The Ripping Friends

This is a genuinely funny, out of this world take on the world of superheroes. Likeable yet decidedly odd characters and absolutely over the top! Created by John Kricfalusi the cartoon genius that brought us Ren and Stimpy, Ripping Friends continues the dream and it does it well. Give it a shot. Each episode gets funnier the more times you watch it.

If you are a teenager, you probabley grew into a pre-teen with Ren and Stimpy. I was a pre-schooler at the time Ren and Stimpy was popular, and to this day I watch the Spumco episodes of it religiously. Fast foward ten years. The original creators of Ren and Stimpy, John Kricfalusi and Spumco, have decided to come back on TV with a sucessful show after the diasater relationship they had with Nickeldeon a decade ago. Now they are with Fox Kids, with The Ripping Friends. I saw most of the first season, and is it as good as any Spumco product they made from R&S to present? Close. The animation: Now this is my least favorite part of the show. It really feels flat and two dimentional, almost like a 60s Hanna Barbera show, but slightly cleaner. There are still some good drawings, and based on the budget and the fact that it's a Saturday Morning Cartoon (which normal have limited animation), it's still OK. But check out the designs and the storyboards by Jim Smith, they look excellent, as always. I just wish they'd hire some close-up animators from Ren and Stimpy. ***/***** The plot: Intresting. According to Kricfalusi, it's supposed to be a spoof on manly men, any type of men before political correctness or the 70s. Their mission: to rip, or destroy anyone or thing that stands in the way of justice. ****/*****

The humor: Hilarious. A couple jokes are a little flat, but you'll forgive those jokes instantly when other jokes come in the line. Ren and Stimpy-ish, and politically satire-ish most of the time. I won't spoil any here. See for yourself. ****1/2/*****.

Bottom line: It's no Ren and Stimpy, and the animation needs a bit of clean-up, but watch it for the humor, and how unusual it is. ****/*****.

I get the impression that the creators of this show are trying to create something on par with Ren and Stimpy, but are deliberatly holding back. Possibly because it's on Fox Kids. (Although I did see a pretty raunchy episode on YTV.) It's just that whenever I watch an ep, I see that they have an excellent premise and potential, but it's only half fulfilled. It's kind of like shouting when you could clearly scream.

This animated program is odd. Abnormal. Unusual. Strange. I could keep going, but I can't think of anymore words. Actually I can, but, anywho.

I know you're thinking, "What the *bleep* is a Ripping Friend?". Well, my friend, a ripping, umm, friend is a superhero that wants to rip (or destroy) all that stands in the way of freedom and justice. In order to prepare themselves for this on-going battle, they go through rigorous training. Ummmmm . . . yeah.

It's aimed at kids, but I can't see how (or even why). Let me take that back, I can see it (the characters look funny and say funny things), but I think the average child probably wouldn't get the majority of the jokes. Half of those jokes are dealing with the characters names: Crag (the oldest of the RF's), Slab (the group's little lamb--that's a joke in itself), Chunk (the RF's teenage rebel yell), Rip (I call him 'Rip the Roid'--if you've seen the show, you know what I mean), Jimmy (the everloving man b**ch), and, I saved the best for last, He-Mom (the RF's foster mom).

Here's a sampling of the dialogue in the recent episode I saw: [sic] "Don't die on me. If you do, I will kiiiiiiill you!"

Later in the episode, one of the RF's gets shocked as part of his training. He screams, eyes bulging, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!" When the current is finally shut off, he says, "Aww, I was just starting to have fun!"

I've never seen anything like this on network television for kids, and I love and watch cartoons frequently. Then I remember, it IS Fox. What did I expect?

You know what? I still have to give it an 8. Hey, I grew up watching the Fox Network. What did you expect??

What can I say? God bless the folks at Cartoon Network for giving this another chance after it was canned by the PC, anime hungry (sick isn't it?) folks at Fox. The cartoon is about a group of superheroes (Crag, Slab, Chunk, and Rip) who want to rip (or in other words destroy) all that stands in the way of freedom. Other characters include Jimmy, and the Ripping Friends foster mom He-Mom LOL!!!

Overall, John K., and Spumco have yet another winner on their hands. Sure it'll never capture the greatness of "Ren & Stimpy" but it's still an excellent, yet strange show.

This gets a 10/10.