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The Amazing Transformations of Tom Terrific
Cartoon Research presents "The Amazing Transformations of Tom Terrific." Pioneering animator and Tom Terrific creator, Gene Deitch, shares exclusive, behind-the-scenes stories of his days at Terrytoons, the origin and history of the character, and rare images from his personal Tom Terrific collection in this fun and informative book. Included is the complete 26 episode guide, lyrics to the program's theme songs, a directory with illustrations of Tom's amazing 129 transformations, and details concerning the comic book series, coloring books, and story book publications. Special biography of Lionel G. Wilson, the voice of the cartoon series. Plus, over 200 art images/photographs packed between colorful covers illustrated by Gene Deitch.
80 pages, Paperback
Published August 16, 2017
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March 18, 2023
A Delightful Guide for Nostalgic Fans of Captain Kangaroo
In addition to my love of reading, I love cinema and also animation, which relates to my life-long interest in comics and now graphic novels. Because I worked for newspapers for many years, I’m now part of efforts to encourage the ongoing availability of classic newspaper comic strips, for example. Among my personal favorites are Prince Valiant, Alley Oop and Gasoline Alley. I’ve collected retrospective volumes of those and other beloved series.
My love of animation and comics originated in what may seem like a strange place, considering the elaborate delights of current animation. The origin story of my fascination with these media springs from the simplest of black-and-white cartoons: Tom Terrific.
Why? Because, before my parents felt I was old enough to watch Saturday morning cartoons or to consider going to a Disney animated feature at a theater, they first limited my TV viewing to Captain Kangaroo. That’s when I turned 4 and we got our first black and white TV set in our living room in Detroit. At the time, it never occurred to me that Tom Terrific was in black and white. Everything was black and white on our TV set!
So, as our grandchildren today know characters on the Disney Junior streaming channel or characters from Sesame Street, I got to know Mr. Green Jeans, Mr. Moose, Bunny Rabbit, Grandfather Clock and, of course, the animated adventures of Tom Terrific. The series was created by Gene Deitch in black and white as a children’s cartoon version of cliff-hanger serials that were just fading from popularity in movie theaters. I also happen to love old movie serials, perhaps because I grew up as a pre-schooler enjoying how the short Tom Terrific cartoons would show us a burst of adventure, then leave us wanting more. As I got to know Tom in small doses each day, I came to love his Manfred the Wonder Dog and to groan at the evil deeds of Crabby Appleton, who was “rotten to the core.” Like our granddaughter today can recite all the popular adventures and tag lines of her favorite cartoons, I knew Tom Terrific from start to finish. Of course, it helped that Captain Kangaroo eventually reran the entire 26 episodes Deitch created. I saw those cartoons multiple times in my childhood.
If you’ve read this far in this book review, you most likely have some memory of what I’m describing here. And you may know that nostalgic fans of Terrytoons, including the Tom Terrific series, have been waiting decades for restored DVD or Bluray releases of these early cartoons. The Terrytoons “family” also included the original Mighty Mouse, Deputy Dawg and many others. Over the years there have been rumors that Kino might release a Terrytoons set, then rumors that Disney might release them. But, so far, they’re mostly available in poor-quality versions on YouTube.
That’s why I truly treasure this simple book by my fellow Tom Terrific fan Keven Scott Collier. I know this book was a labor of love because it was produced via Amazon's CreateSpace, the self-publishing portal for Amazon. The interior of the book looks like it was self published, but I am enjoying it nevertheless. Do I wish some of the pictures were clearer? Sure. But, mainly I'm thankful that Collier took the time to assemble this book and make it available.
First, Collier gives us a condensed version of Deitch’s story and explains why only 26 episodes of Tom Terrific were made, due largely to professional conflicts at CBS. Then, he devotes the bulk of this book to cataloguing all of the episodes in order with plot summaries of each one. Then, he also describes in detail the short-lived Tom Terrific comic book series, which also fascinates me as a comic collector. Finally, he exhaustively lists all of Tom’s amazing transformations into other things—his famous superpower. Throughout the series, Tom made dozens and dozens of transformation from a tree to a train, from a rabbit to a rocket and the list goes on and on.
Why is this book so useful? Now, I can stream some of the classic episodes via YouTube, despite the terrible quality of some of them, and can orient myself to where they fell in the original series. Personally, I’m still one of those animation fans who checks once or twice each year to see if some studio has released a restored DVD or Bluray of this series. When that eventually happens, I’ll be one of the first to pre-order those versions.
Meanwhile, I’ve now got my guidebook handy on my shelf.
In addition to my love of reading, I love cinema and also animation, which relates to my life-long interest in comics and now graphic novels. Because I worked for newspapers for many years, I’m now part of efforts to encourage the ongoing availability of classic newspaper comic strips, for example. Among my personal favorites are Prince Valiant, Alley Oop and Gasoline Alley. I’ve collected retrospective volumes of those and other beloved series.
My love of animation and comics originated in what may seem like a strange place, considering the elaborate delights of current animation. The origin story of my fascination with these media springs from the simplest of black-and-white cartoons: Tom Terrific.
Why? Because, before my parents felt I was old enough to watch Saturday morning cartoons or to consider going to a Disney animated feature at a theater, they first limited my TV viewing to Captain Kangaroo. That’s when I turned 4 and we got our first black and white TV set in our living room in Detroit. At the time, it never occurred to me that Tom Terrific was in black and white. Everything was black and white on our TV set!
So, as our grandchildren today know characters on the Disney Junior streaming channel or characters from Sesame Street, I got to know Mr. Green Jeans, Mr. Moose, Bunny Rabbit, Grandfather Clock and, of course, the animated adventures of Tom Terrific. The series was created by Gene Deitch in black and white as a children’s cartoon version of cliff-hanger serials that were just fading from popularity in movie theaters. I also happen to love old movie serials, perhaps because I grew up as a pre-schooler enjoying how the short Tom Terrific cartoons would show us a burst of adventure, then leave us wanting more. As I got to know Tom in small doses each day, I came to love his Manfred the Wonder Dog and to groan at the evil deeds of Crabby Appleton, who was “rotten to the core.” Like our granddaughter today can recite all the popular adventures and tag lines of her favorite cartoons, I knew Tom Terrific from start to finish. Of course, it helped that Captain Kangaroo eventually reran the entire 26 episodes Deitch created. I saw those cartoons multiple times in my childhood.
If you’ve read this far in this book review, you most likely have some memory of what I’m describing here. And you may know that nostalgic fans of Terrytoons, including the Tom Terrific series, have been waiting decades for restored DVD or Bluray releases of these early cartoons. The Terrytoons “family” also included the original Mighty Mouse, Deputy Dawg and many others. Over the years there have been rumors that Kino might release a Terrytoons set, then rumors that Disney might release them. But, so far, they’re mostly available in poor-quality versions on YouTube.
That’s why I truly treasure this simple book by my fellow Tom Terrific fan Keven Scott Collier. I know this book was a labor of love because it was produced via Amazon's CreateSpace, the self-publishing portal for Amazon. The interior of the book looks like it was self published, but I am enjoying it nevertheless. Do I wish some of the pictures were clearer? Sure. But, mainly I'm thankful that Collier took the time to assemble this book and make it available.
First, Collier gives us a condensed version of Deitch’s story and explains why only 26 episodes of Tom Terrific were made, due largely to professional conflicts at CBS. Then, he devotes the bulk of this book to cataloguing all of the episodes in order with plot summaries of each one. Then, he also describes in detail the short-lived Tom Terrific comic book series, which also fascinates me as a comic collector. Finally, he exhaustively lists all of Tom’s amazing transformations into other things—his famous superpower. Throughout the series, Tom made dozens and dozens of transformation from a tree to a train, from a rabbit to a rocket and the list goes on and on.
Why is this book so useful? Now, I can stream some of the classic episodes via YouTube, despite the terrible quality of some of them, and can orient myself to where they fell in the original series. Personally, I’m still one of those animation fans who checks once or twice each year to see if some studio has released a restored DVD or Bluray of this series. When that eventually happens, I’ll be one of the first to pre-order those versions.
Meanwhile, I’ve now got my guidebook handy on my shelf.
Displaying 1 of 1 review