"Tom and Jerry" (1965) TV series 1965-1972

User Rating:

9.0/10   

Creators:

Joseph Barbera
William Hanna

Release Date:

25 September 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Family

Plot:

A weekly Saturday (later Sunday) Morning repackaged compilation with new wraparounds featuring two Tom and Jerry cartoons sandwiching other MGM animated theatrical shorts.

Plot Keywords:

Tom And Jerry | Mouse | Cartoon Cat | Cat Versus Mouse | Cat

Cast

Tex Avery	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Joseph Barbera	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Billy Bletcher	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Daws Butler	...	Various Characters (1965-1972) (voice) (uncredited)
Red Coffee	...	Little Quacker / Additional Voices (voice) (uncredited)
Bill Cole	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Pinto Colvig	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Hans Conried	...	Narrator, "Johann Mouse" segment (voice) (uncredited)
June Foray	...	Witch, " The Flying Sorceress" segment (voice) (uncredited)
Stan Freberg	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Paul Frees	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Bob Hamlin	...	(voice) (uncredited)
William Hanna	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Bill Lee	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Don Messick	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Thurl Ravenscroft	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Tex Ritter	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Max Smith	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Bob Stevens	...	(voice) (uncredited)
Bill Thompson	...	Droopy / Various Characters (voice) (uncredited)

Runtime:

30 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:TV-G | Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp

Company:

MGM Television

Trivia:

The "Classic Collection" DVD boxsets omit at least one episode, "Casanova Cat". It has been generally viewed as one of the more blatantly racist Tom & Jerry episodes, as Jerry appears in blackface and tap dances to "Swanee River".

Goofs:

Continuity: In the episode "Royal Cat Nap", while Tom watches the cardinal's sleep, he spots Jerry eating some cheese on the night-stand. When he points his sword to Jerry, the mouse points to Nibbles (supposedly), but when the camera moves it shows the same Jerry as before holding a vase.

Quotes:

Tom Cat: [singing to a female cat] Is you is, or is you ain't my bay-bay...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Ren & Stimpy Show: Space Madness/The Boy Who Cried Rat! (#1.3)" (1991)

Commentary on the world's greatest cat and mouse team

As a little boy growing up,I would get up early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to catch the adventures of Tom and Jerry. To this day,no other cartoon has held up so vividly and it remains one of the greatest animated aspects ever devised. Yes,they were the Itchy and Scratchy of their time. As a kid,I always had the pleasure of seeing them at least three to five times a day. When it ran on CBS-TV in the mid-1960's and part of the early-1970's they would run this on both Saturday and Sunday mornings,and during the weekdays it would run continously on either Superstation TBS or I usually picked it up on the Washington,DC station WTTG-Channel 5(where it ran four times a day)or either the local station affilate where I live(where it ran once a day).

Nowadays it can be seen on the Cartoon Network where it runs a full hour everyday.

Tom and Jerry did have its funniest moments though,even when Tom would get beat up by the neighborhood dog(Spike),or get in some hairy situation where Jerry the mouse always puts him,or ending up in some lamebrain scheme to get the mouse,which often ends with hilarious results. The ones that were produced by the team of William Hanna and Joesph Barbera were the best ones ever which during 1940 through the last cartoon that they would produced in 1958(which Hanna-Barbera would go on to produced some of the greatest animation ever devised for children and make memorable characters through their production company after they left MGM) garnered several Oscars including Best Animated Short Feature in 1948 for "The Cat Concerto".

The ones that were produced by Gene Deitch were absolutely horrible and almost destroy the franchise which left MGM animation department high and dry from 1959-1962.

That's was about to change......In 1963,animator Chuck Jones revised the Tom and Jerry franchise and brought it back to life which in turn produced several cartoons from 1963 to the last Tom and Jerry theatrical feature to be released by MGM in 1967. It was here that Jones,took the cat and mouse team to new heights including to new status as Saturday morning TV superstars and also brought Jones his next Oscar for his pre-Tom and Jerry project "The Dot and the Line"(1965).

However,Hanna-Barbera brought them back in 1975 as part of the Tom and Jerry Show which was a comeback for the cat and mouse team as their return to Saturday mornings,and again in the mid-1990's as "The Tom and Jerry Kids Show". The ones that were produced by Filmation were awful.

The earlier ones from the 1940's(which had the housekeeper)are seldom seen(and were dropped due to political reasons and mostly because of stereotypical issues),but in all this was a cat and mouse cartoon and when it was released theatrically during the 40's and 50's, its violence was very extreme(If you have kids under 10 years of age,do not let them get any bright ideas!).

But in all,they paved the way and without them the cartoon world would not be a better place.