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In the landscape of contemporary American animation, a field largely domesticated by four-quadrant family entertainment, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Fixed arrives as a startling and feral proposition. The film presents a deceptively simple, high-concept premise: Bull, an average, all-around good dog, discovers he has 24 hours until he is scheduled to be neutered. This inciting incident triggers a frenetic, last-ditch adventure with his pack of canine friends, structured as a wild-night-out escapade. Yet, beneath its R-rated, comedy-of-humiliation surface lies a work of surprising thematic density. The narrative is less about a dog’s carnal panic and more a profound existential crisis. Tartakovsky himself has framed Bull’s anxiety through a potent analogy...

If animation has taught us anything, it's that life is best lived in pairs. Cartoon duos are all the rage, enriching the shows with a whole lot more fun and excitement for the viewers. Seriously, imagine if Tom didn't have Jerry -- what would he do for an entire episode? Probably nap like most cats or bemoan the stretch of time in between meals. In the same vein, what if Wile E. Coyote didn't fancy a Road Runner feast? Poor coyote would be working in tech and making products that only half work –- think "The Office" but following around Acme employees.

So, much like shoes, the best cartoon characters come in pairs. Let's take a look at the best of the best and talk about why they're as seminal as they are. There's no real scientific method here, and it's mostly about how important the characters have become in pop culture.

The persistent, decades-long popularity of "SpongeBob SquarePants" has always been a little baffling. The premise and look of Stephen Hillenburg's 1999 animated series is downright surreal: it takes place under the sea, and all the characters are undersea creatures, which is easy enough to understand, but it also affects the aesthetic and soundtrack of retro-'60s Hawai'ian kitsch. Although underwater, the cartoon physics of the series still allows for burning fires and ordinary gravity, adding a note of dreamlike unreality to everything. The title character is a sea sponge, but one that looks like a kitchen sponge, and who walks around on spindly human limbs.

SpongeBob is played by comedian Tom Kenny, and the plucky, childlike hero adores his job as a fry cook at his local burger joint, the Krusty Krab. SpongeBob's boss is the money-obsessed Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown), who possesses a secret formula to make the perfect hamburger.

"Korgoth of Barbaria" was the brainchild of Aaron Springer, the creator and star of the 2017 Disney Xd series "Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer." Springer is a long-time veteran of the American animation industry, having come up through Spümcø ("The Ren & Stimpy Show"), and who went on to write for "SpongeBob SquarePants." In the early 2000s, he started working as a writer and storyboard artists on shows like "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Samurai Jack," both created by animation superstar Genndy Tartakovsky. He also had a stint on "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy," so he was clearly used to working with style and a great deal of visual wit. 

In 2006, Springer had his biggest job to date, creating a crass, violent fantasy series called "Korgoth of Barbaria," a show on which he served as creator, producer, writer, director, storyboard artist, character designer, and probably caterer. The hilarious Diedrich Bader played the title character,...

The ’90s and early ’00s were a new golden era for TV animation, a time when shows could come not from executives and board rooms, but from people with a unique creative vision. Nickelodeon exploded unto the scene with “Doug,” “Rugrats,” and “The Ren & Stimpy Show” before Cartoon Network responded a few years later with their first original cartoons starting with “Dexter’s Laboratory.”

That show helped establish Cartoon Network as an incubator of talent and ideas, an incubator that would later become a studio when Cartoon Network Studios was properly founded as a separate entity from Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros. Animation 25 years ago. Continuing the spirit of experimentation and creatively driven projects from the early days of the network, the studio’s first show was unlike anything else at the time, a genre-bending action show with little dialogue, born out of complaints from its creator, Genndy Tartakovsky.

“I had...

It should be stated right away that back in 2018 John Kricfalusi -- a.k.a. John K., the creator of "The Ren & Stimpy Show" -- was accused by two of his former employees of sexual grooming. When they were teenagers in the 1990s, John K. hired them at his animation studio Spümcø, having already engaged in inappropriate sexual chatter with them. The statute of limitations had expired on Kricfalusi's crimes, so he was never arrested, but he has stepped out of the public eye ever since. "The Ren & Stimpy Show," as was reported back in 2020, was once gearing up to be rebooted, only this time without any of Kricfalusi's input, and without him receiving any revenue. The reboot has yet to happen.

Of course, the reason why Nickelodeon wants to reboot "The Ren & Stimpy Show" is because of how overwhelmingly influential it was. John K., inspired by...

Eddie Alcazar is the under-the-radar, up-and-coming visionary filmmaker who’s collaborated with everyone from Steven Soderbergh to Darren Aronofsky and The Weeknd. Soderbergh executive-produced Alcazar’s 2018 sci-fi debut “Perfect” before teaming up with the filmmaker again for his 2023 black-and-white Sundance premiere “Divinity,” which IndieWire deemed one of that year’s “best-looking movies.”

Aronofsky, meanwhile, executive-produced Alcazar’s short film “The Vandal,” released by New Yorker Studios in 2021. And filmmaker Alcazar, who also works as a writer and game developer, also wrote and directed The Weeknd’s stop-motion music video “Red Terror” earlier this year.

But Alcazar’s next project is “Bullet Time,” a hand-drawn TV pilot, fours years in the making, that he created and directed that tributes the Golden Age of ’90s animation. Alcazar hopes the DIY, tactile approach to the storytelling will be an antidote to AI-driven times. Danny Elfman also composed the music.

IndieWire debuts a first...

It's generally agreed that John Lasseter's 2006 film "Cars" is one of Pixar's less ambitious movies. Other movies in the Pixar canon tickled the imagination by presenting the secret worlds of commonplace beings. "Toy Story" posited that our toys came to life when we weren't looking (which we always kinda knew was true anyway). "A Bug's Life" saw ants as arranged into a tiny, secret society, while "Finding Nemo" did the same with fish. "Monsters, Inc." said that closet monsters were real, but that they only scare children as an element of a boring, blue-collar job. Back in monster land, the monsters are boring like your dad. 

"Cars" was a departure for the studio, as there was no secret being revealed. "Cars" took place in a parallel universe wherein living beings were replaced by anthropomorphic vehicles. They had eyes instead of windshields, and mouths on their bumpers. They seemed to eat gasoline.

In 1991, MTV debuted its animated shorts showcase program "Liquid Television," and it was a huge step for the medium. Underground comics artists and up-and-coming animators suddenly had a location, on one of American television's most popular stations, to exhibit their work and make bold experiments. In the early 1990s, animation was taking a turn -- pointedly -- away from the previous decade's corporate mentality, and toward edgier, creator-driven works. "The Simpsons" and "The Ren & Stimpy Show" pushed the boat out, and "Liquid Television" was an entire marina full of smaller support craft (not to strain a metaphor).

"Liquid Television" was where audiences first saw Mike Judge's "Beavis and Butt-Head" first goofing off, and where they got their first taste of Peter Chung's "Æon Flux." Those shorts eventually spun off into their own standalone animated shows. "Liquid Television" was a testing ground for new animated voices.

In 1994, however,...

The early 1990s were an exciting time for animation. Throughout the 1980s, mainstream commercial cartoons had become, well, commercials, Many of them were owned by toy companies and only put into production to advertise toy products. New cartoon shows wouldn't be greenlit unless they possessed "marquee value," which is to say they were "established IPs" (to use the modern lingo). 

This over-commercialization deeply branded a generation, but caused storytelling to suffer. Certain animators sick of the Reagan era began to branch out in the '90s, and the world experienced a sudden explosion of creativity. Animators like John Kricfalusi (whose achievements and gross misconduct alike are chronicled in the documentary "Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story") and Mike Judge began animating aggressively crude, playfully subversive shows like "The Ren & Stimpy Show" and "Beavis and Butt-head," respectively. Elsewhere, animation exhibitors Spike & Mike began touring theaters with both classic...

If you want to watch a Gen-Xer get wistful, just ask them about MTV in the 1980s and '90s. MTV wasn't just an endless repository for music videos and short films (which would have made the network significant on its own); it also dictated a great deal of the generation's cultural attitudes. There was a punkish, puckish outlook in the '80s as punk, New Wave, and Hip-Hop all rose to the fore, gleefully tearing down old music traditions and setting up something that could be intense, playful, or sometimes just plain silly. The 1990s adopted a great deal of angst, as the disaffection grunge generation and poetic alternative rock came into prominence. In 1994, it wouldn't be strange to see a Hip-Hop music video, a suicidally dark industrial music video, a tender ballad, a heavy metal music video, Nirvana, and a weird novelty act like Green Jellÿ all in a row.

Well this is a big time bummer: Big Time Rush is no longer available on Paramount+.

As first reported by our sister site Deadline, the streamer has removed a bunch of series made for children and tweens, including the former Nickelodeon sitcom about high school friends who become a wildly successful boy band.

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Paramount+ is removing Nickelodeon titles from its library, including some big properties like Doug, Blue’s Room, and Big Time Rush.

December has seen Doug being taken off the streamer. The animated series premiered in 1991 on Nickelodeon and ran for four seasons. Doug was one of the earliest titles of the “Nicktoons” in the 1990s, which would later include shows like Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rocko’s Modern Life, Aaahh!! Real Monsters, Hey Arnold! and more.

Other titles purged from Paramount+ include My Life As A Teenage Robot and shows based on DreamWorks Animation films like Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness and The Penguins of Madagascar.

AwesomenessTV, Breadwinners, Game Shakers, House of Anubis, Let’s Just Play: Go Healthy Challenge, Welcome to the Wayne, Wonder Pets, and Zoofari were also removed from Paramount+.

More recently, Paramount+ users have reported other titles being taken off the streamer like Alvinnn!!! and the Chipmunks,...

Quick Links Cow and Chicken Travel to the Depths of Hell The Red Guy Grew to Be One of the Show’s Best Assets Even After This Ban, Cow and Chicken Saw Great Success

Cartoon Network boasts a ton of acclaimed TV shows, especially during the 1990s. While Disney was focusing on tame animations like Quack Pack and Timon & Pumbaa, Cartoon Network was showing off a wide array of whacky animations. As such, this quickly put the network on top and allowed it to defeat a lot of dynamic competition.

Cow and Chicken is a prime example of the network's otherworldly approach and focuses on two immature anthropomorphic siblings. The characters exist within their own surreal universe, creating a wealth of humorous and entertaining plotlines. Though the show amassed a very devoted fan base, Cartoon Network swiftly removed its pilot episode after its original release. But what's the pilot about,...

Quick Links How Monster Force Reinvented Universal's Horror Icons For The '90s How Monster Force Was the Perfect Storm of '90s Pop Culture How the Spirit of Monster Force Lived On

The Universal Monsters have been resurrected more times than anyone can count, but one of their strangest incarnations came from a largely forgotten horror series in the '90s. By now, it's no surprise that the Universal Monsters and the legends that inspired them are timeless. Yet, much like the bolt of lightning that brought Frankenstein's monster to life, Universal has never stopped reviving these iconic characters to appeal to new generations. While efforts like Van Helsing, the Dark Universe, and The Munsters are among the most well-known attempts to modernize the monsters, few remember Monster Force, a product of its era that reimagined classic creeps for a Saturday morning audience.

Whether their story begins with 1913's Dr.

Rugrats is returning to film with a new movie, though with live-action mixed with CGI to bring the toddlers to life and thats exactly what Im scared to see in this movie. Back in 1991, Nickelodeon presented the animated TV series Rugrats, created by Arlene Klasky, Gbor Csup, and Paul Germain. Rugrats was the second show in the group of original Nicktoons, right after Doug and before The Ren & Stimpy Show. Rugrats followed a group of toddlers led by one-year-old Tommy Pickles as they turned their day-to-day lives into extraordinary adventures.

Rugrats was a hit with critics and general audiences, and its success led to a media franchise with a sequel series, a spinoff show, comic books, and a lot more. In 1998, Rugrats made the jump to the big screen with The Rugrats Movie, in which Tommys baby brother, Dil, was introduced. Two years later, the toddlers returned in Rugrats in Paris: The Movie,...

Great Reptar’s scales! What year is it? Hold onto your diapers and let your imagination run wild because a live-action hybrid of the classic Nickelodeon cartoon Rugrats is waddling our way from Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore. It’s the ’90s all over again, and we’re all about it!

Created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain, the Nickelodeon series premiered in 1991 as the second of three series in the Nicktoons lineup alongside Doug and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Rugrats follows a group of toddlers comprised of Tommy Pickles, his best friends Chuckie, the twins Phil and Lil, Susie, and his spoiled 3-year-old cousin Angelica. Using their cunning and the power of imagination, the group often wanders away from their caregivers to engage in grand adventures that offer a poignant life lesson.

The original Rugrats series was essential for ’90s kids, with shows like Rocko’s Modern Life,...

This October will mark 30 years since the spooks-in-training of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters first haunted television screens. Klasky Csup's creative horror comedy about young monsters studying to scare humans was part of an early era of Nicktoons with classics like Doug, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and Rugrats, yet never got quite the same recognition despite solid reviews at the time and a Daytime Emmy nomination. To celebrate their milestone anniversary, Mondo is making the trio of Ickis, Oblina, and Krumm the first addition to their new Mondo Squads category of figures, bringing together killer pop culture crews with plenty of accessories in one neat kit. Collider is excited to provide a sneak peek of this new set before pre-orders open tomorrow, September 17 at Noon Ct.

Screen Rant interviews Futurama season 12 stars Billy West and Lauren Tom. Having been a part of the show since the beginning, West and Tom reflect on their 25-year journey in the universe. West also touched on his return in the upcoming Ren & Stimpy reboot.

Futurama season 12 sees the Planet Express crew grace the small screen once again just in time for the series 25th anniversary. First airing in 1999, Futurama has had a journey unlike any other television series, having been cancelled and revived so many times that, for many fans, any new episode feels like a minor miracle. Luckily Hulu, the series latest home, has ordered episodes of the show that will take it through season 14.

Futurama season 12 episodes will drop weekly on Hulu, giving audiences plenty of time to enjoy the latest adventures of Fry, Leela, Hermes, and the rest. The season will mix some topical comedy with classic Futurama humor,...

The original voice cast of Futurama is back for the show's eleventh season, bringing iconic characters like Fry, Leela, and Bender to life once again. Billy West, who voices multiple roles, including Fry and Professor Farnsworth, also played Ren and Stimpy in The Ren & Stimpy Show, and even took over the role of Bugs Bunny in Space Jam. Katey Sagal, known for her live-action roles in Married... with Children and Sons of Anarchy, stars as Leela, the capable warrior and captain of the Planet Express ship.

The Futurama cast of characters is one of the reasons the animated comedy remains so beloved after various cancelations and revivals, and most of the cast of Futurama season 12 has been present since the very first episode aired in 1999. While the show's premise and comedy are great, it is the Futurama characters that Fry meets in this new reality that makes the show so special,...

When revisiting stuff from your childhood, sometimes you have to call upon the magical power of nostalgia to distract yourself from how truly childish — or downright terrible — it is. Transformers, for example, is the dumbest cartoon ever made, and Nickelodeon’s Doug couldn’t be anymore dull.

There are some kids’ cartoons, though, that have so many layers that they only get funnier as you age. Here are seven of them…

6 Ren & Stimpy

Ren & Stimpy is probably the first cartoon people think of when they’re talking about kids’ cartoons aimed at adults since it’s filled with all sorts of gross and suggestive moments, particularly when involving the relationship between its two leads.

5 Rocko’s Modern Life

Like Ren & Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life had adult jokes that went over kids’ heads, but there’s another layer to the show that appeals to adults, too. Nearly every story is...

Fart jokes are generally regarded as the lowest kind of humor. But every now and then, someone will put a great deal of care into one, thus pulling off something that’s equal parts highbrow and lowbrow — kind of like a Michelin-star chef taking on the humble hot dog.

Here are five such finely crafted fart jokes from the sitcom world…

5 Marge Simpson in ‘The Simpsons’

In “Beyond Blunderdome,” a car saleswoman approaches the Simpsons family in the dealer lot and asks, “Thinking of saying goodbye to gas?” “You betcha!” Bart exclaims, before letting out a Homer-like belch. Marge corrects him, only to involuntarily fart and have to correct herself instead. “Well, that shut me up,” she mutters.

4 Eric Cartman in ‘South Park’

The Season Seven premiere of South Park echoes the show’s pilot by having Cartman get another anal probe. This time, though, the fate of the...

X-Men '97 inspired nostalgia for the original series with an updated version of the opening sequence. Its musical composers teased that the early versions experimented with a spectrum of musical elements.

The Newton Brothers' Andy Grush and Taylor Stewart said they experimented with a variety of musical styles and instruments to compose the theme for X-Men '97's opening credits. "We explored all of it," Grush told Variety. "We were like, 'Let's use real synthesizers playing it, let's use digital synthesizers. Let's have a guitar player just rip the theme as well.' And I think it sparked a nice conversation which ended in using mostly keyboard guitar with the real guitar peeking through at specific times, which makes it super effective." Both confirmed there were eight early versions of the theme that informed the final cut.

Related X-Men '97 Intro Finally Fixes Opening Credit Mistake

The X-Men '97 intro has been released online,...

Shows like Street Sharks and Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars! continued the pattern of sentient animals fighting crime. Smaller series struggled to stand out among competitors due to the success of larger shows. Quality children's entertainment from the '90s like The Tick & Pepper Ann remains underrated today.

The '90s brought about numerous animated series with a few dominating pop culture conversations, leaving other shows to go unrecognized. '90s cartoons such as Rugrats and Pokmon still receive acclaim and fanfare decades after their premieres for their innovative animation and storytelling. It's because of these larger shows with massive success that smaller series have fallen under the radar, especially considering the heightened quality needed to stand out among competitors. Many of the kid's shows from the decade had a similar setup that featured a heroic lead, typically endowed with superhuman abilities, fighting various bad guys.

Therefore, unless there...

SpongeBob SquarePants star Mr. Lawrence is leading production on a new animated pilot - But it is far from what Bikini Bottom fans might be expecting.

Per Deadline, Mr. Lawrence, real name Douglas Osowski, is working together with Copernicus Studios to produce a six-minute pilot for Death Castle. The animated horror-comedy series has been described as "The Office meets Frankenstein," and is slated to feature a "high-end traditional 2D animation style with distinctive visual appeal."

Related An Iconic and Controversial Western Is Coming to Prime Video

One of the most important and "un-American" Westerns of the 1950s is finally making its way to Prime Video for streaming.

Mr. Lawrence is set to write and direct the pilot, and noted that the series would be "a satire of scary monster movies paired with a screwball relationship comedy." Lawrence is joined by lead animators Uli Meyer, Dean Roberts and Gabriele Zucchelli, and...

11 Most Chronically Online Star Wars Memes to Binge before The Acolyte Arrives - Main Image

Star Wars is known for having a passionate and loyal fanbase as fans have always supported the new releases and show their love for the franchise by creating fan art and sharing memes on social media.

In anticipation of The Acolyte's release this June, let's explore some of the hilarious chronically online Star Wars memes you can enjoy while waiting for the show's premiere in less than two weeks.

Star Wars Fans Are 'Too Seated' for The Acolyte

A lot of fans have expressed their excitement for The Acolyte thanks to the hype brought by the trailers, clips, and TV spots that have been released so far.

As X user @camandfilm stated (inspired by the infamous Ayo Edebiri comment), they are "simply too seated" for its release and can't wait for its premiere on Disney+.

To quote Space Ghost himself, "I'll be dead long before you were born, and I'll be dead long before you'll be dead."

In 1994, producer Mike Lazzo donned a pith helmet, filled his arms with machetes, and trekked into the darkest corners of the bleak, terrifying Hanna-Barbera cartoon library. In the depths, he re-discovered a long-forgotten, one-season animated series from 1966 called "Space Ghost," a superhero show about a white-clad, cape-wearing starship captain who fought bud-like villains in the inky void of the cosmos. Space Ghost, voiced by Gary Owens, could pass through walls and oversaw a pair of sidekicks named Jan (Ginny Tyler) and Jace (Tim Matheson) as well as a chimp named Blip (Don Messick). 

Like most of Hanna-Barbera's output, "Space Ghost" was strange and awful. 20 years later, reruns of shows like "Space Ghost" were increasingly enjoyed exclusively by college students under the influence of potent smokables. One would be...

I’m pretty lucky; I have lived through some major pop culture events: the Tim Burton Batman films changed comic book media, the birth of Image comics, seeing how Star Trek The Next Generation birthed a new fandom, etc. But one of the biggest events was seeing how animation wouldin a few short years change forever. The Simpsons is one example of how cartoons started to break new ground. Yet, there was one cartoon that broke the world of American animation. It was gross, it was crass, it was unlike anything we had ever seen. If the Simpsons were an explosion, Ren & Stimpy were the atomic bomb. Today many popular cartoons can all trace their origins back to an insane Chihuahua and a stupid big-nosed cat. It is undeniable Ren & Stimpy changed the face of animation. However, the story behind the show’s genesis is full of rebellion,...

Prior to the debut of "Futurama" in 1999, preeminent voice actor Billy West was already a towering presence in his field. He had previously played Doug Funnie in the hit Nickelodeon series "Doug," in addition to voicing the Larry Fine-like Stimpson J. Cat on "The Ren & Stimpy Show" opposite show creator John Kricfalusi. When Kricfalusi was fired for missing deadlines, West took over the role, playing both leads for the bulk of the series. West also played Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd in the 1996 oddity "Space Jam" and has voiced the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee and the Red M&m in myriad TV commercials.

In the normal course of seeking more work, sometime in the late '90s, West found himself in front of the casting directors for Matt Groening's and David X. Cohen's new sci-fi sitcom. West, of course, would be cast in multiple roles for "Futurama,...

Some innovators try to devise a gadget that changes the world. Others hope to solve a global social ill. Sarah Sherman is eager to bring fake vomit on “Saturday Night Live” into the modern age.

The comic has gained notice on the long-running NBC late-night series for bizarre humor that blends gross-out jokes with a taste for the absurd. She’s been working with colleagues for months on new technology that would make the act of pretending to throw up onstage a lot easier — and more comfortable. For years, “SNL” cast members have relied on a tube tucked alongside their arm and usually inside a jacket sleeve that spews out liquid approximating vomit or blood. At just the right moment, the actor holds an arm close to the mouth, and the “vomit rig” does the rest. Dan Aykroyd used such a get-up in 1978 when playing Julia Child, who cut her hand open,...

Invader Zim was reportedly canceled after two seasons due to poor ratings from its target audience of kids aged 2 to 11. Despite its cancelation, Invader Zim has become a cult classic, receiving critical acclaim and ranking on various "best animation" lists. Fans of Invader Zim continue to show their support through conventions, reboots, and the purchase of official merchandise, solidifying the show's legacy.

Invader Zim may have forged an enduring legacy, but the series still ended after just two seasons. Created by cartoonist Jhonen Vasquez for Nickelodeon, the animated dark comedy unapologetically pushed the boundaries of children's television with morbid, counterculture humor and the grisly nature of its overarching storyline. Invader Zim followed the titular alien as he attempted to conquer Earth and enslave the human race under the order of the Irken Empire — a mission he repeatedly failed at to hilarious effect.

Whether it was because of the Irken species' aim for universal conquest,...

Nickelodeon reportedly canceled Invader Zim due to low ratings, but the exact reason for its premature conclusion has been debated. The creator of Invader Zim, Jhonen Vasquez, wanted the show to move to MTV, but Nickelodeon did not support the idea. Invader Zim could have found success on a different network with an older demographic, such as MTV or Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Had Nickelodeon made one rectifying decision rather than wasting the opportunity, the cult classic Invader Zim show may have had a much longer run on television. Instead, the two season-long animation staple was canceled by the children's network on the grounds that Jhonen Vasquez's Invader Zim simply fostered very low ratings. According to The Northerner in 2002, Nickelodeon went on record to confirm that the fate of the TV show was due to poor ratings from the channel's core demographic, kids ages 2 to 11, but rumors through the...

Disney+ is bringing back the beloved animated series Doug from the 90s, showcasing a revival trend. Doug was part of a golden generation for Nickelodeon, along with shows like Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show. The show addressed serious and adult topics in a direct way, setting it apart from other children's programming at the time.

Disney+ continues with its revivals and is preparing to bring back one of the most iconic, most beloved animated series from the 90s, Doug, almost 25 years after it's ending with Doug's 1st Movie in 1999. Originally premiering on Nickelodeon in 1991, Doug became one of the great animated productions of the time, being part of a golden generation for the network. The story focuses on the titular teenager, a shy and unpopular boy, but with a great imagination, who finds himself madly in love with one of his classmates, Patricia "Patti" Mayonnaise. The series focuses...

Ren & Stimpy kicked off the early 90s as a stand-out in a Nickelodeon lineup that included Doug and Rougrats. But shortly after the astronomically successful first series, the franchise began to experience substantial issues. Fair warning: the history of Ren & Stimpy gets really nasty, really quickly.

From a sociopathic creative director to seemingly endless allegations of misconduct and flat-out abuse, it's a wonder Ren & Stimpy made it as far as it did, frankly, and we'll expose the dark secrets behind this hit show's downfall.

Everyone All In?

From a beloved cartoon to video games to posters to lunchboxes to action figures to plush pillows, Ren & Stimpy dominated the market as a lucrative intellectual property to rival the Tickle-Me-Elmo wars and the Beanie Baby Bubble that would arrive later. Everybody was all-in with the short-tempered Chihuahua and the goofy but kind-hearted fat cat.

Yet merely a couple of seasons in,...

Scruffles the Cat, a recurring character on Disenchantment, is voiced by legendary voice actor Billy West, known for his roles in Futurama, Space Jam, and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Billy West also voices other characters on Disenchantment, including Sorcerio, the Jester, Mertz, Pops the Elf, and King Rulo the Elf. West's extensive resume on Matt Groening's TV shows, including Futurama, showcases his talent in voicing multiple characters across different series within the same universe.

Disenchantment’s cat Scruffles is one of the most enjoyable recurring characters on the series, and also boasts a recognizable voice actor. Like Matt Groening’s other hit adult animation TV shows The Simpsons and Futurama, Disenchantment’s voice cast features plenty of actors lending their voices to multiple figures, whether they be main or supporting characters. However, many of the most talented voice actors are able to distinguish the voices of their various...

Before SpongeBob SquarePants and The Fairly OddParents, there was Rugrats.

Alongside fellow “Nicktoons” Doug and The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rugrats premiered Aug. 11, 1991 on Nickelodeon and helped establish an animated storytelling dynasty on the cable network. Created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain, the show was by far the most successful of Nickelodeon’s early offerings and helped set the stage for the Patrick Stars and Timmy Turners to come.

The cartoon followed the daily lives of toddlers Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster, and twins Phil and Lil DeVille as they attempted to make sense of the adult world while also indulging in their imaginations for some larger-than-life adventures. Though the children’s parents also featured as secondary characters, Tommy and friends could only communicate with one another in their own unique baby language.

For an audience of a certain age (a.k.a. the geezer writing this), Rugrats...

On August 11, 1991, The Ren & Stimpy Show premiered on television across America, and even all these years later, today’s audiences seem unsure of how to unpack the shocking cat and dog duo. Originally airing on Nickelodeon, Ren & Stimpy is now characterized by its inappropriate innuendos, grotesque animation, and highly controversial and shameful creator John Kricfalusi that make the mums and dads of today probably steer clear of sharing the '90s throwback. However, it is hard to deny the widespread influence that The Ren & Stimpy Show has had on much of today's popular cartoons and animation.

In the early 1990s, Doug was one of the major new cartoons that helped Nickelodeon reinvent itself. The network had only existed for just over a decade, but its focus had been on live-action kids shows like Double Dare or Hey Dude. The other cartoons that premiered on the same day were Rugrats, which was targeting the younger child audience, and The Ren & Stimpy Show, which was going after teenage viewers. Doug was perfectly tailored for the adolescent audience and still serves as a great window into the inner workings of a preteen mind. The fact that the narration is given by Doug (Billy West) means that the audience is privy to all the thoughts and feelings he’s experiencing while the events unfold on screen. The way the show uses Doug’s imagination mirrors the way that adolescents catastrophize every new challenge they face as they discover their individuality in the world.

With the ever-changing news of comic book writer Todd McFarlane’s iconic character Spawn receiving a live-action reboot extending as far back as 2009, fans of the Malebogia-fighting antihero continue to wait for an official trailer with bated breaths. Despite Michael Jai White’s perfect casting as Al Simmons/Spawn in the 1997 Mark A.Z. Dippé Spawn film, that particular project has gone down in history as one of the worst comic book movies ever made and as one of the worst movies ever made altogether. Nevertheless, Spawn has enjoyed a successful toy line and has been featured in various other forms of media since his 1992 creation, thus maintaining a loyal fan base.

Comic book creator, writer, and artist Todd McFarlane was one of the most prolific artists of the nineties. Along with other industry legends such as Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, Erik Larsen, Whilce Portacio, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Valentino,...

In the episode of "The Ren & Stimpy Show" called "Space Madness", the feckless young space cadet Stimpy (Billy West) is charged with guarding a mysterious button called the History Eraser Button. No one knows what the History Eraser Button does, but Stimpy is immediately intrigued. He paces, looking at the button, sweating nervously. He wants to push the button. An announcer begins to dictate Stimpy's temptation. Will he push the beautiful, shiny button? The button that, even now, beckons him ever closer? Stimpy breaks down, wails that he cannot help himself, and pushes the button. History is erased and all the characters immediately cease to be. The end.

"Star Trek: Picard" has been pacing similarly around its own History Eraser Button for eight episodes. The "Picard" button, however, is a nostalgia button. A History Indulging Button, if you will. Showrunner Terry Matalas has been eyeballing his button for eight episodes,...

Stoners and comedy fans everywhere have reason to rejoice: a Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong biopic is on the way.

Written by Danya Jiminez and Hannah McMechan (who both wrote for Comedy Central’s 2020 reboot of The Ren & Stimpy Show) and directed by Kristian Mercado, the film will follow the comedic duo’s origins through a “never-before-seen” lens, showing their rise from obscurity to stardom. The release date of the film is still unknown, but many feel it’s high time the duo gets their due big-screen recognition.

“We are excited to show the world how two dudes from completely different backgrounds got together, changed comedy, and made cannabis mainstream!” Cheech and Chong said in a joint statement (pun intended).

Both Marin and Chong will have executive producer credits on the project. The beloved cult-icons partnered with Todd Lieberman’s Hidden Pictures after the production company acquired the rights to the yet-to-be-named flick.

It's hard to understate just how revolutionary John Kricfalusi's "The Ren & Stimpy Show" was to the world of animation. Having worked on stultifying commercial products throughout the 1980s, John K., as he is better known, longed for the old, wilder, more creative days of Termite Terrace (the nickname for Warner Bros. Pictures' animation department from the 1930s through the 1950s). He particularly admired Bob Clampett and aimed to make stranger, more grotesque cartoons. The '80s were a time of product-based cartoon shows like "Transformers," "My Little Pony," and "Alvin and the Chipmunks." Such shows were seemingly only green-lit if they had pre-existing "marquee value" or a product to sell.

The airing of "The Ren & Stimpy Show" kicked the door open for a new generation of creator-based cartoon shows. Original ideas began flooding the marketplace in earnest in the early '90s and cynical, product-forward cartoons series fell by the wayside.

Animator Genndy Tartakovsky began his professional career as an assistant animator on the seminal '90s cartoon "Tiny Toon Adventures," right when the medium was evolving into a new animal. Thanks to the late-'80s and early '90s success of creator-based cartoons like "Beavis and Butt-Head" and "The Ren & Stimpy Show" animators like Tartakovsky suddenly found themselves in a marketplace that was aching for edgier, unique cartoons that were not based on existing IP. In 1996, Tartakovsky created the hit Cartoon Network show "Dexter's Laboratory," and he has been a household name ever since. Tartakovsky went on to create the stoic action series "Samurai Jack,"...

The post Studios Wrongly Thought Genndy Tartakovsky's Fixed Would Need to Be X-Rated appeared first on /Film.

(Welcome to My Most Ridiculous Note, a series of interviews in which animators talk about the weirdest and funniest notes they received from studio executives.)

Back in the '90s, Nickelodeon revolutionized the TV animation industry with creator-driven shows like "Ren & Stimpy" that took an unconventional approach to story, tone, themes, and visuals. One show at the forefront of that change, with its experimental animation and storytelling that changed what we thought about children's cartoons, was "Rugrats."

Joe Ansolabehere was one of the writers who helped make "Rugrats" into that '90s cultural juggernaut. A writer on that show just as...

The post Recess Co-Creator Joe Ansolabehere Recalls Studio Notes About Recess, Hey Arnold, and Rugrats [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

Gilbert Gottfried, the comedian, “Aladdin” star and owner of the most recognizable voice in Hollywood, has died after battling a long illness, his family announced Tuesday. He was 67.

His publicist told the Washington Post that he died of myotonic dystrophy type 2, a form of muscular dystrophy.

“We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Gilbert Gottfried after a long illness. In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children. Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert’s honor,” his family wrote on Twitter.

Many people in Hollywood, including comedians Jason Alexander, Dane Cook and more, paid tribute to Gottfried after the shocking news of his death. “Gilbert Gottfried was never not funny,” wrote Cook. “He was a lovely guy, always friendly and made many people happy.

Gilbert Gottfried, the beloved comedian known for his outsize onstage talents as a stand-up comic and as an iconic voice actor on television and film, has died. The actor was 67 and died after battling a long illness.

The news was first shared via Twitter by fellow comedian Jason Alexander, who wrote, “Gilbert Gottfried made me laugh at times when laughter did not come easily. What a gift. I did not know him well but I loved what he shared with me. My best wishes and sympathy to his family.”

Gottfried’s family shared a message on social media as well confirming his death. “We are heartbroken to announce the passing of our beloved Gilbert Gottfried after a long illness,” the message from the Gottfried family said. “In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children.

When there's no more room in Hell, the IP will walk the earth. 

It's all about look-backs and revivals these days. The slasher subgenre is enjoying resurgences of its "Scream," "Texas Chainsaw," "Candyman," and "Halloween" franchises, while streaming services are banking on nostalgia with the '80s-stylized "Stranger Things" and a revival of the iconic "Unsolved Mysteries" docuseries. 

Now, Comedy Central has followed suit with orders for several adult animated series amid a production-slowing pandemic, mostly throwbacks to another era: a "Ren & Stimpy" reboot is still on the table without the original series creator John Kricfalusi; Beavis and Butt-Head are set to return with a space...

The post Fairview Trailer: Welcome to Fairview, A Place of Freedom And Punching Stuff appeared first on /Film.

Linda Kahn, a children’s TV executive for more than 40 years who also was a former board president of New York Women in Film & Television, has died. She was 72. Nywift said she died August 30 but did not provide details.

“Nywift mourns the loss of longtime member & past Board President Linda Kahn, whose decades-long career shaped the trajectory of so many beloved brands & characters in children’s media,” the organization said in a tweet:

Nywift mourns the loss of longtime member & past Board President Linda Kahn, whose decades-long career shaped the trajectory of so many beloved brands & characters in children’s media.

Read about her incredible legacy in our latest letter from @docuqueen: https://t.co/MIU9D7Ub1z

— NY Women in Film & TV (@Nywift) September 1, 2021

Kahn spent a dozen years from the early ’80s to the mid-’90s in senior posts at Nickelodeon and MTV Networks, where she...

SpongeBob and pals are duking it out Super Smash Bros. style in the new video game, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. Essentially the Nickelodeon version of the hit Nintendo fighting game series, All-Star Brawl, it includes characters from SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and many other Nickelodeon shows. In other words, if you ever wanted to see Reptar from Rugrats and Powdered Toast Man from Ren & Stimpy in the ultimate battle, the day you've been waiting for has finally arrived.

Clearly inspired by Super Smash Bros., Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is scheduled to hit consoles this fall. It's in development from Ludosity and Fair Play Labs with GameMill Entertainment publishing the game. It will include both single player and multiplayer modes with local and online support for up to four players. Players can unlock new moves for every fighter and earn bonus content for an in-game gallery. IGN has released an exclusive...

Who doesn’t want to see classic animated characters pummel each other in no-holds-barred contact? Apparently not Nickelodeon, who announced the fighting game, “Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl” led by none other than Nigel Thornberry from “The Wild Thornberrys.”

Fulfilling the dream of many a nostalgic millennial, the game features all the regular suspects from shows like “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “Rugrats,” “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and “Ren & Stimpy,” with more to come.

The reveal trailer for the video game, featured at the top of this story, drew comparisons to the popular Super Smash Bros. series, and developers are likely hoping that the sales will have similarities to the long-running franchise as well.

A partial list of characters from the game included:

Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)Nigel Thornberry (The Wild Thornberrys)Powdered Toast Man (Ren & Stimpy) SpongeBob SquarePants (SpongeBob SquarePants)Sandy Cheeks (SpongeBob SquarePants)Patrick Star (SpongeBob SquarePants)Oblina (Aaahh!