Heavy Booking (Tom and Jerry Comedy Show)

"Heavy Booking"
Tom and Jerry should not be smiling at this torture episode.
Part of Season: 1 Episode Number: 4 Air Date: September 13, 1980 Previous episode: New Mouse in the House Next episode: Matterhorn Droopy

Heavy Booking is the fourth episode of The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show. It was aired on September 13, 1980.

Why It's Too Heavy (And NOT in a Good Way)

1. It's yet another six-minute episode of Tom's torture, akin to a lackluster version of "Quiet Please", devoid of the fun and ingenuity that the latter possessed.
   • This is the episode that restarted the Tom torture trend since the Gene Deitch-era.
   • Regarding that subject, the concept of this episode represents a significant squandered opportunity. A library-themed Tom and Jerry cartoon could offer abundant comedic possibilities, especially with scenes of Tom pursuing Jerry through a library, desperately trying to remain silent to avoid expulsion, similar to "Quiet Please", yet infused with its own unique charm and wit. However, what is delivered is an excessively harsh episode focused on tormenting Tom, which not only borrows heavily from "Quiet Please" but also amplifies its least appealing aspects to an extreme degree.
2. It features an excess of jarring sound effects, such as a baby's incessant crying, the crunching noise of Jerry eating celery, and a chaotic blend of orchestral music with the clamor of firemen and fire alarms all in a single scene.
   • Poor sound editing is evident in two distinct scenes where Jerry is heard loudly munching on celery and walnuts. The sound effect used does not convincingly portray the act of munching on these items; instead, it resembles the sound of biting into apples or cookies, which is disproportionately loud for celery and walnuts.
3. The animation quality is lacking, and the character designs are poorly executed, with the Fat Librarian, the baby, and the Martians being particularly disappointing.
   • Numerous animation errors exist, such as the instance where Tom's eyes change from yellow to white.
   • Many animations are reused, such as the sequences of cloned firemen and the overweight librarian jumping in anger, which demonstrates the poor production values.
4. Hilda the Fat Librarian is portrayed as an extremely unlikable character. She not only blames and rages at Tom with her overpowering voice for the slightest noise but also prioritizes sleeping on the job over caring for the baby she's responsible for. Interestingly, she doesn't react when the baby cries loudly, yet she berates Tom for merely sighing, yelling at him to be quiet while she herself is excessively loud, which is hypocritical. In essence, she is a poorly executed version of Tom's original owner, Mammy Two-Shoes, resembling more a female counterpart of the notorious Fat Owner from the Gene Deitch era.
   • In another instance of hypocrisy, when Tom momentarily ingests the drum that Jerry was using to cause a disturbance, she mockingly refers to Tom's rotund figure as "lard belly," even though she shares a similar physique.
   • Her noise intolerance is meant to be humorous and comical, akin to the contradictory nature of Joe Bear from Tex Avery's "Rock-a-Bye Bear". However, unlike Joe Bear, she lacks endearing qualities that make her noise intolerance amusing, and instead, she comes across as extremely irritating.
5. The baby isn't any better, as her cries are piercing, and her appearance is unsettling. The creators' attempt to render her cute was excessive and unsuccessful.
6. Jerry is also particularly unlikable in this episode, marking a return to the flanderization characteristic of the Gene Deitch era. He deliberately creates noise to awaken Hilda the Librarian and cause trouble for Tom, who, without any provocation, is merely attempting to maintain silence as Hilda the Librarian requested.
7. Very unfunny jokes throughout this episode.
8. The logic in this episode is completely nonsensical, even for Tom and Jerry's usual antics:
   • Tom only experiences pain when he reattaches his nose after Jerry plucks it out with a nutcracker.
   • Jerry throws a book so heavy that when Tom catches it, he immediately sinks into the floor.
   • The Librarian whimpering like an infant deprived of its bottle.
   • The librarian's chair isn't tripped up by the book, but Tom is.
   • In the episode's conclusion, the Fat Librarian astonishingly hurls Tom all the way to Mars using nothing but her sheer strength.
9. The scene where the fire alarm is ringing with a parade and firemen encounter into the library is not only loud and annoying, but also drags out for way too long.
10. Plot hole: When the fire alarm rings accompanied by a parade, and firefighters rushing into the library, the enormous volume of noise surprisingly doesn't disturb the baby at all. In reality, such loud sounds would typically wake a baby, often leading to uncontrollable crying. Interestingly, Tom fashions makeshift earmuffs for the Fat Librarian but not for the baby. Moreover, the baby is not seen again after Tom puts it to sleep.
11. Awful ending: Tom gets kicked by the fat lady to Mars, gets yelled at by Martians and then flips his lips from sanity loss.
12. Fat Librarian and Jerry never got punished for their terrible actions.

Redeeming Qualities

1. Tom is still an likeable character.
2. Hilda the fat Librarian never appears in the future episodes.
3. There was at least a few funny moments here and there such as the Librarian burping after Tom gives her a bottle of milk, although that probably won't make up for the episode's flaws.
4. There were some impressive animations in some scenes, such as Jerry waving and then leaving being a callback to the cartoon "Quiet Please". the scene where Tom holds the Liberian awhile leaving a streak of fire.

Reception

This episode is called by some to be the worst episode in the series, for the unnecessary Tom torture, poorly-drawn characters designs and its animation.

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