Space Madness/The Boy Who Cried Rat!
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"Space Madness" and "The Boy Who Cried Rat" are 15-minute episodes of the animated television show, Ren and Stimpy.
Contents |
[edit] Space Madness
| “Space Madness” | |
|---|---|
| The Ren and Stimpy Show episode | |
 Stimpy subdues Ren, who is suffering from space madness. |
|
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 3a |
| Guest stars | Billy West as "That Guy" |
| Written by | John K. and Jim Gomez |
| Directed by | John K. |
| Production no. | RS03a |
| Original airdate | August 25, 1991 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Robin Höek/Nurse Stimpy" | "Fire Dogs/The Littlest Giant" |
[edit] Plot
Commander Ren and Stimpy travel in outer space in the year 400,000,000,000 AD. In the episode, they take a 6-year break to spend quality time. Stimpy serves food and hides it under a food cover. It turns out to be compacted food in a caplet. Meanwhile Ren says "I want some real food!".
Ren takes a bath, meanwhile Stimpy turns off the gravity for more relaxation. This results in one of the most distinctive images of the series, Ren floating within a tub-shaped prism of water in a fashion akin to a magic carpet. Ren, driven to distraction by the lack of any real food in space, becomes deranged and believes the soap he is holding is an ice cream bar.
During this scene Ren utters the following immortal quote:
- "They think I'm crazy, but I know better. It is not I who am crazy, it is I who am MAD! Can't you hear them? Can't you see the crowds? Oh, my beloved ice cream bar. How I love to lick your creamy center! And your oh-so-nutty chocolate covering! You're not like the others, you like the same things I do! Wax paper, boiled football leather- DOG BREATH! We're not hitch-hiking anymore! We're riding!... Oh no! I know what you want! You've coveted my ice cream bar! No you don't! You can't take it from me now! I've had it ever since I was a child. Everywhere I go, people always try to take it from me! Why won't they leave.. me.. ALOOONNNNNE!!!"
Fearful that Stimpy is covetous of his precious confectionery, Ren explodes in a rage, scattering his levitating bath water. Cornered, he brandishes a toothbrush, warning Stimpy that if he comes any closer he'll be forced to use it. Stimpy makes one step and Ren proceeds to rake the brush maniacally across his incisors. Stimpy leaps on top of him and disarms him. Ren weeps.
Ren considers Stimpy's attempt to restrain him a sign that it is Stimpy, and not he, who is mad. He decides to occupy Stimpy's mind with more duties. Stimpy approaches the history eraser button, with Ren telling him to protect it. The narrator describes his temptation to press the button and Stimpy eventually bottoms out and they eventually disappear. Their heads on the show's opening marquee also vanish.
[edit] Additional Opening Credits
- Storyboard: Jim Smith and Chris Reccardi
- Background Color Design: Bill Wray
- Art Direction: Jim Smith
- Animation Direction: Bob Jaques
[edit] Notes, Goofs, and Trivia
- This was the first episode co-animated by Carbunkle Productions. Carbunkle is an animation studio in Canada, headed by [[Bob Jaques, and also with animator Kelly Armstrong who animated the difficult sequence of Ren twisting up like a knotted rope and convulsing in the Stay-Put Socks. This is the studio that John K. would send his favorite episodes to, rather than Rough Draft Korea animation studios. In Season 2, Carbunkle Cartoons would animate entire episodes.
- Originally, after Stimpy had pushed the history eraser button, he and Ren would have fixed the damage but Nick cut it.
- Nick objected to the history eraser button, which only barely made it in.
- In the very beginning of the episode, Ren asks, "Hey, Stimpy, what's on TV tonight?" and as Stimpy replies, "Oh Joy! It's Commander Hoek and Stimpy!" and shows Ren the TV Guide, Stimpy's nose disappears for a brief moment.
- Ren floats into the control room, which has normal gravtity, however, he is still floating until he gets out of the bath.
[edit] Quotes
[edit] The Boy Who Cried Rat
| “The Boy Who Cried Rat” | |
|---|---|
| The Ren and Stimpy Show episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 3b |
| Guest stars | Cheryl Chase as Mrs. Pipe; Billy West as Mr. Pipe; Harris Peet as George Liquor |
| Written by | Vincent Waller and John K. |
| Directed by | John K. |
| Production no. | RS03b |
| Original airdate | August 25, 1991 |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Robin Höek/Nurse Stimpy" | "Fire Dogs/The Littlest Giant" |
[edit] Plot
Starving and broke, Ren and Stimpy go dumpster diving to find a meal. The only food they can find is a tin can and a sock. Before they can enjoy their "food", an angry George Liquor shoos them from his garbage, telling them that'll be the last time he threatens them.
Now more desperate, Ren and Stimpy try to think of a way to make an easy meal. Ren figures out a plan, and that night, he sneaks into a house, drills a mousehole into the wall (using a beaver with "mighty inscisors" that can belch with the best of them), and hides out till morning.
The next morning, Stimpy arrives at the house and introduces himself as a professional mouse catcher to the lady of the house. She finds Stimpy adorable and brings him in to her husband. The husband scoffs at Stimpy, saying they have no mice in the house. On cue, Ren pops out, dressed in Mickey Mouse ears, catching the attention of everyone with the line "Squeak! Squeak! Squeak, I tell you! Squeak!", and savagely beating up on a piece of cheese. Seeing a potential job for Stimpy, the husband pays him $5 bucks on the spot. Ren's eyes light with the sight of the cash, and the chase ensues.
Ren and Stimpy run a fake chase throughout the house, done in the style of Tom & Jerry, and the Hanna Barbera cartoon Pixie & Dixie and Mr. Jinks, and ham it up with exaggerated acting, physical violence (Ren smashing Stimpy with a mallet a la Tom & Jerry), and even raiding the pantry and helping themselves to sandwiches when out of the view of the couple. Finally, Stimpy "catches" Ren and is about to throw him out, when the husband suggests Stimpy eat the "mouse". Stimpy refuses at first, but to satisfy his newfound customers, he first chews on Ren a little, then stuffs him into his mouth whole. As Stimpy turns to leave, the wife asks him to chew up Ren, and there the madness begins.
The scene cuts to Ren inside Stimpy's mouth, being ground up between his teeth, getting slapped around by his tongue, and getting washed up by a tidal wave of milk. Finally, Ren decides he's had enough, and to escape the horrors of Stimpy's mouth, he whips out a feather and tickles the roof of Stimpy's mouth. Stimpy coughs up a hairball, but then the couple go to pick it up, they see it's Ren, still in his mouse disguise. The husband asks his wife to wash him off and they'll have Stimpy try to eat Ren again. Not wanting to do that again, Ren blows his disguise, and tells Stimpy to give back the money he got. Stimpy breaks down in tears, and confesses that all the talk about eating made him hungry and that he ate the money. The episode ends with Ren and Stimpy stuck in the house working off their debt.
[edit] Additional Opening Credits
- Storyboard: Vincent Waller
[edit] Notes, Goofs, and Trivia
- Originally, most of the episode was going to take place in Stimpy's mouth but Nick extended the 'chase' scene.
- This episode marks the debut of Mr. and Mrs. Pipe.
- Inside Stimpy's mouth contain a golden tooth and a wooden tooth, the latter referring to George Washington's wooden teeth.
- The title is similar to "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".
[edit] Quotes
[edit] Yak Shaving Day
[edit] Plot
Ren and Stimpy tell all the kids "There's only five more days till Yak Shaving Day!" Preparations include stapling dirty diapers to the wall and leaving a bowl of hot lather by the bathroom sink. During the bumper, a shaven yak pops into the bathroom through the tub drain. Seeing the five o'clock shadow on his face, and a fresh bowl of shaving cream, he has himself a nice shave. The next morning, Stimpy wakes up in joy, runs to the bathroom, and sees a gift the yak left for him: shaving scum. Gleeful, he gathers it up, then announces "He got my letter!"
