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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
remains to be to provide you, the entertainment community with
the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
link to the most popular dvd movies. |
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“Ren &
Stimpy: Season Three and a Half-ish“
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Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Cartoon/comedy
|
| Video: |
1.33:1 Full
screen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
|
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Length |
NA |
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
6/28/05 |
| Studio |
Paramount
Home Video |
| Commentary:
|
by Eric Bauza,
Eddie Fitzgerald, Jim Smith, Richard Pursel and John Kricfalusi
on every episode |
| Documentaries:
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None |
| Featurettes:
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None |
| Filmography/Biography:
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None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
None |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Billy West,
Harris Peet, Michael Pataki, Bob Camp |
| Written
By: |
Jim Gomez,
Bill Wray, Vince Calandra |
| Produced
By: |
Frank Saperstein
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| Directed
By: |
Bob Camp,
Ken Bruce, Michael Kim |
| Music:
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John Beaver,
Wilfred Burns |
| The
Review: |
Banished from his own creation,
John K. (as he’s known by his fans) had little to nothing
to do with the third and fourth seasons. I say little to nothing
because Games Animations took over from Spumco at the behest
of the studio but Games Animations used many of the stories/drawings
and pitches that John K. and his crew had rejected when they
first pitched them for seasons 1 and 2. Does that make these
episodes bad? Surprisingly, they’re pretty good although not
quite up to the quality of the original episodes directed
by John K. and his cohorts. Directo Bob Camp (who worked with
John Kricfalusi during the first two seasons) does a credible
job of keeping the best episodes close to the spirit of the
original first two seasons. ***
Fans will probably also note that
evidently these are the edited versions that played on Nick.
If that’s the case (and it appears to be although I don’t
recall very clearly all of these episodes), at least Paramount
isn’t advertising this as uncut (particularly after the fiasco
of the first season which I had assumed lived up to its advertising).
Most of the edits on the first season set are on five episodes
and don't spoil the show. Where possible John K. restored
footage that was cut (although he wasn't aware of all the
cuts that were done to the episodes). "Ren & Stimpy" Continue
to resonate influencing everything from “Spongebobsquarepants”
to “The Oblongs”. The big question is do you want to pick
it up? Well there's enough of John K. still in many of these
episodes to make them orthwhile although not up to the standards
established during the first two seasons of the series. ---
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| Image
and Sound: |
Ren and
Stimpy have grown a bit soft with age…not them personally but
the image quality of the episodes. The colors are as vivid as
they were the first time they were aired but some of that vividness
is undercut by some noticeable analog artifacts in the form
of dirt and dust. Colors are a bit inconsistent within a single
episode and I’m not sure if that’s because the original episodes
were rushed into production so quickly or if its due to the
transfers (or the prints themselves) but it’s a bit annoying.
The Dolby stereo soundtrack has nice presence but isn’t particularly
distinguished. |
| The
Extras: |
None
|
| Commentary:
|
With commentary
tracks on every episode by John K. along with others from Spumco,
it’s ironic that Kricfalusi does the commentary as it allows
him the best sort of revenge—having a career that outlasts your
contemporaries and being able to COMMENT on how badly they screwed
up your creation. To be fair, John does note when Camp and others
do a good job with the material. It’s ironic that many of the
scripts that were pitched and rejected were used by Games Animation
for the third season. Curiously, John Kricfalusi doesn’t get
any credit on the episodes he co-wrote and pitched (although
he always gts a credit for creating Ren & Stimpy at the end
of the cartoons). |
| Final
Words: |
It’s a pity
that this series hasn’t come to DVD uncut but be thankful that
many of these classics have actually ended up on DVD. Kricfalusi’s
commentary tracks (done with many of his Spumco collaborators)
make Mincemeat of the worst episodes here and he’s also quick
to point out where Games did a decent job of realizing his original
ideas. Interestingly, Paramount does realize that Kricfalusi’s
name will sell Ren & Stimpy and Games Animation folks like Bob
Camp and Mike Kim (“The Oblongs”, “Dilbert” and one of the better
directors at Games) will not. The animation world is a small
community and even in those situations where the directors were
working on ricfalusi’s work they did try and do a decent job
although it doesn’t measure up to Kricfalusi’s original work.
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