Tom-ic Energy

Tom-ic Energy is a 1965 cartoon directed and produced by Chuck Jones. The cartoon is essentially plotless, consisting of various gags held together by a chase that is already underway at the start of the cartoon and still going by the end. The name is a pun on atomic energy. The music of this cartoon is primarily based on Paganini's Moto Perpetuo (Op. 11) with other music and sound effects mixed in with the theme which crops up throughout the cartoon.

Plot
As the title card and credits are shown, tom chases Jerry on top of a building and then through the A/C vent and into the building. A chaotic struggle ensues inside the building until the duo reach a balcony. Tom scares Jerry's spirit out of him by poking his head through the other window, screaming, and making a scary face. Jerry's spirit catches its host and gives a laughing Tom a taste of his own medicine. The mere sight of the "ghost" causes Tom to turn white in fear; then it returns to its host body. Jerry recovers and runs off as Tom recovers by shaking his head.

Tom chases the mouse up a series of work steps and into the air, still chasing in a zigzag pattern until Jerry stops him and points to the empty abyss. Tom panics and falls through the piped balcony, splitting himself into pieces in mid-air, but they re-form the cat when they hit the ground. Jerry zigzags back down to comparatively solid ground and jumps through a water duct, but Tom sees him and locates himself at the bottom, intending to swallow the mouse. Jerry travels so fast that he bursts through Tom and opens his tail. Tom then ties the end of his tail and pursues the mouse.

Jerry takes the chase out to the street and the chase is stopped by a red light to allow "traffic" which consists of other ongoing cat-mouse chases to pass. The light turns yellow and Tom and Jerry prepare to run like race cars at the starting line. Tom dashes off before the green light and Jerry whistles, then points at the lights, which are changing. As the light turns red, Tom gets run over by a large red truck.

Tom pursues the mouse around a street corner, braking themselves with their feet. Jerry stops behind an open manhole and signals for Tom to stop. Tom literally falls for it. Jerry then runs away, but Tom pops out of a second manhole as Jerry is passing over it, which keeps the mouse from going anywhere. However, the manhole cover twists Tom's head. Tom removes it and unwinds his head. Jerry spots Tom and manages to reach the outside of the manhole cover such that he hits Tom's nose upon every revolution. Tom clutches his nose in pain, but ends up dropping the manhole cover on his own foot. Tom lets out a loud bellow, and dances around in pain seeing that his toes are flattened.

Jerry fakes sympathy for Tom and offers to inflate his toes with an air compressor, but Jerry goes beyond that and inflates the whole of Tom, then releases him. Tom is launched high in the air, then runs out of air and falls back down. He falls into a pair of Long Johns/Union Suit and is thrown back up to the top of the building, catching a feather boa and a lady's hat from a clothesline on the way back up. A male cat pursues Tom and kisses him while he recites French poetry while speaking in a French accent. Jerry pretends to play a violin as he watches. Tom discovers Jerry, beats up the alley cat into a bloody pulp and flees. The alley cat has a black eye and says, "C'est...la guerre." ("That...was a war," referencing Tuffy in a number of Hanna-Barbera cartoons that took place in 1700s France) Jerry switches to a few seconds of "The William Tell Overture" and then dashes off. Tom chases Jerry through the building a second time and down to the street again.

While running down the street, Jerry is able to run under a dog walking down the street, but Tom runs into the dog. Tom kisses the dog, kicks it in the face and dashes off, leaving the dog brimming with rage. He chases the cat and misses biting him several times. Annoyed at this turn of events, Jerry places a manhole cover between Tom and the dog, causing the dog to run into it and limp away in the form of a centipede, making accordion sounds as it slithers. The chase between Tom and Jerry then continues, although Tom does shake Jerry's hand to thank him for taking care of the naughty dog.

Crew

 * Story: Michael Maltese, Chuck Jones, Ray Jacobs
 * Animation: Ken Harris, Don Towsley, Tom Ray, Dick Thompson, Ben Washam, Bob Bransford, Ken Hultgren
 * Layout: Robert Givens
 * Backgrounds: Philip DeGuard
 * Additional Backgrounds: Jules Engel, Rosemary O'Connor
 * Effects Animation: Harry Love
 * Vocal Effects: Mel Blanc, June Foray
 * In Charge of Production: Les Goldman
 * Checking: Evelyn Sherwood
 * Camera: Jack Buehre
 * Film Editors: Lovell Norman, Joe Siracusa
 * Sound Engineer: Marne Fallis
 * Story Consultant: Jack Kinney
 * Ink and Paint: Vera McKinney
 * Co-Director: Maurice Noble
 * Music: Eugene Poddany
 * Produced and Directed by: Chuck Jones