Saturday, January 14, 2012

Ren & Stimpy - The Complete First and Second Seasons (1991) Review

Ren and Stimpy - The Complete First and Second Seasons (1991)
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It's hard to believe that after 100 reviews, none contain a comprehensive list of the edits that were made to this set. As a result, there is a lot of misinformation in many of these reviews. Some reviewers are complaining about edits that do not even exist on this DVD set. Below is a COMPLETE list of footage missing from this set and the approximate length of the missing footage:
Ren's Toothache:
Ren and Stimpy saying goodnight to each other (13 s)
Stimpy spitting into a jar and flossing (38 s)
Some of Ren grinding his teeth (10 s)
Haunted House:
The entire bloody head fairy scene (1:55)
Big Baby Scam:
Closeup of Ren's face being rubbed against stubble (7 s)
Grandpa whistling in the bath (9 s)
The Cat that Laid the Golden Hairball:
Stimpy licking most of the hair off his body (45 s)
Son of Stimpy:
Ren giving a Christmas present to Stimpy's picture (20 s)
So out of 32 cartoons, there are five that contain missing footage, which amounts to a little over four minutes total. NOTHING ELSE THAT ORIGINALLY AIRED IN THE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS OF REN & STIMPY IS MISSING FROM THIS SET. All five goodbye scenes and all commercials are here, Powdered Toast Man is the uncut version, etc. Plus, a few scenes that never aired in the first place have been added to some cartoons. Sven Hoek has two (Additional dialogue in the closet, Ren saying "I'm going to gouge your eyes out"), Big House Blues pilot version has two (Dog-catcher saying "see if I care", the Ren talking in his sleep scene), and Dog Show contains the image of George Liquor with his bobbed tail. And of course the set includes Man's Best Friend which wasn't aired until recently on Spike TV, and bonus features like the pencil test of Sven Hoek, a 12 minute featurette, 7 commentaries, and an art gallery.
Some reviewers have mentioned the fade-to-commercial breaks in some of the cartoons. For the most part these are barely noticeable (except in Ren's Toothache, Big Baby Scam, The Cat that Laid the Golden Hairball, and Son of Stimpy where the above edits occur). I noticed these artificial fades in 15 cartoons. If there are more, I simply didn't notice them, which would prove my point that they are barely noticeable. Here is the list:
Robin Hoek - after they give to the poor
Nurse Stimpy - after the icky tasting medicine
Space Madness - after Stimpy turns off the gravity
The Boy Who Cried Rat - after Stimpy is given 5 bucks
Black Hole - after they run to the bus stop
Ren's Toothache - before Ren is grinding his teeth
Man's Best Friend - after Stimpy gets on the couch
Mad Dog Hoek - after Ren lets Stimpy keep wrestling
Big Baby Scam - when Ren's face is being rubbed against stubble
Dog Show - after George Liquor enters the final arena
The Great Outdoors - right before the skinny-stomping
The Cat That Laid the Golden Hairball - when Stimpy starts to lick his other arm
Visit to Anthony - when the father begins to enter the den
Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen - after they get struck by lightning
Son of Stimpy - when Ren is about to give a present to Stimpy's picture
Now, as far as video and audio quality is concerned, most of the cartoons are excellent. Most of the cartoons are digitally remastered and they look noticeably better than the ones that aren't. The cartoons on this set look much better than the versions that appeared on the Time Life set. Here is a list of the episodes that are not digitally remastered:
Fire Dogs / The Littlest Giant
In The Army / Big House Blues (Nick version)
Monkey See, Monkey Don't / Powdered Toast Man
Fake Dad / Out West
Stimpy's Fan Club
Of these, only Big House Blues (Nick version) and Stimpy's Fan Club have noticeably poor quality with some color bleeding and video artifacts. The pilot version of Big House Blues looks superb though, so nobody should care about the Nick version.
I hope this information clears things up for people who are still trying to decide whether to buy this set. I still say it's well worth it despite the flaws I have outlined above. My recommendation is to buy the set but write letters to Paramount in the hopes that they will start a disc-exchange program for the edited episodes.


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Join Ren and Stimpy in their bizarre and gross world that features the oddly lovable duo in some outlandish situations coupled with hilarious jokes. THE REN AND STIMPY: THE COMPLETE FIRST AND SECOND SEASONS - UNCUT feature the guest voice of music star Frank Zappa and consist of amusing episodes combined with the gross-out humor that became popular when the show first premiered on Nickelodeon in 1991.

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