Ren and Stimpy creator tries an online end-run to get back in the game

Apr. 2, 2006. 01:00 AM

CHRISTOPHER HUTSUL

TORONTO STAR

Adults want sex. Kids want boogers and farts.

This, according to John Kricfalusi, the creator of Ren and Stimpy, is the key to making a billion dollars in the cartoon business. Unfortunately for Kricfalusi — and audiences — the networks disagree.

Since reinvigorating the animation industry in the early '90s with Ren and Stimpy, featuring the adventures of an angry little Chihuahua and his brain-dead feline sidekick, Kricfalusi has struggled to lure in the backers to get new projects off the ground. On several occasions, he says, network executives have been laughing so hard during his pitches they were "falling out of their chairs." But ultimately, they give him the big thanks, but no thanks.

"It's baffling," says Kricfalusi. "You don't know how hard it is to convince the networks to let you do what the audience wants. If you're going for kids, make every day Christmas. If you're going for the adults, give them pretty girls. Why aren't there pretty girls in cartoons? It's beyond me. Yeah, they're hard to draw. But if there are people in the business who can draw pretty girls, hire them..."