"Give 'Em the Air" is the twenty-third episode of The Tom and Jerry Show (1975).
Synopsis[]
Plot[]
Fritz Von Spritz, The Purple Baron and his assistant, Otto Van Blotto in their plane, The Blue Max, and Tom and Jerry in their plane, The Sad Spad, are the only two remaining entrants in The International 500 Cross-Country Air Race; the other two contestants, Sir Athscot Paisley of England in his Sopwith Sloucher and Pierre Vous Cafe of Paris in his Fillet Mignon, having unfortunately dropped out. In their endeavors to sabotage T&J's attempt to defeat them, Von Spritz and Van Blotto use a brick wall carried on a wire by dirigible---which unfortunately snaps. The Baron then climbs down a rope ladder and attempts to saw off The Sad Spad's rudder, but, having passed through a cloudbank, Tom snatches the saw. The Baron leaps off but forgets his parachute, and manages to three-point land on a haystack. The twosome then employ The Fritz Von Spritz Flip, which sends Tom & Jerry plummeting down through a tunnel, but the two manage to dodge an oncoming train ahead of them. Next, Von Spritz and Van Blotto try pouring quick-drying cement in their propeller, but cover themselves in it. Just them, an exhausted mother duck drops in on T&J, who provide her with a lift and refreshments. At the home stretch, Von Spritz and Von Blotto make a final attempt at sabotaging T&J's plane by siphoning its fuel! But, just their luck, the mother duck has given birth to ducklings, who help carry T&J and their plane to victory.
Characters[]
- Tom Cat
- Jerry Mouse
- Fritz Von Spritz
- Otto Van Blotto
- Sir Athscot Paisley
- Pierre Vous Cafe
Trivia[]
- This is the first of three occasions which find Tom & Jerry in racing competition, preceding Episode #80-25, "The Super Cyclists," and #80-48, "The Great Motorboat Race."
- Also, it's the first of 2 sports-themed New Tom & Jerrys in which T&J aren't pitted against each other, aside from "The Great Motorboat Race."
- The Purple Baron is based upon Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, The Red Baron (1892-1918), just as his plane, The Blue Max, is named after the same-named military decoration (a.k.a. The Order Pour le Mérite) which was Prussia's highest military order until the end of World War I. (Richthofen was also a notable recipient of The Blue Max.) The Blue Max also served as the title of a 1966 20th Century Fox World War I film, directed by John Guillermin, filmed in Ireland, and starring George Peppard, James Mason, Ursula Andress and Jeremy Kemp.
- A different kind of Purple Baron (not Fritz Von Spritz) was the antagonist of a 1967 Hanna-Barbera/RKO-Jomar Abbott & Costello Cartoon of the same name. And yet another Purple Baron would be the antagonist of future NT&J component co-star Lt. Mumbly, in the November 20, 1976 episode, "The Perils Of The Purple Baron".
- "Give 'Em The Air" appears to contain quickly inserted footage of the Baron and Otto dashing from their grounded plane out of the way out of a falling brick wall. After the impact, the screen stays on the crushed plane and the offscreen Baron is heard saying "Dumbkopf!" in a 'pained' tone-making it appear as if the wall was supposed to have landed on them, while still seated in the plane. Could the quick insert be a result of network anti-violence standards?
- Leonard Weinrib voiced all of the main pilots in "Give 'Em The Air." (John Stephenson voiced the announcer and Otto Van Blotto.)
Gallery[]
