Who hasn't seen "Ren and Stimpy?" This once-great cartoon about an excitable, surly chihuahua and his big, dumb feline companion has, unfortunately, deteriorated into something crude, but the original "Spumco" episodes were hilarious. Ren's voice was, originally, up to the "Peter Lorre caricature cartoon character" vocal standard. That changed a lot once John Kricfalusi was fired by Nickelodeon and Billy West took over, doing both voices. John K.'s ren was John K. doing Peter Lorre, and Billy West's was Billy West doing John K. doing Peter Lorre. It just didn't work out. Here is a more in-depth story of the origin of the show.

Peter was, at one point in his career (the "Stranger on the Third Floor"/"Island of Doomed Men"/"You'll Find Out" era), at a physical state which certain fans like to refer to as the "chihuahua skinny" phase -- a phrase coined by our own Nancy SimPanda. It's quite possible that John K. picked up the resemblance subconsciously while inventing the character of Ren.

If you haven't seen it yet, I'd advise you to check out the cartoon "Space Madness." Ren has a very Dr. Gogolian psychotic episode in it, as well as the Joel Cairoish "You BLOATED SACK OF PROTOPLASM!". Also, "Marooned" contains the line which always delights me -- "Stimpy, we are alive! Alive, I tell you, alive! Flesh and blood, not wax!"

Sound Bites (MP3 format)

1. "They think I'm crazy...but I know better! It is not I who am crazy -- it is I who am MAD!"

2. "You filthy swine! I will KILL YOU!"

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