The Boy Who Cried Rat!

Last updated
"The Boy Who Cried Rat!"
The Ren & Stimpy Show episode
Episode no.Season 1
Episode 5b
Directed byJohn Kricfalusi
Story by John Kricfalusi
Vincent Waller
Production codeRS-03B
Original air dateSeptember 8, 1991 (1991-09-08)
Episode chronology
 Previous
"Space Madness"
Next 
"The Littlest Giant"
List of episodes

The Boy Who Cried Rat! is the 6th episode of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show . It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on September 8, 1991.

Contents

Plot

Ren and Stimpy are homeless, broke and hungry again. After being chased away by George Liquor after attempting to eat discarded food from his garbage bin, Ren devises the scheme where he will pose as a rat while Stimpy will use his feline abilities as a cat to pose as a rat-killer. Ren sneaks into the house of the perpetually clueless couple, Mr. and Mrs. Pipe, who are upset to see an apparent rat in their house. The Pipes hire Stimpy to kill Ren, which he avoids doing as part of the scheme. Finally, Stimpy is forced by the Pipes to try to kill Ren, who is forced to reveal the scheme to save his life. Ren is unable to pay back the money that Stimpy had collected as Stimpy has eaten the money.

Cast

Production

The episode was ordered in October 1990 for a premiere scheduled for the fall of 1991. The showrunner, John Kricfalusi, was heavily involved in supervising the illustrations for The Boy Who Cried Rat!. [1] The process of making the drawings scene by scene in order to create the illusion of movement was done at the Carbunkle studio in Vancouver with much of the work being done by the husband-and-wife team of Bob Jaques and Kelly Armstrong. [2] The episode marked the second appearance of Kricfalusi's George Liquor character, an oafish opinionated lout based on Kricfalusi's own father despite the reservations by the Nickelodeon network about the character. [3] The producer of the show, Vanessa Coffey, strongly disliked the Liquor character whom she did not favor at all.. [3] Kricfalusi stated about the opposition of female network executives to the Liquor character: "It's purely that a bunch of politically correct women see George Liquor-the ultimate caricatured right wing character-and they hate him".. [3]

Reception

The journalist Thad Komorowski gave The Boy Who Cried Rat! three stars, writing the episode was full of "sheer joy and pure anarchy". [4]

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spümcø</span> American animation studio

Spümcø, Inc. was an American animation studio that was active from 1989 to 2005 and based in Los Angeles, California. The studio was best known for working on the first two seasons of The Ren & Stimpy Show for Nickelodeon and for various commercials. The studio won several awards, including an Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject for the music video of the song "I Miss You" by Björk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Liquor</span> Cartoon character

George Liquor is a cartoon character created by John Kricfalusi. Liquor is most famous for his appearances on The Ren & Stimpy Show. He is considered Kricfalusi's signature character and was a mascot for Kricfalusi's defunct animation studio, Spümcø. Kricfalusi portrayed George Liquor as a patriotic, outspoken, politically conservative blowhard. Kricfalusi described Liquor as his favorite character to animate.

Robin Höek is the third episode of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 25 August 1991.

Mans Best Friend (<i>The Ren & Stimpy Show</i>) 2nd episode of the 2nd season of The Ren & Stimpy Show

"Man's Best Friend" is an episode from the second season of the American animated television series The Ren & Stimpy Show. It was originally intended to air on Nickelodeon on August 22, 1992, as the second half of the second episode of Season 2, but was pulled before airing and replaced by the original theatrical pilot. It eventually aired on the soft launch of Spike TV on June 23, 2003. In the episode, Ren and Stimpy learn about obedience after George Liquor takes them home with him and swears to make them "champions".

"A Visit to Anthony" is the penultimate episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that aired on the Nickelodeon network on May 8, 1993.

"Hard Times for Haggis" is the 13th episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on April 30, 1994.

"Fire Dogs" is the 8th episode of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show, that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 29 September 1991.

Big House Blues (<i>The Ren & Stimpy Show</i>) Episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show

Big House Blues is a 1990 animated comedy short film which serves as the pilot episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show that was originally screened at a film festival on 10 August 1990.

Space Madness (<i>The Ren & Stimpy Show</i>) 5th episode of the 1st season of The Ren & Stimpy Show

"Space Madness" is the 5th 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, the Star Trek-like science fiction show The Adventures of Commander Höek and Cadet Stimpy.

Rubber Nipple Salesmen is the 5th episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 29 August 1992.

Out West is the 4th episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 29 August 1992.

Big Baby Scam is the 9th episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 12 December 1992.

Dog Show is the 10th episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 12 December 1992.

The Big Shot! is the second episode of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 11 August 1991.

Fake Dad is the 14th episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that aired on the Nickelodeon network on 27 February 1993.

No Pants Today is the fourth episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 26 November 1993.

Ren's Pecs is the fifth episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 18 December 1993.

Bass Masters is the eighth episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on February 19, 1994.

Road Apples is the eighth episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on March 12, 1994.

References