Hard Times for Haggis (The Ren & Stimpy Show)
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 Before Robyn Byrd tried to cancel Ren and Stimpy with her poorly written and executed petition, a Scotsman was the first to cancel Ren and Stimpy.
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Hard Times for Haggis is the thirteenth episode of the third season of The Ren & Stimpy Show, and aired on April 30, 1994.
Plot
Haggis MacHaggis is forced out of his home after his cartoon show is eclipsed by the exceedingly more popular Ren and Stimpy Show. Alone in the streets, Haggis seeks out his fans to help him. Instead, he discovers a crowd of people watching the Ren and Stimpy Show who violently rejects him. A starving Haggis poses as a pigeon to obtain seeds from an old woman. Unfortunately, the other pigeons are less than happy about the extra eater and force him to spit out his meal. The group of pigeons and the old lady precede to attack Haggis.
Later, Haggis is walking down the street and stops to look in the window of an antique shop. In the window, he sees a stuffed doll of himself on which the price has been slashed repeatedly. A person, their identity cloaked in a coat and hat, rushes into the store and buys the doll. Haggis, assuming that this person is a fan, follows him into an alleyway and watches from a hiding place. His "fan" turns out to be his dog, Whacky.
Haggis is overjoyed at first, but then Whacky begins violently destroying the stuffed doll in revenge. Haggis flees when the canine notices him and goes to a bridge. He is just about to end his life by leaping into the water when he is hit in the face by a flyer advertising a service called "Rent-A-Thug". Seeking vengeance, Haggis rents two thugs from the agency and drives to the set of the Ren and Stimpy Show.
Haggis and his thugs tie up Ren and Stimpy and the crew. Then, the thugs use puppets to pretend to be Ren and Stimpy and, when the curtain goes up, do a horrible show that is meant to ruin them. Instead, the puppets are praised and the real Ren and Stimpy are fired. The two of them, plus Haggis, are tossed out of the studio. A limousine drives by with the puppets inside with two beautiful females. The episode ends with the three of them at the dock, Ren, and Stimpy eating glass while Haggis sobs and hits them over the head with his cane repeatedly.
Why It’s a Hard Time
- Games Animation basically devoted almost the entire half-hour episode (the episode ends with a fake ad for Dog Water) to a very unlikable character (whose show is rightfully cancelled due to it being a one-note joke), with the show's title characters not really having that much screen time in the episode.
- Haggis McHaggis shows his worst in this episode, for trying to cancel Ren and Stimpy as an act of revenge because their show became much more popular and permanently cancelled his cartoon show.
- Haggis' dog, Whacky violently destroys the stuffed doll of Haggis himself as an act of revenge, despite Whacky being part of Haggis' cartoon show.
- Haggis telling his fans that rejected him to stop watching Ren & Stimpy is ridiculous, since making someone stop watching good shows in real life does not work.
- Haggis and his thugs tie up Ren and Stimpy and the show's crew and Haggis' thugs use the puppets to pretend to be Ren and Stimpy, does a terrible show to ruin them.
- Horrible ending: The puppets who pretend to be Ren and Stimpy despite doing a horrible show, are praised and the real Ren and Stimpy are fired, and together with Haggis, they are tossed from the studio and end up at the dock.
Redeeming Qualities
- The animation and voice acting is still good.
- The scene where Ren slaps Stimpy (due to the latter 'oversalting' the food) and says"YOU FAT BLOATED EEDIOT!" and other words is one of the hilarious moments in the episode, depending on your POV.
- Ren and Stimpy are still likable, even though they didn’t had much screen time.
Trivia
- Sven Höek and Mrs. Buttloaves reappear in this episode in a cameo when Haggis tells his fans to stop watching Ren & Stimpy.
- This episode was titled on some sources as "The Scotsman".
Video