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Updated on December 10, 2021
On the heels of WWE crossing over with Scooby-Doo and the Flintstones comes news of the latest cartoon crossover. This time, it’s classic 60s adventure cartoon Jonny Quest teaming up with… Tom and Jerry?!
While it’s an all-Hanna-Barbera crossover, it’s still one that sounds as bizarre as “Archie vs. Predator.” “Jonny Quest” was the first major American-made action cartoon. Along with a few Japanese imports (“Speed Racer,” etc.), “Jonny Quest” introduced to American television the idea it’s possible to have “realistic,” dramatic cartoons without mainly relying on comedy, anthropomorphized animals, or slapstick. “Tom and Jerry,” meanwhile, is one of the biggest examples of slapstick in Western animation, alongside “Looney Tunes.”
The synopsis for “Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest”:
Tom and Jerry set out on one of their biggest, boldest adventures yet in “Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest.” Get set for intrigue, thrills, suspense and high-action as the animated duo get wrapped up in a top secret, spy-tacular, fun-filled mission the whole family can enjoy together. It’s just another day at the beach for the dueling Tom and Jerry…that is until they bump into world-class junior spies Jonny Quest, Hadji and their canine companion Bandit. When longtime Quest family nemesis Dr. Zin discovers that Jonny’s father, Dr. Benton Quest, has a device to solve the world’s energy problems, he sends his evil cat army to steal it and capture him and his bodyguard, Race Bannon. Jonny and his new furry friends set out on an action-packed quest to find his father and save the world from the malicious Dr. Zin.
I do have to wonder if team-ups with more popular/heavily used characters or properties is now the only possible future for the Hanna-Barbera characters? That is, the ones who aren’t Scooby-Doo or Tom and Jerry, the only characters modern-day Time Warner bother with using heavily. A case in point is the comic “Scooby-Doo Team-Up,” which features the Scooby-Doo gang meeting various classic Hanna-Barbera characters like the Flintstones and Jetsons.
If I do check this film out, it’ll be more for Jonny Quest/the idea of how this crossover works out than for the cat and mouse themselves. Until then, here’s the trailer, and the DVD’s cover. The film comes to DVD on June 23, with an early digital video release on June 9.
