DVDizzy Forum

"THAT'S ALL SMOKES!"
TELLY WATCHDOGS EDIT SMOKING OUT OF TOM AND JERRY CARTOONS
By Emily Nash
HE'S had 10-ton weights on his head and been blown up countless times in Tom and Jerry...but watchdogs are now more worried about the cartoon cat's SMOKING.

Complaints included a scene where Tom tried to impress a female cat by lighting a roll-up.

Now media regulators Ofcom have asked a TV company to edit out scenes that glamorize smoking.

Surprisingly, the move had the anti-smoking group Ash puffing and blowing - accusing Ofcom of rewriting history.

Tom and Jerry cartoons were broadcast for decades on BBC but when they were aired on children's satellite channel Boomerang viewers started complaining.

Now Turner Broadcasting, which owns the station, has agreed to edit out some smoking scenes.

Ofcom said: "These are historic cartoons, most of them having been produced in the 40s, 50s or 60s, at a time when smoking was more generally accepted. We note that in Tom and Jerry, smoking usually appears in a stylised manner and is frequently not condoned.

"However, while we appreciate the historic integrity of the animation, the level of editorial justification required for the inclusion of smoking in such cartoons is necessarily high."

But Ash spokeswoman Amanda Sandford said: "We can't re-write history in the same way that we can't edit smoking from the old Hollywood classics that have everyone smoking. It's part of our history for better or worse.

"If the smoking is not essential to the plot, it's inappropriate to have that in programmes targeted at children. But if it's part of the storyline, we would be opposed to any editing just for the sake of taking smoking out. Tom and Jerry stretches credulity anyway - it is a cartoon cat and mouse doing these things at the end of the day."

Turner Broadcasting has removed smoking scenes from three of its 162 Tom and Jerry episodes.

And it is planning to trawl through more than 1,700 cartoon episodes, including Scooby Doo and The Flintstones, and clean up any smoking scenes.

The process involves the frame-by-frame "painting out" of smoking-related images - a huge job with 25 frames per second.

The company said: "Turner recognises that it is not suitable for cartoons aimed at children to portray smoking in a cool context."

JamesDFarrow wrote:Unless Turner owns the material that is.

I don't have much problem with whatever they cut for TV - but I hope they'd be uncut if I ever want to buy them on DVD.

Mr. Toad wrote:I aint got a problem with it. We dont need to tell generation after generation of kids that smoking is cool. It's not.

PatrickvD wrote:

I don't have much problem with whatever they cut for TV - but I hope they'd be uncut if I ever want to buy them on DVD.

don't count on it. Wether it's the network cuts or just other cuts, there's a pretty big chance edited versions will be released on dvd.

TM2-Megatron wrote:Of course, parents are completely fine with the deranged acts of violence involving axes, knives, and numerous other deadly weapons... especially when they're used against someone else... but a character shan't dare do harm to himself by lighting up. Give me a break. I'm all for taking the next 10 or so years to gradually phase out and then ban the actual use of cigarettes, but this is ridiculous. I grew up watching this cartoon and others with similar content, and I've never smoked a single cigarette (or anything else) in my life; nor have I become a deranged psycho ready to murder someone with an array of goofy weapons.