"The Ski Bunny" is the second episode of The Tom and Jerry Show (1975) and the first episode in the series featuring Spike.
Synopsis[]
While skiing in the Swiss Alps, Tom competes with Jerry for the affections of a pretty female cat, and try not to get into trouble with Spike.
Plot[]
In the Swiss Alps, Tom, Jerry and Spike enjoy a leisure day of skiing as they come out of the ski lodge which they end up slamming the door on each other, they take a deep breath then ski. Tom then skis down the snowy mountain to perform tricks.Tom is executing his latest moves on his skis when suddenly he catches glimpse of Jerry with a female feline ski buff...causing him to fall head over heels in love! Tom then heads to her and in the process buries Jerry under snow.
Tom then skiies with the female cat, Yvonne then ask him to show her a few pointers, Tom obliges and performs many stunts, as she is watching, Jerry returns to her. Tom successfully impresses Yvonne, as she compliments him. The huffing and puffing Spike then skiing passes by Tom causing the cat to spin out becoming dizzy. Yvonne is skiing with Jerry awhile talking about how she needs to learn how to ski. Tom whistles to them getting both of their attention, Tom hops on skis and slides on the snow passing by Yvonne and Jerry in the process clashes into Spike, Tom is knocked over and Spike is catapulted into trash bin.
Jerry mentors Yvonne, how to master skiing as she understanding. Tom's second attempt to win the female cat is removing his competition, he does so by skiing down from the mountain to push Jerry for Tom to be with Yvonne. The mouse is send moving into a tree and up through and branch throws him back and unintentionally shoves Tom and gets back with the ski bunny. Tom spots Yvonne and Jerry from a tree, Tom digs up a hole with a snow shovel, places logs underneath and covered it with snow for Jerry to fall in. However the trap does not work as planned when they pass through it. Tom looks at the trap himself, he tests if the trap would triggered however it doesn't, he then stomps on it repeatedly, despite that, it's still still stable. Tom is left puzzled, he leaves it but instead falls through underneath the snow leaving his snow cap.
Jerry and Yvonne are seating on the ski lifts, with Tom behind them attempting on their lift but misses and plummets on top of Spike. The bulldog confused finds Tom on his head, as the cat smiles nervously. Spike turns Tom's skis and spins them causing the cat to getting propel away. Jerry and Yvonne continue skiing together, as she says that she is getting the hang of skiing and calling it easy after a couple hours of practice. As she does, Tom is waiting on top of a tree holding one of his skis to catch Jerry. As they pass by Tom scoops Jerry away, which this attempt went successfully and gets back with Yvonne.
Jerry then decides to roll up a big snowball up a hill pushes it down towards Tom. Awhile Tom is with Yvonne, the cat soon spots the large snowball approaching him and retreats from the giant ball of snow. However he clashes Spike again. Spike is angered and chases Tom around until the cat manages to escape him. Tom taunts Spike as he is unaware he is sliding into a edge, and dangling on a branch, Jerry soon discovers and comes to the rescues him from the ski lifts by using a lasso to rescue his feline foe.
When Tom and Jerry both find the ski bunny has hooked up with Spike, they combine forces and attempt to foil the bulldog with a snowball...which unfortunately backfires when the dog dodges it by jumping over the passing by snowball. The duo retreat to avoid the snowball successfully unfortunatly the snow from the roof falls on them. As the Spike is with Yvonne, Tom and Jerry are angered at this predicament.
Characters[]
Trivia & Notes[]
- A scene from this episode featuring Tom & Jerry, in snow gear, being dumped on by a blanket of snow (falling from the roof of the lodge they're standing in front of) is seen in the show's syndicated opening credits.
- Tom's penchant for falling head over heels in love with the ladies is no surprise. You devout classic T&J buffs will notice he's done it many times before in several classic T&J theatricals as Puss N' Toots (1942), Casanova Cat (1951), and Blue Cat Blues (1956).
- The gimmick of Tom opening the door on Jerry and inhaling deeply of the fresh air is borrowed from Salt Water Tabby (1947).
- The door gag where Jerry, Tom and Spike all coming out the doors inhaling the air is a callback to Neapolitan Mouse.
- The "ski bunny" seen here closely resembles that of Tom's kitten girlfriend in 1956's Muscle Beach Tom. Voiced by Janet Waldo, she speaks the only lines of dialogue throughout this entire cartoon.
- Spike (in his first appearance on the show) was originally not to be a featured participant in "The Ski Bunny".
- John Stephenson provides the huffing and puffing Spike makes when he skis. He is the first of 3 voice actors to voice the bulldog, the other two are Don Messick and Joe E. Ross.
- Some of the "love" underscore first heard here was later recycled for the syndicated October 1985 special Pound Puppies (a.k.a. City Pound), which of course gave rise to Hanna-Barbera's 1986-88 ABC Saturday Morning series of the same name.
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