Vintage ’90s

28 Jan, 2009

When The Term “NickToons” Meant Something

Posted by: The 90s Guy In: Television

On Sunday morning, August 11th, 1991, at 10:00 am EST (9:00am CST), Nickelodeon aired its first NickToon: Doug.

And the world would never be the same.

That NickToon block continued with Rugrats, and then The Ren and Stimpy Show. A brand-new concept was born, and the world fell in love with NickToons. Yes, the early-to-mid ’90s were, once again, a wonderful time to be a kid. Today, we look at some of the best NickToons - before there was a “NickToons Network”. Pfff.

Doug

Hi, Doug.

We all know Douglas Yancey Funnie. Until December 16, 1994, the first NickToon and resident of Bluffington charmed us with his ordinary-guy appeal, and his awesomely named friends, like Skeeter. If I met a guy named Skeeter, you can bet I’d be friends with him. If nothing else, he’d be a great icebreaker at cocktail parties. That is, if I went to cocktail parties. But I digress…

We’ve already looked at Doug’s famous alias, Quailman, in a previous post. But I can’t speak highly enough of Doug as a NickToon. He set the bar. The others had to reach it (and not to ruin the ending, but they did).

Rugrats

Watch out. He’s a great shot with that milk.

By and large, Rugrats was the most popular of all NickToons. Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil were toddlers that ran around and talked to each other when adults weren’t around. Kind of like Toy Story, but with a bunch of babies. It hung on from the start of NickToons until 2004, airing fourteen consecutive seasons! It also aired on Snick, and Nick Jr. (boop-boo-booooo!).

After a while, of course, they added other characters to the mix, including the always-a-crutch new baby brother, Dil. And when Nickelodeon started cranking out movies (starting with the future post Harriet The Spy), Rugrats joined the fray, with Rugrats: The Movie, Rugrats in Paris, and Rugrats Go Wild. Boy.

They then spun off into All Grown Up!, a series featuring all the kids nine years older. It was actually pretty popular, which surprises me, considering all the cuteness would have been gone. After all, that’s why God gave us Raven-Symone - to inject into shows when the kids got too old. Right?

The Ren & Stimpy Show

Cute little guys.

The dog and cat misadventures have been around for a while now, but Ren & Stimpy originated it. The psychotic Ren (dog) and obese, brain-damaged Stimpy (cat) battled Nickelodeon censors for years, with its psychotic violence in particular. One episode, famously banned by Nickelodeon, featured Ren getting fired and beating a guy to near death with an oar. Check it out on YouTube. It’s quite disturbing.

It lasted through the ’90s amid corporate shake-ups and it petered out in 1996. In 2003, Spike TV aired Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon, which featured a more explicitly homosexual relationship between the title characters, and an episode filled with female nudity.

Because when I turn on cartoons, I want to see female nudity…

Anyway, when I think of Ren & Stimpy, I think of this innocent humor:

Log - Ren and Stimpy parody commercial

Rocko’s Modern Life

The whole gang.

In 1993, Rocko’s Modern Life debuted, making it the last of what I feel were the best original NickToons. Rocko the Australian wallaby lived in O-Town with his buddy Heffer and his dog Spunky. O-Town is full of great plot locations, including:

Chokey Chicken, their favorite hang-out.
Conglom-O Corporation, whose slogan is “We own you.” Hey, they’re honest.
Heck, where bad people go when they die. The televisions in Heck supposedly do not have remotes.
Holl-O-Wood, just what you think it is.
Kind of a Lot O’ Comics, where Rocko works.

Some people ripped Rocko for being a ripoff of Ren & Stimpy, but I always felt it was a great show that stood up on its own. Of course, I was 8 years old, then. What did I know?

Technorati Tags: Nicktoons, Nickelodeon, Doug, 1991, Rugrats, All Grown Up, Ren and Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life