The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit

Plot

The cartoon begins with a demonstration for the Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit, with which "anyone can now enter the lucrative field of animated cartoons." The items in the kit include the following:

The narrator says, "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." This statement refers to the original theatrical exhibition of the cartoon, in which it ran ahead of a feature film.

At first, Jerry eats the watermelon and spits the seeds out, hitting and waking Tom, who initially grabs the hammer to hit Jerry but instead flicks him in the back of the head. Jerry swallows the seeds by accident, causing him to turn green for a moment and then make sounds like a maraca when he moves, and goes into a lively dance until Tom traps him in a metal can. Tom uses Jerry as a maraca for his own dance; when the effect suddenly stops, Tom peeks inside only to get a mouthful of seeds spat into his face. He devours the rest of the watermelon and turns his head into a cannon to fire blasts of seeds at Jerry, who takes cover in the kit box just before Tom hits it, destroying the stick of dynamite and damaging the box.

Jerry winds up lying beneath a book named Judo for Mice, studies it, and emerges with enough fighting skill to easily overpower Tom. Even a stint of training at a boxing gym and use of the knife do not give Tom any advantage against Jerry. Finally Tom goes to a judo school in order to face him again. The two have a breaking contest, in which each tries to outdo the other: Jerry with a wooden board, Tom with a brick, then Jerry again with a cement block. The contest ends abruptly when Tom tries to break a huge block of marble, which crashes through the floor and takes him with it.

Unconscious Tom ends up in the battered box. Jerry replaces the lid as the narrator says, "Our next film will be for the kiddies, and will demonstrate a new poison gas. Thank you and good night." The words on the lid say "The End, an MGM cartoon". The music winds to stop as if it was being played on a slowing phonograph record, and Jerry bows in typical Japanese fashion.

Reception

While the Deitch shorts were generally negatively-received by Tom and Jerry fans, this particular short is often considered one of the best of the thirteen cartoons, due to its inventive plotline and satirical nature.