Immediately after the run of 114 shorts by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, MGM wanted more shorts. But because HB moved forward with their televised cartoon series (in which 75% of the cartoons they made from the late 50s and throughout the 60s were well beloved and good), MGM outsourced to Gene Deitch, someone who actually hated Tom and Jerry (mostly since he was more familiar with UPA). This major mistake resulted in 13 appalling shorts, which the majority of them were given measly 4/10 ratings on IDMB. Afterwards, Chuck Jones was brought in to do some Tom and Jerry, which too was not well received, but were given notably higher ratings.

Prior to the 2000s, these 13 shorts were barely seen, however during Boomerang’s rebranding (seriously that still shouldn’t have happened) to being ad supported as demanded by a bunch of jackasses masturbating to money and thanks to cocaine snorting schedulers hating the original shorts, they are seen just about every time Tom and Jerry is on.

Some time ago as well, a DVD release of all 13 shorts was made.

• Switchin’ Kitten – Tom finds a mad scientist who switches the minds of different animals. (2/10) – Terrible.
• Down and Outing – Tom accompanies his evil and demonic owner Clint Clobber on a trip to the river to fish. (0/10) – Didn’t Try.
• It’s Greek to Me-ow! – Tom and Jerry are in ancient Greek. (2/10) – Terrible.
• High Steaks – Jerry intentionally harasses Clint Clobber while he’s trying to make his dinner. (0/10) – Didn’t Try.
• Mouse into Space – Under the belief that there are no cats in space, Jerry decides to go to space. (2/10) – Terrible.
• Landing Stripling – A bird with the most annoying sound effects for any bird whatsoever gets himself in trouble with Tom after trespassing onto his territory. (0/10) – Didn’t Try.
• Calypso Cat – Tom is harassed by Jerry and a musician. (2/10) – Terrible.
• Dicky Moe – Tom is forced to work for a cruel captain on a ship to catch Dicky Moe. (1/10) – Rancid.
• The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit – Demonstration of a kit used to reenact Tom and Jerry. (2/10) – Terrible.
• Tall in the Trap – The sheriff hires Tom to kill Jerry. (1/10) – Rancid.
• Sorry Safari – Jerry stows away to Kenya and instigates the owner over and over. (0/10) – Didn’t Try.
• Buddies Thicker than Water – Jerry brings Tom inside a penthouse. (2/10) – Terrible.
• Carmen Get It! – Tom fights Jerry in an opera. (3/10) – Bad.

Clint Clobber (in his Tom and Jerry appearances) has come down as one of the worst animated characters in history. His 3 appearances all feature him torturing Tom in so many ways and for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

You’re not going to find a lot of people who enjoy these shorts. They are some of the worst of the 1960s.

Although Mammy Two Shoes got quite abusive (she’s sent Tom slamming into a wall for hosting a party and sniped him with a rock after Tom was clearly told to keep the house clean), she didn’t go straight to maiming Tom. Also you’re not going to see the shorts with Mammy Two Shoes that much (if at all) on Boomerang anymore due to her being considered a racial stereotype.

Jerry is a psychopath in these shorts. In many of the shorts like Puss gets the Boot, he does malicious deeds as a means of a weakness against Tom. In the 13 shorts however, most of (if not, every) time he intentionally does this against Tom with no motive or reasoning.

Poor Popeye himself also got the treatment from Deitch’s animation studio in the early 60s.

Gene Deitch made some really good cartoons in the past but given how awful the Tom and Jerry shorts he headed were, it comes off as more of malicious intent and it’s no surprised that MGM likely fired Gene Deitch’s unit.

Am I the only one who thinks Clint Clobber’s a stereotype? He’s an abusive murderous white male who tortures others. More info on this: https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/20/us/angry-white-men-trials-blake-cec/index.html

I hate the sound effects in these cartoons so much. No seriously it’s like Dale Gribble wrote the fucking soundtrack and used his keyboard to make stupid sound effects like chat wheel spammers in DOTA 2. For some of them such as Tom going “boing boing boing” in Landing Stripling, it almost sounds like the composer recorded the sound effect and just played the scales with the voice!

Some of the shorts are so upsetting to watch that they make Blue Cat Blues less sad to watch! How’s that for an accomplishment?!