| "The Cat That Laid the Golden Hairball" | |
|---|---|
| The Ren & Stimpy Show episode | |
 | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 8b |
| Directed by | Ron Hughart |
| Story by | |
| Production code | RS5-9A |
| Original air date | April 3, 1993 |
"The Cat That Laid the Golden Hairball" is the sixteenth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show . It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on April 3, 1993.
Ren and Stimpy live in a birdhouse. Ren wakes up to find the house laced with Stimpy's hairballs. Angered, he proceeds to watch television before punishing Stimpy, only to find that feline hairballs have been proved to be useful in spaceflight and curing conjunctivitis, a surprisingly versatile clothing material, and an alternative to breakfast cereal, causing its value to rise beyond that of gold. Ren, consumed yet again by greed and his desire to get pectoral muscles via implants, is overjoyed.
Stimpy, who works as an aircraft pilot in the episode, returns home to Ren forcing him to produce hairballs in a factory line. Ren grades the hairballs produced by Stimpy while his nephew by marriage, Bubba the Lummox, helps box them; he secretly hides one to sell for his own personal gain. Stimpy uses up all his fur and proceeds to use Ren's fur and Bubba's body hair to no avail. Bubba is horrified at first, but accepts it for his monetary gain. Stimpy is abused and exploited to his limits; he vomits bones instead of hairballs, implying cannibalism, while Bubba goes into Stimpy's body, finding his hairball gland to be ruined to the point it collapses into powder. Stimpy, extremely exhausted from the ordeal, collapses while Ren and Bubba cry over his inability to produce more hairballs, only to realize they had indeed produced more than enough hairballs to buy whatever they want (and that the episode had run its course); they celebrate by dancing.
The episode was started by Spümcø in 1992 and it fell behind schedule and over budget. [1] The script for the episode was taken from a fan-made comic sent to Spümcø, with Bob Camp and Vincent Waller modifying the story to fit the runtime. [1] As a cost-saving measure, the layout stage of the episode was done at Rough Draft Korea in Seoul, who also provided animation, instead of Spümcø in Los Angeles. [1] When series creator John Kricfalusi was fired on September 21, 1992, Games Animation took over. Ron Hughart, an individual considered to be reliable by both Kricfalusi and Nickelodeon executives, was assigned to be director, as Vincent Waller left the series' production while working on "The Great Outdoors" at Rough Draft Korea. Billy West voices Ren in the episode as voice acting had not been done before Kricfalusi's departure. [2]
Thad Komorowski gave the episode three out of five stars, the lowest in the season alongside "Powdered Toast Man". He criticized the episode for its annoyingly juvenile humor even for Ren & Stimpy standards. [2]
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.
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.
"Stimpy's Fan Club" is the seventeenth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on April 24, 1993.
"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.
"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 a censored version of "Big House Blues". 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 eighteenth and penultimate episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on May 8, 1993.
"Hard Times for Haggis" is the thirteenth episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on April 30, 1994.
"The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" is the nineteenth episode and season finale of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on May 23, 1993, and is the final episode to be aired with input from Spümcø.
"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.
"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.
"Big Baby Scam" is the ninth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on December 12, 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.
"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.
"Fake Dad" is the fourteenth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on February 27, 1993.
"The Great Outdoors" is the fifteenth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on March 27, 1993.
"To Salve and Salve Not!" is the first episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on November 20, 1993.
"Bass Masters" is the eighth episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on February 19, 1994.
"Eat My Cookies" is the fourteenth episode from the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on June 4, 1994.
"Farm Hands" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on November 5, 1994.
"Magical Golden Singing Cheeses" is the eighth episode of the fourth season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on November 11, 1994.
