Tom and Jerry Jump the Shark

[PorkyandDaffy]

When do you think Tom and Jerry got bad?

[PorkyandDaffy]

I vote for when Fred Quimby stopped producing. I really don't like those post-54 T&J cartoons where Hanna and Barbera produced and directed. The animation budgets got lower, the violence decresed, and I don't think the cartoons are as funny as the earlier ones.

And I can't stand any of the 60's Deitch & Jones T&J's either.

[comicfan]

I think even the later Hanna-Barbera cartoons are somewhat worth watching. And though I agree that the Jones era cartoons don't hold a candle to the originals, they are an improvement over the Deitch years. The Jones cartoons are at least fludily animated, as opossed to the jerky, oddly animated Deitch cartoons.
One thing that kind of disturbed me about the Dietch cartoons was the way they would linger on Tom's pain. In the early years, something slapstick would happen to Tom, he would yell, and maybe do a take of some type. Deitch era cartoons would occasionally linger on Tom's pained face, making it somewhat disturbing.

[DarthGonzo]

Originally posted by comicfan
I think even the later Hanna-Barbera cartoons are somewhat worth watching. And though I agree that the Jones era cartoons don't hold a candle to the originals, they are an improvement over the Deitch years. The Jones cartoons are at least fludily animated, as opossed to the jerky, oddly animated Deitch cartoons.
One thing that kind of disturbed me about the Dietch cartoons was the way they would linger on Tom's pain. In the early years, something slapstick would happen to Tom, he would yell, and maybe do a take of some type. Deitch era cartoons would occasionally linger on Tom's pained face, making it somewhat disturbing.

Of course the Chuck Jones Tom would always get hurt in the most cartoony of ways. Making it all worse was the fact that, when this would happen, we'd stay with Toms predicament for longer than was needed. These cartoons have way too many jokes involving Toms fur acting like clothing, or Tom going about various activites while in a flattened state. There were very few times when any physical injury in these cartoons were actually funny, or matched the level of the Hanna/Barbara years.

However, I also think Tom and Jerry jumped the shark right after Quimby left. A drop in quality in the later cartoons is almost instantly noticable. I also group the HB Tom and Jerry cartoons into two groups: cartoons made before Tom lost the white between his eyes, and the cartoons made after. It's like the change in character designs also brought about change in quality.

[Thad Komorowski]

I particularly like the Chuck Jones T&Js, since those were the ones I grew up watching on TBS and TNT. The worst ones were certainly the Gene Deitch cartoons. Those cartoons had to break some kind of cat cruelty law.


-Thad