Stimpy's Cartoon Show | Animator Abuse Scene

Big thanks to @ToonForBrains on Twitter for this video. Google slides is a bit of a wacko when it comes to uploading mp4 vid files, so I had to upload this scene on here, in hopes it would link correctly. It's for a presentation examining mistreatment in a multimedia workforce.

[@theotherjared9824]

John kricfalusi was infamous for literally throwing away drawings he did not approve of and told the animators to start over from scratch until he thought it was perfect. This was done because he hated the idea of reusing animation and demanded no two frames look alike. This led to the increasingly creative and outlandish designs and expressions, but it also led to severe delays which screwed over nickelodeon several times. Sometimes they put their foot down and forced an episode through against John's wishes, which you can tell by the director credit being a pseudonym. It got so bad that John was fired after season 2, where the episodes got pumped out more and the animation was toned noticeably down.

[@BBWahoo]

Damn, Nick wanted a TV show but jon wanted movies

[@vengeancegauloise6049]

That's kind of interesting though, the kind of results such hellish conditions would produce. kind of like a kubrick for animation.

[@timothyryan8983]

And now John's outed of the industry. Not sure if it was worth it.

[@dedfoker]

@@timothyryan8983 john was banned because of the sexual abuse allegations that he confirmed and apologized for. Too late because he is talented, but being a pervert didn't helped him.

[@ChangedMyNameFinally69]

I can see being against reusing animation though

[@1o1beauty]

This is actually how they made the show

[@dorkymations4432]

Nope

[@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx]

@@dorkymations4432 No? That’s what this episode is

[@1nthend832]

@@dorkymations4432 It's true in a metaphor way to say it👌

[@scribbledribbleproductions3711]

Thats true tho

[@ForTheOmnissiah]

@@gambler942 you're in a fantasy world if you think the animators could make this and it get past the lead producer. This was his idea to begin with, period. You think sweatshop animators pump out content like this with nobody higher-up, including the creator of the show, never seeing it prior to being aired? What planet do you live on? This was his idea from the beginning.

[@magnetoonproductions9541]

This is meant to showcase all the those poor animators who suffered and were slave driven under the work of the evil mastermind known as John K.

[@MrBongobongbongo]

hes calling his boss a Nazi foghat

[@TPDManiacXC626]

And the animators in the anime industry as well. They have it just as bad if not worse.

[@xerothehero1704]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx you don’t even know

[@xerothehero1704]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx the trade off for less animation is more detailed characters and sometimes it’s combined

[@xerothehero1704]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx no not necessarily, when you have simple designs built with simple shapes it’s a lot easier to animate, making the process faster, which also gives animators the ability to create more fluid animation, it’s all about balance

[@silverdamascus2023]

Remember that the real reason why John K. was fired was not because he abused his employees, it was because even though his employees were treated like slaves, production was still slow, with the episodes constantly missing deadlines and going overbudget, because he constantly ordered them to redo everything, this is what made Nickelodeon executives care.

[@1funeral2many9]

Corporations don’t give a shit about their “creatives” - I.e. workers

[@nubreed13]

It wasn't just that. The final straw was the mans best friend clip. He went way over budget on a scene of ren beating a man with a shovel. The network couldn't air that for a show aimed at children. And yeah I'm pretty sure John k was awful to everybody including his bosses at the network.

[@air-head3961]

I don't think they would've been pulling crew members away from spumco and giving them their own in-house studio if they didn't at least care a little bit about the actual people Keep in mind the higher ups were also human beings that had to put up with him too

[@dboy2462]

@@nubreed13 This is a myth. They could very easily ban Man's Best Friend and keep John K. employed. The real reason they fired him is because he was perfectionist to such a extent that he never delivered in time. There's a documentary about it.

[@TBONE_2004]

And the sad part? Viacom made that mistake TWICE! Remember Adult Party Cartoon? Viacom fired John a second time, because it failed after only TWO episodes, because of the same bullshit as last time!

[@DashsChannel]

Looking back, this episode is brilliant, almost like a labor strike against John K. The fact that Ren never actually had any dialog, and therefore John wasn't involved in it, almost makes me think they kept this scene hidden from him so they wouldn't get in trouble. And it's genius.

[@greenchilistudioz4537]

Funny cause this episode supposed to make Ren good guy, John K got fired and people that stayed change script and we got this beauty

[@bryannedelgado6479]

They repurposed a script written by John before he got fired where Ren is a sympathetic producer but the team then made Ren abusive to reflect John’s anal attitude

[@shnook8484]

crazy thing is, if John K wasn't the way he was, Ren and Stimpy wouldn't be what it was.

[@Thedogunder]

@@shnook8484 true but that still doesn’t excuse all the messed up things he did

[@spormlastname267]

@@Thedogunder yes it does.

[@TUM_Toons]

Ren is John K. Stimpy is Bob Camp and other animators

[@charless6552]

Underrated comment ngl.

[@tonymata8070]

You sir have just earned your 101 like, you deserve it.

[@Calcobeater_gamer4life]

fitting considering that's the actual voice actors for the right characters

[@Calcobeater_gamer4life]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx oh

[@calanon534]

Down to the very large "P" on his "head" for all to see.

[@annguerrero9988]

I studied animation for a while and one of the first things they told us was "DO NOT get attached to your creations. They will be changed or ultimately discarded and you must keep working no matter what. " It was really hard. Each day teachers telling us our work sucked and would never be properly animated... It took a huge toll on our mental health

[@mr.x2567]

Oh god, I’m sorry you had to go through with that

[@shmok3y]

Art is pain

[@KiwiSpartan01]

I took it back in 2013-14 dropped out and went into engineering. I still suffer from depression because of it

[@beatles123]

they were wrong then and they're wrong now. animate the way YOU want to! All of you. NEVER let the established conventions hold you back!

[@adria171]

thats horrible, you put your heart into your work just to get it stepped on. how can anyone be creative in that situation

[@Johnsmith0442]

The best part about this is the animators gave ren the same glasses John K would were around the spin i studio only pushing the fact that John K is Ren in this cartoon

[@ponikoTV]

Yeah

[@The666SHOW]

WOWWWW

[@Hitomora]

John K. Himself said in a few interviews that Ren is HEAVILY based on himself

[@vfxninja5503]

@@Hitomora i always liked to contrast that with how often Ren gets beaten up by characters symbolizing John's dad. That dude is messed up beyond repair.

[@capncookie1110]

Looking back at the show, Ren was practically John K's self insert the whole time

[@anisomniac5931]

Being a bit of an animator myself, I can't imagine the insane amount of pain people in Stimpy's situation go through every day. I honestly feel really bad for him in this scene. Must be like Hell...

[@user-uw9io4hl5g]

Especially because it was hand drawn too

[@gambler942]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx or getting people on your nerves

[@sadlobster1]

My sister doesn't work in animation...but as a retail worker, she endures this same level of abuse from HER boss

[@MSILAER]

@Anisomniac, I agree. 😥

[@satireisnotdead5804]

You don't have to imagine, this kind of thing actually went on in the creation of Ren and Stimpy, much as love it, it has a very dark history

[@PelinalDidNothingWrong]

This was probably the crew's way of making fun of John K himself

[@Lalo-dh8xq]

The episode was actually co-written by John K

[@LuckoDaStars]

@@Lalo-dh8xq it was co-written by him but he was kicked off before the production of the episode so they changed it to be as a take that. John K originally was going to make it like why he was awesome

[@e-122psi3]

@@LuckoDaStars In the original Ren was gonna be an executive, making Stimpy John K basically. Same basic dynamic but he saw himself as the victim.

[@CommanderFuckwit]

Probably?

[@FZJanimated]

too bad he liked the episode lol.

[@yelloweyeball]

I studied Johnk's cartooning course on his blog when I was in my late teens, and even got some of my work reviewed by him. He was always creepy about the teenage female cartoonists and animators that visited his blog, and I was too naive at the time to put 2 and 2 together.

[@beaniepq]

Very gross, which also makes his desire to work with Miley Cyrus on her music video even more disgusting.

[@flyingstonemon3564]

I never saw It or read anything about It, do you have some of It or is It still accessible online?

[@theotherther1]

Same

[@geg754]

Holy fucking shit

[@kaninekodiak]

@@flyingstonemon3564 if you look up "John K sexual predator" you will find absolutely piles of evidence including former employees of his talking about how he would openly bring his underage "girlfriends" (victims) to the animation studio and brag about it.

[@violetashtear7970]

Just to clarify for the comments section: John K was ultimately fired from Ren & Stimpy because he completely refused to deliver the episodes on-time and within budget. It didn't really have anything to do with how he was treating the employees at Spumco, despite how reprehensible that was. He coldly told Nickelodeon that episodes "would be out when they're out and they'd cost what they cost", forcing them to oust him from the production because they were dealing with hell from advertisers who were not fond of the idea that they were paying for ad space on reruns for months on end. This was an absolute last resort on Nickelodeon's end - they really didn't want to have to fire John because they knew it would cause a media firestorm. Most of the episodes were caught in intense production bottlenecks because John refused to sign off on things that weren't up to his arbitrarily-changing standards, and scenes were routinely thrown out and restarted from scratch. He lacked any capacity to simply shove something through the system, pitching that possibility to Nick (a cold, uncaring corporation) as an absolute worst-case scenario. It truly is a mystery as to why he was surprised that they would be okay with producing it quicker and cheaper at the cost of quality, given his history working for the Saturday morning cartoon studios. He couldn't comprehend the idea that a corporation would simply just be okay with something that wasn't perfectly polished so long as it came out on schedule and made money. Even when pressed about it in the documentary Happy Happy Joy Joy, John clearly squirmed uncomfortably in his seat at the mere notion that he could've possibly made a miscalculation. He subsequently became his own show's worst critic. Multiple crew members, particularly Bob Camp, stated that he originally gave those who remained on the show his blessing. In spite of this, he almost immediately spent years and years spreading misinformation and propaganda about the crew who remained on the show, accusing them of being "backstabbers" who sold out the rest of Spumco to "become rich and famous". It is largely due to John's relentless yellow journalism that the circumstances of his firing are not widely understood, and why so many misconceptions have arisen about it.

[@JigsawJazzDock]

tl dr.

[@VorpalSnickerSnack]

​​@@JigsawJazzDock TL;DR John K. is a pedo who brought a kid on to work, abused his staff, and said fuck you to Nick when it came to quality over quantity of episodes. This episode was originally made as a jab by John K. towards the industry after he got fired however the Animators played a reversed uno and pointed it at the evil genius. Highly recommended to actually read the comment and look up documentaries, they're fascinating. Just cause it's called a documentary doesn't mean it's boring-it's about cartoons. Your lack of willing to read something longer than a few sentences is disturbing, and a sign you lack curiosity and intelligence.

[@WilhelmScreamer]

​@@JigsawJazzDock short version John was both not good at being a boss and a terrible person. And the later obfuscated the former.

[@rodrigojogos.]

THANK YOU! I've been looking for the truth for quite a while now!

[@dustloaf]

Everyone noticed how Ren has JohnK's glasses, but there's even juicier detail: Ren's wearing a _fasces hat._ _They have called John K _*_a fascist._*

[@HerrDeutschBlood]

I love how this episode was pretty much a giant middle finger to John Kricfalusi for essentially making all the animators lives a living hell.

[@EdwinShy3200]

How the musical score gets at 1:35 and Stumpy taking a breath before getting back to work really made the scene great

[@beatrixpoley9100]

Who is that in the picture?

[@Heliocentricity]

*stumpy*

[@jct9099]

It's one of the stock music. But that was a perfect track for such a motivated scene.

[@jct9099]

@@beatrixpoley9100 Wilber Cobb

[@ringu50]

its called "Poetic Love Theme B" for anyone curious its on the production music channel

[@makothetako]

As a storyboard artist, I really felt that first scene. :') "PLEASE, GOD. PLEASE..." Everything gets torn apart and thrown in the trash.

[@nickthepick8043]

I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm not an animator, just an artist. But I bet your art is amazing.

[@gambler942]

The first rule of being an animated in a company, is to never be attached with your story idea, because not all of them get accepted and will be thrown away in the trash

[@mauriciosilva4108]

almost everything im having flashback on this coment :(

[@TBONE_2004]

John Kricfalusi in a nutshell. He was a total asshole to his animators.

[@Angeldelinfierno8000]

"Anime looked better in the 80's-90's than nowday, animators have become lazy" Animators in the 80's-90's, and even nowdays: 1:25

[@alvaroprieto2092]

Bring it back

[@ScootyPuffJrSux]

The ones that are the same nowadays are actually being paid even less

[@New_Scout]

Bro wtf are you talking about it is so much better now then back then

[@Chinothebad]

​@@New_Scout pretty sure he's referring to how no matter what the time period is, animators are being screwed over no matter what the work is.

[@New_Scout]

@@Chinothebad ah shi my bad then

[@borediideath6526]

I've never seen a more accurate depiction of what it's like to actually make a cartoon completely from scratch. Abusive producers or not, the work put into ANY amount of animation is a much more long, tedious, and over all taxing process than most people realize.

[@favesoe2201]

Funny enough, this episode's first script was to tackle fun of Nickelodeon's executives. But after John K got fired, they rewrote it to tackle fun of him.

[@vaderetro9648]

"It's horrible when you start a project with great enthusiasm but it ends up being torture for yourself."

[@queencancerous5332]

This must’ve been what working for John K was like

[@ggomlet6519]

I'm pretty sure this section was a middle finger to him lol

[@WillCWilson]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx The DVD audio commentary and several other sources say it was intended to be a 'fuck you' to John K [after the episode was reworked at Games; it started development at Spumco, but then went to Games after Spumco was kicked off.]

[@PirateDishWater]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx John K is a manipulative narcissist with a history of grooming young female animators and was generally despised in his own industry for being impossible to work with.

[@rommix0]

@Roshambo Nice joke.

[@vicgc96]

That and Jack Cheese.

[@Peytorgator]

Oh no…That's a 4/4 string ostinato in D minor! Every sailor knows that means death!

[@gadget00]

LOOLOLOLOLOL well played sailor

[@GoldenGrenadier]

I had to scroll way too far to find this!

[@rydercartoonanimations]

0:07

[@TheGamingMotionTGM]

So Spongebob uses this too? Damn, Mr Krabs really live and dies for his money.

[@X-SPONGED]

The ANIMATION Industry : 😃 The ANIMATING Industry : 💀

[@joaquinm9148]

All it takes is to change two letters

[@toastedtoast335]

The ANIMATION industry: 😇✍️🎥🎞️💾➡️📺 The ANIMATING industry: 😈🤜😢🎞️➡️📺

[@SirChucklenutsTM]

Thatt look on Stimpy in the editing room is the most genuine "god why havent you killed me yet" emotional capture I've ever seen

[@mothost6929]

This scene hits TOTALLY different once you know the meaning behind it

[@MrBongobongbongo]

Anyone else notice the hat joke? Hes calling his boss a "foghat" using the fasces. Its an old french term to slur a fascist. Pretty much hes calling his boss a Nazi gayboymomo. Pretty funny.

[@MrBongobongbongo]

@@ln2435 that is where the word came from. Its a slur against fascists. That's why they hate when people use it. They don't care about gay people.

[@c.galindo9639]

The more you know

[@MrBongobongbongo]

@ferret rock n roll

[@BBWahoo]

Bundle of sticks = Foghat?

[@baltofarlander2618]

He said "please God", not "foghat" I highly doubt he would use some obscure, outdated French slang term for a fascist.

[@Turboy65]

Ren & Stimpy is so expressive, that you just can't help but think that it's really a very high art form. An art form that deals with some very low concepts, for sure...but really, what other cartoon has the range of emotion and expression this does? It stands by itself, really.

[@martymcfly4654]

This is literally how i picture family channel youtubers being like behind the scenes

[@octoman511]

1:32 that part is actually weirdly beautiful and inspiring

[@octoman511]

@poobutt2050 yeah rotting behind bars

[@JoeMama-bj9jw]

This was really a self insert for all the people that worked on the show and is pretty spot on

[@cartoonliker4666]

Honestly, I feel bad for Stimpy for doing all the animations by himself. I'll bet the other animators that worked for Walt Disney had to go through the same Hell like Stimpy went through. 😓

[@cartoonliker4666]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx I know. I was just sharing an opinion and example like.

[@2idiot2animate28]

Yes but disney cartoons had their animator units

[@IAm-zo1bo]

@@2idiot2animate28 Don't think that they didn't suffer as much just because we don't have huge news about it now

[@okjeffy6581]

Actually a lot of animators are like this

[@cartoonliker4666]

@@okjeffy6581 That is so true. 😓

[@pchound5962]

This isn't a cartoon. This is real footage from the making of Toy Story 2.

[@BloxCops]

And 3

[@shelbythibodeau5506]

And don't even get me started on the original Toy Story's "Black Friday" incident. EDGE

[@thedude9001]

Real footage of the making of Ren and Stimpy

[@jameskarg3240]

To be fair, Toy Story 2 only got so bad because of a REALLY badly timed accident that deleted 90% of their progress. That was less "Director abuse" and more "Those guys THRASHED themselves to fix a very serious screw-up", and by the qiality it managed to come out, youd never have known the film came closer to being outright cancled than most that suffer such a setback

[@Tree_e888]

Also food fight after their progress got stolen

[@AN474-e1o]

The fact Ren is dressed like John K while wearing a fasces on his head is so clever.

[@jonathanbaileyartanimation2992]

0:08 Oh no. SpongeBob, quick, reel it in! Can't you hear the music? That's a 4/4 string ostinato in D minor! Every sailor knows that means death!

[@GenGamesUniverse]

i see that you are a man of culture!

[@BloodMarket]

According to the people working on this, this is apparently how John treated them even going as far to get upset that some expressions were duplicated. Every single frame had to be unique

[@GenGamesUniverse]

This is correct, John K was infamous for what he did, he would go into the animation studio and look at the storyboards and if there was any doubles, he would instantly abuse the animator/animators and rip their work up and tell them to start again with no duplicate scenes even IF say a scene had the same background like if they were drawing Ren and Stimpy playing in the garden or relaxing in the garden, John K wouldn't have that. This actually not only drew friction with the animators and John K, but it caused animosity with Nickelodeon because Ren and Stimpy episodes weren't getting out on time and were mostly over budget practically all the time and companies that bought ad time didn't want to be using their ad space for reruns of R&S episodes, so they ended up having a huge argument with John K saying something like "You'll fucking get them when *I* say you fucking get them" and "They'll go over budget, who cares" when confronted. Nickelodeon didn't want to fire him because they knew the person he was, but they made the decision to fire him and replace him completely, which made him gaslight every interview saying things like Billy West is a backstabber etc.

[@Tornado1994]

@@GenGamesUniverse Johh K and Billy West actually had a Falling out in 1993 because West Clashed with him on Storyboards.

[@jak4470]

That trophy Ren wears on his head is a fasces, an ancient Roman symbol of power. It's more famously known these days as the symbol of the Italian Fascist Party. In fact, the word fascist is derived from the fasces.

[@GMDTheOnyxGuyEizzX]

Man, I that's what I mostly adore about the animation of Ren and Stimpy. Their portrayal of stress and suffering are so affective you almost feeling that yourself.

[@washurbrik2848]

John K was an asshole on every conceivable front, but the first season of ren and stimpy remains an animation masterpiece because it was done like this

[@rjbalbuena7789]

LMAO they werent evem subtle about making Ren look exactly like John K in this scene

[@clappincheeks5584]

This still rings true for every animator today.

[@Lalo-dh8xq]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx Animation is a timeless and painful effort.

[@Lalo-dh8xq]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx Not really, animating is still very time consuming and takes an immense amount of effort. Specially in places like Japan the way they are being treated is far worse.

[@Lalo-dh8xq]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx No, I don't know what you mean. I personally prefer cel animation and I know it takes more time and effort than digital animation, but to say that current animators don't go through painful efforts like the ones depicted here is not true. And we're talking 2D animation. If we talk CGI animation (well made, that is) then that takes a whole lot more time and effort than 2D; although they are different processes.

[@Lalo-dh8xq]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx I understand that, because I also agree that animation in TV has had a decrease of quality and effort in the past decades. However, I was referring to animation in general, not just on TV. I don't hold Ren and Stimpy in different regards just because it was made for TV, I judge all animation equally.

[@iswallowappleseeds927]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx You guys do know studios like Mappa, Shaft, and Cloverworks exist right?? All of these studios and probably more have been involved in numerous scandals with their working conditions. Mappa being described as a factory, Mass exodus from studio Shaft after enduring years of mismanagement, Cloverworks having a producer be hospitalized twice in a single day. And if you think 2D animation these days require less effort then you clearly haven't watched enough recent shows.

[@ZERO_O7X]

John K was both a genius and an absolutely horrible human being.

[@seastorm1979]

I agree

[@greatwavefan397]

Just like Hitler

[@TheRealCCall]

That’s also what Hitler was.

[@viviangarcia5696]

A perfectionist

[@hamburgerlover9825]

you are all going to die alone

[@brianhalljr.2637]

Stimpy doesn't deserve that kind of abuse, because he did his best.

[@hitfasthithard]

I love that cat 😢

[@TheMrfoxguy]

This can also apply to the game industry

[@BloxCops]

Rushed games

[@zombies4evadude24]

@@BloxCops actual footage of Treyarch Devs developing Vanguard Zombies XD

[@Best-YouTube-Channel]

Honestly you can apply this to anything in the entertainment industry. Especially with products and pictures getting rushed out the door due to tight deadlines or budget reasons.

[@Morningstar91939]

This is the development of Duke Nukem Forever. Except George Broussard didn’t treat his employees poorly, it’s mainly that he sought to make it as big and explosive as possible, only for it to become crippled by his own ambition.

[@excitablepack7076]

This is why Writers, Animators, & even Actors went on strike.

[@undeadaxolotl8584]

What an emotionally intelligent show. There's no hand holding here, if you understand you understand.

[@AnimeboyUltimate-pp4mc]

An important lesson from this is that animators deserve more respect and better treatment

[@om3g4z3r0]

And after all that pain and suffering they look back at their work and wonder: was it worth it? in ren and stimpy case, bloody yes

[@williamsmith666]

It's like musicians who played for Frank Zappa's band; you go through hardships and a lot of trials, but you come out of it a better artist than you were when you went in.

[@Uuyrijies1123]

I don’t know if being abused everyday at your work while having to endure the fact that some kids will dislike the show since John K is making it worse with the rock bottom writing is worth it.

[@om3g4z3r0]

@@Uuyrijies1123 John wasn't making it worse, he was the show , his twisted mind conjured this and without his horrible personality such piece of work would never be possible, had john been a bastion of virtue like any random checkmarked on twitter, this show would have been impossible to remember.

[@ForeverLaxx]

@@om3g4z3r0 Then it went to MTV and became infinitely worse, since the censorship on Nick forced them to be more creative. Without it, they were terrible.

[@BBWahoo]

@@om3g4z3r0 His personality is what screwed him over lmao, a true double edged sword. If John knew when to hold back his punches, maybe he wouldn't have put his job at jeopardy as fast as he did. Seriously, most of what comes back to haunt him does so because he genuinely did not know when to keep the lid on, including the sexy pics with his underage GF.

[@dylanmcartoonell1536]

"John K was A Tyrannical Dictator: The Episode" is one of the best episodes of the whole show!

[@johnchief270]

This is literally what its like in Film school when you decide to do all your assignments last minute

[@axgelbxnny]

LITERALLY LOL

[@mastergamerinfinity4862]

It’s the Kricfalusi times that were dark in animation

[@jovi4793]

They literally made Ren LOOK like John K lmao

[@RaggenZ]

Yes they giving him a bug middle finger

[@BottomOfTheDumpsterFire]

Ren was voiced by John K, so, yeah. Ren is John K.

[@orangeslash1667]

@@RaggenZ The problem is that Bob Clampett was John K biggest inspiration, and wants to making cartoons similar to his. However it's hard to do that on a TV budget.

[@DrSoWhat]

ANYONE that wants to have a "cool job" as advertising, audiovisual, graphic design, fine arts or creative jobs, doctors, lawyers, PR, entrepreneurs, eeeetttccc... MUST see this because this is what they'll get. My experience.

[@xcarof]

Well that’s how animators are actually treated

[@frogglen6350]

I do admire how Stimpy never gave up. He legit has nothing to lose if he quits and says screw this. But he keeps going

[@komrookmetmy465]

A lot of little gags and jokes fly over your head when you're younger. Ren is wearing a fasces on his head, so the joke there is that he's ruling over Stimpy like a fascist.

[@zombies4evadude24]

This episode is definitely Top 10 material. On top of being humorous, emotional and well animated, it‘s also a clever satire on how overworked the animators were under John K‘s iron fist. Considering it’s perfect with its execution, it is definitely a great episode and a true gem from Season 3.

[@ma3mc3mu-X]

This must be what working with "modern" Disney be like.

[@Lalo-dh8xq]

Why modern Disney?

[@tonymata8070]

Try Jeffery Katzenberg in his time with Disney in the 80’s and 90’s, I heard he was a b@#$% to work with kinda similar to John K. I’m honestly glad that he’s not in charge of Disney or any animation studio in general.

[@AaronMeerkat]

@@tonymata8070 that’s exactly what I was thinking about this scene! Ren is acting like what Jeffrey Katzenberg did in his Disney.

[@tarag7292]

@@tonymata8070 Jeffery Katzenberg went on to DreamWorks, so he is still in Animation at another studio.

[@Lou-yf1jo]

@@Lalo-dh8xq everything modern is awful.

[@eianfullerton1812]

i like how ren's character has a literal fascist fasces on his head

[@laranovelletto8694]

Aaand thats why episodes always were way past schedule

[@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx]

Perfectionism is key

[@vsgfilmgroup]

@@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx To destroying a career?

[@xXSpongeBroBrownPantzXx]

@@vsgfilmgroup Yes

[@orangeslash1667]

@@vsgfilmgroup The problem is that Bob Clampett was John K biggest inspiration, and wants to making cartoons similar to his. However it's hard to do that on a TV budget.

[@paolo2763]

John watching probably wondering: "How come everyone I abused aggressively hates me!?🥺"

[@CaptainMoveStudios]

This is true most realistic depiction of animation studios

[@makaylahall2664]

Avarage day for MAPPA worker

[@mrajnikeman6820]

Feel like this is portraying fresh ideas for for shows and big companies denying it 👀

[@wowalamoiz9489]

I like this scene because Stimpy for once seems normal.

[@kaimade27]

The fact that John voiced Ren and he didn't even utter a single word just makes this 10 times better.

[@zierragacha5089]

Yeah, he got fired before the episode was made

[@DetectorCliche]

I thought Billy West was both Ren and Stimpy

[@orangeslash1667]

@@DetectorCliche Billy West took over for Ren when John K was fired.

[@GenGamesUniverse]

@@DetectorCliche Correct, but he took over in Season 3. From Seasons 1 to 3, Ren was voiced by John K and Stimpy was voiced by Billy West, however when John K was fired, they tried looking for another voice actor to take over, and Billy just said "What about me? I do the laughing tracks for Ren anyway, so how about I give it a shot?" and the rest is history.

[@GenGamesUniverse]

@@zierragacha5089 He got fired whilst this was being made. Apparently this was going to be John's "fuck you" episode to Nickelodeon but when he was fired, the team in animation decided to change the "fuck you" episode to John K instead.

[@ARedMagicMarker]

It's all even funnier when you see the final product after all this crap. XD

[@criperbross]

"Animator, can animate how do you feel to animate here" "animate here you say?" "yeah how do you feel?"

[@PuppetierMaster]

Welcome to the wonderful world of SFX artists in the Disney/Marvel (tbh mostly Disney) studios)

[@ZakWolf]

The best post-Spumco episode directed by Bob Camp. (Ironically, this episode was originally outlined at Spumco before they got fired, and it ended up being produced at Games Animation/Nickelodeon Animation Studio.) I still feel the digitally-colored episodes of this time often looked the best (back in 1994, only some TV cartoons were using digital ink and paint).

[@isaiahdaniels5643]

0:58 Those are (roughly) keyframes.... I don't know what I'd even do with 6 keyframes. Like.... holy shit. That's like 3-5 surviving seconds of a full 22 minute cartoon.

[@calanon534]

It'd be worse if this was Fleischer-style "progressive animation" where the same artist does every single frame of animation at full quality - no keyframes.

[@OrangeHarrisonRB3]

Reminds me of when The Simpsons had a scene depicting Itchy & Scratchy being made in a Korean sweatshop under armed guard, and when it was sent to their ACTUAL Korean studio to be animated they were so insulted it almost got rejected.

[@Best-YouTube-Channel]

Talk about irony.

[@toony1232]

I'm surprised this doesn't have more comments

[@edwardrottencorpse5110]

I really love this scene, that's the real feeling of an animator/editor. Great job Stimpy.

[@CartoonEric]

What working with John K. is like.

[@Blikurapika]

I like how Ren had thrown away nearly the whole animation frames in the trash for just about 10 seconds leaving with only six on the wall remaining

[@jollyrancher8727]

I dropped out of animation college because in my first month, I got a taste of this. Nothing would be my own creation, I never got to animate in my own style - it was always somebody else's, and my work was either thrown away or stolen by the teacher himself. Its a shitty career choice and if youre gonna do it, do it on your own and make your own small studio.

[@utsavman47]

I just realized that hat which ren wears is a symbol of fascism

[@akoot_]

This is just what it takes to create a quality product

[@sethvaldez4029]

I love most of my anime and cartoons I've seen in my life but ik someone was forced to draw the hard movements in hot conditions without getting the pay they deserve I wish they could be recognized for their work and be given all the recognition they deserve for their work and get payed a higher amount

[@Luschan]

I used to be involved in the Livejournal indie comics scene in the 2000s. A surprising amount of the big names in animation started there, and many bright eyed young people also jumped from comics to storyboard, art direction, etc. I follow them still on social media, and it gives an interesting view into the animation industry. It’s a very tough business, especially for those in less creative roles. It makes me glad I grew out of my love of making comics, because a lot has changed since Blankets and Scott Pilgrim made “graphic novels” seem like a path of riches and glory. And animation has proven to not be the step up that it seemed to be for a lot of comics people. But it seems to be a love/hate thing, so they’re ultimately okay and following their dreams.

[@sidfritch974]

As a editor, this is a very accurate portrayal of my life. every Monday is like that with ren.

[@bushbasher85]

It seems like most cartoons eventually have an episode about making cartoons. This episode with Ren & Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life with Wacky Deli, South Park did an episode with Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny making a cartoon in the same way Matt and Trey did their first episode, The Simpsons had one more Barton Lisa question about making an itchy and scratchy episode, And I think that this list could go on and on.

[@GenGamesUniverse]

You're forgetting the Simpsons intro where they literally show animators designing the actual intro itself

[@uhhh_adam]

Here come all the animation experts

[@SFSVHS]

Yes, they are in full swing already... but it is sort of fun reading what they have to say.

[@uhhh_adam]

@@SFSVHS it was sarcasm

[@williamsmith666]

Like animal experts who tell others how to take care of their dog... Don't know shit.

[@BBWahoo]

I don't see Bob camp anywhere

[@riotbreaker3506]

It's hard enough under good animation conditions, let alone with someone as volatile as John K.

[@botmexicanpatriot]

Very nice detail with the hat, it's literally a roman fasces axe

[@ducksoup80]

At 0:44 silent yelling don’t want John k to catch on it’s about him being hard to work with??

[@straightjacket308]

Disney, Dream works and EVERY anime studio ever! 🤣 This is too close to reality 🤣

[@invertedcolors9881]

Funny thing i noticed: at 0:38, before the actual music starts, you can hear it play VERY QUIETLY. 😮

[@7zaxo]

They really put the symbol of fascism on Ren's hat.

[@mediadragon2191]

Across the Spider-Verse animation staff

[@joshuafreeman3609]

Can’t believe they got this behind the scenes footage of John K abusing the staff

[@Woter_X]

1:44 1:49 the music is so beautiful

[@Jarod-vg9wq]

This is why we should support independent animation, they don’t make artists go trough this.

[@gerald3389]

Free the animators at MAPPA

[@McCraeTheMediaLover]

I loved how they made this as a showcase showing how much of a overbearing tyrant and perfectionist, John Kricfalusi was to his cast and crew on the show,including Bill Wray,Bob Camp,and Billy West, when he was involved in the show in it's earlier seasons prior to his firing from Nick in 1992. They even made Ren dress up and act like him in this scene.

[@Tornado1994]

He was fired in 1993. Spumco's Contract was terminated after Production of S2 was completed.

[@jarrettdrummer7638]

I like how Ren is wearing a fascist symbol.

[@Celeste.Marina]

I haven't watched this show in over a decade, but this scene always sticks with me. Probably one of the best scenes in the entire show.

[@vitus.verdegast]

I worked in the animation industry from 1983 to 2019 and have met John K. And conversed with him at length several times, though I've never worked with him professionally-- he was always nice, personable and decent to me. Ren and Stimpy is brilliant and inspired. When I mentioned Ren and Stimpy to a fellow Disney animator back around 1989 he said he went to school with John K. and disliked him very much, and this Disney animator was a very good fellow, not one to put others down. So John K. must be abrasive and antagonistic. I have met a few jerks in the animation industry but John K. has always been ok to me.

[@Thoggnee]

Dude he was a sex pest

[@Gigamyt3]

Reminds me a little bit about Shigeru Miyamoto. Shiggy had a very strict work regimen when it came to leading game designers; he used to smoke behind the backs of the original Star Fox team and talked about trees (no, I'm not making that up). But after work, Miyamoto would be the nicest dude around.

[@BBWahoo]

"I've never worked with him professionally" You should've gotten the full experience, I would have loved to see what you'd thought of him then! 😤

[@vitus.verdegast]

@@BBWahoo I've met my share of temperamental jerks working in animation-- but that type doesn't last long at Disney where I spent most of my career, and where they handle you with an iron fist in a velvet glove.

[@andykishore]

I find that hard to believe.

[@bartmanfantanfart36]

this feels it mirrors what happends behind the scenes where the creater try to make since perfect

[@superzilla784]

Back then, I just thought this scene was just weird. didn't really get a chuckle out of it. now that I'm older and have seen bio videos on John K, this scene makes alot of sense. this was a secret message showing what really goes on behind closed doors at the studios, especially under John K.

[@isaacthemonke233]

If this was done today it'd have the same effect, only with Stimpy painstakingly making 3D models and backgrounds. Spending so many hours rendering them.