Sunday, February 08, 2015

Honourable Mention: the Tom and Jerry Show: Vampire Mouse


In 2014 a new incarnation of Tom and Jerry was produced. I have read criticisms of both the animation style and the writing, though truth be told a new take of a classic was always going to attract detractors. That is not our concern on TMtV, rather we are interested in the appearance of a vampire in one of the episodes.

The episode in question was episode seven, directed by Darrell Van Citters, and featured two stories: Birds of a Feather and Vampire Mouse. Guess which story had the vampire in it!

vampire bat
It is an episode of all the standard Tom and Jerry shenanigans, set in a witch's cottage with Tom as the witch's cat and he starts the episode collecting a mouse's whisker for the transformation potion that the witches are brewing. Having annoyed the weird sisters, both Tom and Jerry end up on the cottage roof, re-entering through the attic. In the attic is a vampire bat.

the future's so bright...
Worried for his neck, and the blood within, Tom scurries from the bat. Jerry, amused by the reaction, breaks a comb to make fake fangs, dons a cape and daubs two red dots on his neck. He then chases Tom around the cottage until Tom meets a newt (as in eye of). The newt tells Tom how to deal with vampires; with sunlight, garlic or a stake through the heart. Tom uses a mirror to direct the new morning Sun, managing to dust several bats can happen to fly into the cottage at daybreak as well as destroy a witches broom and spell book.

Jerry the vampire
There is a gag around the garlic, and a fairly obvious gag in which Tom produces a steak rather than a stake. Overall isn't a bad little cartoon, but it really isn't the classic days of Tom and Jerry. Nevertheless we have the vampire bat (and the further bats in the episode) plus Jerry acting as a vampire. The imdb page is here.

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