This Thursday, Aug. 11, is the 25th anniversary of the three original Nicktoons: Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and Doug. Unlike most “only real ’90s kids understand” nostalgia, it’s a milestone worth celebrating because Ren & Stimpy and Doug hold up remarkably well two and a half decades later. (Rugrats? Not so much, but it was intended for a younger audience anyway.) The former remains riotous in a gross-out way, while the latter appeals to anyone who’s ever felt like a creative outcast. Or in the words of writer Alan Silberberg, “Doug to me was the sweet, sweet stuff of human stories.”
Doug aired for seven seasons — four on Nickelodeon, three on Disney — and tempted fate with Doug’s 1st Movie. There hasn’t been a Doug’s 2nd Movie yet, but creator Jim Jinkins has an idea for one. “I haven’t written the whole screenplay, but some stories are written,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “Skeeter’s his roommate. Judy would be a performance artist off, off, off-Broadway, just kind of doing weird stuff. Porkchop would be there – we’re not going to talk about dogs and their real lifespans, but I’ll just let him be.”
Sounds great! Porkchop’s alive! There’s just one problem. “Disney owns the right to make anything new, and they have no interest right now in anything to do with it,” Jinkins said. Nickelodeon originally ordered Doug for 65 episodes over five seasons, but after 52 episodes, the network pulled the plug over budgetary concerns. Disney eventually picked up the rights for the show, and for the next two seasons, the title was changed to Brand Spanking New! Doug (it was renamed Disney’s Doug in season seven). Doug even had a new voice — Billy West was replaced with the much-cheaper Tom McHugh.
Jinkins hasn’t given up hope, though. “Maybe if I wrote it like a book and put it out there, Disney would give me permission to do that,” he said. “I keep qualifying it, I guess out of being a cock-eyed optimist, but right now they explained they’re not interested in moving Doug forward. In the past, they have expressed interest in a play. Now, that would be a great play.”
Make it a Kickstarter musical with new songs from the Beets. Real ’90s kids would fund the project with their allowance money.
(Via Entertainment Weekly)
