Advance and Be Mechanized (1967)

 

Advance and be Mechanized is the final entry in the Chuck Jones produced trilogy of space themed cartoons. 

In this short film, Jerry uses a robot mouse to steal some cheese from an outer space cheese mine that Tom is guarding. Tom sends out a robot cat to capture Jerry's robot mouse. 

While this will never be ranked among one of the cat and mouse duo's best films, it isn't a bad cartoon either. The final gag is a surprisingly great one for this late in the game. Dean Elliot's musical score and the timing are also quite strong here. 

However, most of the gags are not that great. Besides the last gag, most of them are rather forgettable and none of them really get a laugh. Though the robot cat and mouse are a clever idea on paper, it rarely works when Tom and Jerry barely interact with each other (Mouse in Manhattan (1945) being a notable exception) and that is what happens here. It is just simply more fun to watch Tom and Jerry fight than to watch a robot cat and mouse. There is also a feeling of sameness about this cartoon. It hardly stands out from the other films and this trilogy and when I think about this trilogy it can be hard to remember what gags go with what cartoon. 

The credited director for this film is Ben Washam. The credited animators are Dick Thompson, Ben Washam, Don Towsley and Philip Roman. The story credit goes to Bob Ogle. Don Morgan is the credited layout artist, and Philip DeGuard is the credited background artist. Dean Elliott receives a music credit. This marks the 1960th Tom and Jerry cartoon. There is some animation here reused from Guided Mouse-ille (1967). 

This film is available on the DVD sets Tom and Jerry: Paws for a Holiday (also available on VHS), Tom and Jerry: Classic Collection Volume 6 and Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection as well as the VHS sets Tom and Jerry: Puss 'n' Toots and Tom and Jerry: Part Time Pals plus the Laserdisc set The Art of Tom & Jerry: Volume III: The Chuck Jones Cartoons. 

This cartoon aired on the Toon in With Me episodes Bill Finds the User's Manual (2021), Craftwerk #2 (2021), Sventoonie Is Out of This World (2022), Party, Pizza Party! (2023), Everyone's a Critic (2023) and The Grand Canyon State (2024). 

-Michael J. Ruhland