Tom and Jerry Tales
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| ♥ | This article is dedicated to Joseph Barbera (March 24, 1911 - December 18, 2006), one of the show's developers and producers, who passed away from natural causes at the age of 95. |
| This article was imported from the Best Shows & Episodes Wiki. |
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 A spin-off starring the classic and iconic cat & mouse duo done right.
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Tom and Jerry Tales is a Canadian-American animated television series starring the seven-time Academy Award-winning cat-and-mouse duo Tom and Jerry. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Turner Entertainment Co., it is the seventh incarnation of the Tom and Jerry franchise as well as the first Tom and Jerry television series to emulate the original theatrical shorts created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; it originally ran in the United States from September 23, 2006 to March 22, 2008 on Kids' WB.
Why It Still Deserves A Custard Pie
- Brings back the charm of the original Tom and Jerry classic shorts, something which most prior Tom and Jerry TV spin-offs (except for Tom & Jerry Kids) were sorely lacking in.
- Although set in a contemporary environment and featuring more science fiction and supernatural elements than the original shorts, it remains faithful to the original spirit.
- Aside from Tom, Jerry, Spike, Tyke, Nibbles/Tuffy, there's a countless amount of characters from the original shorts make a return, such as Butch, Quacker, Toodles Galore, Topsy, Lightning, and other supporting/minor characters like Uncle Pecos, Cherie, Toots, Nancy, Eagle, Lion and more return.
- Mammy Two-Shoes also returns to series in a way, as named Mrs. Two Shoes who has almost the same personality as her.
- Great animation (by Toon City and Lotto Animation (season 1 only)) that resembles that of the direct-to-video films and even rivals that of the original shorts.
- Also, the character designs closely resemble the ones from the fourth direct-to-video film, Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers (at least until Season 2).
- The opening theme is creative and well done, as well as a nice throwback to the classic short, Designs on Jerry.
- The comedy and the slapstick stay true to source material.
- Tom, Jerry, and Droopy compete in sports like in The Tom and Jerry Show (1975).
- Creative, interesting and fun episode plots.
- It is a major improvement over the first two television spin-offs The Tom and Jerry Show (1975), and The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show.
- Great background music by Tom Erba, which got even better in Season 2 once Gordon Goodwin took over as composer.
- Top-notch voice acting that fits the characters (especially in Season 2).
- Great to memorable episodes such as:
- Polar Peril
- Joy Riding Jokers
- Tiger Cat
- Jungle Love
- Cry Uncle
- Digital Dilemma
- Ho Ho, Horrors (which started the series on the production order in the good note)
- Northern Light Fish Fight
- Spaced Out Cat
- Octo Suave
- Beach Bully Bingo
- Abracadumb
- The Cat Whisperer
- Cat of Prey
- Invasion of the Body Slammers
- League of Cats
- Kitty Cat Blues
- Game of Mouse & Cat
- Many funny moments, like Spike and Butch sword fighting and Butch pinching Spike's tipping on his finger in Beach Bully Bingo and Jerry giving Tom his autograph in Cat of Prey.
- Almost every episode uses a theme. For example: Tiger Cat/Feeding Time/Polar Peril have a theme of wild animals.
- There are some good remakes of episodes from the original Tom and Jerry, The Tom and Jerry Show (1975), and The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show.
- Kitty Cat Blues is a reminiscent to The Zoot Cat and Solid Serenade.
- Fraidy Cat Scat is a remake of Fraidy Cat
- Beach Bully Bingo being a more fun remake of Beach Bully.
- The Tin Cat of Tomorrow is a remake of Push Button Kitten.
- Hi, Robot is New Mouse in the House but better.
- Kitty Hawked is Kitty Hawk Kitty an remake.
- Snow Brawl shares the same name with Snowbrawl.
- The series has many similarities to The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show.
- Some episodes make attempts to recapture the designs of the characters from the 1940s, like Kitty Cat Blues and A Game of Mouse & Cat.
Bad Qualities
- Occasional bad episodes like "Piranha Be Loved by You” and “Game Set Match”.
- Some episodes have sci-fi plots, which is kinda jarring considering the franchise’s down-to-earth tone.
- ”Catfish Follies”, while still a good episode, wasn't the highest note as the final episode to end the series, unlike in the first season, where “Abracadumb” had a higher note than “Catfish Follies”.
- Spike can be such a jerk in some episodes like “Way-Off Broadway”, “Spaced Out Cat”, and (especially) “Game Set Match”.
- Some characters don't get enough appearances such as Tyke, Quacker, Meathead, Lightning and Topsy, especially Tyke and Quacker as they only appear in one episode each.
- While the character designs in season 2 look decent, they aren't as good as the ones from season 1. It is worth noting that in some episodes, they look like the designs from the fifth direct-to-video film, Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale.
- It incorporates more science fiction and supernatural elements, which contrast with the grounded tone of the original shorts. Nevertheless, it largely remains faithful to the original format.
- Despite the great voice acting, Topsy was erroneously miscast with an adult voice in Season 1 that doesn't fit his character. However, it was luckily changed in Season 2.
- Butch's voice can sound a bit off-putting for him in Season 1 and thank again his voice was change in Season 2.
- Archival recordings from William Hanna and Mel Blanc as Tom and Jerry are hardly ever used, except for the three episodes Ho Ho Horrors, Northern Light Fish Fight, and Medieval Menace. Instead, Don Brown, who provided the vocal effects of Tom, tried his best to imitate William Hanna and Mel Blanc's archival recordings as the character, and did a decent job at doing so.
Reception
Tom and Jerry Tales received mainly positive attention according to the audience score of 7.4/10 on IMDb since it seems to have drawn closer to the Golden MGM-era. It was even praised for the writing and the higher-quality animation.
Trivia
- This is the first Tom and Jerry series to be produced by Warner Bros. Animation, after the parent company Time Warner merged with Turner Broadcasting System in 1996, which owns the pre-May 1986 MGM library.
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