Continued from…

Even though it was killed off, Ren & Stimpy spawned a number of imitators, from the depths of Nickelodeon’s Shnookums and Meat to the heights of USA’s Duckman. Although they copy some of the Ren & Stimpy look and attitude (including facial expressions), few (except perhaps Duckman) conjure the same magic.

"Well, I think it’s kind of funny, because the things that they copy are all the wrong things," says Kricfalusi. "They kind of missed the point. Like, I see a lot of splotchy backgrounds. I just have to laugh when I see that, because we used that maybe once in a while, like when Ren went insane or something. I’ve seen all kinds of cartoons with splotchy backgrounds now, but they’re not in context with the story–they’re just sort of arbitrary. You can see the director saying, ‘Gee, Ren & Stimpy had splotchy backgrounds! That’s the key to its success!’

"That’s not a bad thing, though–the fact that people are copying something new rather than copying something old, which was the situation before. In features, they all copied Disney. In Saturday morning cartoons, they all copied Scooby Doo–which was the most horrific thing ever created. So somewhere in all this copying some new guys are gonna come along and go, ‘Well, hell, we’re copying something that was new a couple of years ago, maybe we could just invent something new.’"

Although this type of inspiration doesn’t seem to be striking the animation community at large, Kricfalusi does see a few causes for optimism lately. First, Hanna-Barbera started an animation shorts program with the Cartoon Network to advance new talent. And second, the great behemoth of formulaic animation, Disney, tried something different last year.

"Well, I thought Toy Story was pretty good. And not for the obvious reasons–you know, that it’s the first computer-animated movie. I could really give two shits about whether it’s cell animation or computer animation or what it is. Does it work as a story, as characters? Well, the story was a little predictable and kind of corny, but it was constructed a thousand times better than any modern Disney movie. And it didn’t have any of the Disney formula stuff–they didn’t stop and break into hateful songs every two seconds, there were no sidekicks. Unbelievable!

"In Toy Story, they tried a whole bunch of new expressions, custom-tailored to fit how the characters were feeling in the particular instant in that particular story. That’s a revolution far beyond the computer animation–characters that act visually. I’m not talkin’ about the sound, I’m not talkin’ about Tom Hanks. I’m talkin’ about the animator, how he made the character’s face bend, how he posed the character. It was new. It wasn’t really a dramatic testing of the water, but it was enough of a leap away from the Disney stuff that that’s a real revolution. If they keep going in that direction, it’ll really be something."

As Kricfalusi and Spümcø continue to negotiate with Hollywood execs, their own ideas for revolution mount: the reintroduction of theatrical shorts (featuring George Liquor and Jimmy), animated features for the direct-to-video market, a new publisher for Comic Book, and as ever, a new TV series. In the meantime, the studio has worked on animated commercials for Coca-Cola and Nike, and an on-line comic for AT&T starring Brik Blastoff of the Outback.

Another Spümcø pop culture invasion has been in the realm of toys, with a complete line of dolls, cel painting kits and paint by numbers kits made by Palmer Paints. Most appealing is the talking George Liquor doll with the pull-string in his butt, who grittily exclaims, "Take it like a MAN!" All of the products are entertaining in a multitude of ways ("You can actually sit there and read the boxes for a couple of hours."), and are prime examples of what inspires Kricfalusi most–pop culture that works hard to be good.

"To me, the stuff I like the best is the stuff that’s the most intense, most sophisticated and the most emotional," he says. "That includes Elvis, Kirk Douglas, Bob Clampett, Monty Python, the Three Stooges. There’s a movie called Night of the Hunter with Robert Mitchum–completely intense, completely artistic, soulful, emotional, just amazing. I love that. I like things where people really go all out to entertain you. I mean, they use skill, they use technique, they use emotion. They work at it. And there’s nothing like that today. Is there anything intense today, that is highly skilled and highly emotional at the same time?"

Nope. And if the suits have their way, there won’t be.

Originally Published: January 25, 1996 • Metro Pulse

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Sidebar: Q&A, A, A w/ John K.

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Related Websites:

http://www.spumco.com/ • Spumco's website is very cool indeed, having pioneered online cartoons and offering all sorts of free goodies (along with their own e-commerce department). Although it seems slow to load, its graphics and cartoon propaganda are well worth the wait.[UPDATE: The Spumco website no longer seems to exist. Ill tidings?]