The Tom & Jerry Show
EPISODE 5

Broadcast Number:TJGA-5
Original ABC Airdate:October 4, 1975

80-20"TRICKY McTROUT"


At a campsite by a lake, Tom and Jerry are awakened from a sound sleep by Tricky McTrout, a sly, wild, crafty and rather uncatchable fish! "Better fishermen than you two have tried to catch old Tricky!" reports the ranger who greets T&J. Tom & Jerry set out to succeed where scores of "better fishermen" have failed, but all of their methods backfire, usually ending with Tricky continuously getting T&J in dutch with the ranger. With a Super Hypnotic Lure, they manage to hypnotize Tricky into thinking he is a duck, a beaver, a seal, and Moby Dick the whale. A final attempt with a fish-sensing sonar device proves to be the biggest bust of them all, as Tricky uses it to his mischievous advantage; he succeeds in luring T&J, sonar device, boat and all right into the ranger station, completely demolishing it. Deciding that this is the straw that broke the ranger's back, the ranger has T&J ejected from his forest. Back home, the two discard their Super Hypnotic Lure and take a nap, when they hear water sloshing. They are surprised to find Tricky McTrout bathing in their tub, and then escaping down the drain!

TRIVIA & NOTES:

  • This is inspired by 1947's Cat Fishin'.
  • Tricky's transformation into Moby Dick could be referenced to Hanna-Barbera's previous animated adaptation of Herman Melville's creation: the 1967-69 CBS Saturday Morning series Moby Dick And The Mighty Mightor.
  • Tom has developed a not-so-unnormal habit of purring while sleeping. He does it again in #80-45, "The Campout Cutup."
  • Lennie Weinrib voices both Tricky McTrout and The Super Hypnotic Lure.
  • Number of times Tricky bugles "Charge": 4. He bugles "Reville" to wake Tom and Jerry up. 


80-13"THE TENNIS MENACE"


Tom and Jerry compete at tennis in The Championship Singles Finals. In a mixed doubles match, Tom's tennis partner is Big Bertha, and Jerry's teamed with Yvonne Jockalong (both are cats!), from which Tom and Big Bertha emerge victorious. After the teams shake hands with the losers, Tom, using underhanded tricks and bending the rules, is determined to win. First he uses the practice machine to serve to Jerry; the first ball slices through Jer's racket, but it bounces off the stands and knocks the machine over. Next, Tom serves a ball with a string attached so it stops short in midair and drops just over the net. Time and time again he tricks Jerry, giving him a rubber racket and then a ball with glue, both of which prove to be disasters. Finally, Thomas, leaving nothing to chance, resorts to using a humongous racket, but Jerry manages to win anyway. In a fury over losing, Tom aims the practice machine at Jerry and switches it on; finding it empty, he fills it with tennis balls and kicks it, turning it towards himself, and, bombarded with speeding tennis balls, he does his level best to hit each and every one!

TRIVIA & NOTES:

  • This is a retread of 1949's Tennis Chumps.
  • The snippet from this cartoon where Jerry delivers the ball and Tom does his best to hit a hailstorm of balls thrown at him until he surrenders and runs away can be seen in the syndicated Tom & Jerry Show opening credits.
  • Unused segues involve Tom giving Jerry a lead ball and then a cheese ball that ends up slicing right through his racquet.
  • Yvonne Jockalong is an amalgam of Australian tennis star Evonne Goolagong. Yvonne is another female cat who resembles Tom's kitten girlfriend in 1956's Muscle Beach Tom.
  • Tom & Jerry will be seen playing table tennis at the beginning of Episode #80-44, "Jerry's Nephew".
  • The gimmick of Tom using a ball with a string attached is reminiscent of a trick he previously pulled in Episode #80-08, "The Wacky World Of Sports."
  • For the first time on the show, Tom is heard to be snickering and Jerry giggling. Tom's snicker is based on Sebastian's laugh on Josie And The Pussy Cats (CBS, 1970-72).

ORIGINAL ANIMATION:


80-15"COSMIC CAT AND METEOR MOUSE"
LOST EPISODE


Tom and Jerry are watching their favorite cartoon heroes, Cosmic Cat And Meteor Mouse, on TV. The noise of the TV disturbs Spike the bulldog, who is trying to sleep in the yard. Spike stomps in and turns off the set, beginning a series of zany adventures for Tom and Jerry as they try to watch their TV show; T&J even go so far as to disguise themselves as CC&MM and using a CC&MM record to lip-synch to to throw a little scare into Spike until he uncovers their ruse. When the real Cosmic Cat and Meteor Mouse come to the rescue, the bulldog thinks they are Tom and Jerry in disguise, but is he in for a shock when he learns differently! The heroes turn the tables on the dog, giving him The Galaxy Gazzot, which sends him spinning around like a top. Cosmic and Meteor then force Spike to allow T&J to watch their favorite show. Spike agrees, but when the dog and T&J sit down and tune in to Cosmic Cat And Meteor Mouse on TV, the show, much to Spike's delight and Tom & Jerry's chagrin, has added a new character: a villain who is Desperate Dogstar, a cosmic bulldog! Scatter-Zoom, Away!

TRIVIA & NOTES:

  • "Cosmic Cat And Meteor Mouse" was most likely inspired by Courageous Cat™ and Minute Mouse, a Telefeatures cartoon first syndicated in 1960 created by Bob Kane (Batman) for Trans-Artists Productions. 
  • "Cosmic Cat And Meteor Mouse" originally ended with CC&MM scaring Spike off, allowing T&J to sit down and turn on the TV at last, only to see the end titles of their favorite show.
  • For the first time on the show, Spike speaks actual lines of dialogue, courtesy of the unlamented Don Messick.
  • The gag of Tom lipsynching to the CC&MM record and Spike speeding up and slowing down Tom's turntable is inspired by similar gimmicks in the 1950 MGM Tom & Jerry short, Texas Tom.
  • The premise of Spike demanding quiet was preceded by similar segues in Quiet, Please (1945) and Hic-cup Pup (1954).
  • Here, Spike calls himself Bully Bowser.
  • The fur color of Cosmic Cat and Meteor Mouse is opposite to that of Tom & Jerry's.
  • According to the opening passage to Cosmic Cat And Meteor Mouse, CC&MM's base of operations is the distant planet Katnipton in the far-off galaxy of Rodentia.


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