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Gregor Samsa wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 5:14 pm The Cartoon Research blog has a multi-part review that largely champions the set and includes useful capsule reviews of each short:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
The Cinemascope Shorts

Excellent resource, thanks, this definitely refreshed my memory. The measles episode was one that completely came back to me - I remember how the red measles spots genuinely appeared all over Jerry's body, prompting Tom to frantically wash himself as if that would prevent the onset of disease. I think that moment must've occurred to me several times during the pandemic, specifically when I was skeptical that the cleaning I was doing would actually do any good. (With the benefit of hindsight, no it would not!)

Disappointing to hear that the Esther Williams vehicle Dangerous When Wet merely re-purposed animation from The Cat and the Mermouse, though tbf I always preferred their appearance with Gene Kelly in Anchors Aweigh anyway.

Great screencaps too - this alone is pretty much the definition of Itchy & Scratchy and it's worth viewing this moment for the hilariously timed beating they give each other, which moves with the precision of a clock.

And then you have horrifying shit like this. Jesus.

mfunk9786 wrote: Thu Dec 18, 2025 5:49 pm

therewillbeblus wrote: Thu Dec 18, 2025 5:44 pm Tom & Jerry: The Golden Era Anthology (1940-1958) dropped to $46.79

It’s funny - I know it’s supposed to be a big holy grail thing to be able to see all the racist Tom & Jerry shorts in one nice package, but now that this is out on the market I couldn’t care less about it. Is anyone else experiencing this phenomenon? Like… ok, yay media preservation, but I think I’m doing just fine without going through these.

Hmm. I wonder if it's an age thing?

I'm nearly 64. I adored these cartoons as a kid. I'm seriously considering picking this up from a local Walmart. ($60 ish CAD.) I'm wondering if it will make a great stocking stuffer for my 17 year old!? He's used to 5min blasts.

I've been lurking on this thread. No box set is perfect, and I'm aware of some technical issues and racist issues here. (And horror!)

Noiretirc wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 3:13 am Hmm. I wonder if it's an age thing?
I'm nearly 64. I adored these cartoons as a kid...

Yes, I'm about the same age and (while I can't speak for the North American experience) in the UK I think the appeal of T&J among our generation is partly linked to the fact that, from 1967 and throughout the 1970s, they were regularly broadcast on BBC1 around 7pm immediately after the early evening news programmes as a curtain-raiser for the evening entertainment schedule. So they were very much part of family viewing (not in "children's TV" slots as they later became) and it was almost impossible to miss them, especially when there were only three channels and channel-hopping had to be done manually on the TV itself.

I assume the BBC regarded them as safe, wholesome fun - even though Mary Whitehouse famously denounced them for excessive violence! For an autistic person like myself, I think their largely non-verbal mode was part of their appeal and that aspect perhaps made it easier for parents to ignore them, compared to the loud, brash, garrulous Warner cartoon characters who irritated me (the only exception being the generally silent Wile E Coyote with whose Sisyphus-like sufferings I sympathised). IIRC, the BBC usually showed the versions with the black maid redubbed in an Irish accent - ironic since "The Troubles" were always in the British news at that time. Perhaps that made T&J seem like more universal characters or even potentially British, at least compared to the Warner cartoons which were instantly recognisable as American - and when I was a boy "American" was often a dirty word in Britain in relation to children's entertainment (American comics in particular were frowned on).

In the early 1980s, I started making VHS off-air compilations of T&J. About 20 years ago, I bought the more or less complete UK DVD set, which included Casanova Cat and Mouse Cleaning, then the US DVD sets missing those two. I enjoyed watching them occasionally as a prelude to features, so it took me years to get through each set.

I've never rebought them on Blu-ray and probably won't, the main reason being that I now rarely have the patience to find and load discs just to watch one cartoon. I salute those who can enjoy multiple consecutive cartoons but two has always been my max for any series. Having to skip or even sit through company logos, copyright notices, verbal or written warnings about racism, intros by Oprah or Leonard Maltin (Disney), noisy menu screens, etc. - all just for 10 or 15 minutes of entertainment - has always been a deterrent to me. At least setting up an 8mm projector (another hangover from the '70s which I still indulge in occasionally) is more fun than that!

Jonathan S wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2025 7:54 am
Yes, I'm about the same age and (while I can't speak for the North American experience) in the UK I think the appeal of T&J among our generation is partly linked to the fact that, from 1967 and throughout the 1970s, they were regularly broadcast on BBC1 around 7pm immediately after the early evening news programmes as a curtain-raiser for the evening entertainment schedule. So they were very much part of family viewing (not in "children's TV" slots as they later became) and it was almost impossible to miss them, especially when there were only three channels and channel-hopping had to be done manually on the TV itself.

I assume the BBC regarded them as safe, wholesome fun - even though Mary Whitehouse famously denounced them for excessive violence! For an autistic person like myself, I think their largely non-verbal mode was part of their appeal and that aspect perhaps made it easier for parents to ignore them, compared to the loud, brash, garrulous Warner cartoon characters who irritated me (the only exception being the generally silent Wile E Coyote with whose Sisyphus-like sufferings I sympathised). IIRC, the BBC usually showed the versions with the black maid redubbed in an Irish accent - ironic since "The Troubles" were always in the British news at that time. Perhaps that made T&J seem like more universal characters or even potentially British, at least compared to the Warner cartoons which were instantly recognisable as American - and when I was a boy "American" was often a dirty word in Britain in relation to children's entertainment (American comics in particular were frowned on).

Now this really brought back some memories! (I was in England until '72.) Newstime for Dad was our cue: T+J was imminent. The whole family gathered.

I find myself seeking out Rupert Annuals these days. You get to a certain age and some things from childhood start calling.

What's kind of fascinating about the studios' theatrical shorts is how they found new life in the television era, moreso when you think of characters like Bugs Bunny as being contemporaries of Humphrey Bogart or Edward G. Robinson (or at least contract players for Warner Bros., hah). When I was very young, it never occurred to me that these shorts were originally shown in movie theaters, and while they were clearly older cartoons, I didn't realize how old they were until they referenced things like WWII. They clearly weren't designed to be "timeless" - there are boatloads of references to classic Warner films that would've flown over every child's head - but it's amazing how popular they remained for generation after generation of children. That may be no longer the case thanks to streaming giving everyone an obscene number of options, but when broadcast television was still the primary source of home entertainment in the U.S., especially if you didn't have cable or satellite, the most widely available kids' entertainment was either PBS or shorts like these on local television.

I watched most of them as a kid via the Looney Tunes (though they showed non Looney Tunes WB held cartoons too) blocks on Nickelodeon, plus a few VHS compilations here and there. I knew that mouse imitating WC Fields long before I knew human WC Fields, &c

I'm going to walk back my faint praise - I'm almost 40 eps into this set and it's exhaustingly bad. I'm trying to digest just a few at a time, but they're simply not funny and don't reinvent their strategies for deriving humor out of basic actions or grand set pieces. There are a few here and there that do, and they're decent enough to recommend, but ultimately still forgettable. I think I liked the earlier eps because they were more violent - reminded me of Itchy and Scratchy more than what followed. I'm not sure how committed I am to finishing this anymore.. I highly doubt I'm going to come across an unsung masterpiece, but who knows!

I don't see myself keeping this set either. Not nearly enough replay value.

Well now, wtf?

To each their own of course. But my usual routine is 3x T+J before a film. Do I think any are masterpieces? No. Do I laugh myself silly? Rarely. But T+J is like appies for me.

I suppose my connection is more sentimental than anything else.

I don't remember if this aspect has been brought up: The music is always wonderful, imho. Deep, vibrant orchestrations. Never boring.

therewillbeblus wrote: Wed Jan 07, 2026 10:25 pm I'm going to walk back my faint praise - I'm almost 40 eps into this set and it's exhaustingly bad. I'm trying to digest just a few at a time, but they're simply not funny and don't reinvent their strategies for deriving humor out of basic actions or grand set pieces. There are a few here and there that do, and they're decent enough to recommend, but ultimately still forgettable. I think I liked the earlier eps because they were more violent - reminded me of Itchy and Scratchy more than what followed. I'm not sure how committed I am to finishing this anymore.. I highly doubt I'm going to come across an unsung masterpiece, but who knows!

Don’t entirely disagree (although the stuff roughly until Blue Cat Blues & the CinemaScope stuff is definitely the best era, though the Gene Deitch afterwards is actually pretty decent in how utterly odd it is) but I’m curious if there have been any standouts that you enjoyed from this set so far?

I’ll definitely report back if I find one that stands out!

I suppose that 114 shorts / 800+ min sees a fair amount of detritus.

It's like Monty Python, isn't it? Every fan knows that most of what they did was Shit, Actually. Some of it was good. Rare bits were brilliant.

therewillbeblus wrote: Thu Jan 08, 2026 2:26 am I’ll definitely report back if I find one that stands out!

Did you like The Cat Concerto? It’s easily my favorite and the most memorable of their shorts and one that general consensus agrees is their best.

Yeah, I did like that one better than most

I already defended this as best I could. I consider it elevated modern American art on the level of Elvis, Warhol or something else beyond reproach, irrefutably important and monumental. Beyond that it is beautiful, and evokes humor and pathos every time I watch it. I think what we have here are the usual Rocky and Bullwinkle elitists punching down on us hoi polloi .

TechnicolorAcid wrote: Thu Jan 08, 2026 2:23 am

therewillbeblus wrote: Wed Jan 07, 2026 10:25 pm I'm going to walk back my faint praise - I'm almost 40 eps into this set and it's exhaustingly bad. I'm trying to digest just a few at a time, but they're simply not funny and don't reinvent their strategies for deriving humor out of basic actions or grand set pieces. There are a few here and there that do, and they're decent enough to recommend, but ultimately still forgettable. I think I liked the earlier eps because they were more violent - reminded me of Itchy and Scratchy more than what followed. I'm not sure how committed I am to finishing this anymore.. I highly doubt I'm going to come across an unsung masterpiece, but who knows!

Don’t entirely disagree (although the stuff roughly until Blue Cat Blues & the CinemaScope stuff is definitely the best era, though the Gene Deitch afterwards is actually pretty decent in how utterly odd it is) but I’m curious if there have been any standouts that you enjoyed from this set so far?

I’d consider the Deitch stuff the highlight. He was a rare sort of genius.

Erm...

Just to be clear: This collection does not cover the Deitch stuff. (Right?)

nope, that starts in the 60s. I guess there is a DVD documenting his T&J run in Czechoslovakia. Also missing is the Chuck Jones material.

I remember hating the Gene Deitch and Chuck Jones iterations of Tom and Jerry as a child because I just found the art so ugly and terribly unfunny. I recently rewatched a few Jones ones and found them even more unfunny than the Hannah-Barbera originals as I find that there's a smugness to his work after the 40s. And the Deitch are just so odd. The bizarre sound effects and odd music give away that these were European productions, but as a kid, found them almost obtuse. I saw Deitch present his work over a decade ago and thought his shorts were great, but was ill-suited to the formulaic Tom and Jerry. I believe he referenced to having no love for the characters too.

hearthesilence wrote: Mon Dec 22, 2025 6:19 am I see some people saying Heavenly Puss is the greatest Tom & Jerry cartoon ever made and I may agree if I was more certain of my memory - it stands out quite a bit for many reasons.

So far this is definitely the case. I'd seen this one plenty of times before, but in adulthood it struck me as exceptionally dark (a particular hinted reason for death, and upon who, in the first act's 'heaven' portion is very grim) and the brief narrative is far less predictable than the shorts normally are. It's not necessarily that funny, but it's intermittently clever, and compared to its neighboring episodes this is pretty great

therewillbeblus wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 3:31 pm in adulthood it struck me as exceptionally dark (a particular hinted reason for death, and upon who, in the first act's 'heaven' portion is very grim) and the brief narrative is far less predictable than the shorts normally are.

I assume you're referring to

Spoiler

the kittens in the sack?

I actually remember having a nightmare about that when I first watched the short at the age of, like, six.

The assessments of the shorts in this thread are a little disconcerting, having grown up on these cartoons. They're pretty cruel and repetitive, and I'm not sure if I'd really want to see them back-to-back-to-back in the fashion of a giant collection...or have my fonder memories of them ruined. I definitely remember The Yankee Doodle Mouse and Tee For Two as highlights, and I kind of wonder how they play next to each other (judging from TWBB's assessments on Letterboxd: okay and much less okay, respectively) or if they would have any distinct identities if seen alongside their 40s ilk beyond "the WW2 one" and "the golf one."

Never Cursed wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 4:32 pm

therewillbeblus wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 3:31 pm in adulthood it struck me as exceptionally dark (a particular hinted reason for death, and upon who, in the first act's 'heaven' portion is very grim) and the brief narrative is far less predictable than the shorts normally are.

I assume you're referring to

Spoiler

the kittens in the sack?

I actually remember having a nightmare about that when I first watched the short at the age of, like, six.

Yes, and the gatekeeper's nonchalant response to it is even creepier

I can't ever remember particularly liking these cartoons back in the 1950s/early 60s.

I honestly do not begrudge anyone liking these cartoons. I did enjoy a handful as a kid and still do but the majority of these cartoons are just too repetitive and I got bored, even watching them days apart instead of binge watching them. I could not binge Looney Tunes either but I feel those are a bit more varied and funnier. I can count the T&J cartoons I'd rewatch on a hand and from that point of view, this set isn't good value for me. I really was hoping there'd be a higher count of cartoons that I'd genuinely enjoy. But I'm glad it exists at all and that others get more out of it.

And I've never watched Rocky and Bullwinkle.

I remember liking Rocky and Bullwinkle, but I'm afraid to revisit it as most of these cartoons from childhood haven't held up well at all!