As a set of kids cartoons, though, I wouldn’t put this one near the top. Character movements are less fluid stories take surreal turns, and sound effects carry a disturbing amount of reverb.Īs a piece of animation history, this set is undoubtedly a must-see. Remember, they were developed by a team of animators who had never even seen a Tom and Jerry cartoon before. The animation and sound design in these shorts take some getting used to. Tom’s owner (when he appears) is a brutal, sadistic middle-aged man who often inflicts more torture on Tom than Jerry ever could.
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Also gone is the sadly-stereotyped African-American housekeeper who often played the foil in the Hanna-Barbera days. In short, we’re not confined to that suburban house and yard so prevalent in the Hanna-Barbera shorts. The settings of these shorts are incredibly diverse: a haunted castle, ancient Greece, outer space, the old West, an African safari…and Lincoln Center. Or never seen. These 13 episodes constitute a strange departure for the series….so much so that Gene Deitch actually received a death threat for his run on Tom and Jerry.Īnd if that’s not enough to pique your curiosity about these shorts, you might want to check your pulse. So what was the result of this collaboration? Thirteen episodes of the weirdest, most bizarre Tom and Jerry cartoons you’ve ever seen.
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Deitch would also be followed by the legendary Chuck Jones who produced a run of 34 shorts, but there was no way he could’ve known that at the time. He was put in charge of characters that had been lovingly developed by Hanna-Barbera for almost 20 years, during which time they produced 114 shorts and won a record seven Academy Awards for Animated Short Film. Seems like the odds were against this from the beginning, right? Oh, and Deitch was working behind the Iron Curtain in communist-run Czechoslovakia. With a team of animators who had never seen American animation let alone Tom and Jerry. And gave him a quarter of the budget that Hanna and Barbera had…to make twice as many shorts. He’s on record calling Tom and Jerry “dreck” and “primary examples of senseless violence.”īe that as it may, after William Hanna and Joseph Barbera left MGM to further solidify their place in history on television, the studio handed over the reigns to the theatrical Tom and Jerry shorts to Deitch. Heck, I would’ve probably opted for Merrie Melodies or Silly Symphonies over Tom and Jerry.īut that still makes me a bigger fan of the duo than Gene Deitch was when he took over the franchise in 1961. I’d take any of the Looney Tunes over that cat and mouse. Even as a kid, they were pretty much a last resort. I’ll also admit: I’m not the world’s biggest Tom and Jerry fan.
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Who isn’t? But I wasn’t entirely familiar with Gene Deitch or the era of Tom and Jerry shorts for which he was responsible. I’ll admit: I kind of went into this one a little bit blind. Tom and Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection