Chickenrella is the thirty-seven episode of The Tom and Jerry Show (1975).
Characters
Plot
Tom and Jerry indulge in a little fowl play in this retelling of the Charles Perrault 17th-century fairytale classic. Tom and Jerry fall asleep reading Cinderella and dream themselves into the fairy tale. The traditional story unfolds with Tom and Jerry as Cindy's faithful companions, helping her with the housework while her mean stepmother and ugly stepsisters nag. When Cindy is forbidden to go to the ball, her blundering fairy godmother steps in, turning herself and Cindy into chickens and Jerry into a pumpkin before she straightens it all out and sends the happy trio off to the castle. Cindy wins the prince and rides off with him and Tom and Jerry, while the ugly stepsisters whine and complain that "this fairy tale always ends the same way!"
Trivia
- The episode title is a pun of Cinderella.
- The second New Tom & Jerry cartoon to use a fairytale as inspiration, following Episode #80-22, "Beanstalk Buddies." A third is #80-35, "See Dr. Jackal And Hide."
- Uses portions of the underscores from The Jetsons (ABC, 1962-63) and The Adventures Of Gulliver (ABC, 1968-70).
- Tom and Jerry talk once more; here, they say "Yuck!"
- Janet Walso voices Cindy. She had previously voiced Jeannie, the teenage baby sitter seen in 2 of the MGM CinemaScope Tom & Jerry shorts Busy Buddies (1956) and Tot Watchers (1958), which was the last of the original T&J shorts.
- Joan Gerber voices the fairy godmother. Fans of DuckTales (Syn., 1987-88/1989-90) recognize Gerber as the voice of Ms Beakly.
- As this particular installment of The New Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show initially aired on Thanksgiving 1975, notice a certain theme which runs through these segments: these concern fine-feathered creatures. Here, The Fairy Godmother accidentally changes into a hen; the next cartoon, "Double Trouble Crow", finds a crow creating havoc on corn farmers Tom & Jerry's crop; and the final installment, "Jerry's Nephew", sees Dinky create further havoc for his uncles T&J in a chicken farm. Even the segments of The Great Grape Ape Show sandwiched between these episodes, the 20-minute 2-part special "S.P.L.A.T.'s Back" (#79-20 [Part I]; #79-26 [Part II]), took on this fowl-related theme as well, as its main antagonist concerned a criminal mastermind called The Chicken!
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