The POSITIVE John Kricfalusi Thread

J

Justin-tiffany

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Any negative comments will be considered flaming UNLESS you praise the almighty one in the same post. [YES, the almighty one thing was a joke.]

I disagree with many of John K's views on animation, but I also agree with a lot of what he says. But I'm more of a fan of his cartoon work than his blog.

first two seasons of Ren and Stimpy: AWESOME.

APC: AWESOME.

4 comic books: AWESOME.

Webtoons (which THE ALMIGHTY ONE HIMSELF invented): AWESOME.

The Ripping Friends: Eh, the art is bland. John claims it's because the animation company didn't follow his instructions on cleaning up his "off-model" layouts. I believe him, but only because everything else he's made is AWESOME.

There are, however, some craaaaaaazy John K. fanboys out there. I'm not one of them. I'm a crazy Little Shop of Horrors fanboy. XD
 
Dude, you can't say something like this and not expect the negative comments to roll in. APC was mind-bendingly awful, one of the absolute worst pieces of garbage I've ever sat through. How any Ren and Stimpy fan can site through this trash and say it's awesome is beyond me.

I don't like anything John K has done except for the first two seasons of Ren and Stimpy. And even then, a good portion of the second season wasn't even completed by John in the first place.
 
I found his work on Ren & Stimpy before his conflict with Nickelodeon that lead to his firing to be the best of the series.

I think it'd be epicily awesome if him and Jhonen Vazquez teamed up and made an animated film or something. It'd probably be incredibly bizarre, but that can lead to quality sometimes.
 
I actually liked John K.'s work on Ralph Bakshi's Mighty Mouse series back in 1987 on CBS before he left.

Other than the first season and a half of his work on Ren and Stimpy and his cool and bizarre drawings, I just don't like him.
 
Ive always been a fan of John K, he's one good cartoonist and even though i'm not as good as him I'm friends with John. Ive seen bits of pieces of Mighty mouse that John worked with Ralph Bakshi, but I have yet to pick up the DVD of the show to see for myself. Other than that Ive been a fan of Ren and stimpy, although I don't tend to look at the episodes not produced by Spumco after John K got fired by Nick{dont get me started on this please :sweat:}. I have enjoyed APC.

And what really makes me angry is that nobody seems to be liking his ideas, he's a great cartoonist who wants to make stuff "cartoony". But they slam the door in his face, Now I know that John and Bakshi had planned to do a movie. But I could see John doing an animated film with Danny Antonucci.
 
I know a lot about what working for and with John K is like. It's not pleasant. He doesn't work well with others. He goes over budget. He never hands in work on time. The same things that happened at Nick repeated themselves at Spike TV. He's got massive talent but is impossible to work with.

There's a reason why doors are slammed in his face, as you put it.

Lets see, something positive..."Stimpy's Invention" is one of the greatest cartoons ever made. Period.
 
John K. is, by far, the greatest animation artist around today. His Ren and Stimpy show saved animation in the early 90s. To see what John came from in the 80s, view these blog postings:http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/search/label/80s cartoons . His cartoons paid homage to his animation heroes, particularly Bob Clampett, Hanna-Barbera, Ralph Bakshi, the Fleischer's and many others, while adding his own unique, brilliant style and sense of humor to the mix.
 
Dude, if you're entitled to liking a cetain show that rhymes with "buy", then Taco Wiz is equally entitled to liking APC. As for me, I'll admit that "Onward & Upward" and "Fire Dogs 2" were pretty bad (although "Fire Dogs" is at least somewhat interesting when you consider that John K. claims it's based on his experiences working with Ralph Bakshi on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures), and "Ren Seeks Help" is definitly not for everyone (not even for every R&S fan), but the APC episodes that never aired on American TV ("Naked Beach Frenzy", "Altruists" and "Stimpy's Pregnant") at least had potential. But then again, since I met John K. and his parents shortly after APC wrapped, and have been to the blogs of people who worked on APC (like the delightful Katie Rice), I actually kinda feel partial to APC in a somewhat weird way.



You didn't like Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, the Bjork "I Miss You" music, the Rolling Stones "Harlem Shuffle" music video, the Weekend Pussy Hunt webseries, or the Comcast ad?

I'll admit that the Ripping Friends wasn't so hot (and John K. actually feels the same way, saying that Spumco had some problems with the Canadian animation subcontractors and the FOX Kids censors), and the George Liquor "Babysitting the Idiot" webseries went nowhere (although that's mostly due to them losing their sponsor), but I wouldn't say the classic Ren & Stimpy isn't the only good kind John K. did.

But regardless, I'm looking forward to the Art of Spumco book that Amid Amidi and Picturebox are working on (hope it comes out soon... I first heard about it in 2008).

And regarding John K. missing deadlines:
Way back when, someone (I think at the Ren & Stimpy usergroup or newsgroup) pointing out that while the first two seasons of R&S (the ones produced by Spumco) had their primeres on time in August, but the third season (the first one to be fully produced by Games) had some delays and didn't primere until November. So, yeah...
 
I love the first two seasons of R&S and APC almost equally.

I have not seen the ripping friends, or Mighty Mouse....but I will. I've seen clips of Ripping Friends and it looked interesting and John K. told me Might Mouse was the precursor to R&S so I'm defiantly interested.

What does everyone else think of Ripping Friends and Mighty Mouse? I know what a few people think..but I would like to hear more.

~Brady
 
As a historian of animation he's unbelievable. His knowledge and love of classic animation is incredible. His blog is mindblowingly informative.

I love his passion for Bob Clampett and especially classic Hannah Barbera. I love what he did with all of those recent Yogi projects. I love that sincerity behind the scenes. I love his sense of classic American animation heritage and his need to get all of that history across, passing the baton to the next generation. I love how devoted he is to his craft. I love his flash pioneering too. I love his obsession with 50s postwar, leadership values as demonstrated by his character George Liquor.

As an originating cartoon creator, however, I think he's very form obsessed/distracted. I think that the writing on his projects leaves much to be desired and tends to linger on the childishly crude. The cartoons look great, but so what?

He doesn't seem to have much visual range, either. Has he ever done any projects in a style outside of what we saw on Ren and Stimpy et al?

These are just my opinions.
 
At the time I thought is was very stilted and flat looking, slow and boringly self conscious in both look and writing. The gaudy late 80s colours in the design seemed to clash very badly with the character designs and art direction too. Guess I was spoiled on the very fluid looking Terrytoons from the 40s.
 
From the get go this thread feels extremely flamebaity. Just saying.



It was the "first animated cartoon produced exclusively for the internet" according to official sources. Given that The George Liquor Program was released just a year after Macromedia Flash was I can see how anyone could make the claim that it was the first ever Flash animated cartoon, but I highly doubt it. The only reason why he'd be given credit is because he's more high profile then any other Flash users who were starting out.

As for positives on the guy, I liked the Spumco animated Ren & Stimpy episodes, The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and that Weird Al music video. And the video game Go Go Hypergrind is pretty fun if it counts. He's a talented artist, but my problem with him is how he seems to think gross out gags are better than wit.
 
John K's style is pretty wacky, but darned if he can't make the characters really come to life. Ren and Stimpy was crazy off the wall wackiness most of the time, but the series occasionally had its poignant moments, and when it did, the animation was able to reflect every little nuance of it in a way that you usually only see in big budget animated films.
 
Positive things. The first two seasons of R&S are awesome. "Space Madness" is among the best cartoons ever.

See, this is what I don't get. Even the most hardcore R&S fans admit that 33% of APC (2 episodes out of 6) is pure crap, with the rest ranging from mediocre to good. How can you call a show like that "good" is seriously beyond me.

Posts like these don't help though. Just sayin'.
 
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