The Ripping Friends

Last updated

The Ripping Friends
Rippingfriends.jpg
Also known asThe Ripping Friends: The World's Most Manly Men!
Genre Comedy [1]
Created by John Kricfalusi
Written by
Voices of Harvey Atkin
Mark Dailey
Michael Kerr
Mike MacDonald
Merwin Mondesir
John Kricfalusi
ComposerSteve London
Country of originUnited States
Canada [2]
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producersAnnette Frymer
Kevin Kolde
Jacques Pettigrew
Arnie Zipursky
ProducersLynda Craigmyle
Hasmi Ferguson
Running timeapprox. 30 minutes
Production companies Spümcø
Cambium
Animagic
Original release
Network Fox Kids (United States)
Teletoon (Canada)
ReleaseSeptember 22, 2001 (2001-09-22) –
January 26, 2002 (2002-01-26)

The Ripping Friends: The World's Most Manly Men! (also known as The Ripping Friends) is an animated television series created by John Kricfalusi, creator of The Ren & Stimpy Show on Nickelodeon. [3] The series aired for one season on Fox Kids, premiering on September 22, 2001 and ending on January 26, 2002. The show was subsequently picked up for syndication by Adult Swim, where it reran from 2002 to 2004. The show occasionally airs in Canada on Teletoon. The show also aired briefly in the United Kingdom on the CNX channel and on ABC in Australia.

Contents

History

Kricfalusi and his long-time collaborator Jim Smith created the Ripping Friends before they created the similar superhero Powdered Toast Man for The Ren & Stimpy Show . After Nickelodeon fired Kricfalusi from The Ren & Stimpy Show in September 1992, he had plans to make a feature film starring the world's "manliest men". [4] The feature film plan was scrapped, but the characters were used in The Ripping Friends. Also, as early as a 1987 story session for the Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures , Kricfalusi, who would go on to develop the concept for The Ripping Friends for around a decade, had proposed using a wad of gum as a character, an idea which was employed to create the first villain for the new series, the Indigestible Wad. [5] [6] The Ripping Friends was slated to premiere in September 2000 along with another Spümcø show on Fox Family, The Heartaches, which follows the adventures surrounding a girl band. [7] The latter one never made it to television, and The Ripping Friends first aired a year later, after missing another premiere slated for May 2001, [8] lasting for thirteen episodes. The budget was set to US$400,000 per episode. [7] Because of production costs, the show was cancelled after one season and thirteen episodes.

Kricfalusi felt the show's animation supervisors were doing away with the Spümcø style (primarily Jim Smith's designs) and was displeased with the direction. [9] He was not fully involved until halfway through production [10] and considers the episodes with his involvement to be experimental. [11] One of his contributions to the show was directing the voice actors, whom he "really worked out" so much that he was afraid he'd give one of them a heart attack, which resulted in re-casting the original voice of Crag, Harvey Atkin, with Mark Dailey. [12] Although Kricfalusi directed the actors, he recorded for his characters separately at his home. [13]

Plot

The show focused on a group of four ultra-masculine, massively muscular superhuman brothers who attempt to fight crime from their base, RIPCOT (the Really Impressive Prototype City Of (Next) Tuesday): Crag, Rip, Slab, and Chunk Nuggett, Crag being the leader. [7] Friends of the four include Jimmy the Idiot Boy, a mentally-challenged drooling child, and their foster mother He-Mom. The villains range from the Indigestible Wad (a wad of gum who sucks moisture out of people), to the evil Euroslavian dictator Citracett, to Flathead (an invertebrate in search of a spine), to their own underpants.

Each episode was usually tagged with a short episode which Kricfalusi says was composed of "left overs". [14] These segments were called "Rip Along with the Ripping Friends" and usually portrayed the Ripping Friends solving the problems of fans. These included: addressing the fact that hot dogs come in packs of 12 and the buns in packs of 8; "ripping" the man who creates insane video game controllers and the man who writes the instructions for them; and finding out why toys no longer come in cereal boxes, among others. In each segment viewers (referred to as "kids") are asked to "rip along" with the action by ripping pieces of paper up in front of the television when coaxed to.

Characters

Episodes

No.TitleOriginal air date
1"The Indigestible Wad"September 22, 2001 (2001-09-22)

A young girl's wad of chewing gum that she has been chewing since before she was born – the one her mother swallowed – is granted sentience/sapience from a dentist's x-ray machine that is powered by cosmic rays. The wad wanders the streets at night, sucking up people's moisture to sustain himself, turning them into "flavorless" zombies.

Rip-Along: Jimmy learns how much pain a Ripping Friend could handle.

Note: This episode was originally scheduled to premiere on September 15, 2001, but was postponed due to coverage of the September 11th attacks.
2"The Infernal Wedding"October 13, 2002 (2002-10-13)(Adult Swim) [15] [16]

Citracett, a villainous dictator from the fictional country of Euroslavia, decides to seduce He-Mom in an effort to get close to, and rid himself of, the Ripping Brothers, eventually asking He-Mom to marry him. The Ripping Brothers must now follow his orders "as if they were [Citracett's] own". However Rip tries to get He-Mom to see that Citracett is just using her, leading to a strain on the family.

Rip-Along: None.

Note: This episode was originally scheduled to premiere on September 22, 2001, but it would never air on Fox Kids due to scenes that would be considered bad taste following the September 11th attacks. It would air the following year during Adult Swim's run.
3"Flathead's Revenge"September 29, 2001 (2001-09-29)

When the boys go swimming in the local water hole Chunk finds that he has a flatworm attached to his armpit. After being removed, the flatworm decides to take one of the brothers' back bones and then wreaks havoc on the town with some of his invertebrate brethren.

Rip-Along: Rip discovers why they don't put toy prizes in cereal boxes anymore.
4"Frictor"October 6, 2001 (2001-10-06)

When Jimmy is unable to fully sew the uniforms of the Ripping friends (due to a lack of friction from his smooth fingers) Crag decides to give Jimmy some friction, but Frictor, the master of friction, is created when the brothers' calluses are exposed to radiation. The Ripping Friends eventually track him to the moon.

Rip-Along: Chunk confronts a bear who compliments a little girl's dress and calls her pretty.
5"Rip's Shorts"October 13, 2001 (2001-10-13)

Rip's shorts alter at the molecular level after being thrown into space. The shorts become evil and take control of Jimmy and then Pooperman, causing them to do "evil" things. The other three brothers mobilize to stop the shorts.

Rip-Along: None.
6"The Ovulator"October 27, 2001 (2001-10-27)

The boys discover that there is a shortage of beef and they send Slab out to rectify the situation, as he is the only one not affected by the lack of beef in his system. He soon discovers that a mad chicken, calling himself the Ovulator, is holding cows hostage.

Rip-Along: Rip discovers why hot dog buns come in a package of twelve, and hot dogs only come in a package of eight.
7"ManMan and BoyBoy"November 10, 2001 (2001-11-10)

A duo of supposed crime fighters called ManMan and BoyBoy are wandering around "solving crimes" with flesh-colored accessories. Their brand of crime fighting is soon revealed to be simply putting BoyBoy in peril for no good reason. Crag sets out, because he has not had his own episode yet, to foil the duo and save BoyBoy by dressing himself up as Man Friend and Jimmy as Boy Pal to save BoyBoy.

Rip-Along: Jimmy and Crag teaches Pungent Puss a lesson in etiquette.
8"Stinky Butt"November 17, 2001 (2001-11-17)

Citracett is banished to the nether regions of the Earth by the Ripping Friends after attempting to destroy it. There, due to some mystical energy, Citracett gains the ability to control his flatulence with destructive results.

Rip-Along: None.
9"The Muscle Magician"November 24, 2001 (2001-11-24)

Chunk is being made fun of by the other, 36-year-old brothers for only being 35 and a half, and therefore a "kid", so he runs away and attends a circus performance where he finds a magician who controls people's muscles. The magician, realizing the potential that Chunk poses, possesses his muscles and has him commit robbery of the many national banks in town.

Rip-Along: Chunk discovers why Tommy got socks and underwear for Christmas instead of Ripping Friends action figures.
10"Jimmy's Kidnapped"December 8, 2002 (2002-12-08)(Adult Swim) [17] [18]

Citracett and a gorilla (named "Gorilla Friend" in an organ grinder monkey outfit, later "Anaxamander – the Noble Primate" in a "Pericles helmet") kidnap Jimmy the Hapless Idiot Boy after Rip harasses him into running away. The Ripping Friends track him down to find that they are torturing Jimmy so Rip knocks out the gorilla, steals his fur, and infiltrates Citracett's basement to rescue Jimmy.

Rip-Along: None.

Note: This episode never aired on Fox Kids due to scenes that would be considered bad taste following the September 11th attacks. It would air the following year during Adult Swim's run.
11"Dr. Jean Poole"January 12, 2002 (2002-01-12)

The four boys get a lesson on "girls" from He-Mom and, as a final lesson, sets them up on a date with a Dr. Jean Poole. All five of them go out on the date together to the drive-in.

Rip-Along: Crag discovers the people responsible for writing video game manuals and putting extra buttons on remote controls.
12"The Man from Next Thursday, Part One"January 19, 2002 (2002-01-19)

Someone breaks into RIPCOT's secret vault and steals the Ripping Friends' "perfect" DNA, which he turns into "Riptonite" in order to kill the Ripping brothers. The intruder is revealed to be a man with an enormous thumb protruding from his chest, who claims to be a time traveler from "next Thursday".

Rip-Along: None.
13"The Man from Next Thursday, Part Two"January 26, 2002 (2002-01-26)

The man from next Thursday relates his plan to his intelligent cat, revealing that his attempts to kill the Ripping Friends are based on revenge; the Ripping Friends ripped the nail off his giant chest-thumb and then re-attached it on the wrong side, making him a freak in the world of next Thursday.

Rip-Along: None.

Censorship

Merchandise

Hearst Entertainment and Spümcø licensed Playmates Toys to create toys based on the show. [20] However, these toys were never released. A video game based on the show was developed by Creations and released by THQ for the Game Boy Advance, and consulted by John Kricfalusi. [21]

Telecast and home media

In the U.S., the series was first premiered on September 22, 2001 on Fox Kids until the final episode's airing on January 26, 2002. Adult Swim later picked up the show, which aired from October 6, 2002 [22] [23] [24] to March 28, 2004. [25] The show occasionally airs in Canada on Teletoon. The show also aired briefly in the United Kingdom on the CNX channel and on ABC in Australia.

Two videotapes with two episodes each were initially available with the two volumes later combined into a single DVD release with four episodes. [26]

In Australia, the complete series was released on Region 4 DVD by Madman Entertainment.

Related Research Articles

<i>The Ren & Stimpy Show</i> American animated television series (1991–1996)

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.

<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">John Kricfalusi</span> Canadian blogger and animator (born 1955)

Michael John Kricfalusi, known professionally as John K., is a Canadian illustrator, blogger, and former animator and voice actor. He is the creator of the animated television series The Ren & Stimpy Show, which was highly influential on televised animation during the 1990s. From 1989 to 1992, he was heavily involved with the first two seasons of the show in virtually every aspect of its production, including providing the voice of Ren Höek and other characters. In 2009, he won the Inkpot Award.

<i>Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"</i> Animated television series

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.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Camp</span> American comic book and storyboard artist (b. 1956)

Robert Frank Camp is an American animator, writer, cartoonist, comic book artist, storyboard artist, director, and producer. He is best known for his work for developing and serving as a showrunner for The Ren & Stimpy Show. He has been nominated for two Emmys, a CableACE Award, and an Annie Award for his work on The Ren & Stimpy Show.

<i>Boo Boo Runs Wild</i> 1999 animated parody TV special of The Yogi Bear Show for Cartoon Network

Boo Boo Runs Wild is a 1999 stand-alone animated television special and a parody of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series The Yogi Bear Show. It was made by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi and his company Spümcø. Boo Boo Runs Wild originally aired on Cartoon Network on September 24, 1999, along with A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith, a similar Yogi Bear-themed stand-alone special. Despite Boo Boo being the arguable star of this short, it is title carded as "A Ranger Smith Cartoon". The short is dedicated to Ed Benedict, the original character designer for The Yogi Bear Show and other Hanna-Barbera properties of the 1950s–1960s.

<i>A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith</i> Cartoon

A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith is a stand-alone animated television special, and a parody of the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series The Yogi Bear Show, which revolves around Ranger Smith. A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith was made by The Ren & Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi and his company Spümcø. A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith originally aired on Cartoon Network on September 24, 1999, along with Boo Boo Runs Wild, a similar Yogi Bear-themed stand alone special.

Stephen Worth is an American producer of animation.

<i>The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil</i> American animated television series

The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil is an American animated series. Produced by DIC Animation City, It is a revival of Bob Clampett's Beany and Cecil. Five half-hour episodes aired out of the thirteen in production during its original run. This incarnation of the show was developed, produced, and directed by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi, later known for founding Spümcø and creating The Ren & Stimpy Show.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ren and Stimpy (characters)</span> Animated cartoon characters

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stimpy's Cartoon Show</span> 7th episode of the 3rd season of The Ren & Stimpy Show

"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.

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 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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A Visit to Anthony</span> 17th episode of the 2nd season of The Ren & Stimpy Show

"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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fire Dogs</span> 8th episode of the 1st season of The Ren & Stimpy Show

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

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 (<i>The Ren & Stimpy Show</i>) 4th episode of the 2nd season of The Ren & Stimpy Show

"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 (<i>The Ren & Stimpy Show</i>) Episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show

"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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fake Dad</span> 7th episode of the 2nd season of The Ren & Stimpy Show

"Fake Dad" is the fourteenth episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on February 27, 1993.

References

  1. ↑ "The Ripping Friends [Animated TV Series]". Allmovie. Retrieved November 23, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Ripping Friends". British Film Institute . London. Archived from the original on December 25, 2012. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
  3. ↑ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 668–669. ISBN   978-1476665993.
  4. ↑ "Ripping Friends Archived 2011-08-04 at the Wayback Machine ", ABC
  5. ↑ "Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures Story meeting", YouTube clip of an episode of The MacNeil / Lehrer NewsHour
  6. ↑ "WebVoyage Record View 1". cocatalog.loc.gov.
  7. 1 2 3 Robertson, Virginia (December 1, 1999). "Spumco toons into Web & Fox" . Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Alien, pranster, secret agents and Olsen twins for Fox". Kidscreen. March 1, 2001. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  9. ↑ John Kricfalusi (October 3, 2007). "Maintaining Guts from Department to department". John K Stuff. Archived from the original on February 13, 2010. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
  10. ↑ Jason Anders (June 23, 2008). "Conversation with Nick Cross". Full Circle Productions. Archived from the original on February 26, 2014. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  11. ↑ Scott Goodins (2001). "The Strange World of John K". Australian Broadcasting Corporation . Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  12. ↑ John Kricfalusi Interview - WGN Chicago Radio (2003), May 7, 2020, retrieved September 20, 2023
  13. ↑ "Robyn *did a triumph* Byrd on Twitter: "Probably. I storyboarded that cartoon while being stuck in the basement while he did Ripping Friends voices all night… "". February 9, 2020. Archived from the original on February 9, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  14. ↑ "Ripping Friends Satire", All Kinds of Stuff at Blogspot
  15. ↑ "Post Your Reviews - Adult Swim Comedy [10/13/02]". Anime Superhero Forum. October 13, 2002. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  16. ↑ "Post Your Reviews - Adult Swim Comedy [10/13/02]". Anime Superhero Forum. October 13, 2002. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  17. ↑ "Cartoon Network Schedule - The Ripping Friends". December 6, 2002. Archived from the original on December 6, 2002. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  18. ↑ "Post Your Reviews - Adult Swim Comedy [12/15/02]". Anime Superhero Forum. December 15, 2002. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  19. ↑ "hotdogs and buns should get along", All Kinds of Stuff
  20. ↑ Ashdown, Simon (July 1, 2001). "Jakks tinkers with junk, Playmates gets manly, and Manley gets funky". Kidscreen. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  21. ↑ "Cyberbites". Kidscreen. May 1, 2001. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  22. ↑ ""The Ripping Friends" Join Adult Swim this October". Anime Superhero Forum. August 22, 2002. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  23. ↑ "Ripping Friends premieres @ October 6th, 11:00 PM". Anime Superhero Forum. August 22, 2002. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  24. ↑ "Post Your Reviews - Adult Swim Comedy [10/6/02]". Anime Superhero Forum. October 6, 2002. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Swimpedia - 2004". sites.google.com. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  26. ↑ "DVD Calendar Feature Articles - Metacritic". www.metacritic.com. Archived from the original on October 16, 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.