Der Käseplanet

With the space race on in real life, this late-'60s Tom and Jerry cartoon sees the cat and mouse leave planet Earth for life on a space station (that looks like a giant roulette wheel) where they carry on their usual cat and mouse antics, albeit with the aid of jet-packs, robots, lasers and ray guns.

Instead of being out of this world, O-Solar-Meow, directed by Abe Levitow, is mechanical and devoid of atmosphere. The animation is flat and lacking in detail and the gags are far from original (Tom trying on an Ajax flying belt with disastrous results is pure Wile.E.Coyote). Oh well, only eight more cartoons to go and I can focus my attention elsewhere…

N.B. Is it just me or does that window behind Tom's harpoon look very similar to those seen on the death star in Star Wars?

This was one of the first Tom and Jerry shorts in General that I saw, I remember seeing it on Television years ago and it is as good as I remembered it, directed by Abe Levitow and Produced by Chuck Jones O-Solar-Meow manages to entertain with his Jokes and have an Original Plot for that Moment.

Tom and Jerry as always are Nice Characters and it's fun to see them Fight, the Robot Cat and the Robot Mouse are Decent Characters that have their Moments, making a Short in Space was a good Idea (Unlike Mouse into Space) where here are the Designs of High Quality are Present at every Moment.

Mel Blanc's Voice Acting is Strange as he can only be heard Coughing (which is the only thing that makes the characters emit sounds in this short) making Blanc's acting not as Memorable as in other Shorts.

This was Eugene Poddany's Last Short with Music and it shows that he gave it his all, but in spite of that he does not manage to create memorable music but in spite of that it is Pretty Decent.

The Animation is Elegant with Beautiful Colors left in the Environment, the Character Movements are great and they look Deluxe just like the other Chuck Jones cartoons.

The Sound Effects have the Typical tone of Chuck Jones being very Cartoony making them fun but not on the Scale of other Hanna Barbera Sound Effects but despite that they are Quite Passable.

Itself O-Solar-Meow is a Great Short that despite its flaws manages to Entertain, its Music and Environment manages to create a fun Sensation like any other Chuck Jones short, its Ending is Funny, but the Part of Tom being Forced Fixing the Air Leak while an Astronaut Points a Rifle at it doesn't look too Nice, but what is Nice is Jerry eating Cheese on a Planet Full of Cheese, my Rating for this Wonder is an 9.

Chuck Jones and Tom and Jerry were part of my childhood and are still among my favourites, so I'm always hoping for something from them to be good. Chuck Jones' Tom and Jerry cartoons have been hit(Snowbody Loves Me) and-miss(Matinée Mouse), they are much better than the abominable Gene Deitch output but even the best of them aren't anywhere near classic status. For me O-Solar Meow is one of his weaker ones. It is not terrible by all means, Tom and Jerry are great fun and likable with the chemistry between them still intact, the concept is good with some nice ideas and cute moments and I do enjoy Tom's Grinch-like expressions. Much of O-Solar Meow though I do find unremarkable. Other than Tom's expressions, I really didn't care for the animation with everything looking scratchy and flatly coloured. The pacing is rather sluggish and the story's execution is routine and doesn't do enough with the concept. They are not helped by the gags which had some cuteness but their humour seemed rather forced and the really dull and unmemorable music. So overall, hardly disastrous but could have been much better. 4/10 Bethany Cox