Thank God for VH1. No, really. You see, they decided to start broadcasting Ren and Stimpy, the greatest gross-out cartoon ever, late nights. The main problem with this is that I have to either be up early for work or school, so me actually catching these things was a rare occurence. Knowing that my local Blockbuster kept a lot of older videos, I went there tonight in search of a video that might have the episode that I always considered the best: Sven Hoek.

Ren and Stimpy:Who Are They

First airing on Nickelodeon in 1992, Ren and Stimpy was part of the new breed of shows, along with Doug and yes, Rugrats. Ren is a chihuahua who has a temper and, depending on the episode, ranges from a lunatic to an aggravated "intellectual." Stimpy is a cat (yes, believe it or not) who is as dumb as he looks. Together, they have many adventures that will have you crying and laughing.

Classics II contains two episodes over the 50 minute length of the tape. It also contains a fake ad for the infamous "Log" toy. Yes, Log is a...log. There's even a catchy little song (it's log, log, it's big, it's heavy, it's wood) and with this little ad, they were "advertising" various accessory packs ("log the cheerleader," "log the football player", complete with jock strap).

The second episode shown is titled Stimpy's Fan Mail. One day, the two guys get fan mail, with just one problem. All of it is addressed to the dumb but lovable Stimpy. In order to make Ren feel important, Stimpy makes Ren president of his fan club. This however, drives Ren even more nuts, forcing him to create a Stimpy costume (which is ridiculous looking). The mailman rings the doorbell again, this time though, the only letter is for Ren. Naturally, Ren is overjoyed at this and even goes on to rub it in to Stimpy that he's "the one they love now." In a turn full of heart, it turns out the letter is from Stimpy, who proclaims himself Ren's biggest fan. All together now...."awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww."

That's all fine and dandy but the main attraction here is the first episode, entitled Sven Hoek. Ren anxiously awaits his cousin Sven's arrival from Sweden. He's looking forward to intelligent conversation, and culture. Naturally, while he's blabbing on about this, Stimpy is doing various numbnutted things to himself.

Finally, cousin Sven arrives. He is Ren's cousin, yet is a Swedish double of Stimpy. Twice as stupid as well. Ren is naturally devastated. After being at work all day, Ren comes home to find his things destroyed or ruined. Having enough of this "idiocy," Ren decides to ruin Sven and Stimpy's game by taking a whiz on it. This game is called "Don't Whiz on the Electric Fence." You do the math.

This stuff made me cry with laughter when I was 12, and watching it tonight, almost 10 years later, made me cry with even more tears tonight. It is unbelievable how well this has held up over the timespan, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes animation in the vain of Beavis and Butthead or South Park.

Recommended: Yes