Tom & Jerry: The Golden Era

In 1940, MGM Producer Fred Quimby asked animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera to come up with a cartoon that will garter the audience's attention. What they came up with was a cartoon starring a cat chasing a mouse in 1940's "Puss Gets the Boot". The short was so successful, not only did it get standing ovation in theaters, but was even nominated for an academy award. Initially, both Hanna and Barbera intended it to be a one-off cartoon, but the demand from audiences was to have more cartoons featuring the cat and the mouse. They were both skeptic at first, but when a Texas businessman asked for more cartoons, they decided to go on making more cartoons featuring the duo. They made some slight changes to the characters, further developed the comedy, and changed the names of the characters, originally being called Jinx & Jasper.

This began the Golden Era of Tom & Jerry, starting with their official debut in 1941's "Midnight Snack". The Golden Era lasted from 1940-1958 and is some of the most famous American animation in history, winning a total of seven Academy Awards. This ties the record for the most awards for an animated series along with Disney's Silly Symphonies. What makes Tom & Jerry special is not only all the praise it got back then, but it still manages to make today's audience laugh.    

This set captures a room that would've appeared during this era and is full of many references. The reason I actually decided to suggest this idea is because ever since Lego released official Disney characters in Lego form, they can create other iconic cartoon characters and moments. And what other best option to start of with then the iconic duo of Tom and Jerry. Editing this, LEGO has since released a Looney Tunes Collectable Minifigure Series. If this doesn't show the potential for a LEGO Tom & Jerry set, I don't know what will.

The goal of this set was to not only make it as faithful to the original shorts from the Golden Era as possible, but to also make it affordable. This submission contains exactly 454 Pieces, and includes two figures, Tom and Jerry. Stated earlier, I have filled the set with many Easter eggs referencing many of the original theatrical shorts. Try to find them all!

What makes Tom and Jerry so funny and iconic is the combination of perfect timing and slapstick. So why not include what makes the duo as iconic as they are? Now obviously Lego ideas won't allow any violent submissions, so I integrated cartoony moments for the duo to interact with.

Some of the slapstick elements include:

I also included many accessories to interact with the set, some of which are direct references to certain shorts. With this idea submission, I hope I have perfectly created the soul image of Tom & Jerry and why they are so funny.