Tom and Jerry: Difference between revisions

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John Carr may (or may not) have been inspired by the names of the two young tearaways in the 19th Century ''Life in London'' stories, or perhaps by the eggnog-like beverage known as "Tom and Jerry" (and itself named after the earlier characters).

In 1965, [[CBS]] began broadcasting a ''Tom and Jerry'' [[Animated Anthology]] on Saturday mornings. This was two years after [[Chuck Jones]] began directing another series of theatrical ''Tom and Jerry'' shorts, taking over from Deitch and bringing production of the series back to Hollywood.

 

 

The original shorts featured Mammy Two Shoes, a black maid who would be ''very'' politically incorrect by today's standards. At the same time that cartoons started to be edited to take the edge off the violence, they also replaced Mammy with Irish-tinged housewife "Mrs. Two Shoes". [[Acceptable Targets|Apparently, its perfectly okay to make fun of the Irish.]] Mammy was phased out during the original Hanna-Barbera shorts era in favor of having Tom owned by George and Joan, an inoffensive (and bland) white couple. During the Gene Deitch period, Tom was occasionally depicted as being owned by a fat guy that looks suspiciously like "Clint Clobber" (a character Deitch created for [[Terry Toons]]), who was actually more violently sadistic towards him than Jerry ever was. (Few people remember this because few people like the cartoons from this period)

[[Warner Bros]] acquired the rights to Tom and Jerry after purchasing Turner Broadcasting System, which in 1986 had purchased MGM's entire pre-1986 library. Interestingly, since then it seems like Warner has been treating Tom and Jerry better than their own ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' (probably due, in part, to the commercial bombing of ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action]]''). Tom and Jerry has been the only classic cartoon series to air consistently on [[Cartoon Network]], [[Network Decay|miraculously]]. Since acquiring the rights to Tom and Jerry, Warner has produced several direct-to-video movies - and ''[[Tom and Jerry Tales]]'' - which, for the most part, stay true to the classic Tom and Jerry form.

 

 

As of October 2011, Warner Bros. has started to re-release the classic Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts in a new DVD and Blu-Ray series called the ''Tom and Jerry Golden Collection'', featuring fully-restored and strictly uncut and uncensored shorts. The previously [[Missing Episode|legally unavailable]] "Mouse Cleaning" and "Casanova Cat" will more than likely be included on Volume 2.

On a side note, [[Tom and Jerry: The Movie|a feature length Tom and Jerry film]] was released in 1992. There have also been some direct-to-video feature length Tom and Jerry films released since.

 

 

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* [[Puss Gets the Boot]] (1940): The debut of the characters, and the short that establishes the series formula. Oscar Nominee.

* The Night Before Christmas: Nominated for the 1941 [[Academy Award]] for cartoon shorts.

* Jerry's Cousin: 1951 Oscar nominee.

* The Two Mouseketeers: Won the 1952 Oscar.

* Johann Mouse: Won the 1953 Oscar.

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* [[Puss Gets the Boot]]: Debut of Tom and Jerry, although they are called Jasper and Jynx in this meant-to-be oneshot cartoon.

 

* The Midnight Snack: First short where Tom and Jerry are dubbed as such. First official Tom and Jerry cartoon.

* The Night Before Christmas: Nominated for the 1941 [[Academy Award]] for cartoon short subjects.

 

* Fraidy Cat

* Dog Trouble: First appearance of Spike the Bulldog.

* Fine Feathered Friend

 

* Sufferin' Cats!

* The Lonesome Mouse: First T&J short in which they talk.

* Baby Puss: First appearance of Butch and Topsy the cats.

 

* The Zoot Cat

* The Million Dollar Cat: The first time Tom defeats Jerry.

* Mouse Trouble: Won the 1944 cartoon [[Academy Award]].

 

* The Mouse Comes to Dinner

* Mouse in Manhattan: A [[Lower Deck Episode]] centered solely on Jerry visiting Manhattan, with Tom only appearing briefly in the opening and ending.

* Quiet Please!: Won the 1945 cartoon [[Academy Award]].

 

* Springtime for Thomas

* The Milky Waif: First appearance of Nibbles.

* Solid Serenade

 

* Cat Fishin'

* Part Time Pal

* The Invisible Mouse

 

* Kitty Foiled: First appearance of the Canary.

* The Truce Hurts

* Mouse Cleaning: One of the two "banned" Tom and Jerry shorts. [[Cartoon Brew|Jerry Beck]] claims that it will be included, restored, in a future collection to make up for its removal from the Spotlight Collections. The short is still aired on TV, albeit edited to remove the (fairly lengthy) scene of Tom in blackface.

 

* Polka-Dot Puss

* The Little Orphan: Won the 1949 [[Academy Award]] for cartoons.

* Tennis Chumps

 

* Little Quacker: First appearance of Quacker.

* Saturday Evening Puss: Only time we get a chance to see the face of Mammy Two Shoes, but only as a [[Freeze-Frame Bonus]].

* Cue Ball Cat

 

* Casanova Cat: The second of the two "banned" shorts, although a future DVD release is planned. The short is still aired on TV, albeit edited to remove the (lengthy) scene of Jerry in blackface.

* Jerry and the Goldfish

* Cat Napping

 

* The Flying Cat

* The Duck Doctor

* The Dog House

 

* The Missing Mouse

* Jerry and Jumbo

* Life With Tom: Yet another compilation film. Uses footage from "Cat Fishin", "The Little Orphan" and "Kitty Foiled". Final appearance of the Canary.

 

* Puppy Tale

* Posse Cat

* Touché, Pussy Cat!: "Prequel" of "The Two Mouseketeers".

 

* Southbound Duckling

* Pup on a Picnic

* That's My Mommy

 

* The Flying Sorceress

* The Egg and Jerry: [[Shot for Shot Remake]] of "Hatch Up Your Troubles".

* Tom's Photo Finish

 

* Happy Go Ducky

* Royal Cat Nap

* Tot Watchers: Last of the original Tom and Jerry cartoons produced before the MGM cartoon studio shut down.

 

* Switchin' Kitten: First of the Gene Deitch ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoons.

* Down and Outing

* It's Greek to Me-Ow

 

* High Steaks

* Mouse Into Space

* Carmen Get It!: Final Gene Deitch ''Tom and Jerry'' cartoon.

 

* Pent-House Mouse: First of the [[Chuck Jones]] ''Tom and Jerry'' shorts.

 

* The Cat Above and the Mouse Below

* Is There A Doctor In The Mouse?

* The Unshrinkable Jerry Mouse

 

* Ah, Sweet Mouse-Story of Life

* Tom-ic Energy

* The Cat's Me-Ouch!

 

* Duel Personality

* Jerry, Jerry, Quite Contrary

* Catty-Cornered

 

* Cat and Dupli-cat

* O-Solar Meow

* Purr-Chance to Dream: Last Classic Tom and Jerry cartoon.

 

* [[The Tom and Jerry Show]]: TV series; ended in the same year.

 

* The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show: TV series; ended in 1982.

 

* Hanna-Barbera's 50th: A Yabba Dabba Doo Celebration: TV special featuring Tom and Jerry.

 

* [[Tom and Jerry Kids]]: TV series; ended in 1994.

 

* [[Tom and Jerry: The Movie]]: Theatrical film.

 

* Tom and Jerry: The Mansion Cat: [[Made for TV Movie|Made-for-TV short]].

* Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring: [[Direct to Video]] film.

 

* Tom and Jerry: Blast Off to Mars: [[Direct to Video]] film.

* The Karate Guard: Last Tom and Jerry short.

* Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry: [[Direct to Video]] film.

 

* Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers: [[Direct to Video]] film.

* [[Tom and Jerry Tales]]: TV series; ended in 2008.

 

* Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale: [[Direct to Video]] film.

 

* Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes: [[Direct to Video]] film.

 

* Tom and Jerry and [[The Wizard of Oz (film)|The Wizard of Oz]]: [[Direct to Video]] film.

 

* Tom and Jerry: Theatrical film.

 

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{{tropelist}}

* [[Affectionate Gesture to the Head]]: "Professor Tom" has Tom teaching mousing to a kitten. When the kitten does a good job, he gets a pat on the head.

* [[Agony of the Feet]]: All those times Jerry took a hammer to Tom's foot or lit matches beneath his feet when he wasn't paying attention.

** ''The Cat and the Mermouse'' was this too, everything after Tom falls into the ocean is a hallucination Tom has while nearly drowning. Luckily at the end Tom wakes up to find that [[CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable|Jerry rescued him and is pumping the water out of his lungs]].

* [[All Witches Have Cats]]: In one short Tom answers an ad to be a companion for someone who turns out to be a witch.

* [[Amusing Injuries]]: Major aspect of the series, as it's not only the premise, but wouldn't work without it.

* [[And I Must Scream]]: Jerry once froze Tom in ice; only Tom's eyes could move.

** Deitch's first Tom and Jerry cartoon, "Switchin' Kitten" has noticeably better animation compared to his later efforts, due to the fact that Deitch produced that cartoon in the USA with the help of some of his former [[Terry Toons]] colleagues, before departing to Czechoslovakia to make the rest of his cartoons with a much less experienced animation team.

** ''Tom and Jerry and The Wizard of Oz'' has this going for it compared to the other direct-to-video films.

** This is all [[Depending on the Writer]] instead of a shift over time, but occasionally cats wear clothes and live in houses with no humans in sight.

* [[Anti-Villain]]: Tom, although Jerry has his moments, too, [[Depending on the Writer]].

* [[Anvil on Head]]

* [[Arch Enemy]]: Tom and Jerry.

* [[Ash Face]]

* [[Ass in a Lion Skin]]: Several times the characters disguise themselves as other animals, as for instance when Tom disguises himself as a dog to find Jerry in a dog pound in "Puttin' on the Dog".

* [[Bloodless Carnage]] - Despite the high levels of violence in the earlier shorts there was never any blood. (Unless it's faked with ketchup.)

** In ''Touché, Pussycat!'', when Jerry ''splits Tom in half'' with an axe, the two halves fall separate ways to the ground, and there's ''still'' no blood or gore.

* [[Bowdlerized]]: Tom's owner, [[Sassy Black Woman|Mammy]] [[Jive Turkey|Two Shoes]] was considered racist during reruns, and occasionally episodes featuring her recolor her skin white and have a different person dub her voice.

* [[A Boy and His X]]: Many episodes involve Jerry helping/protecting another animal from Tom, so it's A Mouse and His (Goldfish, Canary, Puppy, Elephant, Kitten, Duckling, Lion, Seal, Other Mouse...)

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: A rare [[Show Within a Show]] version of this marks the end of the short with Jerry's country-singing uncle Pecos, whose guitar strings keep breaking and he plucks Tom's whiskers to replace them. For his big TV debut, the guitar string breaks yet again. Tom (watching it on TV) laughs out loud, only for Pecos to reach out of the TV to pluck one last whisker off his face.

* [[Breakout Character]]: Spike and Tyke, who even had their own brief role in solo shorts. Some of their later appearances in the ''Tom and Jerry'' series also seem to be focused primarily on them, with the title duo's war as more of a side story.

* [[Butt Monkey]]: Tom. Jerry isn't immune to moments of this either.

* [[Buzzsaw Jaw]]

* [[Cartoon Cheese]]: Possibly the [[Trope Codifier]]

* [[Cartoony Eyes]]

** [[Once Per Episode]] Tuffy would stab Tom in the butt with a sword and say "Touché, pussycat!"

** Tom's 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA' scream. Created by recording one of the producers yelling, and chopping off the beginning and end.

** Though he only said it twice, Tom's "Don't. You. Believe It." was something of a meme at the time. [[Bugs Bunny]] says it, too, in "Big Top Bunny".

** Tom's [[Everything Sounds Sexier in French|Charles Boyer impression]] got used more than once, as well.

* [[Cats Are Mean]]

** Occasionally subverted, in the occasional short where Jerry is the instigator and Tom the hapless victim.

* [[Caught in a Snare]]: In "Mouse Trouble", Tom gets caught in it (which was intended for Jerry) when Jerry switches the cheese used as bait for a bowl of cream. Also counts as [[Hoist by His Own Petard]].

* [[Chained to a Railway]]: In "Kitty Foiled", with a model train set.

* [[Characterization Marches On]]: In Spike's original appearances, he was more or less an non-anthropomorphic dog and even would attack Tom ''and'' Jerry without preference in his debut. Then, in "Quiet Please", the team developed the standard plot for Spike (telling Tom he would pound him if Tom did X only for Jerry to spend the rest of the short framing Tom for X) and gave him an actual personality. Later on, they gave him his son and the characterization [[Papa Wolf|we all know now]].

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Literal instance in "Year of the Mouse". Early in the short, Jerry and his nameless partner in crime place a gun in Tom's hand and make him think he's pulled the trigger on himself. At the short's climax, the gun reappears {{spoiler|when Tom discovers and captures the mice, first holding them at gunpoint and then rigging a bottle trap so that they'll shoot themselves if they try to escape}}.

** Reversed around in "The Little School Mouse" when Jerry tries to teach Nibbles how to outsmart a cat. Each of his demonstrations on Tom fail miserably while Nibbles naively just asks Tom to comply to his requests, and ''actually succeeds''.

* [[Christmas Episode]]: The early short "The Night Before Christmas", which [[Captain Obvious|takes place on Christmas Eve]].

* [[Clip Show]]: More so around the time the series began to decline in quality, though Hanna and Barbera managed to keep some of them genuinely entertaining. It required an [[Art Shift]] whenever [[Chuck Jones]] did one, so their look would match the clips. Tellingly, Tom and Jerry's [[Art Evolution]] made the differences between the clips and the [[Framing Device]] particularly jarring every time a [[Clip Show]] episode was done.

** Noticeable in the two clip-show shorts made during the Jones era, ''Matinee Mouse'' and ''Shutter Bugged Cat'', both directed by Tom Ray. The most discernible contrast between the new footage and the clips of the H-B shorts is the animation. The originals bristle with life and energy while Ray's looked lethargic by comparison.

* [[Concussions Get You High]]: In "Nit-Witty Kitty" Tom gets hit on the head and afterwards thinks he's a mouse. Has elements of [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia]].

* [[Conspicuous Consumption]]: "Blue Cat Blues", where Tom keeps trying (and failing) to out-spend Butch in order to impress a female cat.

* [[Cousin Oliver]]: Nibbles aka Tuffy.

** Admittedly, he's a decent example.

** Done yet another time in the later shorts where Tom and Spike belonged to a married couple; in this case Tom was attempting to retrieve an incriminating photograph before his owners saw it.

* [[Dagwood Sandwich]]: Tom eats these on occasion.

** "Mouse in Manhattan" is virtually a solo Jerry short, with Tom limited to a brief appearance at the end.

* [[Delayed Reaction]]: Happens often with Tom, which makes him realize too late that he's carrying a bomb, about to get hit, or that Jerry is right in front of him.

* [[Depending on the Writer]]: Chuck Jones and Gene Deitch had their own takes on the characters. In some shorts, Tom is a [[Jerkass]]; in others he's [[The Woobie]] (mostly Deitch's, thanks primarily to his [[Hair-Trigger Temper]] owner). Most of the worst examples of Jerry being a [[Screwy Squirrel]] come from the Chuck Jones shorts.

* [[Deranged Animation]]: The Gene Deitch shorts.

** There's also a Mouseketeer episode that ends with Tom's execution and Jerry and Tuffy [[Gory Discretion Shot|seeing the guillotine come down]]...

** While most episodes where [[Team Rocket Wins|Tom wins]] start out with Jerry initiating the conflict, the short ''Southbound Duckling'', where Jerry is trying to help Quakers fly south whilst avoid being eaten by Tom, ends with Tom sneaking up behind the pair as they relax at Miami beach, trapping them under a bucket then giving an [[Evil Laugh]] to the camera. Whatever he does to them next is up to your imagination.

* [[Duck Season! Rabbit Season!]]: Done in "The Yankee Doodle Mouse", when Tom and Jerry throw a stick of dynamite back and forth.

* [[Duel to the Death]]: ''Duel Personality''

* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: The early shorts had a strong [[Disney]] influence, undoubtedly a hold-over from [[Harman and Ising|Hugh Harman's]] influence on MGM's cartoon shorts. As such, the earlier shorts are very atmospheric and fluid in their animation, but to a point where its self-conscious, and as such hampers the timing and pacing of the cartoons. Tom and Jerry also had more of a sibling rivalry than a true cat-eats-mouse rivalry. Once [[Tex Avery]] arrived at MGM, his influence starting taking hold of the shorts (although he never directing anything on the series), resulting in more streamlined designs, sharper timing, crisper pacing, and the sibling rivalry aspect of Tom and Jerry's relationship was abandoned altogether.

* [[The Electric Slide]]: Used for laughs.

* [[Enemy Mine]]: There are times Tom and Jerry are facing a common enemy.

** Later Hanna Barbara shorts did try to play this more straight, making Jerry more altrustic and often saving another animal friend from being victimized by Tom. The odd time he strayed from this he was more likely to suffer [[Laser-Guided Karma]].

* [[Heroic Comedic Sociopath]]: Jerry.

* [[Hollywood Healing]]: It takes about five seconds for Tom to grow his teeth back. And that's just one example among many.

** Somewhat averted in "Mouse Trouble", where Tom sports multiple bandages and a toupee (after he nearly blows his own head off with a shotgun) throughout the short.

* [[Hot Potato]]: Only with bombs.

** [[Duck Season! Rabbit Season!]]

** In "Heavenly Puss", the feline St. Peter sadly shakes his head and mutters "What some people won't do..." when the next "person" in his line is a sack full of kittens who were apparently drowned.

** The babysitter takes the cake. She completely ignores the baby to talk on the phone instead. The only time she actually notices the kid is immediately after Tom has rescued the baby from killing itself, at which point she jumps to the conclusion that Tom is ''attacking'' the child and beats the stuffing out of him.

* [[Iron Butt Monkey]]: Tom.

** Jerry gets it bad a few times as well. Usually when paired with [[With Friends Like These...|haphazard allies like]] Little Quacker or Nibbles.

* [[Jerkass]]: Both characters have plenty of moments.

* [[The Jimmy Hart Version]]: The direct-to-video films (such as "Tom & Jerry & The Magic Ring") feature a sound-alike to the classic Tom & Jerry theme.

* [[Just Whistle]]: Spike makes this kind of an arrangement with Jerry in "The Bodyguard" and a couple later shorts.

* [[Karmic Trickster]]: In most shorts, Jerry doesn't start trouble until Tom wrongs him in some way. In some shorts he skews more towards a [[Screwy Squirrel]] and attacks Tom without being provoked, but usually Jerry is fighting for his survival, or at least unhappy with the unfair situation Tom is putting him in (i.e. using him as fish bait, dressing him in a bow and giving him to a girl cat as a present, using him as a paddleball, etc.).

* [[Knife Outline]]

* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: Usually applied to Tom, particularly in episodes with Mammy Two Shoes involved, but occasionally hits Jerry. Generally, in episodes where Jerry gets just a little bit too vindictive when dealing with Tom the plot will deal him some kind of misfortune as well, even if Tom doesn't "win" per se.

* [[Lawyer-Friendly Cameo]]: Spike's voice is based on that of crooner Jimmy "Schnozzler" Durante.

* [[Matryoshka Object]]: "The Yankee Doodle Mouse" has Tom cornered by a large firecracker. Instead of blowing up, it breaks apart to reveal a smaller firecracker, which then reveals a smaller firecracker, and so on until all that is left is a tiny firecracker. Tom holds it in his hand, laughs in amusement, and then it blows up in a huge explosion.

* [[Mama Bear]]: In one [[Chuck Jones]] toon, Tom offers Jerry to a female cat as a present, but Jerry invokes this trope by acting cute, causing her to treat him like her child. It only lasts until she gives him a kiss, at which point she realizes he tastes pretty good.

* [[Mickey Mousing]]: Very widespread in just about every short.

* [[Missing Mom]]: One wonders if Tyke even has a mother.

* [[The Musical]]: ''[[Tom and Jerry: The Movie|Tom and Jerry The Movie]]''.

* [[Name and Name]]

* [[Narrative Shapeshifting]]: In "Of Feline Bondage", Jerry uses this trope to tell his fairy godmother about his cat troubles.

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: One of Tom's love interests was a caricature of [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iugexeWqLbs/RowVGgiiSQI/AAAAAAAABHE/KQ-Le2JbFms/s320/lanaturner.jpg Lana Turner.]

* [[Non-Fatal Explosions]]: Mostly played straight, but averted at the end of ''Mouse Trouble'', in which Tom dies and... goes to Heaven? Huh.

* [[Not So Harmless]]: Tom for the large part plays the bumbling antagonist of the two. There are several times however he manages to get the upper hand over Jerry or even win on rare occasions. If pushed far enough he can even outdo Spike, who he usually cowers before (eg. "Pet Peeve", "Dog Trouble").

* [[Off-Model]]: Gene Deitch's cartoons suffer some pretty severe animation glitches. Probably the most glaringly obvious instance was in "High Steaks" where Tom's in a swimming pool, as the animators didn't bother animating any of Tom's body below the waterline, despite the water having been drawn in a transparent fashion.

* [[Off with His Head]]: Presumably happens to Tom at the end of "The Two Mouseketeers".

* [[Only Six Faces]]: All of the characters use the exact same design, but with species specific traits and proportions applied to them. Don't believe this? Well, compare all of the characters to the seal from the short "The Little Runaway" which is basically what Tom and Jerry and the others would look like when you take away their species specific traits.

** Well, at least all ''four-legged'' characters. The side effect of this is that when one character wants to disguise as another, it can be relatively easily done.

* [[Overly Polite Pals]]: Tom, Jerry and Butch the dog do the routine in the 1948 short, "The Truce Hurts."

* [[Packed Hero]]: At the start of "Cannery Rodent", Tom is chasing Jerry through a fish packing plant and both get packed into cans of tuna, which inexplicably has a picture of each of their faces on the packaging. Near the end of the same cartoon, a shark that has been pestering Tom for the majority of the cartoon is sent through the same packaging machine and canned in a similar fashion.

* [[Panty Shot]]: Several of Toots in "The Zoot Cat".

** Also, the little girl who dresses Tom as a baby in "Baby Puss."

* [[Pepper Sneeze]]

* [[Pet Heir]]: Tom in ''The Million-Dollar Cat'' (until he throws it away by violating the 'no harming animals' clause), Toodles in ''Casanova Cat''.

** In "Solid Serenade", Jerry hits him with ''two'' pies... one of which has a steam iron hidden inside of it.

** Tom pelts Jerry with one at the end of "Jerry's Diary", after being angered by what he read in said diary.

* [[Press-Ganged]]: A Captain Ahab type takes Tom in the Gene Deitch short "Dickey Moe".

* [[Public Domain Soundtrack]]

* [[Random Events Plot]]: One of the later Gene Deitch cartoons started with Tom and Jerry in a box along with an assortment of other items, including a watermelon. A narrator talks about how to make your own cartoon, starting by setting Jerry on a table and handing him the watermelon. After he spits seeds around for a bit, Tom forces him to swallow several, turning Jerry's belly into a temporary maraca. Cue dancing! Until Jerry spits the seeds out, and then finds a book that teaches mice how to use Judo...

* [[Recycled in Space]]!: Once by Gene Deitch, who produced short that was bizarre and incomprehensible even by the standards of his Tom and Jerry cartoons, and about four by Chuck Jones which are somewhat better, but still not really very good.

** These appeared fairly often, including a recobbled episode where Tom watched several failed attempts to brainstorm ideas... for the same trap that failed before.

** A smaller-scale one appears in "Year of the Mouse", where Tom {{spoiler|traps Jerry and another mouse in a bottle, corks it and then ties a string to the cork that's attached to the trigger of a gun aimed at the bottle}}.

* [[Scenery Porn]]: If ''Mouse in Manhattan'' doesn't give you an itching to visit New York City, nothing will.

* [[Screwy Squirrel]]: Whenever Jerry's character starts to ''really'' lean toward this, it's usually an episode where Tom wins. A good example is "Million Dollar Cat", where Tom inherits a fortune but loses it if he harms another living creature; Jerry uses this as pretext to harass and injure Tom, then waves the telegram in his face to protect himself from reprisal.

* [[Serenade Your Lover]]: The short "Solid Serenade"

* [[Silent Bob]]: Both characters are able to convey their thoughts and feelings very well without having to say a word.

* [[Squashed Flat]]: And occasionally other shapes.

* [[Stock Animal Diet]]: Cheese is a favorite for Jerry, and mice, birds and milk for Tom (though he only ever gets milk out of those three). However, both Tom and Jerry will still [[Big Eater|eat almost anything.]]

** "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

* [[Strange Bedfellows]]: In the occasional short where they team up against another character.

** The 1975 version had them teamed up in every episode.

* [[Synchronized Swarming]]: The ants that invade Spike's picnic in "Pup on a Picnic" are quite organized, which helps them walk off with the entire food supply... and Spike's son.

** The bees that attack Tom in "Tee for Two" are synchronized as well.

* [[Talking with Signs]]: Happens occasionally. One memorable example is after Jerry stabs a box with several needles and saws it in half, ''with Tom inside''. He looks inside the box and his eyes widen, and he quickly writes up a sign and displays it to the audience asking [[Is There a Doctor In the House?|if there's a doctor in the house.]]

* [[Team Rocket Wins]]: A dozen or so instances Tom actually beats Jerry by the end of the short. Granted these are usually karmic victories ([[The Bad Guy Wins|though not always]]).

* [[William Telling]]: Among one of the [[Kick the Dog]] opening scenes in which Tom is shown tormenting Jerry.

* [[You Didn't Ask]]: Played with in ''The Little School Mouse'' where Jerry tries to teach Nibbles how to foil Tom and collect food, only to be foiled each time. In his own attempts, Nibbles just kindly asks Tom and he nonchalantly complies. Later Jerry tries to teach Nibbles how to put a bell on Tom. This doesn't go over very well for him. Nibbles, on the other hand, simply ''gives'' Tom the bell as a gift, and Tom happily wears it.

** This is almost repeated by the king in the second Mouseketeers short, though this time the duo take pity on Tom and lull the former to sleep before he can pull it off.

 

[[Category:Western Animation]]

[[Category:Films of the 1950s]]

[[Category:Cartoon Network]]

[[Category:Hanna-Barbera]]