Dicky Moe (1962)

 

Dicky Moe marks the eighth Tom and Jerry film directed by Gene Deitch and 122nd Tom and Jerry cartoon overall. 

In this short film, Tom is shanghaied by a Captain Ahab like sea captain, who has driven the rest of his crew insane with his pursuit of Dicky Moe, the pink whale. On board Tom finds Jerry and the two's fighting makes capturing Dicky Moe even more difficult for the sea captain.

This cartoon is one that is well remembered by many cartoon fans, because of how strange and bizarre it is. However just because it is memorable doesn't mean it is good. It is in fact a very bad cartoon. The sea captain's very stylistic design (which would look more at home in an art house film), and his various mumblings make him feel like he should be in a completely different film than Tom and Jerry. He simply never meshes well with the cat and mouse duo. The sound effects are always one of the worst aspects of the Gene Deitch directed Tom and Jerry shorts. However here it is even worse than in the other cartoons. The noise of the captain's peg leg as he walks is annoying enough to drive a sane man crazy. The other sound effects are as always incredibly ill-fitting and often distract from the action instead of adding to it. Jerry's vocal effects (which are also quite annoying) also feel quite ill-fitting for the character as well. The music is better (at least it is not annoying) but it still doesn't add anything to the action, the way Scott Bradely's music did in the 1940's and 50's shorts.  The gags themselves are somewhat typical Tom and Jerry gags but here they feel rather phoned in. They are quite predictable, and the pacing being off makes it so we can always see what will happen before it happens. 

Eli Bauer and Gene Deitch receive story credit, Štěpán Koníczek gets a music credit and Wáclaw Bedřicz recieves a credit for animation direction. This film is available on the DVD sets, Tom and Jerry: The Gene Deitch Collection and Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 5. References to the film can be seen on the menu screen for the DVD/Blu-Ray set Tom and Jerry: The Deluxe Anniversary Collection, though the cartoon itself is not on that set. 

This cartoon appeared in the Toon in with Me episodes, Bill the Pirate (2021), Fan-Tastic Friday #5 (2021), Fantastic Friday #34 (2022), Ride Along with Bill (2023), Yachts Rock (2024) and Throwback Thursday: 1962 (2025)

This film was inspired by the 1851 Herman Melville novel, Moby Dick. Later this same decade, Tom and Jerry's creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera would create a TV series that was extremely loosely inspired by Moby Dick. This series was Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor, which first aired on September 9, 1967. Each action-packed episode would contain two segments featuring the superhero Mighty Mightor (who bears some resemblance to the Marvel hero Thor) and one featuring Moby Dick. This cartoon reimagines the titular whale as a benevolent character, who helps two kids Tom and Tubb as they face many dangers. The series also featured a seal named Scooby, two years before the name would be more famously used for a cartoon dog. Tom and Tub would later appear in an episode of Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated entitled The Midnight Zone (2012). Moby Dick himself would later appear in the made-for-TV movie Yogi's Ark Lark (1972) and the Jellystone episode, The Sea Monster of Jellystone Cove (2022). 

-Michael J. Ruhland