"The Wacky World of Sports" is the eighth episode of The Tom and Jerry Show (1975).
Characters
- Tom Cat
- Jerry Mouse
- Announcer (voice only, not seen)
Plot
The constant variety of sport. The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. The human (animal?) drama of athletic competition. This is "The Wacky World Of Sports!" As finalists, Tom and Jerry compete against each other for the gold medal in The Decathlon, a series of nine track and field events: tennis, the pole-vault, kung-fu, the 100-yd. dash, the 200-meter freestyle race (swimming), weightlifting, the broad jump, golf, and the discus throw. Using sneaky tricks and underhanded pranks, Tom fouls up all of Jerry's efforts, but manages to ruin his own attempts as well. In the long jump, he attaches a huge spring to the bottom of his shoes, but the trick backfires when the powerful coil bounces him right out of the stadium. He attaches a jet engine to a discus in order to throw it the farthest, but he neglects to put a guidance device on it. The discus returns like a boomerang, chasing Tom around the stadium and leaving the championship unresolved.
Trivia & Notes:
- The first of the sports-themed New Tom & Jerries, which pictured Tom as a dirty-tricks competitor always willing to stop at nothing to trounce Jerry in any form of sports competition. (For many diehard classic T&J fans, this seems to be the '70s series' only saving grace!) Three further sports-themed New T&J cartoons continued in this vein: #80-11, "The Super Bowler" #80-13, "The Tennis Menace," and #80-25, "The Super Cyclists."
- The background of the stadium where "The Wacky World Of Sports" takes place is a re-drawn repaint of the football stadium seen in Episode #79-1 of The Great Grape Ape, "The All-American Ape."
- This was most likely inspired by the 1950 MGM Tex Avery cartoon The Chump Champ, which featured Droopy.
- Most of the animation for the scene in which Tom tries to pole vault is used in the opening sequence.
- The animation in the barbell lifting scene is also used in the opening sequence. The trimming of the towel that Tom wipes his hands on, however, is a different shade of blue.
- The tennis and golf sequences can be linked to the classic MGM Tom & Jerry shorts Tennis Chumps (1949) and Tee for Two (1945). T&J compete in another tennis match in Episode #80-13, "," which is a remake of Tennis Chumps. T&J previously played badminton in a pivotal scene from Episode #80-06, "Beach Bully."
- The title "The Wacky World Of Sports" is a direct takeoff on ABC's Wide World Of Sports, at the time a Saturday Afternoon ritual on The Alphabet Network.
- This was originally the "Wacky Olympics."
- Tom talks at the end of this episode. He cries "Help!"
- The scene of Jerry about to face off with Tom in the Karate match in this episode was also used for the original New Tom & Jerry/Grape Ape Show main titles (prior to being interrupted by Grape Ape's stomping feet!).
