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Tom & Jerry Kids Show...so you don't have to
Posted: July 02, 2012
However, this venture was quite fruitful as I now have an updated Episode Guide that has a more complete Tom and Jerry Kids Show listing.
So enough of the martyr talk, lets move on to the RANT! I know I'm not the target demographic, but as a fan of Tom and Jerry since I was 8 I feel that I can at least speak into an opinion of this show.
Having sit through a marathon session at times of watching about 3-4 episodes a day, about 9-12 individual cartoons (3 cartoons per ep), there are glaring flaws that I just can't keep quiet about. Let's begin:
The formulaic nature of these cartoons got old really fast, like after the second full episode that I watched. I know, the old cartoons were cat chases mouse all the time, but the quality and how the old cartoons were executed were far and above that simple formula. Tom and Jerry kids were pretty much; chase, destroy, repeat. The Droopy cartoons were pretty much that same all the time, just a different competition or setting. Spike and Tyke were life lessons between father and son.
Spike and Tyke cartoons. Ugh, I just can't believe how badly they neutered Spike in these cartoons. I really appreciate the Father and Son moments of these cartoons, but Spike came off as kind of wimpy at times. Not as rough around the edges as he was in the older cartoons.
Calaboose Cal. The late, great Phil Hartman lent his voice to one of the most obnoxious characters I've ever seen on television. After one episode of Cal I wanted to find where Phil Hartman is buried and repeated punch him. This character had no redeemable qualities at all.
Droopy and Dripple. The writers of Tom and Jerry Kids took everything that was good in the old Tex Avery Droopy cartoons and put them all in a single episode and distilled those gags down for cheap laughs. Every Droopy and Dripple cartoon had that same plot line, same gags. Droopy and Dripple would be more successful in a business than McWolf who then became jealous and try to ruin them only to have everything he does backfire. Or McWolf was some sort of criminal out to get Droopy or Dripple or something and Droopy and Dripple are there around every corner to stop him. A red head shows up from time to time as the object of affection that always ends up with Droopy...or Dripple. The less I say about these cartoons the better, they were by far some of the worst episodes that I had to sit through. I can't believe these segments got their own spin-off show. *facepalm*
Tom and Jerry Kids: Tom is pretty much a greedy jerk in every cartoon. Jerry is always the innocent. The subtleties of the old cartoons are gone as most of what Tom does to Jerry is vindictive.
I think I'm going to stop here. If you made it this far I salute you for sticking with this rant. I could go on and rip this show to shreds, but I don't want to relive it.
Enjoy the updated Tom and Jerry Kids Show episode guide here.
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