No Pants Today

"No Pants Today"
The Ren & Stimpy Show episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 4
Directed by	Bob Camp Bill Wray
Story by	Richard Pursel John Kricfalusi (uncredited)
Production code	RS-302
Original air date	November 26, 1993 (1993-11-26)
Episode chronology
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List of episodes

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.

Plot

After taking a shower, Stimpy realizes he is naked and feels embarrassed. Ren tells Stimpy he is an idiot as cats do not wear clothing and kicks him out. Stimpy meets the perpetually clueless couple, Mr. and Mrs. Pipe. Mrs. Pipe screams in horror at seeing an undressed cat while Mr. Pipe washes Stimpy away with his hose. Victor and his father, characters first introduced in A Visit to Anthony return to sell Stimpy underwear. Stimpy is kidnapped by Victor and his father who drop him off in a forest. Stimpy is robbed of his underwear by a cow. Stimpy meets a bear who gives him a squirrel to wear as a leotard. Stimpy returns home where Ren scoffs that his story is absurd as cats do not wear pants. Stimpy is revealed to be a transvestite who loves to wear women's dresses and heads down to the local dress shop.

Cast

• Ren-voice of Billy West
• Stimpy-voice of Billy West
• Mrs. Pipe-voice of Cheryl Chase
• Mr. Pipe-voice of Billy West
• Bear-voice of Bob Camp
• Victor-voice of Danny Cooksey
• Victor's dad-voice of Charlie Callas
• Cow-voice of Michael Pataki

Production

The story was written at the Spümcø studio by Richard Pursel and John Kricfalusi in 1992 who intended it for the second season under the title "Stimpy That Dirty Little Naked Boy". ^[1] When the Spümcø lost the contract for The Ren & Stimpy Show, the story was assigned to the Games Animation studio. ^[1] As Games Animation struggled to finish off the second season, the story for No Pants Today was held off for the third season. ^[1] Pursel insisted that the original story that he envisioned was not as violent as the final version, which he blamed on Bill Wray. ^[2] Pursel recalled: "I just remember a lot of Bill's suggestions in writing meetings were, 'and then we break his neck! And then they can get him killed!' But he laughed after he said it". ^[2] The story was censored by the Nickelodeon network which removed the scene of Stimpy being dragged down a road by a car and Stimpy being tortured with a butter knife as too extreme. ^[2]

Reception

The American journalist Thad Komorowski wrote that the idea for No Pants Today was "excellent", but the execution was "awkward". ^[1] Komorowski wrote "an unpleasant emphasis on pain, rather than Stimpy's humiliation or stupidity, makes "No Pants Today" incapable of fully embracing its ironic theme". ^[3]

Books and articles

• Dobbs, G. Michael (2015). Escape – How Animation Broke into the Mainstream in the 1990s. Orlando: BearManor Media. ISBN   1593931107.
• Komorowski, Thad (2017). Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren & Stimpy Story. Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media. ISBN   978-1629331836.

References

1. Komorowski 2017, p. 274.
2. Komorowski 2017, p. 275.
3. Komorowski 2017, p. 274-275.

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