O Patinho

The Tom and Jerry cartoon series introduces yet another cloyingly cute character for Tom to menace and for Jerry to befriend: a duckling by the name of 'Little Quacker', who winds up in Tom's frying pan after the naughty cat pilfers an egg from a nest while the mother is having a swim. The duckling escapes from Tom and hides in Jerry's mouse-hole, where he tells the surprised mouse of his ordeal. Jerry decides to help the poor little bird find his mother.

The colourful farm setting for this short makes a nice change from the suburban household of many an earlier adventure, but the action essentially remains the same, Jerry repeatedly foiling Tom's ambushes, causing the cat much pain in the process. After lots of close shaves, Little Quacker is reunited with his mother, who calls upon her macho duck husband to teach Tom a lesson (yes, the idea of a duck beating up a cat is ridiculous, even for a cartoon!).

If you forgive the fact that the plot is fairly predictable, then you are in for a treat. Little Quacker is a really cute and funny Tom and Jerry cartoon, made significant by the debut of the adorable little baby duck, Little Quacker, voiced by Red Coffee. Little Quacker may be annoying to some, but I for one find him simply adorable, from his appearance to his voice that does remind me of Clarence Nash's Donald Duck somewhat.

The animation is absolutely exceptional here, if I have to be honest, Little Quacker is one of the most beautiful-looking Tom and Jerry cartoons. The music is jolly, playful and fun, in short it is outstanding. The gags are plentiful, and thanks to the quick pacing they come thick and fast from when Tom mistakes dynamite for a duck caller and gets "blown up" to the part when the father duck attacks Tom with a lawn mower. Little Quacker's dialogue is inspired, I could just about understand what he was saying, from his hand gestures you kind of get the gist of what he's saying anyway. Overall, a wonderful cartoon, one of my personal favourite Tom and Jerry cartoons featuring Little Quacker. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Tom, living on a farm now (owned by Old MacDonald if the music is anything to go by), swipes a newly laid egg from a duck's nest and proceeds to cook it. The little duckling obviously doesn't want to be eaten so he flees to Jerry's dwellings within the voids where they team up to thwart Tom.

Yes, it is EXACTLY the same set-up as the previous short Hatch-Up Your Troubles, even to the extent of having the little bird peck through things and shout 'Mama'. I am so sick of these 'cute' little characters brought in to partner with Jerry. It's the same thing every time, right down to them smiling and walking off into the sunset as the cartoon irises out. A couple of good gags make up for it, but the duck is incredibly annoying.

I was never a great fan of Tom and Jerry because there is so much sameness to the cartoons. This one is better because it takes place on a farm. Tom picks on an innocent victim, a duckling, thinking it will be his dinner. Jerry intervenes and what happens are a series of Tom's efforts backfiring. Sound familiar. The difference here is that many of them are quite funny.

The Tom & Jerry show marked my childhood more than the Japanese cartoons and maybe equally than Diseny's full-length's films. The Little Quacker is an episode belonging the "second" era, the Hanna & Barbera series, which is funny and amusing at the same level as the first. I couldn't choose the best one. Unfortunately is the third "era", with Chuck Jones in the 60s, that created rubbish episodes, often plagiarizing the old pearls.

This time (was 1950!) Tom steals an egg from a straw bed to prepare the breakfast, but when comes up a little duck he promptly opts for cooking him stuffed. Either Jerry and the duck won't agree Tom's idea.

The best scene was at the end, when the mother of the little duck calls a sinister fellow-duck named "Irven" after she knew what Tom did, to give him a lesson (and he'll get it !). These cartoons were made by few people (in the credits I counted 8 men) with big imagination and great ideas. I admire them. The fact, in the end, exist relatively few episodes (maybe 80-100 in 20 years) of T&J series preserved them through the decades as immortal, and I'm not joking!