"No Way, Stowaways" is the first episode of The Tom and Jerry Show (1975). The episode first aired on September 6, 1975.
Synopsis[]
Caught stowing away on a pirate ship, Tom and Jerry compete to become the ship's cabin boy and avoid being thrown overboard by a pirate named Weirdbeard.
Plot[]
On the high seas, Weirdbeard the Pirate displays his new invention: a boomerang cannonball, as a way to cut down on using new cannonballs, but it turns out to be a bust when, true to boomerang form, it comes right back and blasts into the ship, foundering it.
During lunch, Weirdbeard calls for his cook, Cookie to quickly brings his captain a plate of squabs before retreating. Captain Weirdbeard prepares to eat his afternoon lunch. However his lunch is stolen after he pulls out a eating cloth. It's turns out, Tom and Jerry are eating the meal from the crow's nest. Carelessly throwing out the bone down to Weirdbeard. The pirate soon discovers Thomas Cat & Gerald Mouse have stowed away on his ship! The captain threatens to make them walk the plank, but then he remembers he needs a cabin boy; the one who does the best job stays aboard, with a deep-6 for the other!
Tom and Jerry are sent into feverish competition with each other for the job, starting a chain reaction of blunders and misadventures, with Tom usually sabotaging Jerry's efforts as they lower the anchor, swab the deck, paint the cabin, and stack cannonballs in a neat pile next to the cannon. After many mishaps and plenty of damage done to the ship (with it sinks 5 times!), Tom wins the job, but when the captain orders him to make little Jerry walk the plank, Tom protects his friend by hiding him under his new pirate hat...and faking Weirdbeard out with a cannonball!
Characters[]
Trivia & Notes:[]
- The third New Tom & Jerry cartoon to be produced but the first to air on ABC, "No Way, Stowaways" had its origins in the 1954 MGM T&J classic.
- Pet Peeve, in which the owner declares to Spike and Tom that the one who catches Jerry can stay, sending the cat and dog into a fierce battle against each other for their quarry.
- This is one of the few Tom and Jerry show episodes where Tom and Jerry are rivals.
- Weirdbeard knows Tom's name, despite never having heard it.
- Henry Corden (as Weirdbeard) speaks the only lines of dialogue throughout the entire cartoon.
- Numerous musical stings first heard in these first 3 New Tom & Jerry cartoons would be repeated throughout future episodes of the entire series. They were also used in episodes of later Hanna-Barbera series The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour (ABC, 1976), Clue Club (CBS, 1976), and Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics (ABC, 1977).
- These first 3 New Tom & Jerry shorts were shown during this first telecast in the exact reverse order of production.
- The animation of Tom swinging on a rope from this cartoon is also used in the show's syndicated opening titles.
- Throughout most of "No Way, Stowaways," Weirdbeard has only one precious tooth, yet towards the end, where he makes his decision on who should be his cabin boy, he has a full mouth of teeth!
- Notice in one scene Tom uses a mop for a polevault. A later episode, "The Wacky World of Sports", will see Tom attempt to trick Jerry with an adjustable polevault, which unfortunately backfires on himself! (The syndication opening titles for The Tom & Jerry Show also finds Tom falling victim to his own insidious polevault.)
Original Animation[]
Gallery[]
