Jerry Mouse (Gene Deitch era & The T&J Comedy Show)

Jerry Mouse is one of the two titular main protagonists (alongside Tom Cat) of the Tom and Jerry cartoons. But during the Gene Deitch era, he is portrayed as extremely unlikable that it's even out of character for him.

Why His Incarnation Sucked
Note: This only applies to his incarnation in the Gene Deitch era of Tom and Jerry.


 * 1) Unlike in the classic and Chuck Jones eras, where Jerry's antagonistic tendencies with Tom were meant to be all play rather than serious attacks while bonding with Tom over a mutual sentiment towards an unpleasant experience, here, he takes it too far by downright making Tom's owner torturing Tom for his own sick amusement while showing absolutely no mercy for Tom. Worst of all, he never gets any comeuppance for his actions (with the minor exception of Calypso Cat), which he occasionally does in the classic and Chuck Jones-eras even whenever he provokes Tom while taking it to the extreme. Most of these really show they had Jerry play at his absolute worst and Tom being utterly harmless.
 * 2) * Jerry may have been troublesome and mischievous, but not to the extent of being malicious and sadistic to the point that it could almost already give his Famous Studios knock-off counterpart Herman a run for his money, making this out of character for him.
 * 3) *In most of these cartoons, Jerry often acted more like a villain than a hero, which makes it extremely hard to root for him.
 * 4) *He's extremely sadistic, as he goes so far as to laugh at Tom every time the cat gets into all sorts of violent abuse and misfortunes, especially from Tom's overweight abusive owner, especially when all the chaos caused is entirely the mouse's own fault.
 * 5) He usually has Tom get in to trouble with Tom's overweight abusive owner even though it wasn't his fault.
 * 6) The injuries that he conflicts on Tom are more lifelike and brutal rather than being cartoonish and funny.
 * 7) His flanderization is one of the main reasons why this era of Tom and Jerry is poorly received by critics and fans, and succeeded in turning him into one of the most hated Tom and Jerry characters of all time, to the point that some fans even started hating the Jerry character as a whole for no valid reason whatsoever since then, even when he's not flanderized and is still a good character before and after the Gene Deitch era.
 * 8) The laugh that he makes is very creepy as it legit sounds more like a hyena or goblin's laugh sped-up than a cute mouse's laugh, thanks to his voice actor Allen Swift.
 * 9) Like Herman from Herman and Katnip, he also qualifies as a Gary-Stu.
 * 10) Jerry isn't usually seen because of how small he is, which result of most of the characters in the era not able to see him, which Jerry use this as his advantage when getting Tom in trouble. Not helping is the era's bad animation and nonsensical logic (even by Tom and Jerry standards) resulting how he manages to escape before he gets spotted by other characters to be confusing and to not make any sense whatsoever.
 * 11) He sabotages Tom's chances of getting the affections of a female persian cat in Calypso Cat.
 * 12) In each short, he never gets punished; instead he wins in every episode of the Gene Deitch-era and with the minor exception of Calypso Cat, he never gets his comeuppance. That's making him a Karma Houdini.
 * 13) His face as he eats the steak in High Steaks is extremely punchable. The same can be said every time he is seen smiling as he wins in the end of almost every episode of the Gene Deitch-era, as well as the mocking face he makes towards Tom's predicament at the ending of Dicky Moe.
 * 14) This incarnation of Jerry is also repeated by Filmation in mh:terribletvshows:The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show in 1980, since that show seems to follow the footsteps of the Gene Deitch-era of Tom and Jerry. Worse still, his sadtistic nature from the Gene Deitch era shown to be even more obvious and exaggerated in that show than usual, as evident in numerous episodes such as Heavy Booking, The Plain Baron Strikes Again, Kitty Hawk Kitty, and The Puppy Sitter.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) He was a much better character before the Gene Deitch version and has massively redeemed himself back to being the loveable, troublesome, cute, and funny mouse again in future Tom and Jerry cartoons since the Chuck Jones era.
 * 2) His character design is still cute as usual.
 * 3) Buddies Thicker than Water and The Tom and Jerry Cartoon Kit are the only cartoons which he was ever likable in this era of Tom and Jerry, as in the former, he did help Tom from freezing out in the cold, and his abuse towards Tom in that cartoon is justified because Tom betrayed his kindness by throwing him out into the cold in favor of getting pampered by his thin female owner. and in the latter, he is just like his original counterpart.
 * 4) He does get his comeuppance in Calypso Cat as he is being pursued by Tom at the end for sabotaging his relationship with a female cat, much to the point of losing her to a calypso player.

Trivia

 * Itchy from Itchy & Scratchy is very likely to be loosely inspired partially by Gene Deitch's more villainous incarnation of Jerry from Tom and Jerry because of this Jerry's sadism and his cruel & manipulative tendencies towards Tom during the Gene Deitch era, as well as how the Itchy character itself as a whole is a parody of the villainous ideal of Jerry from Tom and Jerry.