Tom & Jerry: Golden Collection, Vol. 1

I made no secret of my distaste for the censored version of the Tom and Jerry shorts available on the Tom and Jerry - Spotlight Collection DVD. Not only was history whitewashed to satisfy the PC Brigade (just who ARE these people anyway?) they were also in shocking condition with lots of dirt and scratches and generally terrible picture quality. All is now fixed for this Blu Ray release from Warner, presenting the first 37 shorts, in chronological order, with brand new 1080p transfers from the best 35mm materials, Dolby 5.1 sound (HD sound is not confirmed at the time of writing, but these cartoons WERE released in Mono anyway and DD 5.1 is still a notable upgrade) and, most importantly, UN-EDITED AND UN-CENSORED. You will finally be able to see the REAL Mammy-Two-Shoes voiced by Lillian Randolph, and various other 'racially inflammatory' visual jokes. The cartoons included are: Puss Gets The Boot The Midnight Snack The Night Before Christmas Fraidy Cat Dog Trouble Puss N' Toots The Bowling Alley Cat Fine Feathered Friend Sufferin' Cats The Lonesome Mouse The Yankee Doodle Mouse Baby Puss The Zoot Cat The Million Dollar Cat The Body Guard Puttin On The Dog Mouse Trouble The Mouse Comes To Dinner Mouse In Manhattan Tee For Two Flirty Birdy Quiet Please! Springtime For Thomas The Milky Waif Trap Happy Solid Serenade Cat Fishin' Part Time Pal The Cat Concerto Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Mouse Salt Water Tabby A Mouse In The House The Invisible Mouse Kitty Foiled The Truce Hurts Old Rockin' Chair Tom Professor Tom This is how it SHOULD have been released the first time around, but this Blu Ray set is an absolute MUST-HAVE for serious animation collectors. Spend the money and let Warner know that this presentation and effort is profitable. It will only grease the wheels for more T&J and perhaps some uncensored HD Looney Tunes.

This is a wonderful set, great quality, and I really enjoy seeing the full old versions of these classic cartoons uncut! The artwork in these old cartoons is beautiful and there is so much wit and humor in the stories. My grandkids love these cartoons and clamor for them every time they come to visit me, now. The disclaimer about stereotypes at the beginning is annoying and silly. I think it might be interesting to share my grandkids' take on Tom's owner, now that they've seen the cartoons several times without having any preconceptions. "That lady must be rich!" they exclaim, "Her house is so beautiful!" "Her refrigerator is always filled with every kind of good food!" They (and I) love how she takes no nonsense from "Thomas". She is a wonderful character. A strong, self-determined woman who is obviously making her way in the world and taking good care of herself. So she is afraid of mice. Where would we be without that. I think those who see her as a stereotype should take a closer look. I see her as a character with a lot of positive qualities, and a very endearing one.

I never got over loving animation, so I think it's great to see the classics appearing in high definition. This set gets a lot of things right. The films are shown in their correct aspect ratio. The producers cleaned things up and corrected faded colors, but didn't pile on excessive digital cleaning or boost the colors unnaturally. They're presented in chronological order, which works quite well for Tom & Jerry. They're uncensored. And. . . The price is right. There's a small bit of controversy that has emerged. Most of the numbers in this set look wonderful. A few of them were allegedly transferred from sub-standard film sources. The original master films were lost in a fire long ago. I'm no expert, and I can only tell you what my uneducated and untrained eyes are seeing on my own HDTV. I can see the increased amount of film grain in some of these, and it does sometimes get noticeable. Once in a while the lines may not be quite as sharp, or the colors or exposure may be subtly off. However. . . From where I sit, it's all nitpicking. Even the worst of them are very watchable, and in fact much better than the ones I've seen shown on TV. If you watch these films looking for flaws, then you'll find a few flaws. If you watch these films for enjoyment, you should enjoy them. I find the warning screen a bit annoying. It's the one that tells about the racial stereotypes and how they're all wrong and bad, but we won't censor them because pretending those attitudes never existed would be even worse. OK. I appreciate the explanation, but I just wish I wasn't forced to stare at it for a full minute when I start up the disc. Anyhow, that's soon forgotten when the cartoons start rolling. To sum things up: Don't let the nitpicks turn you away from this set! It's a piece of history, it's a bargain, and on the whole it's quite well done. It should make a good appetizer for the Looney Toons Platinum Collection, which is coming up soon!

I have loved tom and jerry since I was a little kid and though I didn't bother buying the spotlight collections, I'm glad I bought this. All of the cartoons look amazing, plus the cartoons are in chronological order. The best part is that the cartoons are uncensored and uncut. After watching the censored versions on Cartoon Network for years and years, it is a welcome change to see the cartoons uncensored. Another huge plus is the fact that these cartoons feature Lillian Randolph as the voice of Mammy Two Shoes instead of the later voice of Thea Vidale. Randolph was the original voice and did a much better role. Be forewarned that the scenes that were censored may be offensive to some people. This collection contains two Tom and Jerry cartoons that I had never seen before: The Lonesome Mouse and A Mouse In The House. These two were never shown on Cartoon Network so for those like me who have never seen them, these two make the collection worth buying. Here is a complete list of the racist gags in this collection that were unfortunately prevalent in society at the time: a Chinese gag in Puss 'n Toots, a Hitler gag in The Lonesome Mouse, a blackface gag in The Yankee Doodle Mouse (which, strangely enough, is shown on Cartoon Network), an Indian gag in The Mouse Comes To Dinner, a blackface gag in Mouse in Manhattan, an Indian gag in Flirty Birdy, a blackface gag in The Milky Waif (where Jerry is voiced by Lillian Randolph), a blackface gag in A Mouse In The House, an Indian gag in Kitty Foiled, a blackface gag in The Truce Hurts, and a subtle racist gag in Old Rockin Chair Tom ("take good care of poor old uncle Tom"). This collection has a disclaimer at the beginning that cannot be skipped. The disclaimer simply warns that some content may be offensive. Unfortunately Warner Brothers chose to break the chronological order by omitting Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat from Golden Collection Volume 2. The racist gags in those two cartoons (Tom in blackface in the former and Jerry in blackface in the latter) are no worse than the gags in the cartoons in this collection. Anyway, I can watch these cartoons over and over and they never lose their humor.

TOM & JERRY GOLDEN COLLECTION VOLUME ONE is essentially what we should have been getting since day one. Tom & Jerry: uncut, uncensored, and in chronological order. No skipping around, no elimination of Mammy Two Shoes (the black maid seen in many a short), no versions edited for TV. This is also pretty much every T&J short worth owning, as almost all of the series' strongest entries are present and accounted for. On top of that, these are newly remastered from second generation CRI elements. Quick recap: the original negatives to the MGM cartoons were destroyed in a fire decades ago. So there's no chance of any MGM cartoon release looking as excellent as the LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION or WALT DISNEY TREASURE releases. But, the best CRI elements can look as close as possible to the original negs as possible. For the most part, the best CRI elements were used for the transfers seen here. They look absolutely stunning, and easily the cleanest and colorful transfers of the T&J shorts ever issued. Unfortunately, not all of the CRI elements are good. I should be clear that there isn't a single set of CRI elements, but several, and as many as two or three per cartoon. The lesser of these CRI negatives can look serviceable to absolutely putrid because they were made on the cheap for early syndication. (Hence these versions having later Metrocolor title cards with no reference to Technicolor, as there was no intention of them ever replicating it.) Seeing these versions mastered for Blu-Ray is akin to if WHV decided to remaster the old Turner material of the 1940s Warner shorts in high-def. The offending shorts are as follows: "Puss n' Toots", "The Bowling Alley Cat", "Sufferin' Cats", "The Lonesome Mouse", "The Zoot Cat", "The Million Dollar Cat", "Puttin' on the Dog", "Mouse Trouble", "Quiet, Please!", and "The Milky Waif". This may seem trivial, but a lot of these are some of the best T&Js, and it's like night and day when you compare them to the absolutely brilliant transfers that dominate this collection. I sincerely hope Warner Home Video will be more careful, as this ineptitude ruined what could have easily been a 5 star release. Regardless of the flaws, the majority of the cartoons are _perfect_, as I've stated. No cuts, no DVNR, and in order of release. For barely $20, how could you possibly go wrong?

THIS is how classic cartoons should be treated in hi-def! Completely uncut and with all the beautiful film grain left intact. No grain- or lineart-erasing noise reduction and with a high bitrate to let all the grain and fine detail flourish. I feel like I'm watching actual film prints of these classic animated shorts. And best of all, the Tom and Jerry cartoons are finally being released uncut and in chronological order, including the very first official-nonofficial Tom and Jerry short, "Puss Gets the Boot", in which Tom is referred to as Jasper (and Jerry, while not named in the cartoon, is officially known as Jinx). Also, far as I can tell, the original title cards remain, although the unfortunate "Academy Award winner of 1943" card for "The Yankee Doodle Mouse" is still here; I'm unsure what the original card looked like. The only real big gripe I have are the "hairs" which frequently crop up in the gate. They can be a little bit distracting. The occasional dirt and emulsion scratches I can deal with, but gate hairs are a bit bothersome. Some manual cleanup work would have been appreciated, but I'd rather have untampered-with transfers than ones which were carelessly slapped with noise reduction. Guess we can't always have things perfect. This is the finest example of how classic cartoons need to be treated on Blu-ray: no "politically correct" editing and censorship (I could do without the preachy text introduction, but in today's sensitive world it is perhaps necessary) and brazenly showing their filmic roots. Disney really ought to take notes. Here's hoping this is the first in a trend of amazing WB animated Blu-rays. I really hope that the "Looney Tunes" collections look this good and that we'll be seeing a great number of Tex Avery and Bob Clampett cartoons looking like this on the format before long. (WB, if you're reading this, ya REALLY, REALLY need to redo all the Droopy cartoons in HD and with no art-destroying DNR.) Addendum: There is a noted issue of certain shorts (nine of them, I believe) looking a little on the dull side regarding color timing. It's the opposite of the Spotlight Collection DVDs, where these shorts were over-saturated and overbearingly colorful (Tom becomes blue instead of gray; on the Blu-rays, he's more of a really dark gray). A nice middle ground would have been ideal, especially for the preserving of some background art detail that unfortunately is affected, but it's not an issue that will lessen the quality of the product for most, nor is it a problem for myself; I prefer the way these shorts look on this Blu-ray set over the previous DVDs, just for the gain in overall detail and film-like appearance.

This is a cool blast from the past. DVDs are a treasure to those who love old T.V. Even if these cartoons could still be found on T.V., they'd be hacked up, so buy the disc. I remember a lot of these blackface gags from when I watched these cartoons on an independent station in the '80s. Back then, when I was a kid, I saw the firecracker blow up I Tom's face, or the car splash mud on the characters and thought, "Ha ha. That's funny." And while I understood why their faces were black, I didn't get the brown lips and pigtails. So this teaches two things: 1- Bigotry and racism are learned, and 2- Censorship is for adults. Even as a kid, what happens after Tom splashes water on Mammie (Part Time Pals), or when the cats smack her in the butt (A Mouse In the House), would not have been funny if Mammie was a skinny white girl. So enjoy the violence and the political incorrectness... and the animation- this is also a cool blast from the past when cartoons were works of art.

I've been a fan of Tom & Jerry since I was about 4 years old (I'm 23 now) and still just as big of a fan of the show as I was when I was little. I owned all of the VHS tapes that came out in the early 90's but had to get rid of them since they had a lot of wear. I do own the Spotlight Collection but the shorts were edited and not presented as they were originally released. I'm so glad I held out on the last two sets of the spotlight collection. This is the way the Spotlight Collection should have been released. I really wish I knew how WB remastered these shorts because the picture quality is absolutely beautiful even on the DVD copy. There's only one DVD case with a beautiful shiny slip cover. Inside, it comes with a small booklet episode guide and two discs. The original opening and ending credits are included in each episode. Note: The DVD does warn you that these shorts are intended for the adult collector. I added a screenshot that shows the warning. There's also a warning on the back of the DVD. So parents with children, you have been warned. List of Shorts Disc 1: Puss Gets The Boot The Midnight Snack The Night Before Christmas Fraidy Cat Dog Trouble Puss N' Toots The Bowling Alley Cat Fine Feathered Friend Sufferin' Cats The Lonesome Mouse The Yankee Doodle Mouse Baby Puss The Zoot Cat The Million Dollar Cat The Body Guard Puttin On The Dog Mouse Trouble The Mouse Comes To Dinner Mouse In Manhattan Tee For Two Disc 2: Flirty Birdy Quiet Please! Springtime For Thomas The Milky Waif Trap Happy Solid Serenade Cat Fishin' Part Time Pal The Cat Concerto Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Mouse Salt Water Tabby A Mouse In The House The Invisible Mouse Kitty Foiled The Truce Hurts Old Rockin' Chair Tom Professor Tom And that's it! Let's hope that Collection Two will be released next year!