Tom Terrific

*Tom Terrific*
Tom Terrific
Genre	Animated television series
Created by	Gene Deitch
Developed by	Gene Deitch
Written by	William Bernal,Phil Eastman,Bud Evsalin,Bob Kuwahara,Ralph Newman
Directed by	Gene Deitch
Starring	Lionel Wilson
Theme music composer	Thomas Lee Morrison, Philip A. Scheib
No.of seasons	1
No.of episodes	26
Production
Executive producer	William M. Weiss
Producer	Gene Deitch
Editor	Jack MacConnell
Production company	Terrytoons
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	June 10, 1957–; 1959

Tom Terrificis a 1957–1959animatedseries on Americantelevision,presented as part of theCaptain Kangaroochildren's televisionshow.^[1]

Created byGene Deitchunder theTerrytoonsstudio (which by that time was a subsidiary of CBS, the network that broadcastCaptain Kangaroo),Tom Terrificwas made as twenty-six stories, each split into five episodes, with one five-minute episode broadcast per day. The first thirteen stories were filmed in 1957, with the second set in 1958.Captain Kangaroocontinued to rerun the episodes for many years. Starting in 1962,Captain KangaroobroadcastTom Terrificevery other week, alternating with Terrytoons'Lariat Sam.^[2]

Drawn in a simple black-and white style reminiscent of children's drawings, the show features a gee-whiz boy hero, Tom Terrific, who lives in atreehouseand can transform himself into anything he wants, thanks to his magicalfunnel-shaped "thinking cap", which also enhances his intelligence. He has a comic lazybones of asidekick,Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog, and an arch-foe named Crabby Appleton, whose motto is, "I'm rotten to the core!"^[3]Other foes include Mr. Instant the Instant Thing King, Captain Kidney Bean, Sweet Tooth Sam the Candy Bandit, and Isotope Feeney the Meany. Some of the dialogue was written by cartoonistJules Feiffer.^[4]

Gene Deitch adapted the feature from his earlier newspaper comic strip, "Terr'ble Thompson!" distributed during the 1950s by United Features Syndicate.^[5]Terr'ble Thompson was a six-year-old boy who imagined himself to be the "Hero of Hist'ry" and freely travelled back in time to assist historical figures. An illustrated book reprinting the adventures of this precursor to Tom Terrific was published byFantagraphics Books.

All the voices were performed byLionel Wilson(who later voiced Eustace Bagge from theCartoon NetworkseriesCourage the Cowardly Dog).

The character Tom Terrific was ranked #32 byTV Guidemagazine on its 2002 list of "50 Greatest TV Cartoon Characters".^[6]

Episodes[edit]

Each episode was shown in five installments, one per day, Monday through Friday.

Episode	Title	Air Date^[7]
1	The Nasty Knight	June 10, 1957(1957-06-10)
2	The Pill of Smartness	June 17, 1957(1957-06-17)
3	Sweet Tooth Sam	June 24, 1957(1957-06-24)
4	Snowy Picture	July 1, 1957(1957-07-01)
5	Crabby Appleton's Dragon	July 8, 1957(1957-07-08)
6	Captain Kidney Bean	July 15, 1957(1957-07-15)
7	The Gravity Maker	July 22, 1957(1957-07-22)
8	Scrambled Dinosaur Eggs	July 29, 1957(1957-07-29)
9	Who Stole the North Pole	August 5, 1957(1957-08-05)
10	Instant Tantrums	August 12, 1957(1957-08-12)
11	Track Meet, Well Done	August 19, 1957(1957-08-19)
12	The Great Calendar Mystery	August 26, 1957(1957-08-26)
13	Elephant Stew	August 2, 1957(1957-08-02)
14	The Missing Mail Mystery	August 9, 1957(1957-08-09)
15	The Prince Frog	September 16, 1957(1957-09-16)
16	Isotope Feeney's Foolish Fog	September 23, 1957(1957-09-23)
17	Moon Over Manfred	September 30, 1957(1957-09-30)
18	Go West, Young Manfred	December 2, 1957(1957-12-02)
19	The Silly Sandman	September 7, 1957(1957-09-07)
20	Crabby Park	October 14, 1957(1957-10-14)
21	The Million Manfred Mystery	October 21, 1957(1957-10-21)
22	The Flying Sorcerer	October 28, 1957(1957-10-28)
23	The Big Dog Show-Off	November 4, 1957(1957-11-04)
24	The End of Rainbows	November 11, 1957(1957-11-11)
25	Robinsnest Crusoe	November 18, 1957(1957-11-18)
26	The Everlasting Birthday Party	November 25, 1957(1957-11-25)

Home video[edit]

As of 2024^[update],there has not been an authorizedVHS,DVDorBlu-rayrelease of the series.

In popular culture[edit]

The character also appeared in a comic book published byPines Comicsfor six issues from Summer 1957 to Fall 1958, with some stories drawn byRalph Bakshi.
Tom Terrific appeared in a fewWonder Books,an imitation ofLittle Golden Books.
Crabby Appletonwas the name of a rock group, which used the character's image on a 1971 album,Rotten to the Core.
In the introduction to his book,The Great Big Book of Tomorrow,Tom Tomorrow(Dan Perkins) says that he chose hispseudonymthrough misremembering the name of Tom Terrific.
Tom Terrific appeared in the 1999 pilotCurbside,voiced byHaley Joel Osment.^[8]
American football playerTom Bradyattempted to trademark the phrase for himself, but was turned down in August 2019, to prevent confusion with baseball playerTom Seaver.^[9]

References[edit]

^Woolery, George W. (1983).Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series.Scarecrow Press. pp.295–296.ISBN 0-8108-1557-5.Retrieved22 March2020.
^Hamonic, W. Gerald (2018).Terrytoons: The Story of Paul Terry and His Classic Cartoon Factory.John Libbey Publishing Ltd. pp. 289–290.ISBN 978-0861967292.
^Perlmutter, David (2018).The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows.Rowman & Littlefield. p. 653.ISBN 978-1538103739.
^Erickson, Hal (2005).Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003(2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 862–863.ISBN 978-1476665993.
^Terrible Thompson strip
^"TV Guide's 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time - July 30, 2002".CNN.com.Retrieved2022-06-11.
^DataBase, The Big Cartoon."Tom Terrific Episode Guide -CBS Prods @ BCDB".Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB).Retrieved3 September2019.^{[dead link]}
^"Curbside".The Big Cartoon Database.RetrievedJanuary 2,2017.^{[dead link]}
^New York Post: "Tom Brady denied Tom Terrific trademark" Aug. 23, 2019

External links[edit]

[Woolery-1] Woolery, George W. (1983).Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part 1: Animated Cartoon Series.Scarecrow Press. pp.295–296.ISBN 0-8108-1557-5.Retrieved22 March2020.

[Terrytoons-2] Hamonic, W. Gerald (2018).Terrytoons: The Story of Paul Terry and His Classic Cartoon Factory.John Libbey Publishing Ltd. pp. 289–290.ISBN 978-0861967292.

[Perlmutter-3] Perlmutter, David (2018).The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows.Rowman & Littlefield. p. 653.ISBN 978-1538103739.

[4] Erickson, Hal (2005).Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003(2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 862–863.ISBN 978-1476665993.

[5] Terrible Thompson strip

[6] "TV Guide's 50 greatest cartoon characters of all time - July 30, 2002".CNN.com.Retrieved2022-06-11.

[7] DataBase, The Big Cartoon."Tom Terrific Episode Guide -CBS Prods @ BCDB".Big Cartoon DataBase (BCDB).Retrieved3 September2019.^{[dead link]}

[8] "Curbside".The Big Cartoon Database.RetrievedJanuary 2,2017.^{[dead link]}

[9] New York Post: "Tom Brady denied Tom Terrific trademark" Aug. 23, 2019

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

Episodes[edit]

Home video[edit]

In popular culture[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]