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The Karate Guard
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Wikipedia article
'The Karate Guard' is a 2005 American animated cartoon short film, and the 163rd 'Tom and Jerry' short. Directed by Joseph Barbera ('Tom and Jerry' co-creator and co-founder of Hanna-Barbera) and Spike Brandt, 'The Karate Guard' was the last 'Tom and Jerry' cartoon that Barbera worked on before his death in 2006. It had a limited theatrical release in cinemas throughout Los Angeles on September 27, 2005, and had its television premiere on Cartoon Network on .[https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20060109005850/en/Academy-Award-Winning-Cat-Mouse-Duo-Celebrate-65 "Academy Award-Winning Cat and Mouse Duo Celebrate 65 Years of Entertaining Audiences; Animation Legend Joseph Barbera Directs New Tom and Jerry Theatrical Short ``The KarateGuard,`` Premiering on Cartoon Network Friday, January 27, 2006"][https://animatedviews.com/2006/tom-jerrys-karateguard-coming-to-cartoon-network/ "Tom & Jerry's KarateGuard coming to Cartoon Network"]
Plot
Tom is taking a nap but is suddenly awoken by Jerry. To check what the noise is coming from, Tom peeks through Jerry's mouse hole to find Jerry (dressed in a karate gi complete with a black belt) practicing karate with a punching bag resembling Tom. After Jerry finishes training his spiritual mentor who is a ghost-like figure, appears and asks him if he's ready to take on Tom to which Jerry agrees. After Jerry walks out of his hole he sees Tom at the end of a hallway and becomes afraid of him until Tom starts to mock Jerry and laughs at the thought of Jerry defeating him. Jerry then decides to go and fight Tom to which Tom pulls out a flyswatter and hits Jerry with it multiple times then slingshots him with the flyswatter back to his hole where he runs into one of his walls. Jerry's spiritual mentor appears again and gives Jerry a gong to ring that summons a "Karate Guard" named Momo-sumo (played by Spike) to aid him whenever he needs help.
The remainder of the short deals with Tom's attempts to catch Jerry but does not know about Momo-sumo first. As soon as Jerry rings the gong, Momo-sumo sticks out his arm as Tom yelps and spins. He is then tied to a lawnmower and is launched into a garbage truck. In the next scene, Jerry is seen sitting on a plate, eating cheese and Tom tries again. He grabs Jerry through the open kitchen window. Jerry struggles to free his hands. Momo-sumo comes and chops Tom's backside. Tom yelps quickly, puts Jerry back and falls to the ground. When Tom puts pillow-like earmuffs on Momo-sumo, he dings to show Jerry that his guard can't hear his gong. After Tom dings the gong close to Momo-sumo's ear, Momo-sumo wakens and shoots Tom into the air. Tom yells in fear and claws the roof he landed on. it doesn't work and he is teetering on the gutter's edge. Tom does a quick salute and falls. Then Tom takes a giant leap and lands on the roof. Tom, who was shaking in fear, heaves a sigh of relief. Jerry does everything he can to anger Tom, including making funny faces, showing him his (underwear-clad) buttocks, etc. It works and the chase is off again. They run down the street into a toy store where Jerry hides in a toy airplane. Jerry turns it on, pilots it, and scalps Tom's head and then shaves Tom's body with the propeller. As soon as Tom's fur comes back the chase starts again. He gets into a larger toy airplane, chases Jerry's plane in a dogfight-like chase and is shredding Jerry's plane with his propeller. Jerry gongs for Momo-sumo and Tom slams into Momo-sumo's chest, causing him (Tom) to disintegrate. Momo-sumo sweeps him up and throws him in a trash can. A panicked Tom calls an exterminator, Butch, along with three more cats to remove Momo-sumo from the household. They do nothing more than fire paintballs at Momo-sumo, who is thrown by the force into the swimming pool; Tom then breaks out laughing. However, Momo-sumo then grabs Tom and squashes him into a bowling ball which he uses to, literally, strike the cats out of the garden.
In the final scene, Jerry and Momo-sumo are watching television (which is showing the battered exterminator cats with Butch Cat opening his mouth and catching all his fallen teeth with his right hand) and eating popcorn, leading to Momo-sumo eating the whole popcorn and making Jerry ring the gong, but instead of Momo-sumo, there is Tom, who arrives to serve more popcorn to Jerry and Momo-sumo and to kiss Momo-sumo's feet to apologize for his ill treatment toward Jerry and beg forgiveness, which Momo-sumo happily grants. The short draws to a close with Jerry happily diving into the popcorn and munching it.
Production
'The Karate Guard' was directed by 'Tom and Jerry' co-creator Joseph Barbera and Spike Brandt. It is Barbera's first 'Tom and Jerry' short since he and his business partner William Hanna directed 'Tot Watchers' and left the cartoon series nearly 50 years prior and before Hanna's death on March 22, 2001, as well as his last before his own death on December 18, 2006. This is not, however, Barbera's final 'Tom and Jerry' project, as he would provide the story to the 2007 direct-to-DVD film 'Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale'.
Barbera storyboarded 'The Karate Guard' with Iwao Takamoto. The short was animated by Brandt, Dave Brewster, Tony Cervone, Michael Nickelson, Barry O'Donahue, Wendy Perdue, and Jeff Siergey. The music for the short was composed by Michael Giacchino; it was conducted by Tim Simonec and recorded at the Eastwood Scoring Stage on September 1, 2005.
Home media
'The Karate Guard' is available as a bonus short on the DVDs 'Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection Volume 3' and 'Tom and Jerry Deluxe Anniversary Collection'.
Voice cast
* Keone Young as Ancient Wise One
* Spike Brandt as Tom
* Tony Cervone as Butch
* Jill Talley as Jerry (uncredited)
See also
* List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions
* Tom and Jerry filmography
References
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