"The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" | |
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The Ren & Stimpy Show episode | |
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Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 13 |
Directed by | John Kricfalusi Chris Reccardi |
Story by | John Kricfalusi Bob Camp Jim Gomez Vincent Waller |
Production code | RS5-7A |
Original air date | May 23, 1993 |
"The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" is the season finale of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 23 May 1993.
In a satire of the 1874 March West of the Northwest Mounted Police (known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police since 1920), Ren and Stimpy are members of the Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen in the 19th century. The duo are sent out on a pointless mission riding their ungainly yaks by Commander Jasper to find the Great Barren Wasteland in the far north of Canada. After surviving a winter trek and various hardships such as attacks by insects and First Nations peoples, Ren becomes dejected. To cheer him up, Stimpy sings the "Kilted Yaksmen Anthem", which despite its depressing lyrics lifts Ren's spirits. Showing a complete disregard for the actual climate of northern Canada, Ren and Stimpy become lost in a steaming jungle and then in a desert. Facing starvation, Ren devises the idea of eating dirt, which provides enough nourishment to keep them alive. Ren and Stimpy plant a flag to claim the wilderness for Canada, salute the flag and then die. Their skeletons are shown as resting in the same spot, which is now beneath an underpass in an unnamed city in Canada circa 1993. The ending implies that Ren and Stimpy's sacrifice of their lives made possible the modern city, which is ironically depicted as an urban wasteland full of pollution and endless traffic jams.
The showrunner of The Ren & Stimpy Show, John Kricfalusi, had wanted to do a story set in his native Canada, which was the origin of "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen". The March West is a famous episode in Canadian history, depicted in Canada as an epic of endurance and courage as the Northwest Mounted Police marched across the Prairie provinces to reach what is now Alberta. Production started on the episode that became "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" in the spring of 1992. [1] Chris Reccardi of the Spümcø studio was assigned to direct the episode, but had only reached the layout stage when he was fired by Kricfalusi in late July 1992. [1] Michael Fontanelli was then assigned to direct the episode, but little was accomplished between July–September 1992. [1] On 21 September 1992, Kricfalusi was fired as the showrunner and the Spümcø studio lost the contract for The Ren & Stimpy Show.
The Nickelodeon network assigned the newly founded Games Studio to take over the work of finishing the episodes that the Spümcø studio had started. Reccardi, who joined Games studio in October 1992, was assigned to once again direct the "Yaksmen" story. [1] Reccardi later said: "I was still learning and just never took charge of that thing. Back when I was storyboarding it, I really didn't get the feel of a story for it and John was really preoccupied with other challenges at the time." [1] After the draft was completed, much of the drawings for the "Yaksmen" story was done at the Carbunkle studio in Vancouver. [2] Bob Jaques, the director of the Carbunkle studio, complained that "Yaksmen" had no real plot, being a collection of comic incidents loosely built around the story of Ren and Stimpy's pointless quest to find the Great Barren Wasteland. [2] The episode was finally finished in the spring of 1993, a year after it had been started. [3] The Los Angeles Gay Men's Choir provided the chorus for the "Kilted Yaksmen Anthem". [4] The line in the Kilted Yaksmen Anthem that says "And we're probably going to hell" was censored by the Nickelodeon network, which felt that lyric was too dark for children. [4]
On 18 May 1993, Kricfalusi's lawyer sent a letter to Nickelodeon threatening a lawsuit because the directing credits for "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" were co-credited to Kricfalusi and Reccardi. [5] In his letter, Kricfalusi's lawyer wrote that Reccardi had not directed the episode and did not deserve that credit. [5] Jim Ballantine stated that the letter and the legal threats were due to jealousy as Reccardi was dating Lynne Naylor, who was the former girlfriend of Kricfalusi. [5] Balantine stated: "Since Chris was in a serious relationship with Lynne Naylor, anything having to do with Chris made John extra nuts. Our response was something like, there was no specific prohibition against adding a name and John had shared credits in the past. I certainly don't fault anything Chris did. He finished that cartoon, and we (me, Vanessa [Coffey] and Mary [Harrington]) thought he deserved the credit". [6]
The American critic Paulie Von Doom wrote that "Yaksmen" story had a weak plot, but a number of gross-out gags that made it amusing. [7] He wrote: "The brilliance also lies with the animation: it borders on crude, but is entirely necessary for the mood of the cartoon. While some might consider it lazy by today's standards, anything more sleek and sophisticated would have cheapened the show." [7] The American critic Bill Gibron wrote that "The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen" "...featured a fabulous song (sung to the tune of 'My Country, 'Tis of Thee') that really propels the action/adventure plotline over the top." [8] Gibron complained about the rather inconsistent way that censorship was applied with the "Man's Best Friend" episode being banned in its entirety for violence and for scatological content while at the climax of the Yaksmen song the characters toss their hats into the air along an intestine out of which falls a feces, which he felt to be more vulgar than anything in "Man's Best Friend". [8]
The Ren & Stimpy Show, commonly referred to as simply Ren & Stimpy, is an American comedy animated television series created and developed by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi, and animators 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 cartoon 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.
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 by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for the cable network TNN / Spike TV. The series was developed as a more "extreme" revamp and spin-off of The Ren & Stimpy Show, which previously aired on the American cable network Nickelodeon. 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 Cartoon Show" is the 7th episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that 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 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.
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Robert Paul Jaques is a Canadian-American animator and animation director. He is best known for the television series The Ren & Stimpy Show, Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" and SpongeBob SquarePants. He also was nominated for two Emmys in 1992 and 1993 for his contributions to The Ren & Stimpy Show.
"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.
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.
"Stimpy's Invention" is the second segment of the sixth episode and season finale of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show, as well as the thirteenth aired segment overall. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on February 23, 1992. The episode follows Stimpy, who, after subjecting Ren to several failed inventions, invents one that takes control of its user's happiness in hopes of making Ren happier in life. However, the invention causes Ren to go insane.
Sven Höek is the 6th episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 7 November 1992.
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.
"Ren's Bitter Half" is the fifteenth episode from the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on June 4, 1994.
"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.
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.
Haunted House is the 7th episode of the second season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 21 November 1992.
"Nurse Stimpy" is the 4th episode of the first season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States 25 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.
A Yard Too Far is the second episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show that originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 20 November 1993.