The Ripping Friends
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The Ripping Friends is a cartoon which centers around a group of four superhuman friends who attempt to fight crime: Crag, Rip, Slab, and Chunk, Crag being the leader. Friends of the four include Jimmy The Hapless Idiot Boy, a mentally-challenged drooling child, and their foster mother He-Mom (The name speaks for itself). The villains the group faces are questionable: from The Indigestable Wad, a wad of gum who sucks moisture out of people to Flathead, an invertebrate in search of a spine to facing their own underpants.
The first season of show aired on FOX Network and was then cancelled. Cartoon Network later picked up the show for its Adult Swim programming block. The series airs in Canada on the channel Teletoon. The series aired briefly in the UK on the Toonami channel.
The superheroes' favorite breakfast cereal is Sugar Lumps. In one episode a cereal called Oorids is shown. This a reference to Ralph Bakshi's Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures TV series that Ripping Friend creators John Kricfalusi and Jim Smith worked on.
Episode listing
- "The Indigestible Wad"
- "Flathead's Revenge"
- "Frictor"
- "Rip's Shorts"
- "Ovulator"
- "ManMan and BoyBoy"
- "Stinky Butt"
- "Muscle Magician"
- "Jimmy's Kidnapped"
- "Dr. Jean Poole"
- "The Man from Next Thursday, Part One"
- "The Man from Next Thursday, Part Two"
- "Infernal Wedding"
The creator of The Ripping Friends is John Kricfalusi, the brilliant Canadian animator behind The Ren and Stimpy Show. John K. and his long-time partner Jim Smith created the Ripping Friends even before they created the similar superhero Powdered Toastman from Ren & Stimpy. After John K. was fired from the Ren & Stimpy Show in September 1992, he had plans to make a feature film starring the world's "manliest men". The series ended up being a joint venture between several different studios, and some communication breakdown occurred between the companies. John K. was not satisfied with the finished episodes.