TOM AND JERRY TALES

 

TOM AND JERRY TALES

(The CW, September 23, 2006-March 22, 2008)

 

Turner Entertainment Co., Warner Bros. Animation

 
 
MAIN CAST:
Don Brown – Tom, Droopy (season 1)
Sam Vincent – Jerry, Kid
Michael Donovan – Spike, Droopy (season 2), Topsy
Colin Murdock – Butch, Meathead

Check out the history of Tom and Jerry at this post here.

 

Warner Bros. was banking heavily on Looney Tunes: Back in Action being a success. So much so, they imagined it as the springboard into which they could revitalize the Looney Tunes franchise and re-introduce theatrical shorts. Unfortunately, those plans all fell apart when the movie underperformed at the box office. Warner Bros. immediately cancelled their planned slate of Looney Tunes shorts, but kept production going on the 30 Tom and Jerry ones they commissioned for the next two years before pulling the plug. While “The Karate Guard” did actually manage to make it to theaters as intended, Warner Bros. decided the best place for the rest was on television. A few of the shorts aired on Cartoon Network before being packaged together to air on Kids’ WB as Tom and Jerry Tales.

Spike and Butch pick on Tom and Jerry at the beach.

The series was a return to form for the Tom and Jerry franchise. Each episode featured three shorts with some kind of connecting theme and had Tom (Don Brown, with co-creator William Hanna’s archived yell used a few times) and Jerry (Sam Vincent) engaged in their slapstick-laden rivalry (although they would occasionally team-up against a common foe). A great number of characters from the franchise were revived for the shorts, including Tom’s primary nemesis Spike (Michael Donovan) and his son, Tyke; Butch (Colin Murdock), an alley cat who was sometimes Tom’s friend and other times his rival for Jerry; Tom’s equally-silent love interest Toodles Galore; Tom’s owner Mrs. Two-Shoes (a modified version of the racially-charged Mammy Two Shoes, voiced by Nicole Oliver); young mouse Nibbles (Reece Thompson & Chantal Strand); and frequent appearances by Droopy Dog (Brown & Donovan). Character designs were handled by Dan Haskett, Frank Molieri, and Tony Cervone, and while they adhered to the most up-to-date models of the characters, occasionally they would slip back into earlier designs in various episodes. Despite having credited voice actors, Tom and Jerry didn’t speak like in the disastrous Tom and Jerry: The Movie.  They only spoke in the short “Kitty Hawked” as it relied on them relaying a story to an audience on and through the screen.

Taking the battle to cyberspace.

Tom and Jerry Tales debuted on The CW as part of the Kids’ WB programming block on September 23, 2006; although it did air in markets outside of the United States earlier in the year. It would be the first Tom and Jerry show produced by Warner Bros. since their acquisition of the MGM properties through the merger of Turner Entertainment and Time Warner. The series was very well-received due to its harkening back to the franchise’s earlier days. The writing and animation by Yearim Productions Co., Ltd, Lotto Animation, Toon City Animation, Inc. and Rough Draft Studios were praised. A second season was ordered and brought the total number of episodes to 26 for the course of the series; with 78 shorts total (some of which served as updates or contained similarities to earlier entries of the franchise).

Jerry model sheet.

Co-creator Joseph Barbera, who worked on “The Karate Guard”, served as an executive producer for the first season and received story credit for “The Itch” before he passed away in December of 2006. The series was written by Cervone, Charles Schneider, Eric Donald, Jim Gomez, Richard Pursel, Robert Ramirez, Matt Wayne, Bradley Zweig, Tom Minton, Earl Kress, Meredith Jennings-Offen, Mark Turosz, Chris Painter, Joe Purdy, Christopher Keenan, Eric Shaw and T.J. House, who also directed and storyboarded some of the season 2 episodes. Minton and Pursel served as story editors, with Painter joining in the second season.  “The Karate Guard” co-producer and co-director and voice of Tom Spike Brandt also joined in season 2 as a writer, director, character designer and storyboarder. The series’ theme and first season music were composed by Tom Erba, with Gordon Goodwin taking over the music for the second season.

Tom being driven crazy by "The Itch".

Any chance of a third season was likely killed by the fact that Kids’ WB was on the way out when the second season was due to finish airing. Reruns of the series survived the block’s transition to The CW4Kids, remaining on the network until September of 2008. The series would return in reruns on Cartoon Network in 2011 where the series was able to be broadcast in the widescreen aspect ratio it was produced in due to the changing television technology.

The Nintendo DS game cover.

A video game based on the show was released for the Nintendo DS as a 3D platformer and Game Boy Advance as a 2D platformer. Developed by Sensory Sweep Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, the game saw the player control Jerry with the objective of getting Tom into trouble and kicked out of the house. 26 shorts were released across 6 DVD volumes between 2006 and 2009 (the United Kingdom releases had slightly different numberings), of which the first 3 were collected and re-released together in 2009 and were all re-released later in two-packs. Volume 1 was also re-released as part of Tom and Jerry Fun Pack in 2011. 12 segments were included on volumes 2 and 3 of Fur Flying Adventures in 2011, with 9 more in In the Dog House in 2012 and 2 more in Summer Holidays in 2012. The complete first season was released in 2012. In 2010, the short “Game of Mouse & Cat” was included in Tom and Jerry: Deluxe Anniversary Collection. The complete first season was released in 2012. The series was made available to stream on Boomerang SD, Boomerang’s Amazon Channel, DIRECTV, iTunes and Amazon Prime Video.

 

EPISODE GUIDE:
 
“Tiger Cat / Feeding Time / Polar Peril” (9/23/06) – After Tom accidentally wrecks his art, a monkey stealthily paints Tom to look like a tiger. / Tom must keep Jerry from feeding the zoo animals or else Spike will fire him. / An overprotective polar bear becomes Jerry’s defender.

“Joy Riding Jokers / Cat Got Your Luggage? / City Dump Chumps” (9/30/06) – Mistaken as parking valets, Tom and Jerry take Spike’s car on a joyride. / Trashing a hotel lobby leads to Tom being made a bellboy to pay for the damages. / Tom and Butch battle over who gets Jerry in a junkyard.

 
“Way-Off Broadway / Egg Beats / Cry Uncle” (10/7/06) – Tom and Jerry compete as buskers to try and out-earn each other. / Tired of the city noise drowning out his music, Jerry moves to Tom’s farm where the music causes Tom’s pet hen to rapidly lay eggs. / Jerry’s uncle Pecos Pest comes for a visit and keeps him and Tom up with his annoying singing.
 
“Bats What I Like About the South / Fraidy Cat Scat / Tomb It May Concern” (10/28/06) – Jerry uses a bat that resembles him to put a scare into Tom. / Jerry pretends to be a ghost in order to scare away Tom after he buys the haunted house he lives in. / Tom follows Jerry to an ancient tomb where they disturb and anger the mummy within.
 
“Dine-O-Sores / Freaky Tiki / Prehisterics” (11/4/06) – Tom and Jerry end up shipwrecked on an island full of dinosaur eggs. / Under mind control, Tom and Jerry enter a Hawaiian volcano where they meet Pele, goddess of flame. / The rivalry transcends generations to Tom and Jerry’s prehistoric ancestors.
 
“Digital Dilemma / Hi, Robot / Tomcat Jetpack” (11/11/06) – A lightning strike sends Tom and Jerry into their new computer. / Jerry falls in love with the robot female mouse Tom builds to trap him. / Jerry and Spike team-up to take Tom down after he acquires a jetpack.
 
“Fire Breathing Tom Cat / Medieval Menace / The Itch” (2/3/07) – Jerry ends up getting Sir Tom eaten by the dragon he’s sent to slay, which ends up with Tom acquiring the dragon’s flame breath for himself. / A chase ending up in a medieval castle goes magical when Tom and Jerry get ahold of a magic wand. / Jerry wants to join a band of rats whose music causes everyone to become itchy.
 
“Ho, Ho, Horrors / Doggone Hill Hog / Northern Light Fish Fight” (2/10/07) – Tom and Jerry battling it out in Tom’s dream ends up with them wrecking the house for real. / Spike claims Tom and Jerry’s sledding hill for himself. / Ice fishing at the North Pole leads to Tom trying to steal Jerry’s fish.
 
“Cat Nebula / Martian Mice / Spaced Out Cat” (2/17/07) – Jerry and Nibbles encounter an alien squid Tom while traveling through space. / Giant mice from Mars abduct Tom and Jerry. / Tom attempts to become the first to reach the moon in order to impress Toodles and win her back from Spike.
 
“Octo Suave / Beach Bully Bingo / Treasure Map Scrap” (2/24/07) – An underwater chase leaves Tom looking like a mermaid and attractive to an octopus. / A relaxing day at the beach for Tom and Jerry is interrupted by Butch and Spike. / Tom attempts to get some sunken treasure for himself and cut Jerry out of the deal.
 
“Destruction Junction / Battle of the Power Tools / Jackhammered Cat” (3/3/07) – An extreme case of splinters sees Spike put in charge of finishing a building’s construction. / A suddenly rich Tom and Jerry try to outdo each other while building their neighboring mansions. / Tom and Jerry attempt to get at a feast Spike is guarding at a construction site.
 
“Tin Cat of Tomorrow / Beefcake Tom / Tomcat Superstar” (4/28/07) – Mrs. Two Shoes gets a robotic cat to catch Jerry. / Tom enrolls in a gym to get into better shape to catch Jerry. / Tired of a life of fame, Tom retires to the countryside.
 
“Piranha Be Loved by You / Spook House Mouse / Abracadumb” (5/5/07) – Jerry sicks a piranha on Tom as Tom tries to win Toodles’ affection. / A chase leads Tom and Jerry into an amusement park haunted house. / Tom and Jerry battle with magic.
 
Season 2:
“More Powers to You / Catch Me Though You Can’t / Power Tom” (2/22/07) – Tom must protect a team of superheroes’ power rings from an evil dog. / Jerry gains super speed, making him uncatchable. / Tom and Jerry accidentally end up in the lair of a superheroine.
 
“Zent Out of Shape / I Dream of Meanie / Which Witch” (9/29/07) – Jerry constantly foils Tom’s attempts to achieve inner peace. / Sultan Tom uses genie Spike to grant his wishes and remove Jerry from his palace. / Tom is caught in a feud between two witches and must catch Jerry for one of their potions.
 
“Don’t Bring Your Pet to School Day / Cat Show Catastrophe / The Cat Whisperer with Casper Lombardo” (10/6/07) – Nancy brings Tom to school and tells him to behave so she’ll win a gold store, but that’s made difficult when another student brings in Jerry. / Jerry and Nibbles try to spoil Tom’s chances at winning a cat show. / When Tom accidentally ruins her tea party, Mrs. Two Shoes hires him a trainer.
 
“Adventures in Penguin Sitting / Cat of Prey / Jungle Love” (10/13/07) – Jerry takes in a penguin that escaped from the zoo. / Tom sneaks into an animal park to make a meal out of its star: Jerry. / Jerry is protected by a baby rhinoceros while a snake falls in love with Tom’s tail.
 
“Invasion of the Body Slammers / Monster Con / Over the River and Boo the Woods” (10/27/07) – A shape-shifting alien emerges from a ship that lands next to Tom and Jerry’s house. / Abraham Van Helsing crashes a monster convention, but all his assistant Tom is interest in is catching Jerry. / A fishing trip takes Tom and Jerry to a haunted forest where they encounter a bat creature.
 
“Xtreme Trouble / A Life Less Guarded / Sasquashed” (11/3/07) – Jerry rides his skateboard to catch a cheese truck with Tom in hot pursuit. / Jerry sabotages Tom as he tries out for a lifeguard job against Droopy. / A camping trip has Tom, Jerry and Tuffy meet Bigfoot.
 
“Summer Squashing / League of Cats / Little Big Mouse” (11/10/07) – Tom must protect a garden from Jerry and his clan. / Butch invites Tom to join a secret organization of cats that unite to catch mice. / Tom gets blamed when Jerry steals all the food from the refrigerator, but Jerry ends up too bothered by an ant to enjoy it.
 
“Bend it Like Thomas / Endless Bummer / Game Set Match’ (12/1/07) – Tom’s enthusiasm for soccer bothers the neighborhood. / Tom and Jerry compete against Droopy in a surfing competition. / Spike forces Tom to teach Tyke tennis.
 
“The Declaration of Independunce / Kitty Hawked / 24 Karat Kat” (12/8/07) – Tom must retrieve the Declaration of Independence after using it to send Jerry off in a paper airplane. / Museum tour guides Tom and Jerry recount their parts in the Wright Brothers’ flight. / Tom and Butch attempt to steal Jerry’s gold claim.
 
“Hockey Schtick / Snow Brawl / Snow Mouse” (2/2/08) – Jerry freezes the pond to skate, but Tom wants to play hockey. / Magic hats end up making Tom and Jerry’s snowball fight more interesting. / Tom and Jerry encounter a giant abominable snow mouse in the Himalayas.
 
“DJ Jerry / Kitty Cat Blues / Flamenco Fiasco” (2/9/08) – Jerry hosts a party in the record store Tom is meant to guard. / Tom gives Jerry as a gift to the girl he likes. / Jerry and his girlfriend compete against Tom and Toodles in a flamenco contest.
 
“You’re Lion / Kangadoofus / Monkey Chow” (3/8/08) – Tom visits his lion relatives to give Jerry as a gift, but they both end up on the menu. / Jerry is adopted by an overprotective momma kangaroo. / Tom and Mrs. Two Shoes move to get away from Jerry, but he follows them and causes trouble with a monkey.
 
“Game of Mouse & Cat / Babysitting Blues / Catfish Follies” (3/22/08) – Tom and Jerry play virtual games in which their roles are reversed. / Tom and Jerry’s nephews prove to be a handful. / A fishing trip leads to an encounter with catfish Butch, who wants to eat Jerry while Tom wants to eat him.