| "Out West" | |
|---|---|
| The Ren & Stimpy Show episode | |
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| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 4b |
| Directed by | Bob Camp |
| Written by | John Kricfalusi Bob Camp |
| Production code | RS5-4B |
| Original air date | August 29, 1992 |
"Out West" is the fourth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show . It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on August 29, 1992.
In a remote town in the American Southwest, some time in the 19th century, the law is represented by two stereotypical hillbilly "yahoos": the brutalist, ignorant, moronic Sheriff Abner Dimwit and his equally asinine and vicious Deputy Sheriff, Ewalt Nitwit. Both have sadistic pleasure in hanging people, and they had hanged everyone else in the town to death for pleasure; they decide to hang villains, despite not having any idea what it means. Bored as there is no one available to hang, the duo are delighted when two outlaws, Ren (a.k.a. Three-Fingered Höek) and his sidekick Stimpy (a.k.a. Stupid the Kid) arrive in their town; they intend to steal from the townsfolk under the pretense of odd jobs.
The duo claims to be the villains the sheriffs are looking for, who then order them to steal Abner's horse; they end up stealing Abner's wife after an apparent struggle. They also steal Mr. Horse (Abner's horse), who is unnerved by the sheriffs' inability to recognize the duo as horse thieves.
Eventually, the sheriffs realize they finally got villains to hang, and they attempt to hang Ren and Stimpy to no avail; Ren is too light while Stimpy is too fat to fit into the noose. The sheriffs decide to hang each other, which prompts Ren and Stimpy to break into song about the joys of hanging with them; they slowly suffocate to death while Ren and Stimpy watch in glee.
The episode was approved by Nickelodeon in November 1991, with a premiere set for August 1992. Bob Camp, director of the episode, later complained about the network censorship as there were scenes "cut out for one reason or another and we had had to make last-minute substitutions so it wasn't quite as funny". [1] Production at Spümcø was divided between the prestigious "A" productions directed personally by showrunner John Kricfalusi, which received more time and larger budgets, vs. the less prestigious "B" productions directed by Bob Camp, which received less time and lower budgets. [2] For the second season, "Out West", along with "In the Army", "Mad Dog Höek" and "Monkey See, Monkey Don't", were the lesser "B" productions assigned to Camp. [2] Kricfalusi co-wrote the story for "Out West" along with Camp, but was not especially involved in its production. [2] Unlike the "A" productions headed by the perfectionist Kricfalusi, the "B" productions headed by Camp moved forward at a swifter pace and were completed on time. [2] Camp stated he saved time because "I storyboarded straight ahead, full size on layout paper, that's doing layout and storyboard at the same. Someone would take all the scenes and make a storyboard out of it, and we would do layout". [2] "Out West" came in slightly under budget owing to Camp's production methods. [3] The network rules forbade the characters from drinking alcohol, but in "Out West" there are numerous corks in the background, which suggests that the inability of Abner and Ewalt to understand even the simplest of concepts is due not only to their stupidity, but also because they are drunk as well. [4]
The process of drawing in the scenes for the episode was done at Carbunkle Cartoons at Vancouver in the spring of 1992. [3] Kricfalusi would preferred to have the work sub-contracted out to a cheap studio in Asia (i.e. Rough Draft Korea in Seoul), but begrudgingly allowed this, as the studio needed work while "Sven Höek" was still in development. Studio head Bob Jaques directed the animation, and he was provided unusually high creative freedom as Kricfalusi was too occupied to exert control on the episode while neglecting to limit the episode's budget. [3] Chris Sauve stated about the scene he illustrated of Ren and Stimpy riding into town on giant chickens: "It was the only scene I ever did on Ren & Stimpy where I actually did a live-action reference. I went with some kid's movie, The Adventures of Milo and Otis , and I still-framed this scene of all these chickens. I was just amazed at how fast those chickens moved their heads. It was basically popping from pose to pose: if it wasn't it was one frame held and then that flappy thing underneath would move". [4] When it aired in 1992, Nickelodeon censored the scene where Abner and Ewalt placed the nooses around their necks along with Ewalt's line "y'all bring the kids next time, ya hear!" as it encouraged children to self-harm by hanging. [5]
American journalist Thad Komorowski gave the episode three-and-a-half out of four stars; he criticized "Out West" for its "peculiarly sluggish pacing" as he complained that there were too many scenes meant to establish the stupidity of Abner and Ewalt that consisted of them staring blankly into space as they struggled to understand the simplest of concepts that were severely "taxing" for the audience. [4] However, Komorowski praised the vibrant animation as well as ending as "the willful and blatant shattering of every taboo" that "marks one of the defining moments of the series". [4] Most notably, the song "The Lord Loves a Hanging, That's Why He Gave Us Necks" invokes traditional American values and Christianity in support of capital punishment. [4] However, the song is being ironical in its nominal pro-death penalty stance as the song is told from the viewpoint of someone who gratuitously wants to see people hanged merely for the sadistic pleasure of watching someone die, which undermines the pro-capital punishment message. The ending of "Out West" was banned in the United Kingdom by the British Board of Film Classification under the grounds that "the subject of hanging is presented as comedic, fun and risk free, on the grounds of potential harm to the likely audience and in accordance with the Video Recordings Act 1984". [6]
The Ren & Stimpy Show, commonly referred to as simply Ren & Stimpy, is an American comedy animated television series created by John Kricfalusi and developed by Kricfalusi, Bob Camp, Jim Smith and Lynne Naylor for Nickelodeon. Originally produced by Spümcø, the series aired on Nickelodeon from August 11, 1991, to December 16, 1995, with its last episode airing on MTV on October 20, 1996, spanning for a total of five seasons and 52 episodes. The series follows the misadventures of Ren Höek, an emotionally unstable and psychotic chihuahua dog; and Stimpy, a good-natured and dimwitted Manx cat. It is the third to be aired of the original three Nickelodeon animated series known as "Nicktoons", alongside Doug and Rugrats, and is considered to be one of the progenitor series of the brand.
Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" is an animated television series created and directed by John Kricfalusi and produced by Spümcø for TNN / Spike TV. The series was developed as a more "extreme" revamp and spin-off of Nickelodeon's The Ren & Stimpy Show, which Spümcø produced the first two seasons. The series premiered on June 26, 2003, and was removed from the network on July 24, after airing only three episodes; the remaining episodes were released on DVD. During its run, Adult Party Cartoon was heavily panned by critics, audiences and fans of the original series. It has been referred to as one of the worst animated series of all time.
"Robin Höek" is the third episode of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on August 25, 1991. This episode is the first in a short-lived series of episodes called Stimpy's Storybook Land, which parody children's literature.
Ren Höek and Stimpson J. "Stimpy" Cat, created by John Kricfalusi, are the title characters in the Nickelodeon animated series The Ren & Stimpy Show, and its 2003 spin-off Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon". Kricfalusi created the characters during his stay at Sheridan College and they first appeared on film in the pilot episode "Big House Blues". Ren is a scrawny, emotionally unstable, and psychotic "Asthma Hound" Chihuahua, and his best friend Stimpy is a dim-witted, good-natured Manx cat. The show portrays their wacky, bizarre, and often surreal misadventures.
"Stimpy's Cartoon Show" is the seventh episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on January 8, 1994.
Jimminy Lummox is the seventh episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on February 19, 1994.
Lynne Rae Naylor is a Canadian animator, artist, designer, director, and producer for television. She is best known for co-creating DreamWorks' The Mighty Ones, co-founding the animation studio Spümcø with John Kricfalusi, Bob Camp, and Jim Smith, and co-developing The Ren & Stimpy Show for Nickelodeon. She also worked on Batman: The Animated Series, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and Wander Over Yonder.
"Sven Höek" is the sixth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on November 7, 1992.
"Big House Blues" is a 1990 American animated comedy film produced by Spümcø. Originally screened at a film festival, with a censored version later airing on Nickelodeon, it was succeeded by The Ren & Stimpy Show on the network, to which it serves as a pilot episode.
"Space Madness" is the fifth episode of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on September 8, 1991. Along with "Marooned" and "Black Hole", the episode is part of a loose trilogy in the first season known as the "space episodes", centering around the show-within-the-show, a parody of Star Trek-like science fiction shows titled The Adventures of Commander Höek and Cadet Stimpy.
"Rubber Nipple Salesmen" is the fifth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on August 29, 1992.
"In the Army" is the first episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on August 15, 1992. It is the first episode in the series to not be directed by creator John Kricfalusi, with developer Bob Camp taking up these duties.
"Black Hole" is the eleventh and penultimate episode of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on February 23, 1992. It is the third and final episode in a loosely linked trilogy known as the "space episodes", set in the show-within-the show The Adventures of Commander Höek and Cadet Stimpy.
"The Littlest Giant" is the seventh episode of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on September 15, 1991. A censored version of "Big House Blues" aired afterwards in place of another episode, being the pilot's first airing on the channel.
"Mad Dog Höek" is the eighth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on November 21, 1992.
"Dog Show" is the tenth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on December 12, 1992. It is the final appearance of George Liquor in the series, as John Kricfalusi was fired midway through production and reclaimed the rights to the character, utilizing it as Spümcø's mascot.
"Jerry the Bellybutton Elf" is the twelth episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on April 9, 1994.
"Monkey See, Monkey Don't" is the thirteenth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on February 13, 1993, much earlier than originally intended due to production difficulties in later episodes.
Farm Hands is the seventh episode of the fourth season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 5 November 1994.
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