Tom's Owner (Gene Deitch era)

Tom's Owner is an unnamed character who appeared only in the Gene Deitch era (1961-1962) of mh:besttvshows:Tom and Jerry shorts, serving as Tom's owner, as well as an antagonist. He appeared in only three cartoons: Down and Outing, High Steaks, and Sorry Safari shorts, and was voiced by the late Allen Swift.

Why He Sucks

 * 1) Unlike Tom's previous owners, he is very brutal and savage in punishing Tom for his actions, even though the poor cat didn't do it.
 * 2) *Even Spike the Bulldog in the original Hanna Barbera-era of Tom and Jerry cartoons isn't as brutal and savage in clobbering Tom for his actions as this character, and only clobbers Tom mildly, even when it's usually undeserved. Spike even once saved Tom in The Truce Hurts from another dog. This owner hardly does that;
 * 3) * He is basically like a human version of Spike the Bulldog, but with none of Spike's likability and charm. In fact, if you take away all of Spike's redeeming or likable qualities, you are left with this character in a nutshell.
 * 4) His punishments are very cruel and they are animal abuse/cruelty for instance: Searing Tom's face with a steak grill, forcing him to drink an entire bottle of a fizzy soda, stomping his hand to the point where it gets all red and swollen, wrapping a gun around his head and firing it, and bashing his head with a thermos.
 * 5) Aside from punishing Tom with very brutal and violent methods, he hardly ever shows any sort of love or compassion whatsoever towards Tom unlike the previous owners.
 * 6) In Down and Outing, he drives recklessly and he yelled at driver for calling him out which shows that he's oblivious for the fact that he's bad, and also stomped on Tom's hand.
 * 7) He lacks a personality, aside from being just a violent grouchy man.
 * 8) He blames Tom for every thing that Jerry does without any research and assaults him as innocent person.
 * 9) He didn't care when Tom's nose got stuck in a shotgun, he tells him that it's his gun and give it to him, and when his hat gets shot, he wrapped his shotgun around Tom's head and fired it!
 * 10) With the minor exception of Sorry Safari, he never gets any comeuppances for his actions.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) He only appeared in three shorts and was never seen again. However, that's your decision to think of his appearances as a redeeming quality, since Gene Deitch added him since he thought that the show would be boring, and if he were to make another appearance, there should be a short where he fully gets his comeuppance.
 * 2) He finally got his comeuppance in Sorry Safari.
 * 3) To be fair, he wasn't aware of the fact Jerry caused the problems.
 * 4) He gave out the famous "DON'T TOUCH MY GUNS!" meme.

Trivia

 * Tom's Owner bears a resemblance to Clint Clobber, a Terrytoons character that Deitch had created in the past. This led to many fans confusing the two.

Reception
Tom's Owner is one of the main reason why the Gene Deitch-era of Tom and Jerry is poorly received by critics and fans.

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