it's nosedive without them.

Most commentaries will prove to be INCREDIBLY insightful into the education of the process in which Ren and Stimpy were robbed of their formulas of success, and an incredible commentary for "Stimpy's Cartoon Show" which chronicles not only the demise of this show itself, but also a valuable history lesson about the decline of quality animation from the years of 1960 to 1990.

The set receives 3 stars out of 5 from me, because some fun can be dug up from witnessing the beginning of the end for the most original, and most revolutionary animated show of the 1990's.

Trust me... with the next set "Season Five and some more of Four" you will see worse. Much, much worse.