No doubt about it if you love cartoons, you probably love Tom and Jerry. They are beautifully animated like Disney cartoons but humorous like the Looney Tunes. And it's not just opinion; 7 Academy Awards will show you how much of a classic Tom and Jerry is. However, not every Tom and Jerry cartoon was great, and the further from the classic MGM years (1940-1958), the chances increase of them being bad. So here are the worst Tom and Jerry cartoons in chronological order. Please note, this is based off of the majority of fans' reactions as well as some opinions here and there.
1. Cinemascope Remakes
What?! I know that sounds far fetched considering these were done by the original studio, but hear me out. In the 1950's with the threat of television, many studios changed aspect ratios on a lot of their films. One was cropped widescreen (filmed in fullscreen). The other was Cinemascope which were filmed that way and had a much larger and wider screen bringing "on the big screen" to a whole new level (Cinemascope is still used today). Any film buff will tell you if you're watching a zoomed in full screen of a Cinemascope film, you're missing a lot of detail, so yes, if those MGM cartoons are being viewed that way, they are hard to watch at times, but let's say in a perfect world for now no alterations were done to the cartoons. 95% of the cartoons are original. Some of them are simply remakes of previous cartoons. For example, The Little Orphan is now remade as Feedin the Kitty. It's the same exact cartoon frame by frame. The same animation plus a few tricks for Cinemascope here and there such as new modernized backgrounds. Oh yeah, and the same exact soundtrack too. So really, these are cheaters. They're just reissues of previous cartoons, just reanimated to fit the screen. They are watchable, and fascinating to see in a different way, but could not and did not replace the original versions. Don't worry though, we'll get through worse cartoons than this.
2. Gene Deitch Tom and Jerry
MGM closed their cartoon studio in 1957 to save money by re-releasing the older ones. However, audiences could recognize right away an old cartoon, so MGM had to start from scratch since creators and producers Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera started their own company for TV. So, they got Gene Deitch and his studio in Czechoslovakia for a new season of cartoons in 1961. Deitch never liked Tom and Jerry, but wanted to be faithful to the original. The folks in his studio, however, never saw a Tom and Jerry cartoon ever. Their style of animation was also different adding more puppetry to them rather than personality animation that the original studio did. Worse yet, the budget for these cartoons was much lower, making them suffer from limited animation. From fast cuts to weird music and sound effects, some deem these the absolute worst Tom and Jerry cartoons ever made. Notable cartoons include Dicky Moe and The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit. Only one season of cartoons were made by Deitch, and to this day, they are the only Tom and Jerry cartoons produced outside of the US.
3. Chuck Jones Tom and Jerry
When MGM ended its contract with Deitch, they had to go a new route. Recently laid off/fired from WB (it's a long story), legendary director and artist Chuck Jones took over the series. He hired back his unit who left with him to produce new cartoons. Jones too didn't like Tom and Jerry, but unlike Deitch, he made the series his own, giving new distinct features on the characters and animated the same way his Looney Tunes were. What worked for Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig did not seem to do justice for Tom and Jerry. The cartoons were pretty bland. Bad timing, odd facial expressions, and just unfunny. From 1963-1967, these cartoons were released in theaters. This would be the last time Tom and Jerry shorts were in theaters.
4. The New Tom and Jerry Show (1975)
Tom and Jerry reunited with their old creators, Hanna and Barbera. Sounds great right? Well....by 1968, Hanna Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting. And then, here comes the men in suits. They caused EVERYTHING to go downhill for the studio, and Tom and Jerry, sadly, was no exception. So now they're like....best friends? Limited animation? Pass.
5. The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show
The next studio to take on Tom and Jerry is Filmation. Thankfully, Tom and Jerry are fighting again. However, Filmation was much much cheaper than Hanna Barbera. The animation and stories fall somewhat flat. Filmation always had such strange sounds like the background music. Filmation almost always never had original characters. They were all based off of other characters like Bill Cosby's Fat Albert, Mattel's He-Man, The Archies, and reboots of characters like Mighty Mouse and Daffy Duck. Not good reboots, just...reboots. For a while, these cartoons were hidden out of embarrassment. However, Boomerang and Cartoon Network have exposed us to these episodes as of late so.......you be the judge.
6. Tom and Jerry: The Movie
A new reemergence of Tom and Jerry was beginning thanks to Ted Turner buying the rights to the characters, and for a new generation of kids and increasing popularity of animated features, Turner put out a full length feature starring Tom and Jerry. However, it wasn't without major.....flaws. First of all, Tom and Jerry could now talk. While they spoke once in a while in the originals, they were never meant to carry on conversations as seen here. They then began to sing about being friends. Yikes. Finally, the movie is mostly not about Tom and Jerry, it's about a girl trying to find her father and get away from her greedy "Aunt Fig".....oh yeah and Tom and Jerry helps out too. Just another Disney knock off
7. The Tom and Jerry Show (2010's)
Once again it was time to introduce Tom and Jerry in the new digital age. With this new series, Tom and Jerry were up to their old tricks. However, the budget was cut, so they resorted to flash animation. Darrel Van Citters directed the series, but flash can vary from really awesome to very atrocious, but flash is nothing but a tool. The Tom and Jerry episodes were somewhere in between. Van Citters is a fine director and animation historian, but even he claims that they came back to him not exactly what he wanted. Most classic animation fans lost trust for flash after the Looney Tunes webisodes, which is kind of unfair since streaming cartoons was undeniably brand new at that time. Still, timing and weird animation for Tom and Jerry gave it the dishonorable mention it deserves.
8. Tom and Jerry Meets Willy Wonka
As part of WB initiative to release a new Tom and Jerry made for video movie, sometimes a crossover would happen. Some made sense such as The Wizard of Oz and even Johnny Quest, but this was the last straw that broke the camel's back. 1. it was a cash in for WB 2. Willy Wonka had never been done in animation before and possibly shouldn't 3. Gene Wilder who played Willy Wonka in the original had just passed away 4. it makes no sense. Tom and Jerry chasing each other during scenes from Willy Wonka causes one to wonder what's more important. This whole thing started an outrage by fans. One Twitter user went so far as saying, "WB, just stop. Chuck Jones couldn't even bring back Tom and Jerry." This was a corporate decision. As of this writing, no new Tom and Jerry made to video movies are being made (gee I wonder why......)
