Star Trek Hides Beloved ’90s Cartoon References In Plain Sight
Star Trek has always had Easter eggs for fans to discover, and some of them are more shocking than others. For example, it makes a kind of sense that producers once snuck the names of prominent Doctor Who actors into an episode of The Next Generation. What is more surprising, however, is that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine hid multiple references to the juvenile children’s show Ren and Stimpy in plain sight.
Babel
What Star Trek eps are we talking about and how did this beloved show make references to Ren and Stimpy? The first episode in question is “Babel,” which featured a bizarre infection that took away people’s ability to communicate, making for one of the standout stories of the first season.
Pay close attention and you’ll notice a Bajoran named Surmak Ren, with the last name being a reference to Stimpy’s angry partner Ren Höek.
This Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode had another character whose name was a tribute to Ren and Stimpy, though the reference went over most fans’ heads. The character in question is a Cardassian named Gul Spumco, which may not immediately ring a bell for fans of the classic cartoon.
That’s because this isn’t a reference to a Ren and Stimpy character–instead, it is a reference to Spümcø, the animation studio that brought us this delightfully demented cartoon.
Q-Less
Believe it or not, the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine references to Ren and Stimpy were not confined to the “Babel” episode. Two episodes later, “Q-Less” would feature a planet named Hoek IV.
This, of course, was an intentional reference to Ren’s last name, which may be harder to notice when guest star John de Lancie is chewing all the scenery every time he’s onscreen.
Why Ren And Stimpy?
Why, exactly, was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine filled with so many references to Ren and Stimpy, of all things? Simple: future showrunner Ira Steven Behr made the command decision that the writers of this nascent Star Trek spinoff needed to develop the kind of rapport that helped make The Next Generation such a consistently great show.
Accordingly, he played episodes of Ren and Stimpy in the writer’s room to help improve relations between these assorted sci-fi screenwriters.
DS9 Had A Stronger First Season
Now, we don’t think watching this strange cartoon together is the only reason this happened, but based on the increasing quality of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Behr showing the writers episodes of Ren and Stimpy was a great idea. DS9, like TNG before it, arguably didn’t get really good until the third season.
However, DS9 had a much stronger first and second season, and you can clearly chart the spinoff show getting better by the episode after the rockiness of those early season one stories.
Space Madness
If nothing else, knowing that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has such a prominent connection to Ren and Stimpy has completely changed how we view certain characters and plots.
For example, we’ll no longer refer to the murderous Garak in “Empok Nor” as a character under the influence of a nefarious drug. Instead, we’ll use the shorthand parlance of Ren and Stimpy to declare that he has “SPACE MADNESS” instead.
