Tom and Jerry

Tom & Jerry are 80 — "Puss Gets the Boot" came out Feb. 10, 1940. The BBC has a nice article on their history.

I'm interested by the supposed unfinished remainder of shorts Hanna Barbera had planned before their unit closed ("Tots Watchers" admittedly was an odd short to end the original series on).

There's suggestions that at least one of them got retooled into their Pixie and Dixie series afterwards: https://yowpyowp.blogspot.com/2009/03/pixie-and-dixie-little-bird-mouse.html

I admit "Little Bird Mouse" does look like it could have been structured as a sequel to "Little School Mouse" right down to having a random haughty teacher mouse akin to Jerry in the latter.

Edited by Psi001 on Feb 14th 2020 at 7:12:44 PM

A new T&J thing called "Tom and Jerry in the Big City" has been announced for HBO Max. Apparently, it's a new series.

I'm glad that Tom and Jerry is still putting stuff out there.

Does this mean the current show is being discontinued? They've still got a fourth season confirmed to air.

I was honestly hoping that with Looney Tunes Cartoons bringing in different creators to do their own take on making Genre Throwbacks to the classic shorts, WBA was considering doing something similar for Tom and Jerry, (even though the original run was largely helmed by Hanna, Barbera, and Quimby). But based on the title alone I suppose it's going to be another spinoff-esque venture.

Very presumptuous to make a prediction by the name and no other details, I know. But I feel between Tales, The Show, and the line of DTV films; Tom and Jerry feels like it's been rarely allowed to really strive for what the original shorts accomplished in terms of their comedy. (Although I do think a couple of the DTV films, namely The Fast and the Furry-ous and Shiver Me Whiskers, honestly do a good job at putting the characters and their dynamics into a different genre.)

Edited by Yeow95 on Jul 8th 2020 at 5:37:51 AM

You know what I loved? Tom & Jerry's Giant Adventure. Anyone else see that? It had Tom F. Wilson (Biff from Back to the Future) as the giant, and tons of classic MGM characters like Screwy Squirrel and Red Hot Riding Hood play a role.

Didn't that one also have a Benny Burro cameo, an MGM character who appeared in about three shorts and was otherwise a comic book exclusive? That's impressive detail.

I admit I think it's a bit of a shame. I was hoping at the very least that the Looney Tunes revival might have convinced CN to play on the same popularity and treat Tom and Jerry Show better, amping up its budget and quality. Oh well, maybe Big City won't be too gimmicky.

Edited by Psi001 on Jul 15th 2020 at 12:20:07 PM

So WB posted an updated version of the movie logo, which includes and thus features our first look of the two title characters.

...it's essentially the designs from the 2014 show, but with some subtle differences; ergo Tom having visible claws, and some highlights to make them look more three-dimensional.

Honestly mixed on this. People working on the movie have made a lot of emphasis in interviews about the animation of the characters being CG, but stylized to replicate 2D animation as much as possible. Which is fine, but based on the art direction they've chosen, the results doesn't look as remarkable as they've alluded it to be. I also don't think taking so close for the 2014 designs for a feature film make for a good first impression animation-wise, given just how cheaply animated the 2014 show looked. Rather limited, stilted animation that lacked a lot of the impact and timing that the original shorts had, and even paled in comparison to the 2000s animated show T&J Tales.

The art direction should had been an approach that showed it was clearly CG while still evoking a 2D art and animation design. I know it's kind of an obvious go-to answer, but I think something in the vein of The Peanuts Movie or Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, which married faithful 2D proportions and limited animation with CG rendering, would had been a better choice. Or something like WDAS's Paperman and Feast, which actively blurred the line between 2D and 3D animation. Something in the vein of the CG Roger Rabbit animation test for the cancelled WFRR sequel would had been really phenomenal, given T&J's stature as Golden-Age Animation characters.

Obviously we should wait for some actual clips to judge, of course, so I may be making a whole molehill out of nothing. There's probably a much better chance than not that the animation will put the 2014 show to shame, given this is being made for a theatrical release. But based on these designs, I think there is a potential risk that the "CG" characters look and animate redundant to the point they may as well had used 2D animation.

Going to give this a bump

Essentially a youtube video where someone noticed how Tom played the piano in the correct manner

Talk about Shown Their Work.

A new series was released in Japan with Tom and Jerry having more chibi designs.

Here is a link to CN Japan twitter account

The japenese really love Tom and Jerry so it makes sense.

When I was a kid, I didn't just enjoy watching Tom and Jerry on TV, I also read many good comics with them. Oscar Martin (or possibly Oscar Martín, I've seen both variations of his name) has drawn many good-looking comics with the characters that have been published here in Europe, I think his comics look just as good if not better than the ones made in America. But I wish hid comics would be reprinted to reach a wider audience, perhaps in English, some of his comics were published in English by Harvey Comics but that was scant.