Happy 34th Anniversary to the THREE ORIGINAL NICKTOONS

Due to the recent issues revolving around the SKYDANCE merger, I wasn't planning on making this quick post

And besides, I have my older Nicktoons Salute from last year, and I plan to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of the Trio NEXT YEAR anyway.

But then I saw on Jerry Beck's CARTOON RESEARCH on how he celebrated the 34th Anniversary so I guess I can at least show my support.

The three original Nicktoons that made their monumental debut on that fateful 

Sunday August 11 1991,

DOUG, RUGRATS, & THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW,

When they all debut on that exact airdate, the television landscape forever changed.

That was because before that, Television Animation was at it's infamous stage called:

ASSEMBLY-LINE DRIVEN.

That was an era during the 70s and 80s where cartoons that were being churned left and right often had to come only from the likes of HANNA-BARBERA, FILMATION, DIC, etc.

And you had strict rules to follow which was to keep everything ON-MODEL, and character poses had to strictly adhere to what's in the pose sheets.

I know some of you EARLY MILLENIALS like those 80s cartoons since it's what you grew up with thanks to their nostalgic value....

But....

Them 80s cartoons were loathed by the people who worked on them due to what they felt was their career getting constrained by arbitrary rules as well as being betrayed by both their childhood and their Art School Education.

JOHN K, Lynne Naylor, and the late JIM SMITH included.

So When THE SIMPSONS debut as their own show in 1989 instead of Ullman Shorts they started out as, 

This gave a nudge to Nickelodeon that maybe CREATOR-DRIVEN is what these early MILLENIAL CHILDREN need!

But instead of following the Spike & Mike approach, the SLIME FACTORY decided to make these more family friendly but give the creators their freedom on how to make these cartoons.

One such example of creative freedom was that these shows would be made from within the ANIMATION HOUSES of their creators instead of within NICK's own House.

This allowed Each Nicktoon to have a distinctive animation and art style compared to all the others from the old ASSEMBLY-LINE where each cartoon was expected to look and move the same way as their studio demands.

Not the NICKTOONS. 

DOUG, RUGRATS, AND REN & STIMPY had their own rules on how the presentation should look.

DOUG from JUMBO PICTURES

 had their Technicolored Humans with beady eyes and spindly limbs, 

RUGRATS from KLASKY CSUPO

had their weird but recognizable signature designs alongside a Pink Hugh for Acetate,

And REN & STIMPY from SPUMCO

had their wacky and off-model tribute to BOB CLAMPETT.

But what makes these Nicktoons so important is that they....

more like two Nicktoons...

SKYROCKTED the career of one: WILLIAM RICHARD WERSTINE!!!

Better known to us Cartoon Fans as BILLY WEST.

When Billy West performed the Title Characters of DOUG & STIMPY, he saw his entire career skyrocket from his commercial & Beany & Cecil days.

Now he was getting far more voice roles than he dreamed of.

In later years, He did voices for BUGS BUNNY, ELMER FUDD, SHAGGY ROGERS,

RED M&M, POPEYE, etc.

But his most famous 

(which allowed him to move on from losing DOUG to Thomas Lyons)

was when WEST portrayed FRY, FARNSWORTH, ZOIDBERG, & ZAPP BRANNIGAN in 

Matt Groening's FUTURAMA.

Plus, BILLY WEST'S a personal favorite voice actor of mine, and I will admit, during my vocal exercises, I do like to impersonate BILLY WEST'S voice at times

And yes, 

My Vocal Exercises also reimagine the Disney Doug episodes if WEST accepted his pay and stayed on the show, and used his deeper FRY or RED M&M voice to make the character's puberty more consistent.

Yeah, WEST is so good, I can't resist a perfect Impersonation of his own vocal chords.

I've still got some further work to do before he recognizes my Full Vocal Potential but I'll soon master his voice.

Thanks to all you viewers for giving Nickelodeon a chance as well as give it's competitors to nudge to come into the Market.

And thanks to Jerry Beck for letting me write for the 34th Anniversary.

Where to watch the original Nicktoons?

Rugrats is on PARAMOUNT+,

A Handful of REN & STIMPY is on PARAMOUNT+,

But DOUG was removed off the service back in December 2024 due to the impending SKYDANCE MERGER.....

So until something is done with David Ellison and he decides to reinstate the episodes on the Service, or leases the streaming rights to the MOUSE HOUSE,

ARCHIVE.ORG is now your only choice.

(God bless BREWSTER KAHLE)

Just be sure to look for the Amazon DVD Rips from the Archive because clean, network bug-free prints are better than DVR or VHS recordings.