Chuck Jones "Tom & Jerry" coming to DVD
 

On June 23rd, the Tom & Jerry cartoons made by Chuck Jones from 1964 to 1966 will be out on home video. Warner Home Video is digitally remastering the films for the release.

MGM, the studio that made the original T&J cartoons, shut down its cartoon studio in 1957. They had Rembrandt Studios in Prague, Czechoslovakia (helmed by Gene Deitch and William Synder) make a batch of T&J cartoons in 1961. In 1964, MGM had Chuck Jones' SIB/Tower-12 studio in Hollywood make another batch. Neither version compared favorably against the originals Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera made for MGM--Jones himself called his version "the Road Runner and Coyote in cat-and-mouse drag."

Jones' studio did win an Oscar for a cartoon that wasn't Tom and Jerry--The Dot And The Line. Once Jones got Tom and Jerry out of his system, he'd make a little special for TV called--you may have heard of it--How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

I never liked Jones' Tome & Jerry, I think he should of stuck with Looney Tunes.

A tad off topic as it's not about the DVD, but at work today a gentleman wrote a check featuring Tom and Jerry. I told him I liked his checks because I enjoyed Tom and Jerry too. He then returned the comment by saying his two dogs names are Tom and Jerry, and his cat's name is Butch (the tough dog in the show). 8D It gave me a good laugh.

Jones couldn't go back to Looney Tunes at that point because Warner Bros. shut their cartoon studio down and farmed out cartoon work to two independent studios, DePatie-Freleng (makers of The Pink Panther) and Format Films (Al Brodax Popeye and the 1961 Alvin Show). The low budgets and the curious pairing of Daffy Duck with Speedy Gonzales didn't sit well with W-B cartoon fans.

But as pointed out, Jones himself wasn't too crazy about his Tom and Jerry cartoons.

I personally thought his T&J cartoons were pretty good.

Nice to know they're on DVD now.

There were two that I liked--Duel Personality (the two challenge each other to duels, beating each other senseless) and Is There A Doctor In The Mouse (Jerry concocts a formula that gives him super speed).

Hahaha, those were good episodes, yeah.

I don't remember any that I didn't like, really. Will possibly get this DVD set sometime (I already got the H&B ones).

Tuesday night (3/24) on Turner Classic Movies there will be a little biography of Chuck Jones followed by a screening of some of his short subject cartoons (mainly at W-B but also including The Dot And The Line) and his MGM feature film The Phantom Tollbooth.

From what I hear, the special seems to dwell on the presumed notion that Chuck created Bugs Bunny. He didn't, and if Chuck were around today, he'd be the first to tell you. It was a collaboration of Warner personnel through a series of cartoons up to the 1940 film by Fred "Tex" Avery that gave us the rabbit we know as Bugs. If nothing else, Chuck Jones made the first cartoon in which Bugs was given his name (1940's Elmer's Pet Rabbit).

Who else bought this?