Given how long the franchise starring the cat and mouse as they chase each other is, it was only a matter of time before fans would question the true morality between the cat and mouse themselves.
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Original Shorts
- Shadoboy: Despite being a cat person, I used to be pretty neutral towards Tom and Jerry, even enjoying it every now and then. However I then saw the episode "The Two Mouseketeers" in which Jerry's usual antics ruin the banquet Tom was protecting which ends up with Tom getting decapitated (off-screen). To which Jerry and Nibbles just shrug and walk away like it was nothing and the episode ends with the usual music like Jerry was some sort of freaking hero. Since that day I hated Tom and Jerry with a passion.
- Tropers/legomaniac90: Agreed, and I would like to point out that they are all Musketeers, meaning they are (supposedly) on the same side. Not only that, but the guillotine wasn't even invented at the time the short took place (the musketeers were disbanded before the reign of Louis XVI, and the guillotine wasn't invented until the late 1700's). And "C'est la guerre?" You all are Musketeers and you sent your fellow Musketeer to his death.
- I Like Robots: For me, it was between this short and "Heavenly Puss" down below, but I chose this one because "Heavenly Puss" at least has its ending that reveals that none of it actually happened, whereas this short's ending is what made me choose it. I enjoy the classic Tom and Jerry shorts, and it's true that the majority of the humor in the series is Tom getting hurt - but in comedically over the top or implausible ways, which don't leave any lasting damage or pain after the gag is over. Having him getting straight-up executed without a shred of silliness, implausibility or exaggeration is too much, and it fails spectacularly at even being Black Humor. And then death of one of the main duo of the series treated with all the gravitas of a shrug and cheerful music, which makes it even worse.
- Zero44556: My DMoS would have to be the episode "Heavenly Puss" where Tom "dies" and Jerry, for the sake of being an ass, doesn't sign the paper letting him move on. You hear me right; Jerry would, in a heartbeat, let his nemesis burn in hell for all eternity out of spite. The All Just a Dream Ending does nothing to soften this.
- fluffything: Agreed. This episode used to freak me out as a kid, and it still does. The reason why is the same reason why I feel the short is a DMOS. While Tom has gone through torment for things he deserved to be punished for and for things he didn't deserve to be punished for (which, when you think about it, is a lot of things), that's not the same (nor does it justify) him essentially being tormented in Hell for all eternity. Now, I don't personally believe in a literal Hell, and I know the short was All Just a Dream (as mentioned above), but that does not excuse the very thought of a beloved cartoon character being forced to endure being tortured for the rest of existence. Jerry's dickish behavior just made it even worse. Yes, Jerry is a Jerkass Friendly Enemy to Tom. But, this is just lower than low.
- Supernintendo 128: This episode freaked me out too. Especially the scene where Tom descends into hell. Anyway, yeah. Looking back, Jerry was more of a Jerkass than usual here. Who thought this short was a good idea?
- Maths Angelic Version: It's Tom's dream after all, but even him dreaming of Jerry being that evil reeks of Fridge Horror (what has Jerry done to Tom make him think he could be that cruel?).
- Olfin Bedwere: As bad as Jerry's destroying the paper was, at least that could maybe be rationalized as Jerry just not believing that Tom was in a seriously dangerous risk of having to take a one-way trip to Hell. What really left a sour taste in the mouth was the scene with the drowned bag of kittens showing up at the Heavenly Express's ticket booth. It's not funny, and it doesn't add anything to the plot, it's just weirdly morbid and depressing even compared to the rest of the short.
- bobdrantz: For me, it's the short "The Million Dollar Cat" where Tom will inherit a million dollars so long as he doesn't harm a mouse for the rest of his life. And, how does Jerry react? He acts like a complete asshole towards Tom and torments him throughout the short. Ok, remind me again why we're supposed to cheer for Jerry? About the only saving grace the short has is that it ends with Tom getting his revenge on Jerry when he decides that a million dollars is not worth being tortured for. But, it still leaves a somewhat bitter taste in my mouth knowing that Tom could've led a peaceful mouse-free life if Jerry had just left Tom instead of taking advantage of him like that.
- curiouskat: Seconded. What exactly was Jerry hoping to get out of this other than the satisfaction of torturing Tom just for fun? It's not like Tom was going to share any of his fortune with him, and with everything else he goes through, he deserved this inheritance. But I guess Tom can't win, not even when he isn't directly antagonizing Jerry...The ending doesn't give me a Catharsis Factor either, with Tom throwing away his rightly-awarded money just to escape a lifetime of torture. It almost feels like a kick in the teeth.
- Disney23: I usually tolerate the Gene Deitch shorts, but "High Steaks" just makes me sick to my stomach. Here Tom is paired with a Jerkass owner who does bad things to him (like searing his face on the grill or stuffing a carbonated soda bottle in his mouth) whenever he slipped up or is framed for something Jerry did, oftentimes with a big Slasher Smile on his face. Tell me again why we're supposed to be laughing at animal abuse.
- Ecclytennysmithylove: Not to mention that the Jerkass owner is the Captain Ersatz of Gene Deitch's Terry Toons character, Clint Clobber, who was actually a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. Shame on you, Mr. Deitch, for turning your character we all love into a full-blown jerkass we all hate!
- BoredMe: I'll happily third you guys on this one. Not trying to sound like an Internet Badass here, but as a cat-lover(and dog-lover)..can't say that I could make any promises as to my reaction if I came across this behavior.
- HMSaph: I've yet to see "Blue Cat Blues" which I hear is the worst of the worst, so for now I'll have to go with "Baby Puss". I've already given it the bashing it deserves on TV.com, but it still amazes me how a Tom and Jerry cartoon from the '40s can fail so hard in every single aspect. Here Tom is forced to wear baby clothes against his will, and when he is caught, he is mercilessly bullied, tormented, and humiliated by Jerry and the epitome of Cats Are Mean in the form of three feline douchebags, and we're supposed to find this funny? It was so painfully mean-spirited and my heart swelled with pity for poor Tom because he did nothing to deserve his torture. Oh, and the cartoon ends with Tom and Jerry swallowing castor oil and being violently sick, so Tom never gets the chance to get revenge. I didn't laugh once throughout the entire cartoon. If the souls of Will and Joe can hear me, bullying isn't funny and anybody who thinks otherwise needs psychiatric help.
- TT 454: Totally agreed. I always refused to watch this episode during my childhood and still do today. It's easily the worst episode in the series and also one of my least favourite episodes of any series. It's so painful to watch that even the thought of it makes me shudder. Not only is the "comedic bullying" episode theme absolutely shameful, but the musical number is irritating, the scene where Tom has his diaper changed by Butch is disturbing (it brings "diaper fetishes" to mind), and Tom's "owner", the girl, is such an annoying, mean-spirited little brat that, as a kid, it made me want to be her mother so I could spank her. Hell, even the scene where Tom simply acts like a baby by himself comes off as creepy. And of course, the ending is just as depressing as the whole episode.
- gene0129: It's not my personal DMOS, but I figured someone should mention "Pecos Pest" It's a Tom torture porn where he doesn't even deserve it this time. All the cat wanted was to be left in peace, but no, Uncle Pecos, Jerry's uncle, would not leave the poor cat alone, just for a whisker so he could play his guitar. However, it's the ending where it really ticks me off. Long story short, Uncle Pecos's guitar string breaks on TV, Tom laughs, and it's cathartic, but a massive Yank the Dog's Chain takes place when he (Pecos) impossibly grabs the last whisker anyways. Fuck this episode.
- stavan101: I don't mind the Chuck Jones shorts, but there are two shorts that I can't stand, and those two are "The Year of the Mouse" and "Jerry, Jerry, Quite Contrary". The former because it involves Jerry and an unnamed mouse tormenting Tom by trying to hurt him while he's trying to sleep. And the poor guy didn't do anything that annoyed them in the first place. And then there's the latter. It's the same but Jerry is sleepwalking and tormenting him at the same time. And the ending. The former at least had Tom get revenge at the end. But in this, Tom gets no comeuppance and decides to move away from the house. And the kicker is that Jerry follows him. So basically Jerry doesn't learn his lesson at all and wins for tormenting Tom even though he didn't do anything. This is a reason why there are times where I don't like Jerry.
- Princess Togezo: I never liked watching "Down and Outing"; it has many of the same problems as "High Steaks", except instead of the barbecue plotline, it's about a fishing trip. Otherwise, a lot of stuff is the same: Tom tries to catch Jerry (who snuck into the owner's car), but he accidentally attacks the owner instead, and so the owner beats Tom up. Repeat until the end of the cartoon, where Jerry and the owner are catching fish and throwing them into the container, where Tom is tied up. As the caught fish hit Tom in the face, we can see that Tom is crying. Apparently, this is supposed to be a happy ending. All I see is Jerry bullying Tom (who just wanted to go on the fishing trip with his owner; the worst he did was kick Jerry out of the car at the beginning) and framing him so that his owner (who is so bad-tempered that he shouldn't be allowed around any animals) will beat him up, and I don't understand what's supposed to be funny about that.
- SampaCM: To me, the shorts "Busy Buddies" and "Tot Watchers" are the worst of the worst, as both involve the duo looking after a baby, but I'll pick "Tot Watchers" which I think is the worst of the two: An airheaded teenager named Jeannie (I really hate her) is in charge of looking after a baby, while his parents are out, but instead of doing her job, she pays more attention to the phone, so Tom and Jerry decide to work together to prevent the baby from hurting himself, but what does Jeannie do? She hits Tom with a broom because she thinks he's bothering the baby. Later, the baby escapes and enters a construction site, and poor Tom and Jerry have to go through a lot of hell to bring him back home, where... Surprise! Jeannie is for the first time in the two shorts, worried about the baby. The duo comes back home with the baby, but they're arrested for kidnapping. So, what the heck have I just watched? To begin with, Jeannie unfairly mistreated Tom for doing her job, Ungrateful Bastard isn't enough to describe that airheaded girl, and the cherry on top of the cake is that the policeman who unfairly arrested Tom and Jerry for kidnapping jumped to conclusions too fast. What made them think such an ending was fun?
- Valkyrie: It was seriously aggravating to witness Spike The Dog slowly become a regular overpowered pawn for Jerry to turn against Tom - by the 50s' shorts, most Spike-related shorts were merely one-sided affair at the cat, nothing short of becoming a living hell in the process. For example, in Fit To Be Tied, Jerry once receives a bell to summon Spike after helping him out and renders conflict with Tom pointless. Naturally, Jerry sees this as a way to turn Tom to his slave - and even past Spike getting tied in the middle of the short that leads to Tom tormenting him for his amusement, he ends up in the same situation anyway, the short ending with Spike getting to kick a tied-up Tom every bell ring at a time from Jerry. Then there was Slicked-Up Pup, which felt uncomfortable due to ironic disregard on Tyke from Jerry's end where he keeps making the puppy get somehow dirty. Of course, Tom ends up taking all the brunt despite trying his hardest to keep the puppy clean and is punished after taking extreme actions to disguise Tyke from Spike. The true dethroning moment, though, would be in That's My Pup!, which features Tom literally trying to not be involved getting barked up to a tree by Tyke (or Jerry) as part of Spike's "cat chasing training" - yet he gets antagonized for that according to the cartoon, leading to an ending where he's forced to run up a greasy flagpole indefinitely to the night with Tyke behind him. No surprise there were rumors about "hate mail" from fans of Tom telling Hanna-Barbera to give him a break, leading to fewer appearances from Spike and Tyke and the formula from their shorts overall, along with some victories for Tom in the next ones. Probably the most differences can be seen in the short Hiccup Pup that came after the above ones, which had Tom emerge victorious compared to the shorts before it.
- Dghcrh: I'm going with the Chuck Jones episode "Jerry Go Round". Throughout the series, it's annoying how other animals always love Jerry and hate Tom, but it's most prominent in this episode, with that Yandere elephant which dotes on Jerry and hurts Tom every time he puts his hands on the mouse. It's not the only episode where something like this happens, (Spike in "The Bodyguard" anyone?), but here Jerry gets more benefits, takes part in circus plays and parades with the elephant. Tom? Gets nothing but abuse.
- eirigfi: I honestly don't know how Tom and Cherie didn't make it here. Tuffy is sent on a letter spree while he gets attacked by Tom. All Jerry cares about is if he delivers his stupid letters and shows no concern for his "student". Not helped that it's just the same boring formula every time Tuffy goes out the door. It just left me a bad taste in my mouth and made me hate Jerry more.
- Marioking 9834: Let's flip the script a bit and show off an instance where Tom wins and didn't deserve it. Tom pretty much kidnaps Jerry who was basically doing nothing this entire time, paints him white, and sells him to a pet store for $50, which is almost $500 today. Tom's owner ends up finding the money and decides to buy Jerry back, thinking he's another white mouse. Slapstick antics ensue with the owner scolding Tom for trying to attack her new mouse like she should. The episode ends with Tom painting himself white, tricking the owner into believing he was just jealous of Jerry, before stomping all over Jerry in the end. End episode. Jerry loses just because Tom was greedy in the first place.
- JMRS: Similar to the above point, I am going to talk about a short where Tom scores himself an undeserved victory. The specific short I am referring to is known as "Southbound Duckling". Jerry spends most of the cartoon trying to save a duckling from Tom so that the duckling can fly south for the winter, even though he's a domestic duck that do not fly south for the winter. Most of the short is just the standard Tom and Jerry slapstick, but what drives my hatred for this short upwards is the ending: Jerry and the duckling are relaxing on the beach, then Tom shows up behind them, traps them under a bucket and covers them with an umbrella while laughing evilly. End episode. Tom wins and gets away with his evil deeds. Yes, there are other shorts where Tom has won, but most of the time, he deserves to win. Here, he doesn't deserve to win at all! Jerry was trying to rescue a duckling from being eaten by Tom, but at the end of the episode, Jerry and the duckling both end up captured by Tom and presumably eaten, since this short never even got a sequel or follow-up.
The Tom and Jerry Show (2014)
- savagegenius: So I removed my entry of "Springtime For Spike" for what I newly consider the worst episode of the show: "Unwelcome Home." Yes, I hate it even more than both my precious entry (with Spike being flanderized into a Jerkass Yandere) and "Tic-Tyke-D'oh" (with Tyke being a spoiled brat because of his father at the expense of Tom and Jerry, but 99% Tom). However, it was one moment in the beginning of the episode that did it for me. So Ginger, one of Tom's owners has baked a pie and let it cool on the kitchen windowsill. The scent travels into the hallway for Jerry to smell, followed by him eating it up. Right after that, Tom eventually sees the empty tray, and some of the leftovers right as Ginger comes back in. So she scolds him, warns him to stay out of the kitchen, and then says the phrase, I shit you not... "Why couldn't have I just gotten a goldfish?" Yes, you heard me correctly; Ginger, the sweet woman who would always defend Tom after being accused of doing something, threatens to disown him. What? The? Fuck?!! This should not be shown to kids in an episode about not running away! And yeah, this happened in Season 1 with the Witch Sisters, but it works because a) You would expect that kind of attitude from witches, b) they've casted quite a few spells on Tom before so that wouldn't exactly be out of the ordinary, and c) the ending reveals it was all just a prank and they wanted him to overhear them. But this is just downright despicable! And guess what? This is literally the only scene she's in, so she never gets punished for this! Granted, Tom goes through even more crap later on, but that just makes everything worse. Fuck this episode with a passion, and fuck the animal cruelty!
- eirigfi: So I decided to remove my last entry because I found something worse for a show I love. As much as I believe that the The Tom and Jerry Show (2014), needs more love, I had a lot of choices to pick including the first ep, but I'll talk about "Pranks for Nothin". Or to be more clear the ending. So as Tom and Jerry fight after thinking the other is breaking a peace treaty that Spike makes for them, Spike then walks away and then reveals that he started the duo's doubt of each other in the first place. And why did he do this? Because he was bored! Well and it being April Fools day but that make it's worse because that to me is not a joke. All it is is Spike preying on the duo's minds thinking the other will prank the other just for the heck of it. Oh and you'd think that with Spike knowing how many times the duo can break things you'd think Spike would realize that they may destroy the freaking house with their antics! And just how smug he sounds when he says that he has to have some fun just made my blood boil. And what is worse? The duo did nothing to Spike in the first place. All in all, while the ending is meant to be a epic moment for Spike, all it did was make him a smug psychopath who'd do anything to laugh and make me want to bash his head with a shovel.
