It begins, as it always has, with a chase. A cat, a mouse and, inevitably, chaos. Suddenly, you are seven again, smiling at the screen, watching the battle unfold with reckless abandon. Laughter comes naturally.
And as the protagonists — the eternally beloved Tom and Jerry — turn 85, isn’t it a fine excuse to be a bit nostalgic?
That’s eight and a half decades of frying pans, booby traps, exaggerated screams, and the timeless pursuit that has always been unfailingly funny since the first episode aired in 1940.
Originally created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (MGM) in the US, the series debuted with the short titled Puss Gets the Boot. It was the beginning of one of the most enduring rivalries in entertainment history.
The characters were never life-like, nor did they try to be. Yet, the big cat and the little mouse have always managed to captivate viewers — children and adults alike. Even now, the Oscar-winning cartoon hasn’t lost its initial charm.
The animation styles have shifted over time, evolving from the rich hand-drawn illustrations of the 1940s to digital renderings in the 2000s. However, Tom’s schemes and Jerry’s cunning remain firmly intact.
“There’s something incredibly comforting about watching them,” says Krishnan Nair, a 31-year-old architect who still watches a few episodes to unwind after a stressful day at work. “It’s the same slapstick rhythm every time, and that predictability is strangely soothing.”
He isn’t alone. Even in the age of hyper-realistic animation and streaming fatigue, Tom and Jerry continues to draw in viewers — not just for laughs, but for a particular brand of quiet nostalgia.
The show is often less about the punchlines and more about the memory of when you first laughed at them: on grainy TV screens during summer holidays, or on loop from a well-worn DVD.
Sam Thomas, a techie, is exactly one like that. Tom and Jerry was his respite every summer vacation when he visited Kerala. “I grew up in the UAE. My parents never allowed us to watch TV,” he recalls.
“But come summer vacation, in our ancestral home in Kerala, Tom and Jerry were regulars. It was actually a family affair. I remember my mother used to laugh out loud watching their antics.”
Though he never seeks out the show nowadays, it invariably finds him on social media. “It just comes in my feed, and you can never ignore the chaotic duo. You can call me a Tom & Jerry loyalist,” Sam quips.
And while nostalgia keeps older fans coming back, the show’s real audience still gathers right where it always has — on the living room floor, eyes glued to the screen, laughter echoing off the walls.
“I like it because it’s just so crazy,” says nine-year-old Aman Mathew, eyes lighting up as he mimics Tom’s wide-eyed scream. “Even when I know what’s going to happen, it’s still funny every single time.”
That kind of repeatable delight is something few shows manage. Without any moralising, dialogue or heavy plots, it wins hearts with a chase, a crash, and a guaranteed chuckle.
“It’s silly, sure. But it reminds me of being with my cousins, fighting over the remote,” says Shazmin Hannah, a college student. “It’s the kind of silly thing we don’t get much of anymore.”
Whether it’s the golden-era shorts of the ’40s and ’50s, the Chuck Jones episodes of the ’60s, the action-heavy revamps of the ’90s, or the recent reboot on HBO Max, Tom and Jerry remains relevant — not by reinventing itself drastically, but by holding fast to a formula that works.
Part of its power lies in its near-total lack of dialogue. It’s a show that plays just as well in Kerala as it does in California, in 2025 as it did in 1955.
Riya Cherada, founder of the marketing firm Sardine Mother, agrees. “Tom and Jerry was something different. It draws you in without any dialogue,” she says.
“You don’t need to know English to understand this American cartoon, which makes it accessible. And it makes you laugh without fail. Even thinking about them makes you smile.”
Riya also found a few relatable facets in the show. “Yes, the art was never life-like like today’s cartoons, but it is here that I learnt that physically small people can also win,” she laughs.
She recalls how she found Jerry relatable, especially as a 5.2ft person. Her room, she always thought, resembled Jerry’s. “His was a little room, inside a hole in the wall and mine, just under the stairs. But everything was small, I recall,” she smiles.
“Also, do you remember the tiny Jerry that sometimes appears, the baby Jerry, wearing a diaper? I always thought he looked like my sister. She is 14 years younger than me. Those days, she was so tiny.”
Poor ol’ Tom
Interestingly, now looking back, many have changed their allegiance to Jerry. “I used to be a Jerry fan,” says Sam. “But now, maybe it’s the age catching up, I think Tom was just doing his job. His owner gave him a job — catch the mouse that has become a nuisance in the house. And he was never able to do that. Poor guy. Sometimes, I feel he should also get to win a few bouts.”
There are, in fact, many who echo the sentiment. But Riya remembers a “conspiracy theory” she heard somewhere — Tom was actually Jerry’s friend, and it was all a scam!
“Think about it. Tom was just helping Jerry, never catching him, just acting so that no other cat would attack Jerry. So sweet,” she smiles.
While theories and discussions continue, Tom and Jerry show no signs of slowing. They never should. They should continue to make generations laugh with abandon.
“No thoughts and analysis, just lols,” Riya quips.
‘Every frame a piece of art’
Azeem Kattali, co-founder and managing director of Eunoians Studio, remembers his animation gurus raving about the art in Tom and Jerry. “They used to call it pure manual art,” he says.
“But now it is quantity over quality. Deadlines matter, and the use of software makes the process easy. This was evident in the Tom and Jerry film that came out a couple of years ago. It lacked the old charm.”
Earlier, the process of animation was entirely dependent on artists. For one moving sequence, they would painstakingly draw each frame with all the details, including the background.
“They would resketch and perfect each frame. They focused on storytelling, expressions, timing.... These images were hand-drawn on clear sheets and then photographed to create a video. It is called cel (celluloid) animation,” Azeem gushes.
That’s why, he adds, the earlier Tom and Jerry cartoons were so rich in detail. “Every frame was basically an amazing piece of art. That is why, even now, you can return to them and enjoy them, though decades have passed. Those animations live on.”
As the process changed, Azeem believes, the human “perfection” touch was lost to an extent. “Now, cartoons are digitally created. I think it will be difficult for today's cartoons to have the kind of longevity that the older Tom and Jerry series enjoys. However, we all strive towards that,” he concludes.