The Ripping Friends

The Ripping Friends

Company type	Television series
Industry	Animation, Entertainment
Founded	September 22, 2001 (2001-09-22)
Founder	John Kricfalusi
Defunct	January 26, 2002 (2002-01-26)
Fate	Discontinued after one season
Area served	United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia
Products	Animated television series, merchandise, video game
Parent	Spümcø

The Ripping Friends: The World's Most Manly Men!—commonly shortened to The Ripping Friends—is an animated television series created by John Kricfalusi, the mind behind The Ren & Stimpy Show. It aired for a single season on Fox Kids from September 22, 2001, to January 26, 2002, and was later syndicated on Adult Swim between 2002 and 2004. The series also broadcast in Canada via Teletoon, had a brief run on the UK's CNX channel, and was shown on Australia's ABC Television.

History

Following their collaboration on the superhero character Powdered Toast Man for The Ren & Stimpy Show, Kricfalusi and fellow animator Jim Smith conceived The Ripping Friends. After Kricfalusi's departure from Nickelodeon in 1992, he envisioned a feature film highlighting "the manliest men," a concept that eventually evolved into this television series. The antagonist Indigestible Wad traces its origins back to a 1987 brainstorming session for Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures.

Originally planned to premiere in September 2000 alongside another Spümcø project titled The Heartaches on Fox Family, only The Ripping Friends made it to air after delays, debuting in September 2001. Each episode's production cost was roughly US$400,000. Due to the high expenses, the show was discontinued following its thirteen-episode order.

Kricfalusi voiced concerns regarding animation supervisors who deviated from Spümcø’s distinctive style, particularly straying from Jim Smith’s original designs. He became fully engaged midway through production and described his episodes as experimental endeavors. His involvement extended to rigorous direction of voice actors, which resulted in replacing Crag’s initial voice actor, Harvey Atkin, with Mark Dailey. Kricfalusi personally recorded his character voices independently at home.

Plot

The narrative revolves around four extraordinarily masculine and superhuman brothers—Crag, Rip, Slab, and Chunk Nuggett—who combat crime from their headquarters known as RIPCOT (Really Impressive Prototype City Of (Next) Tuesday), with Crag serving as their leader. Their team includes Jimmy the Idiot Boy, a simple-minded helper, and their foster mother He-Mom. Their adversaries include villains such as the Indigestible Wad—a gum wad that absorbs moisture—the Euroslavian tyrant Citracett, Flathead (an invertebrate yearning for a spine), and even their own underwear.

Each episode contains a brief segment titled "Rip Along with the Ripping Friends," featuring leftover material. These segments address fan grievances like mismatched hot dog and bun packaging and satirize ridiculous video game controllers and instructions. Viewers are invited to "rip along" by tearing paper during these moments.

Characters

• Crag (initially voiced by Harvey Atkin, later replaced by Mark Dailey) – The scientific leader of the Ripping Friends.
• Slab (voiced by Merwin Mondesir) – An African-American member who serves as Crag’s trusted second-in-command.
• Chunk Nuggett (voiced by Michael Kerr) – The youthful "kid brother" of the group.
• Rip (voiced by Mike MacDonald) – The hot-tempered member inspired by Kirk Douglas.
• Jimmy the Idiot Boy (voiced by John Kricfalusi) – Their devoted but simple-minded assistant created from their combined DNA.
• He-Mom – Their formidable foster mother whose rigorous training and all-meat diet provide them with exceptional strength and pain endurance.
• Citracett (voiced by John Kricfalusi) – A Euroslavian dictator and recurring villain; a lemon-themed mad scientist who later adopts the name Stinkybutt the Foul after acquiring flatulence-based abilities.
• Dr. Jean Poole – A scientist who becomes the collective girlfriend of the Ripping Friends after He-Mom introduces them to the concept of "girls."

Censorship

• In a segment exploring the reason hot dogs are sold in dozens while buns come in packs of eight, Rip assaults a male hot dog and a female bun before instructing them to "embrace." As the hot dog slides into the bun, the screen fades to black. This particular scene was reinstated for the Adult Swim broadcast.
• The installments titled "The Infernal Wedding" and "Jimmy's Kidnapped" were never broadcast on Fox Kids; "The Infernal Wedding" was omitted due to sensitive content in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Both episodes were eventually shown during reruns on Adult Swim.

Merchandise

Playmates Toys obtained licensing from Hearst Entertainment and Spümcø to manufacture toys inspired by the series; nevertheless, these products were never released commercially. A video game for the Game Boy Advance, developed by Creations and published by THQ, was launched with guidance from John Kricfalusi.

Telecast and home media

In the United States, the show debuted on Fox Kids on September 22, 2001, and aired until January 26, 2002. Adult Swim later secured broadcasting rights, airing the series from October 6, 2002, through March 28, 2004. Additionally, the program was sporadically broadcast on Teletoon in Canada, briefly appeared on CNX in the United Kingdom, and was shown on ABC in Australia.

Initially, two VHS tapes were released, each containing two episodes; these were subsequently combined into a single DVD featuring four episodes. In Australia, Madman Entertainment distributed the complete series on Region 4 DVD.