The Ripping Friends

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. ****/*****.

Made by Spumco, the same creators behind Ren and Stimpy, the Nicktoon infamous for crossing the line when it comes to content in a show aims at kids, The Ripping Friends is a cartoon that aired on Fox Kids in its final year, before the block became the FoxBox, which was loaded with anime dubbed by 4Kids.

Crag, Slag, Rip, and Chunk are the Ripping Friends, four brothers who are blessed with superhuman strength and muscles. Based in RIPCOT, the four have to fight evildoers where they strike, all crazy villains like the living wad of gum known as The Indigestable Wad, Flathead the spine-stealing invertibre, and even Citracett, the evil dictator of Euroslavia.

Yeah, it's strange how this cartoon was given the okay to air on Fox Kids, especially considering how controversial Ren and Stimpy had become when Nickelodeon aired it. The Ripping Friends look like they could be good friends of Powdered Toast Man, as despite being superheroes, they are actually not very bright sometimes (with Crag, the leader, being the only smart one). Also, the humor is on par with the cat and dog duo, as there is a lot of humor that only adults will get and some gross stuff (in fact, two episodes would not air on Fox Kids and would not air until the series was re-run on Adult Swim due to content Fox felt was in bad taste because of the 9/11 attacks, which caused the first episode to be delayed). Only lasting thirteen episodes due to the episodes being expensive to make, the show is a fun, humorous take on superheroes, as the characters are crazy, and the voice actors all have fun voicing the insanity-fuelled adventures. And the animation is great.

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??

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.