9. Ren & Stimpy
Something happened to kid's TV in the 90s, or should I say, something snapped. Before then, cartoons had been about animals acting like people talking, walking on two legs, wearing hats or ties, but never boxer shorts, for some reason. During the 90s, you got animals acting like people they suffered from insomnia, body dysmorphia or manic depression. Admittedly, most of those animals were the title characters in The Ren & Stimpy Show. As a feeble-minded nine year old, I enjoyed Ren & Stimpy, but I was aware that it was maybe more...extreme...than other kid's shows. Like most 'cat and dog' cartoons, Ren (a neurotic Chihuahua) and Stimpy (an oblivious feline) have a fractious relationship, but the conflict here is distressingly psychological. In an episode like 'Ren's Insomnia', Stimpy's innate niceness drives Ren to the brink of mental meltdown, and then right over it. When the slapstick comes in, traditionally rubbery cartoon physics are distorted and distended to the point where it seems less like Tom and Jerry and more like, well, straightforward abuse. The best example of this is the episode 'Ren's Toothache', which ranks as the most effective advertisement for dental hygiene ever. After Ren's teeth fall out, Stimpy tells him about the Nerve Ending Fairy. While you're thinking (or remembering) how this could play out, I should mention that one of the hallmarks of Ren & Stimpy's animation style is the occasional, unexpected transition to a more realistic look. For example, in 'Ren's Pecs', we track over Ren's hideously malnourished body, covered in liver spots and wiry strands of hair. Here too, nothing is spared as Ren opens his mouth and a haze of noxious green air wafts out. His nerve endings dangle raggedly from his gums, and with a tweezer, he slowly agonisingly pinches them out, one by one, in an act of self-abuse that loses none of its horror by being in cartoon form. If anything, it's more terrifying for that reason- those sound effects, like a piano string snapping, are ridiculous but wince-inducing all the same. I would've called it cathartic, if I hadn't been nine years old and confused sh*tless.