Why I prefer the Games Ren and Stimpy

Ever since the downfall of John Kricfalusi, as in, people actually decided to speak up and reveal him to be an utter piece of shit, and thus it pulled the curtain back on the actual quality of John's work, we see what he can do without any interference, and sufficed to say it turned out to be shit. I once did an edit of Cans Without Labels and he proceeded to flag it down, so you can say I'm a bit biased, and I also did an edit of the George Liquor Program.

But in spite of all that, John's initial tenure with The Ren and Stimpy Show is still held to some decent regard. It's history by this point, but allow me to break it down:

• The Ren and Stimpy Show proved to be a very influential show for Nickelodeon.
• John was a creative with no filter and fought tooth and nail with the network on how the writing went down.
• He was a perfectionist at the cost of getting shit done on time and sought to push boundaries where they weren't welcome.
• Nickelodeon would fire him over the missed deadlines and thus take over the remainder of the series.
• People either really hate or consider this era of the show to be mid.

While the Games era has its fans there're still some people who consider it to be a far cry from the older seasons, or they just don't like it. I can see where that comes from, once the creator is taken off of a project it shows in later episodes. I'm just saying it's hard to look back on the originals knowing what we know about John now, and how a lot of the faults in his later works reflect in the Spumco seasons, and the only reason they're any better now is because of network interference, of course some things would slip out.

So why would I prefer the Games era to Spumco? Let's look over both.

Spumco

What made the Spumco seasons so good? A lot of people would say it was because it had a lot of daring adult jokes that would fly over everyone's heads as a kid, and really hit them as an adult. Ren and Stimpy did it first and I can see where the novelty lies, but two things, one, once you figure out the joke, it can get a little worn out as now the joke turns from complicated to making you laugh once or twice but now, it's time to move on.

Second, Rocko's Modern Life was also known for its adult jokes, but that show had more class. Both shows did work on trying to slip stuff by the censors, but the smoking gun is the kind of jokes either shows get away with. One hand, double entendres, the other, cigars look like turds and gross out. It's down to preference really, but I prefer the former because the way the jokes are carried out are funny enough in their own right to keep me interested.

Ren and Stimpy certainly introduced the concept, but others would do it better, and Ren and Stimpy was around for much longer so therefore it would stick with more people.

One other thing that keeps me at a distance is the drag. It's just me, but most of the time I feel like most jokes and scenes go on for an eternity. Now granted, it can work to great effect like in Sven Hoek, other times I'm thinking that if John had not been bothered, we would've had the equivalent of A Third Dad Cartoon where nothing happens until the very end, and it's not even to make a point.

I'm just saying, you can trim out gaps of nothing or more of the same happening and nothing would be lost. Suspense and comedy don't always go well together, either that or John sucks at it. Artists should be allowed creative freedom, but John doesn't deserve it, Cans Without Labels and Adult Party Cartoon demonstrate just as much.

Games

I had said I may be biased against John early on because he flagged down one of my videos, well the favor is also extended to Games... because I saw a Games era episode first. Lair of the Lummox to be exact. I'm aware the season has its bad episodes, and there are some episodes I don't like. Either I got lucky and was exposed to episodes generally agreed upon to be good, or I just didn't have any quality standard set because I got into the series so late in the game.

For a lot of the episodes in this period, it seems like a lot of them are used by the animators to vent their frustrations about John. Stimpy's Cartoon Show proved to be one of the era's best episodes because of it. However, when it comes to trying to keep with the spirit of the older seasons, they were in a lose-lose situation. If they tried to do their own thing, the fans would hate it, if they tried to replicate what the older seasons had, the fans would hate it.

I can't possibly defend the entire period, but I can say I enjoyed what I saw of it, and I feel more comfortable returning to it than the Spumco era.

Separation

Some may suggest that I should separate the art from the artist, but that is difficult when it comes to Spumco. John played Ren, he put in a stark majority of himself into the character. It came to a head in Adult Party Cartoon, and we've seen how horrible he was to work with even in his prime. I can't possibly view Spumco episodes with any ounce of good faith. I won't hold it against anyone who's the opposite, but there you go.

Whether people want to admit it or not, maybe Ren and Stimpy was better off without John K., and Bob Camp is the true genius behind it.