"The Boy Who Cried Rat!" is an episode of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired as the second part of Episode 3 of Season 1.
Characters[]
- Ren
- Stimpy
- George Liquor (Cameo, Prototype Design)
- Mrs. Pipe (Debut)
- Mr. Pipe (Debut)
- Beaver
Yak Shaving Day segment[]
- Shaven Yak (Debut)
- Ren
- Stimpy
Summary[]
To avoid starvation, Ren and Stimpy hatch a scam to gain some money.
Plot[]
When Ren and Stimpy are caught stealing out of garbage cans, they are chased out on the streets, and begin to starve. The pair then hatch a plan to get money and food: disguise Ren as a mouse and put him in a family's home, and turn Stimpy into a neighborhood mouse catcher.
At first, the scam goes very well; the husband pays Stimpy five dollars in advance for him to catch Ren disguised as a mouse, so the duo play Tom and Jerry and Ren always hits Stimpy before he can get to him, or pretends to be tortured when no-one's watching but when they're listening. Eventually, he lets Stimpy have the upper hand and allows him to catch him. It's all going well and Ren and Stimpy are about to make a break for it, when the couple decide that Stimpy should eat Ren. Reluctantly, Stimpy shoves Ren in his mouth and chews him until he goes mad. Eventually, Ren tickles Stimpy's tongue, making him spit him out, forcing Ren to give away the game that he is in fact a Chihuahua. But it turns out that they can't get a refund as Stimpy tearfully admits that he ate the five dollars. Enraged, Ren picks up Stimpy off the floor and slaps him across the face three times.
In the end, Mrs Pipe orders the duo to do a lot of chores, we see both Ren and Stimpy washing dishes (with plenty more chores to come) to work off their debt.
Yak Shaving Day[]
Ren informs the viewers that it is five days until Yak Shaving Day, where one must leave shaving cream and a razor on their bathroom sink, so that at night, the Shaven Yak can come and give them presents: leftover shavings.
Trivia[]
- On the title card, Ren's shorts are blue, but throughout the cartoon, they are red.
- The episode's title also incorrectly refers to Ren's disguise as a rat, even though he was meant to be a mouse.
- On the title card, Ren's fake ears and shorts resemble Mickey Mouse's.
- The video game Ren and Stimpy: Veediots had a level based on this episode.
- Mrs. Pipe is shown with a different outfit in this episode, an orange dress instead of her usual blue dress.
- This is one of the few episodes where Ren and Stimpy both lose; ending with the two of them both washing a lot of dishes.
- This is the first episode to refer to Ren as a Chihuahua, although it's implied that Ren was a dog in "Stimpy's Big Day".
- Ren's mouse disguise could well be a reference to Mickey Mouse.
- The cartoon short itself is possibly a parody on Hanna-Barbera's Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks, as well as the Tom & Jerry cartoons, with a lot of slapstick.
- The "Stimpy Vore" scene is a subversion of "GiantLand" and "The Brave Little Tailor"; whereas Mickey made through a Giant's mouth unscathed, Ren is not so lucky with Stimpy.
- This episode possibly takes place before "Ren's Toothache", as in this episode Stimpy's teeth are in very bad shape, while Ren's Toothache shows that Stimpy takes very good care of his teeth, meaning that he might have improved his hygiene over time.
- The running scenes of the episode are a reference to Yogi Bear.
Errors[]
- In one scene, Ren does not have his shorts on.
- In one scene, Stimpy does not have gloves.
Production Music[]
- Da Jodel-Rudel – Werner Bruggemann
- L’Esprit De Paris – John Leach
- Declamatory Percussive – Alan Braden
- Gentle Nostalgic – Alan Braden
- Blood in the Gutter – Laurie Johnson
- Drama Link (n) – Hubert Clifford
- Crepe Suzette – Cyril Watters
- Workaday World – Jack Beaver
- Folli the Foal – Andrew Fenner
- The Poet and the Peasant Overture – Franz von Suppe
- Graveyard – Johnny Pearson
- Terror By Night – Hubert Clifford
- Dramatic Impact 1 – Ivor Slaney
- Drama Link (o) – Hubert Clifford (“I’ve been bad, Ren, you’ll smack me!”)
- Dramatic Impact 2 – Ivor Slaney
- Comic Ending (f) – Dick Walter
- I Must Leave Town – Alfred Kluten
Yak Shaving Day segment[]
- Valse Moderne – George Fenton, John Leach
- Happy Outing – Marc Lanjean
- The Nutcracker: Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky