The Ren & Stimpy Show - Season Five and Some More of Four
The animated misadventures of Ren and Stimpy on Nickelodeon came to a close with its fifth season, the entire controversial collection of which is bundled together with the second half of season 4. Some fans of the series seem less than enthralled by the shows that are compiled here (as series creator John Kricfalusi and his Spumco team had been replaced by Games Animation), but there's still plenty of inspired insanity to be found; season 4 offers "My Shiny Friend" (Ren takes some extreme measures to cure Stimpy's TV addiction) and "Cheese Rush Days" (the boys head to the Blue Cheese Mountains to mine), while season 5 features "Stupid Sidekick Union" (Stimpy learns that his union is striking); "Reverend Jack Cheese" (the late Frank Gorshin lends his voice to a minister with a thing for meats and cheeses); "Wilderness Adventure," which includes the much-maligned George Liquor; and "Space Dogged" (a Russian cat/dog team--Ren and Stimpy lookalikes, natch-–are being sent into space).As with previousR&S;DVD sets, the supplemental features are somewhat spare--Kricfalusi and members of Spumco and Games contribute commentaries, and there's a featurette on the show--and the episodes are indeed the edited versions, but the comments by the show's creative team are both entertaining and informative. And no matter what your opinion of these final episodes (before the show's revival as an Adult Party Cartoon on Spike TV), there's still plenty of stinky laughs to be had.--Paul Gaita