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The cartoon
 
Ho-boy. This is a fan favorite and one incredibly ambitious cartoon. It sets its goals high, and for the most part it meets them. This is a very different Ren & Stimpy cartoon from the rest of the bunch, and has no real counterpart either in the Spumco- or Games-produced episodes. Here, John K. attempts to create a cartoon that is more emotional than funny. This might seem like a strange aim for someone who has been known to claim that the most important feature in cartoons is the "funny drawings". Still, we must applaud him for trying something different.
It's hard to tell if this would have been any different had Spumco been able to complete it. According to Michelle Klein-Häss's episode log, Son of Stimpy was nearly complete at the time of the Nickelodeon takeover, and all that Games did was the editing, music and sound effects (à la Sven Höek). That said, the music plays a vital part in the atmosphere of the whole cartoon, so I can't help wondering if John K. had something else in mind for the feel of the whole thing. (The music, in my humble opinion, works very well, and is certainly better than the mess Games made of Sven Höek.)
The cartoon is slow and takes time to build. Generally, the first half of the cartoon works better than the second (this is a double-length episode, filling the full 25 minutes). The interplay between Ren and Stimpy is sadly lacking after the break, which is unavoidable considering that Stimpy runs away at the end of part one and doesn't return till the last few minutes of part two. But hey, we get to feel Stimpy's pain over the loss of his first burst of flatulence, which is pretty impressive.
The artwork in Stimpy's First Fart is not its usual expressive self (in my opinion, Peter Avanzino was the weakest of all the storyboard artists who worked on the original Spumco run), but there are some nice poses of Ren, especially when he is trying to get Stimpy interested in his new toy mouse, or the mistletoe. The backgrounds are also very nice - clearly someone invested a great deal of effort into them. Especially in the first half of the cartoon, there is very little movement, with most of the animation relegated to abrupt changes in posing and facial expressions, but this only makes the backgrounds stand out all the more. The standout moment has got to be the close-up of the stain Stimpy's fart leaves on the carpet at the start of the cartoon.
Standout moment: Ren attempting to woo Stimpy under the mistletoe. And people were surprised to discover Ren and Stimpy were gay?
Historical note: This cartoon initially aired in January 1993 on MTV, and didn't appear on Nickelodeon for nearly 12 months. When it finally popped up on Nickelodeon, they edited out the scene where Stimpy talks to the police sketch artist (most likely due to the running time). The VHS released in the US (as Have Yourself a Stinky Little Christmas) was also cut, although all the UK releases I have seen (including the airings on MTV and Nickelodeon, as well as the Stinky Christmas VHS) have been uncut.
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Son of Stimpy
Also known as:
- Stimpy's First Fart
- Stimpy's First Trouser Cough
- Have Yourself a Stinky Little Christmas
- Story by John K., Vincent Waller & Rich Pursel
- Storyboard by Peter Avanzino
- Background Color Design by Bill Wray
- Animation Director Bob Jaques
- Directed by John K.
Writings
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