Tom and Jerry

[Homer I Am]

In my perspective, in 1946 they started to simplify everything. Before that, the animation was more realistic. And then in 1949 it started become more "fast"-paced. Then Gene Deitch made it a freak show, he made Jerry a prick that would torment Tom and make everything his fault so his owner would abuse him. I know it's a cartoon, but that just seemed sad IMO. Some even seemed scary and disturbing, I remember when I was a kid I got really disturbed and scared at Tom's new owner during the Gene Deitch era. I will give him credit however for making Carmen Get It!. It had alright animation, the sounds fitted, the music wasn't so damn weak and HE ACTUALLY got the formula right for once. Seriously, it took him 12 episodes to get it right? I think I remember him saying somewhere that by the last episode he was finally starting to "get it" but then the show got cancelled.

Except for at 2:46 and 3:48, I hate those bits.

Gene Deitch said he hated Tom and Jerry for the amount of violence in it, maybe he made it shit on purpose? Or maybe it was shit because it was done in Czechoslovakia? The Chuck Jones era had better animation, but shittier drawings. It was overall alright.

[Handsome B. Wonderful]

So you hate animation for being animated?

[Homer I Am]

Uh, wait what?

[TheSecondComing]

Gene Deitch said he hated Tom and Jerry for the amount of violence in it, maybe he made it shit on purpose? Or maybe it was shit because it was done in Czechoslovakia? The Chuck Jones era had better animation, but shittier drawings. It was overall alright.

Nah Czech animation can be cool in a weird fucked up artsy way. And the Deitch stuff wouldn't necessarily be so bad if just wasn't such a bad fit for the already established show and characters. The problem was that he and this show were just completly incompatible. His individual stuff I assume is probably better (if there is any).

[comeau]

His individual stuff I assume is probably better (if there is any).

Yeah, he worked at Terrytoons and created Tom Terrific. It's good stuff, but a little obscure since it and the rest of the Terrytoons stuff hasn't aired on TV in over 20 years and has never officially been released on home video.

[D4C]

Fuck Jerry.

[Homer I Am]

Tom wins!

[cinco]

Tot Watchers the last of the original Hanna Barbara run. The 114th short

Its not that great but still better than the latter Gene Deitch cartoons

I think the quality already dropped somewhere in the early fifties.

[Homer I Am]

But the animation still stood, it didn't become quick and choppy.

[cinco]

So do people have absolute favourites?

I'd go for The Two Mouseketeers.

[Homer I Am]

I loved The Midnight Snack, The Bodyguard and Fraidy Cat. They're probably my favourites.

[Homer I Am]

BUMP!



I really like the song Tom is playing, for some reason.

[cinco]

The backgrounds in those early ones were really rich.
It's astonishing what they could realize with just paper and pencils during the golden age.

[Homer I Am]

This is the best moment in television's history.

[lovedartsandsimpsons]

Towards the end of the H&B era, some rather strange supporting characters started appearing. A few examples:

The ants (appeared two or three times I think; they usually tried to steal food)
Middle-aged couple who owned both Tom and Spike
Babysitter and the baby (there were two shorts featuring them....both had very similar storylines)

The earlier supporting characters were vastly superior imo. Mammy Two-Shoes, Butch and the gang of alley cats, Quacker, etc.

[cinco]

And do not forget that little grey orphan mouse.
''Touché, monsieur pussycat!''

[Homer I Am]

Towards the end of the H&B era, some rather strange supporting characters started appearing. A few examples:

The ants (appeared two or three times I think; they usually tried to steal food)
Middle-aged couple who owned both Tom and Spike
Babysitter and the baby (there were two shorts featuring them....both had very similar storylines)

The earlier supporting characters were vastly superior imo. Mammy Two-Shoes, Butch and the gang of alley cats, Quacker, etc.

Of course, they were going for 18 years. There would've been an obvious decline in storyline and character personality.

[CousinMerl]

So which individual short is considered to be the worst one by the T&J fanbase?

[Homer I Am]

Down and Outing or High Steaks.

[lovedartsandsimpsons]

[Matlock]

Also does anyone have the Tom & Jerry Golden Collection 1 Blu-ray I'm going to get it as soon as I can find it somewhere.

Yeah i got it from amazon, its pretty good.

[cinco]

I loved when that little grey orphan-mouse or that little duck were involved but I didn't like Butch.
And there was a point where they started to use Spike too much.
Overall, less is more and the original episodes primarily focused on Tom & Jerry alone still feel as the purest ones. (a few exceptions aside)

[Lance.Uppercut]

Oh boy. From the squash and stretch animation of the classics to the clever gags, the T&J shorts left a lasting impression on the industry. Yes, the Gene cartoons were a little off-kilter (considering his own personal views on animation, we can kind of see where he was going), and the Chuck Jones cartoons were very strangely drawn. Heck, the Bugs Bunny cartoons from the 80's, also directed by Jones, employed that same style, with huge eyeballs and squattier bodies. And then they removed the violence and gave Jerry a mischevious talking nephew with the Tom & Jerry Hour, or something like that...

So yeah, there've been strange reincarnations. The movie from the early 90's. Tom & Jerry Kids. Some of these other feature-length films from recent years. But I think I can forgive these and remember the legacy the cartoons have left.

Has anyone seen Tom & Jerry Tales? It looks okay on the surface (although the animation is clearly of television-show budget), but are the gags any good? All I know is they'll never find an adequate replacement for the classic "Tom yell" which, if I recall correctly, was supplied by William Hanna himself.

Weird fact: The cartoons are typically broadcast all over the world, and with relative ease, due to their overall lack of dialogue. However, when they aired in Germany (I wanna say in the early 80's), they added voiceover, in rhyming couplets, typically, from Jerry's perspective. So think about this:

Original scene: Jerry's bating a fake mouse on a fishing hook in order to lure Tom into a trap. The music is lilting along with plenty of strings to play up Jerry's mischeviousness. Kind of sounds like Gershwin.

Scene in German: Jerry's bating a fake mouse on a fishing hook in order to lure Tom into a trap. We hear a voiceover, "A mouse on a fishhook, what a sight. This'll give that cat a fright!" Kind of sounds like Gershwin with someone speaking German over it.

[cinco]

[Alex of Insomnia]

Well I have been really into Tom and Jerry again so I thought I'd bump this again. And was wondering if any one has boughten that Golden Collection Blu-ray yet because I have been thinking about getting it. And volume 2 is set to release on June 11th.

[Cartoonnetwork]

Has anyone seen Tom & Jerry Tales? It looks okay on the surface (although the animation is clearly of television-show budget), but are the gags any good? All I know is they'll never find an adequate replacement for the classic "Tom yell" which, if I recall correctly, was supplied by William Hanna himself.

Tom and Jerry Tales is fairly good when the episodes are directed by Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone. In fact it's a fairly good imitation of Hanna Barbera's era both in the gags and the visuals. They are maybe a little less violent, but they kind of nailed it in the rest of the elements.

I also liked some of the movies they have done like the Nutcracker's Tale one. It was much better than the Tom and Jerry Movie. They should have aired something like this in cinema instead of that Disney-esque crap with the little girl. It seems they are doing too many movies now (Sherlock Holmes, Wizard of Oz, Robin Hood...). They look decent (I've seen fragments of the Wizard of Oz and it's like a remake of the classic WOO film with Tom and Jerry...kind of weird, but still cool in some way), but maybe they are overdoing it.

As for episodes of Tom and Jerry Tales I quite liked A Life Less Guarded, which features Droopy and Tex Avery himself. Couldn't find it in youtube. But these are a couple of other ones directed by Brandt and Cervone that I found pretty amusing in animation and gags. I like the obscure cameo of the bear from a Tex Avery cartoon too.



And this one, even though it has these "Poochie-like" appearance, cause it's Tom and Jerry doing X-TREME! sports, it's actually a pretty funny and well done take on the idea:



This is another nice one that reuses the girl from Baby Puss:



Although esentially a remake of The Zoot Cat, and not a Brandt/Cervone episode, I kinda like this one:



Most of the episodes that are not directed by Brandt and Cervone are pretty boring and dull, though, and the animation doesn't look as good.

[Lance.Uppercut]

Thanks so much, @Cartoonnetwork. I'll be sure to check these out later. The theme song and opening title sequence to the show are so inviting - just never got into it.

[Alex of Insomnia]

Ugh I couldn't stand Tom and Jrry Tales. Also sometime this year Cartoon Networs will be premeiring a new Tom and Jerry series.

[Cartoonnetwork]

Ugh I couldn't stand Tom and Jrry Tales. Also sometime this year Cartoon Networs will be premeiring a new Tom and Jerry series.

Please, check out the ones I have linked. I personally think there's a huge differences between the Spike and Brandt episodes and the rest of them, which I also find boring and dull for the most part.

If you don't like the ones I linked, fine, but I think they are the closest to Hanna Barbera's Tom and Jerry we'll ever get in this time and moment, to the point that if I didn't know I could even mistake them for real shorts from their classic era, at least in some scenes. And the few segments I've watched from the Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz movie, it's extremely close, visually, to a Hanna Barbera cartoon, especially when Tom and Jerry are in screen (the Wizard of Oz characters, being new designs, may look a little different to HB shorts).

So whether you like them or not depends of you admitting a close imitation or just wanting the real thing -or a new take- but I think most of those episodes are very respectful to Tom and Jerry's personalities, gags and visual aspect during the HB years.

[Alex of Insomnia]

Well I personally found Tom and Jerry Tales to be wayy to kid friendly, I mean it's obvious these were meant for younger kids. I'll admit I like the animation it's pretty fluid and the style is pretty good EXCEPT for Tom and Jerry's faces they just look so weird but most of Tales is still better than the Gene Deitch era. And all the direct to video movies were pretty meh, Ive seen Fast and the Furiest and Blast off to Mars. But the recent 2 films I'll admit have pretty nice looking animatiion, though I have only seen a few scenes.
I am looking forward to the new series sometime this year and it looks like the animation style will be much better than Tales. And Sam Register is the Exec Producer, he worked on the newer Loney Tunes reboot which I think is an ok series.
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/biz/new-t...ork-71308.html