Untamed World (The Ren & Stimpy Show)
| "Untamed World" | |
|---|---|
| The Ren & Stimpy Show episode | |
 | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 4b |
| Directed by | John Kricfalusi |
| Story by | Jim Smith John Kricfalusi Bob Camp |
| Production code | RS-05B |
| Original air date | November 10, 1991 |
"Untamed World" is the 10th episode of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 10 November 1991.
Plot
[edit]In a parody of nature documentaries, Ren is Marlon Höek, the host of a nature show, Untamed World, and Stimpy is his bumbling assistant. The duo travel to the Galapagos islands to study the "organisms", as Ren calls the wildlife. The duo find strange and grotesque animals that all resemble themselves in some way. Ren chases after the rare Speckle-Throated Burrowing Five-Toed Yak, but Stimpy accidentally shoots him with a tranquilizer and tags him by the ear. Ren gets his revenge by tagging Stimpy's tongue.
Cast
[edit]- Ren - voice of John Kricfalusi
- Stimpy - voice of Billy West
- The Turtle - voice of Harris Peet
- The Seagull - voice of Billy West
Production
[edit]The episode was conceived in October 1990 and spent much of 1991 in production. John Kricfalusi, the showrunner, came up with the idea of a spoof of nature documentaries, and was deeply involved in the production, insisting on reviewing personally every drawing for the episode.[1] Many of the drawings for Untamed World were done by Jim Smith, one of the top illustrators at the Spümcø studio.[2] The actual task of drawing in and painting all of the frames one by one was assigned to the Lacewood studio in Ottawa.[3] The lower value of the Canadian dollar to the American dollar led to the task of performing the laborious and time-consuming task of doing all of the drawings one by one being sub-contracted out to Canadian studios.[4] Jamie Oliff, the boss of the Lacewood studio admitted that quality animation was not the strongest suit of his poorly paid workers and admitted that much of the poor visual quality of Untamed World was due to the work done by his studio.[3]
Reception
[edit]The American critic Dawn Taylor rated Untamed World as one of the best episodes of the first season that featured "some truly disturbing Galapagos Island nature footage."[5] Karen Schomer, the television critic of the New York Times wrote in 1992 that Untamed World was a strange episode that featured odd looking animals that had no happy ending.[6]
Books and articles
[edit]- Dobbs, G. Michael (2015). Escape – How Animation Broke into the Mainstream in the 1990s. Orlando: BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1593931100.
- Komorowski, Thad (2017). Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren & Stimpy Story. Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1629331836.
References
[edit]- ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 97.
- ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 98.
- ^ a b Komorowski 2017, p. 91.
- ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 90.
- ^ Taylor, Dawn. "The Ren & Stimpy Show: The Complete First & Second Seasons: Uncut". The DVD Journal. Retrieved 30 June 2023.
- ^ Schoemer, Karen (11 March 1992). "Twisted Humor of Children's Cartoon Gains a Cult Following". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
