It's an interesting story and now it's been given a full-length movie.
When I was a kid, I'd plant myself a few feet in front of a cathode-ray tube television and stare in amazement as I watched my favorite cartoon — The Ren & Stimpy Show.
At the time, there wasn't anything else like it. Nickelodeon had just released its first "Nicktoons" segment, which also included the likes of Doug and Rugrats, but neither of them was as fantastically disgusting artfully magnificent as The Ren & Stimpy Show.
It was the cartoon show that inspired me to create the disturbing characters I drew and shared with people in school, and mainly why I wanted to study animation in college. John Kricfalusi, or John K., is one of my heroes.
Sure, I was a fan, but not everyone was pleased with the over-the-top and detailed closeups of pulsing veins, boogers, throbbing sores, and buttcheek pimples.
Nickelodeon, who owned the show at the time, wasn't necessarily supportive of the show.
The network’s "Standards and Practices" demanded a lot of changes to the strange cartoon, and eventually, John K. left his own creation and formed friction with even his personal friendships.
It's an interesting story and now it's been given a full-length documentary, coined as Happy Happy, Joy Joy: The Ren and Stimpy Story. According to the Indigogo campaign, Nickelodeon is not producing the film. As for John K., this is what the film's creators said:
“We have asked him multiple times for an interview,” say producers Kimo Easterwood and Ron Cicero. “He has okay’d the participation of several people close to him, however, as of now, John himself has refused appear on camera… but who knows what the future holds.”
Personally, I'm super pumped about this because I've always been interested in the story behind the cartoon.
When I was younger, back when dial-up internet ruled the world, I'd scour the web for the show's history.
The documentary will focus a lot of its time highlighting the technical side of the show, and there's apparently 70 hours of interviews with significant players in the creation of The Ren & Stimpy Show.
“Bob Camp, Vincent Waller, Billy West, Chris Reccardi, Jim Gomez, Vanessa Coffey and more, share their surprising insights into the true cost of creating a pop culture classic.
Happy Happy, Joy Joy: The Ren and Stimpy Story premiered at Sundance in February and now it's finally coming to theaters and on VOD August 14, 2020.
Of course, the theater schedule may be tricky due to the pandemic, but pre-orders for iTunes and other VOD outlets will be available soon.
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