# Tom & Jerry



## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

Human endeavour in microcosm: ambition, rivalry, victory, defeat, pathos, bathos, desire, and so on and so forth - the whole gamut of Human experience is refracted through these lovable comic creations. Bill and Jo designed the most profound slapstick characters ever to grace our screens, the dynamic of these equally self-centred creations is all encompassing and eternally compelling. No cultural references are required to enjoy this surreal violence - whatever your age, class, status, race, religion or creed, 5 minutes exposed to this gloriously anarchic duo is guaranteed to make you smile, titter and guffaw.

My personal favourite T&J shorts are those which centre around the plot device of Butch (aka Spike, Killer) protecting his offspring Tyke (_That's my boy!) _from being bothered by Tom.

I own as near to a full set of the animated shorts (disregarding the latter day dross churned out by talentless half-wits) as it is possible to obtain, 15 hours worth of timeless enchanting comedy. This is the one to purchase:










Here is an interesting article for completists - the censorship of Tom & Jerry: https://www.tomandjerryonline.com/censoredtnj.cfm

For anyone who would like to become familiar with the story behind these cinema legends (7 time Academy Award winning!) I heartily recommend this volume: Tom and Jerry, 50 Years of Cat and Mouse


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## Mr Humphries (Apr 5, 2013)

I haven't clapped eyes on a Tom & Jerry cartoon in what feels like decades. It would seem that selling the cartoons on DVD is more profitable than broadcasting them nowadays


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

Even as a child I found this toon to be simplistic slapstick. The light parody done by _The Simpsons_ on their _Itchy & Scratchy Show_ cat and mouse cartoon is clearly heavily based on T&J.
The characters are as one-dimensional as can be, and there is no development whatsoever. In a way, talking animals are of the devil and avoiding anthromorphization is a good thing, but the violence was gratuitous and devoid of charm. Neither character was remotely likeable. I just don't see the appeal.


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

"talking animals are of the devil" 

You have got to be sh*tting me.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

I grew up watching Tom And Jerry, as a kid growing up I found them quite funny.


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

Shaver said:


> "talking animals are of the devil"
> 
> You have got to be sh*tting me.


Well the serpent in the garden was, and I'm pretty sure David Berowitz's dog was unholy. One could argue that Aslon (not of Earth) was pure, and that Davey's Goliath was a holy roller.

Anyway, there was no hero in Tom & Jerry. There was no cause or lesson, it was a nihilistic story of pointless selfishness and the folly of life. Like _Spy vs. Spy_, the devices and sets were more intriguing than the characters. It was a depressing affair lacking edification. At least Woody Woodpecker had a joie de vivre.


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## drlivingston (Jun 21, 2012)

Watching Tom & Jerry is one of my guilty pleasures. Fortunately, it is also one that I get to indulge in quite often. My 6yr old daughter is enamored with the vintage cat & mouse shorts. So, when she watches them, I can often be found taking a break from eBay and joining her for a few episodes. Like Shaver, I favor the ones with additional characters such as Spike, Tuffy, and Jerry's country-music playing uncle (the episode with him playing "Crambone" slays me).


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

I especially objected to later episodes where the adversaries teamed up with each other, totally jumping the shark.


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

^ I am picturing Tempest looking inside a coal scuttle which contains a lighted stick of dynamite.

*flash! **BOOM!!*

Tempest has taken on the appearance of a marigold.

Cue sarcastic trumpet music.

Wahh, wah wah......

https://imageshack.com/f/46safety2hr3j


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## MaxBuck (Apr 4, 2013)

Loved Tom & Jerry, but Rocky and Bullwinkle were even more insidiously ironic. Very incendiary stuff if one watches and listens carefully.


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## shadoman (Jun 8, 2014)

As cat vs mouse cartoons go, I rank Herman and Katnip in first place, with T&J in a very close second.

(And a tip of the Hatlo hat to Shaver for my new siggy.)


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

MaxBuck said:


> Loved Tom & Jerry, but Rocky and Bullwinkle were even more insidiously ironic. Very incendiary stuff if one watches and listens carefully.


As a child, I was aware that I wasn'tgetting all the jokes in Loony Tunes or Rocky & Bullwinkle, or other fare that knew how to do multi-level entertainment. 
I still think that Tom & Jerry was very lowest-common-denominator stuff, not even at the level of Roadrunner comics, just one big Rube Goldberg gag. But I haven't seen the stuff in ages, so it's possible that I missed something.


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## SlideGuitarist (Apr 23, 2013)

Lowest-common-denominator? You almost made me spit Coca Cola on my corndog. "That's a joke, son. You missed it! Flew right by ya!" There is nothing funnier to me than the endless variations of Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff in an imaginary Monument Valley, again and again and again. Something about the vanity of all earthly striving, or something like that.

From https://www.spitfireaudio.com/cartoons-as-modern-art-a-scott-bradley-retrospective.html


> n the 1943 Tom and Jerry cartoon, "Putting on the Dog" Bradley famously adopted the atonal twelve-note compositional techniques of Arnold Schoenberg; the sort of modernist approach that demonstrates Bradley's fondness for difficult, dissonant scoring techniques...


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## drlivingston (Jun 21, 2012)

Currently watching the "Is you is, or is you ain't my baby" episode. I also dug up some old Droopy cartoons. Geez, I love rainy afternoons.


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## Mr Humphries (Apr 5, 2013)




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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

drlivingston said:


> *Currently watching the "Is you is, or is you ain't my baby" episode*. I also dug up some old Droopy cartoons. Geez, I love rainy afternoons.


Ahh, the 'Solid Serenade' episode - an early classic.

[video=dailymotion;x2l5sz9]https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2l5sz9[/video]


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

Mr Humphries said:


>


Calvin & Hobbes (a firm favourite of mine and others who are members here) is a fine example of the meta four panel funny. C&H is the zenith of creation which may be traced back in origin to to Kellys' 'Pogo' and evolved through Schulz's 'Peanuts'. Calvin and Hobbes is philosophy, albeit of a type more easily recognised than that of Tom & Jerry which is more akin to 'philosophy with a hammer', eh Friedrich?


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

SlideGuitarist said:


> Lowest-common-denominator? You almost made me spit Coca Cola on my corndog. "That's a joke, son. You missed it! Flew right by ya!" There is nothing funnier to me than the endless variations of Wile E. Coyote falling off a cliff in an imaginary Monument Valley, again and again and again. Something about the vanity of all earthly striving, or something like that.
> 
> From https://www.spitfireaudio.com/cartoons-as-modern-art-a-scott-bradley-retrospective.html


_*Tarot XVI*_










*"We build a tower. Tower falls down. All my dreams come true."

* - Jeremy 'Jaz' Coleman


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## Mr Humphries (Apr 5, 2013)




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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

Tempest said:


> I especially objected to later episodes where the adversaries teamed up with each other, totally jumping the shark.


When did this happen?


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

Why did the dog just sit there and let Tom mess him up?


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## Tempest (Aug 16, 2012)

Howard said:


> When did this happen?


1975?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_a...he_Tom_and_Jerry_Show_.281975.E2.80.931977.29


> In these cartoons, Tom and Jerry (now with a red bow tie), who had been enemies during their formative years, became nonviolent pals who went on adventures together, as Hanna-Barbera had to meet the stringent rules against violence for children's TV.


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)




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