Powdered Toast Man vs. Waffle Woman
| "Powdered Toast Man vs. Waffle Woman" | |
|---|---|
| The Ren & Stimpy Show episode | |
 | |
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 11 |
| Directed by | Chris Reccardi |
| Story by | Bob Camp Chris Reccardi Vince Calandra |
| Original air date | November 19, 1994 |
| Guest appearance | |
| Gail Matthius as Waffle Woman | |
"Powdered Toast Man vs. Waffle Woman" is the 11th episode of the fourth season of The Ren & Stimpy Show. It originally aired on Nickelodeon in the United States on 19 November 1994.
Plot
[edit]Powdered Toast Man accidentally ruins the business of waffle tycoon Vicky Velcro, inspiring her to vow revenge.[1] Powdered Toast Man tries to grant the wish of the sick child Little Johnny by bringing him the President of the United States and kills the President in the process.[1] Powdered Toast Man returns to the Breadbox of Solitude out of guilt.[1] Velcro uses a giant waffle press to transform herself into the super-villainess Waffle Woman and demands that Powered Toast Man fight her or else Little Johnny will never be allowed to watch television again.[1] Powdered Toast Man returns to Earth to face her. During the ensuing battle, Powdered Toast Man and Waffle Woman first destroy New York City, then England, and finally the entire world.[1] In the end Powdered Toast Man defeats her by destroying the waffle iron and turns Waffle Woman into a pile of slime while she vows to return "maybe".[1] Despite all the destruction and death caused by the battle, Powdered Toast Man is hailed as a hero for allowing Little Johnny to watch television again.[1]
Cast
[edit]- Powdered Toast Man – voice of Gary Owens
- Waffle Woman – voice of Gail Matthius
- Little Johnny – voice of Billy West
Production
[edit]The story was a pilot episode for a possible spin-off series starring Gary Owens as Powdered Toast Man following the success of the 1992 episode "Powdered Toast Man".[2] Ren and Stimpy did not appear in "Powdered Toast Man vs. Waffle Woman" as a way to test the appeal to audiences of a story that only featured Powdered Toast Man. The episode was largely the work of the husband-and-wife team of Chris Reccardi and Lynne Naylor.[3] In August 1994, Naylor, who was working on the layouts for the episode, resigned from the Games Animation studio in protest over the way that she was treated by the network.[4] One colleague stated: "She went around to each of us to personally tell us her reasons for leaving. The tight deadlines made the job too much of a hassle despite the pay. The way she put it, it was even if the studio offered a million dollars to work on the project, but the project was due on that day, the money just wouldn't be worth all the hassle".[4]
Reception
[edit]The American critic Thad Komorowski rated the episode two stars out of five.[5] Komorowski wrote that "Powdered Toast Man vs. Waffle Woman" had a "profound inanity" and that the story made no sense.[3] After 9/11 the episode was edited to remove the scene involving New York getting destroyed.[6] The scene where Powdered Toast Man and Waffle Woman knock over the World Trade Center was removed after the destruction of the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001 and has not been seen since.[6]
Books and articles
[edit]- Dobbs, G. Michael (2015). Escape – How Animation Broke into the Mainstream in the 1990s. Orlando: BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1593931100.
- Finley, Laura L. (2018). Violence in Popular Culture American and Global Perspectives. Santa Monica: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9781440854330.
- Komorowski, Thad (2017). Sick Little Monkeys: The Unauthorized Ren & Stimpy Story. Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1629331836.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g Komorowski 2017, p. 407.
- ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 293.
- ^ a b Komorowski 2017, p. 293–294.
- ^ a b Komorowski 2017, p. 294.
- ^ Komorowski 2017, p. 263 & 406.
- ^ a b Finley 2018, p. 149.
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