O-Solar-Meow marked the first film in a trilogy of Chuck Jones produced Tom and Jerry shorts to take place in outer space. This trilogy of cartoons had many similar motifs between each entry. One of these is that the robot cat appears in all three of these cartoons. This robot cat would even later be a playable character in the 2003 video game, Tom and Jerry in War of the Whiskers. In that game his attacks include Spin Attack, Jaw Bite and Fireball. He can also fly by using a helicopter propeller. This makes him one of the few Tom and Jerry characters from the Chuck Jones era to also appear in video games.
In this short film, Tom is on guard duty on a satellite, when a shipment of cheese arrives. Jerry is also aboard and tries to steal the cheese. So, Tom sends out his robot cat after him.
This is an enjoyable little cartoon, though still not among the duo's best films. Though it is a bit underutilized, the space station is a fun setting and the sci-fi atmosphere to this cartoon is quite a bit of fun. Tom sending a robot cat to do his work is a good idea and be expanded upon later in the trilogy. The gags themselves here tend to be one of two things. They can more clever than actually funny. This is seen in the opening gag and the Rube Goldberg machine (I am still trying to figure out what that purple thing is by the way). The gags can also feel too much like ones we have seen done better in other cartoons. None of the gags are really bad per say but they simply don't make me laugh the way I do when watching the 1940's Tom and Jerry shorts.
This film does have the same flaws as other non-Chuck Jones directed shorts of this era. There are some poor drawings, obvious animation mistakes and the timing can feel off.
The credited director of this film is Abe Levitow. The credited animators are Ken Harris, Don Towsley, Tom Ray, Dick Thompson and Ben Washam. John Dunn is the credited writer. Eugene Poddany is the credited composer. The credited background artist is Philip DeGuard and the credited layout artist is Don Morgan. Mel Blanc is the credit voice artist. This marks the 153 Tom and Jerry short.
This film is available on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6, Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection, Tom and Jerry: Fur Flying Adventures - Volume 1 and Tom and Jerry in Space as well as the VHS set, Tom and Jerry: Little School Mouse and the Laserdisc The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons.
It appeared on the Toon in With Me episodes, Company Softball Team (2021), Remember That Date in '68? (2022), Fantastic Friday #65 (2023), Pinball Wizard (2023), Wisc'd Away (2024) and On This Day... February 6th (2026).
-Michael J. Ruhland
No comments:
Post a Comment