Comments on: Tom & Jerry Tales: The End

By: warren

warren — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:54:57 +0000

“I think we have to stop sending the work out to be butchered by foreign hands.”

As a foreign hand myself (I’m a Canadian), this statement is hilarious! Time & money and lack thereof is the sole cause of what you see, my friends. I can honestly say with a lot more of both the research & enthusiasm ‘behind the scenes’ would have been apparent onscreen. This kind of thing is like trying to do a T&J feature cartoon with the budget they had for Huckleberry Hound! A recipe for falling short, if you ask me.

As for the new proposed feature, I have no hand in that one but I wish them luck. They have their work cut out for them – because the money is there…

By: mike matei

mike matei — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:34:12 +0000

Look how bad the DVD cover is. Jesus.

By: Kevin Wollenweber

Kevin Wollenweber — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:45:31 +0000

Forgive me for being so ignorant about this, but are TOM & JERRY comics still being published? I know that, back in the day, there were TOM & JERRY comic books and, while I didn’t like them because the characters talked, I was still glad that they were out there and I had always thought that these helped to keep the impressions of the cat and mouse out there. If TOM & JERRY comics no longer exist, perhaps someone should take the reigns and drive home the fact that the true “art” of the TOM & JERRY series was the violence that these two used to do to each other. Create a series of panels around the physical gags–and I know this can be done!! There have been occasional panels in the “golden age” of underground cartoons and, as I’ve stated before, even in the pages of NATIONAL LAMPOON magazine, that do a back-handed “salute” to classic theatrical cartoon violence; LAMPOON’s TOM & JERRY parody was especially perfect, even though I realize that one cannot even consider such graphic violence in a TOM & JERRY book. So why not bloodless violence? The artists on “THE SIMPSONS” were practically telling those still trying to revive and sweeten TOM & JERRY (with their ITCHY & SCRATCHY “cartoons within a cartoon”) just where the strengths of the series lie. Such suggestive nudging just didn’t work on the people responsible for “new” TOM & JERRY cartoons. Well, maybe someone pushing for new TOM & JERRY comic books might be able to gradually turn things back around. Hey, I agree that these were characters whose strengths lay in their classic shorts and we shouldn’t be tampering with this stuff anymore, but hey, marketers don’t see things that way. So, if they’re going to continue tampering, why not get someone out there who can really put into the faces of marketers just what was so great about the original cartoons like “KITTY FOILED”, “PLAY SAFE”, “PART-TIME PAL”, “MOUSE CLEANING”, “BABY PUSS” or “YANKEE DOODLE MOUSE”, truly painful violence run amuck!! It is sickening that marketers tend to forget just why animation is there and why older cartoons were so frenetic and funny to begin with!

By: Kel Crum

Kel Crum — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:55:34 +0000

After a google search I found out that both Rosa and Van Horne indeed have created comics with their own characters, although I’ve never come across them in any of the comic shops in my area.

By: Kel Crum

Kel Crum — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 23:35:31 +0000

Not too familiar with Bob Karp’s work. Of course I am familiar with Al Taliaferro, Floyd Gottfredson and others who worked with Donald before Barks (including, oh yeah, that Disney guy), but Barks was more than a Disney imitator. When he took over Donald he created a whole new world for the ducks, new characters, and even a town named Duckburg for them to live in. Once he hit his stride it was evident that the duck in “The Guilded Man” is a completely different character from that quacker who matched wits with Chip and Dale.

When I first saw the work of William Van Horne, it was amazing identical to Barks. Several other artists started doing duck stories and you can see them in new issues of “Donald Duck”, “Uncle Scrooge” and “Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories”. I can see that Don Rosa has talent, but he, like Van Horne, seems tied down by obeying all the rules that Barks set – same characters, same setting. He has even done follow-ups to Barks stories – including “Lost in the Andes” and “Back to the Klondike”. It would be interesting if Rosa, Van Horne, and the others completely dropped the ducks and created their own distinctive characters.

By: Chuck Fiala

Chuck Fiala — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:46:19 +0000

I agree that Scott Bradley’s scores often feel equal to the Tom and Jerry cartoons in importance, but they’re so much fun to listen to that I never mind it. I think that this is simply a case of the composer working in conjuction with the animators doing a really great job, completing the entertainment value of the shorts.

By: rodney

rodney — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 14:08:20 +0000

“Leave well enough alone”. That’s the way I’ve always felt about the work of Don Rosa and all the other Carl Barks wannabe’s, but I realize I’m in a minority.”

How many other Carl Barks wannabe(e)’s are there? Also why would you even consider Rosa as a Barks wannabe(e)? Building upon someone’s body of work is not the same as a wannabe(e). If so, than Barks is nothing more than a Bob Karp wannabe(e).

By: Eric Noble

Eric Noble — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:55:32 +0000

That picture of Tuffy BURNS!

By: Ricardo Cantoral

Ricardo Cantoral — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:08:18 +0000

“That’s the way I’ve always felt about the work of Don Rosa”

That’s not fair. Don Rosa did great work though I think is biggest flaw is that he takes Uncle Scrooge a bit too seriously.

By: Kel

Kel — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:10:28 +0000

Although I disagree with the summation of Hanna and Barabera’s contribution to the Tom and Jerry’s, I completely agree with Thad’s final paragraph which is the way I’ve felt about revivals for ages. Even a live action tribute to the screwball comedies of the 40’s like “What’s Up Doc” seems fake despite all the frantic action.

“Leave well enough alone”. That’s the way I’ve always felt about the work of Don Rosa and all the other Carl Barks wannabe’s, but I realize I’m in a minority.