"Anyone can now enter the lucrative field of animated cartoons with the new Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit. This kit contains everything needed for quiet, sophisticated humor. One mean, stupid cat, one sweet, lovable mouse, and assorted deadly weapons. The coffee and cigarettes are for the cartoonists. Just follow the simple instructions. First, put the sweet, lovable mouse into a simple situation expressing a natural human need, such as eating a slice of watermelon, contained in our kit. The result may not make sense, but it will last long enough for you to be comfortably seated before the feature begins."
— The narrator's beginning demonstration
The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit is a 1962 Tom and Jerry animated short directed by Gene Deitch during his brief two-year run on the theatrical short series. It is regarded among many Tom and Jerry fans as the best short in the otherwise contentious Deitch era.
The cartoon introduces the viewers to a new do-it-yourself kit containing Tom and Jerry, which allows them to create almost any possible slapstick scenario between the cat and mouse. Once the narrator finishes his demonstration of the kit, the fun begins.
Tropes:
- Bait-and-Switch: After being woken up by Jerry spitting watermelon seeds on him, Tom grabs a hammer included in the kit and is about to wallop the mouse with it when he suddenly sees what he is currently up to. Instead, he flicks the mouse's head, causing him to swallow the seeds and become a walking maraca.
- The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: When Tom fires a shot of watermelon seeds at the box and destroys it, intending to hit Jerry, a knife included in the kit falls down and narrowly misses Jerry between his legs.
- Blade Reflection: Moments before he tries to stab Jerry with the knife, Tom picks it up, with Jerry reflected inside, and wobbles the blade, causing the reflection to fly away piece-by-piece.
- Bookends: The short begins with the titular kit being displayed as the narrator demonstrates it to the audience. Later, at the end of the short, the kit, albeit a bit worse for wear due to an earlier incident with Tom and some watermelon seeds, reappears with a dazed Tom lying in it as Jerry places the lid on top and bows to the audience.
- Bullet Seed: To demonstrate the kit, the narrator places Jerry in "a simple situation expressing a natural human need", which is eating a watermelon slice. As Jerry proceeds to gobble up the watermelon, he then spits the seeds onto a sleeping Tom in the kit's box, waking him up. He does it again when Tom checks inside a can he trapped the mouse in to see why his rattling noises have suddenly stopped, and to retaliate, Tom eats the rest of the watermelon, turns his head into a cannon and fires seeds at Jerry.
- Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting: Jerry becomes an instant judo expert just by flipping through the pages of a judo book in the span of a few seconds and uses his new skills to easily pwn Tom. Tom then eventually resorts to fighting fire with fire, enters a judo school and graduates not long after entering, after which he and Jerry challenge each other to a breaking contest.
- Green Around the Gills: Jerry's face turns green when he inadvertently gulps up the watermelon seeds, and later turns brown again when he feels the seeds rattling inside of him.
- iSophagus: After swallowing the watermelon seeds, Jerry suddenly rattles like a maraca every time he moves, and after a while, he decides to dance around until Tom traps him in a can, where he emits the same rattling noise every time the cat shakes the can. Tom then dances with the can until the rattling noises wear off.
- Made of Bologna: The reflection of Jerry inside the knife is split into several pieces crosswise when Tom wobbles it, revealing salmon pink tissue inside.
- Match Cut: A rather strange variation. When Tom is defeated the first time by a judo-fighting Jerry, he thinks up an idea as his eyebrows knit a sweater. Tom then fades out, but the sweater remains, and then Tom appears over the sweater, wearing it.
- Must Have Caffeine/Must Have Nicotine: Aside from Tom, Jerry and the assorted deadly weapons, the kit also contains a cup of coffee and a box of cigarettes, though they are not required as they are strictly for the cartoonists.
- Recycled Animation: The animation of Tom pacing in circles is lifted straight from Landing Stripling, as evidenced by the knot on his tail.
- Serial Escalation: Near the end of the cartoon, Tom and Jerry, the former now having mastered the art of judo, challenge each other to a breaking contest that gradually gets more intense. First, Jerry chops a small wooden board, then Tom counters that by chopping a brick in half. When Jerry has his turn again, he easily chops a concrete block, the right half of which lands on Tom's legs. Finally, Tom attempts to chop a gargantuan block of marble to outdo Jerry, but the block is so heavy that Jerry can clearly see the bricks supporting it about to give way, and it eventually crashes through the floor, taking Tom with it.
- That's All, Folks!:Narrator: Thank you, and good night.
- Training Montage: When Tom decides that he must become stronger to defeat Jerry, who has just recently mastered the art of judo, he runs into a gym and proceeds to wallop a small punching bag and a larger one, jumprope and jog before coming back to Jerry to face him again. All of this is worthless, however, as Jerry still easily defeats him.
- White Void Room: The background is little more than an empty void that constantly changes into multiple colors except white throughout the entire short.
