Tom and Jerry: This duo turns 80 and celebrates with their new movie

In 1940, famous cartoon creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, they had the idea of recreating a love-hate relationship. Tom and Jerry, a cat who wants to get rid of an annoying mouse, were born.

A very clever mouse who usually gets his way, at the cat's expense. Many episodes of the animated series have made people laugh for decades.

So, In that year of 1940 at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studio, he wanted to compete with other studios in the world of animation.. But they weren't so lucky. Thus, Joseph had the idea of a cat and mouse in conflict and with recurring chases.

With that in mind, that year they released the first animated short film called “Puss gets the boot”, which in Spanish they named him The cat gets a shoe. Initially they appeared with the name of Jasper and Jinx, then they changed to the ones we know, Tom and Jerry. His debut was a huge success, so received an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short.

The best-known friends of the cat and mouse

They weren't alone; in some chapters, other characters with different roles might appear. If you didn't know their names, here they are:

Spike and Tyke: They're a father and son bulldog. Spike usually attacks Tom when he bothers him or his puppy while chasing Jerry. At first, he was mute, but later he had a voice. In some shorts, he appears gray, and in another, brown. They are also occasionally referred to as Killer and Butch. Their classic phrases include "Listen closely, kitty" and "That's my boy."“

Nibbles: He's a small gray mouse, Jerry's nephew. Because he's small and innocent, he often doesn't understand the danger of the situation. This is why he gets into trouble with Tom.

Muscles Mouse: Also known as Freddie, he's Jerry's super-strong cousin. He wears a green hat and a yellow and black shirt. He's so powerful that not even Tom can beat him.

Toodles Galore: A beautiful white cat who drives Tom crazy every time he sees her. She doesn't speak and moves very little. Her first appearance was in 1946.

Butch: He's a smoking black cat and the leader of the gang he forms with Meathead, Topsy, and Lightning. In the chapters where he appears, he competes with Tom, either to catch Jerry or for Toodles Galore.

MeatHead Cat: Not much is known about his character. He's a mean-spirited stray cat with brown fur and white paws who first appeared in 1943.

Lightning Cat: He's laid-back, greedy, and sometimes even a bit silly. His fur is orange with white legs. He was introduced in 1948 and is named for his fast movement.

Topsy Cat: The youngest of the gang, grey or brown in colour, whose history is very little known.

Mammy Two Shoes: She's a woman who's in the house, who has to deal with the messes caused by the cat and mouse. Normally, you can see her feet.

Tom and Jerry Through Time

We can divide its entire history into eras based on its various producers, who in one way or another produced a large number of animated shorts for the enjoyment of both adults and children.

From the first to the fourth era

Getting started, The Hanna-Barbera era was from 1940 to 1958, producing 114 animated shorts. Where 13 were nominated for the Academy Awards and 7 emerged victorious. Equaling a record with none other than Walt Disney Studios in that category.

Among the peculiarities of the series we have that, Each episode cost around $50,000 and took several weeks to produce.. Additionally, the music composed by Scott Bradley highlighted the events in the story. Meanwhile, Tom's scream was performed by Hanna herself. All of this, plus the entirely hand-drawn animation, made them a gem of animated shorts.

Then, in the mid-1950s, they suffered budget cuts, ultimately closing the department where Hanna and Barbera worked. So they decided to create their own animation studio.

Then, in 1961 MGM revived the franchise with the Gene Deitch era, which ended in 1962. The company hired a studio in Czechoslovakia, led by Gene, but the budget was low, and its artists were unfamiliar with the characters. This resulted in its 13 episodes being considered the worst in its history.

Later, the well-known arrived Chuck Jones, already famous for his work on Looney Tunes. His was covered from 1963 to 1967, with a total of 34 new animated shorts. With him, certain features of Tom's appearance changed, such as thicker eyebrows, a slightly grayer face, and a grayer body. Meanwhile, Jerry was introduced with longer ears, larger eyes, and a sweeter smile. In other words, Chuck modified them to his own style, although he had some problems.

By 1965, episodes were re-edited for television. Mammy Two Shoes was replaced, in some cases with an Irish woman, and in others with a thin white teenager. They also modified the series' presentation by introducing animated footage.

From the fifth era to the present

In In 1975 we entered the second era of Hanna-Barbera.. Yes, its creators were back. This time, 48 new episodes were produced, which were combined with the Grape Ape Show and Mumbly Show cartoons. During this period, the beloved characters became friends, leaving their rivalries behind and embarking on fun adventures. In this way, they avoided violence to fit in with the new standards of television.

Then In 1980, Filmation Studio arrived, for a short era that ended in 1982.. They returned their original form to the cartoon, but were not well received by critics.

Later in In 1986, WTBS bought MGM, which it later sold, but has maintained the rights to the characters through Warner Bros.. Therefore, the series has been broadcast on several of the corporation's channels.

So in 1990 we reached the third era of Hanna-Barbera. The surprise was the release of a youth version of Tom and Jerry cartoon. They kept the chase from previous versions, to entertain viewers.

Then came two productions, one for the small screen in 2001 called Tom and Jerry: The Mansion Cat. And another In 2005, a theatrical short film called The Karate Guard.

From 2006 onwards, until the present, we entered the Warner era. They released 13 half-hour episodes, called The Tales of Tom and Jerry. These were further divided into three shorter episodes, using the original style of their cartoons. In 2012, Cartoon Network re-aired the Warner series, adding two more episodes. They briefly appeared on a charity telethon for children in the United Kingdom in 2014.

To the delight of many fans, A new Tom and Jerry movie is scheduled for release on December 23, 2020.. Its production began in 2019, led by Tim Story and Warnes Wros.

In addition to cartoons

Not only were they cartoons, but comic strips and comic books have also been produced, thus allowing for other ways to showcase the fun cat and mouse characters.

Comic strips first appeared in 1942, made with Dell Comics, 212 issues were published. Later, Western Publishing continued, adding another 344 copies until almost the mid-1980s. Thus being very popular in several European countries, such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden.

As for the comic strips, their run was much shorter. They initially ran from 1950 to 1952, under the direction of Fred Quimby. Kelley Jarvis then revived them from 1989 to 1994.

Tom and Jerry even in video games

Both famous characters couldn't escape the world of video games. The list so far includes 23 video games. It's worth noting that all the installments have the characters' names, which we'll omit in some cases.

The first one was released in 1989, for the Amiga, Commodore 64 and Atari ST computers., simply called Tom and Jerry. The following year the MS-DOS version was released, with the name Yankee Doodle´s CAT-astrophe.

Then in 1991, Nintendo appeared, later in 1993, Sega arrived with Tom and Jerry: The Movie, for the Game Gear and Nintendo consoles. Master System. In late 1993 and early 1994, they released Frantic Antics! for the Game Boy and Sega Genesis consoles.

After five years, we heard from this famous duo again in video games. In 1999, the Game Boy Color released the game of the same name for its previous console, the same game, but with color.

From 2000 onwards, the console wars intensified. In 2000, Nintendo 64 and Microsoft brought us Fists of Furry and for Play Station the video game of House Trap. While Game Boy Color launched Mouse Attacks! and Mouse Hunt.

The Magic Ring appeared in 2002, for Game Boy Advance, then came War on Whiskers for PS2, Xbox and GameCube. The following year Infurnal Escape, was released with Game Boy Advance.

In 2004, they launched their first mobile phone video game, called Cheese Chase and developed Food Fight. In 2006, Game Boy Advance was released again and for the Nintendo DS Tom and Jerry Tales.

Then followed Pinball Pursuit (2007), Mouse Maze (2008), Learn & Play (2014) for mobile phones and this latest title for Android. And for this year 2020 a new game is expected in the Android platform.

Some of its controversies

The cartoons, in some cases, received negative reviews, by Mammy Two Shoes, for being a black maid with a very strong southern accent.

In other cases, derogatory scenes against Asian and Native American populations appeared. In one of the derogatory depictions of guns being used, if fired, the cartoon character's face turned black, with large lips and tied-up hair.

They were also considered very violent cartoons for the time., with Tom using various items such as axes, firearms, explosives to capture Jerry. At the same time, in many cases the mouse sought revenge, being even more violent than the cat. He would even stick his tail in electrical outlets, crushing him with doors. But with all this, you never see blood in any of his chapters.

However, this did not hinder their success, and they became very popular all over the world. So, this year 2020, they are coming with everything, a smartphone video game to be released in the month of June and then the movie so awaited by many for the end of the year.. And thus continue to reap laurels and increase its presence in the history of entertainment.

Now, surely at some point in your life you saw one of the cartoons, so tell us how do you like the short films of these famous cartoons called Tom and Jerry?

Image: Google Lens