Kid Stuff

The other day my son was watching the Boomerang channel while I was getting ready for work. I like Boomerang because they play tons of old Hanna Barbara cartoons, most of which I remember from when I was a kid. But the show he was watching that morning caught my eye because I’d never seen it before—Tom and Jerry Kids. I’ve seen plenty of Tom and Jerry cartoons, but this one had them as little “kids”—Tom was a kitten and Jerry was a baby mouse. My reaction to seeing this was something like “WTF? Another show where they turn the characters into babies?”

(Of course I didn’t say that out loud—my kid was in the room.)

Wow, maybe cartoons really are for babies. Here’s the ones I can remember off the top of my head—A Pup Named Scooby Doo, Muppet Babies, Baby Looney Toons, and Flintstone Kids. There may be others, but I’m going to need Google to help me find them. I’m telling you right now that the theme from the infantilized Scooby Doo is the best. If you’ve never heard it, beware—it will stick in your head all day.

One thing about Boomerang is that they occasionally dig up some show that hasn’t been played in forever. Maybe this Tom and Jerry Kids is one of those, because I honestly don’t remember ever seeing it before. I also love when Boomerang plays Space Ghost and Herculoids and Bird Man and all those other great “heroic” cartoons. It’s what Cartoon Network used to be before they started producing their own shows (a lot of which are great, btw, so don’t think I’m knocking them).

I just think this notion of creating “baby” versions of beloved characters is a little weird. I guess kids enjoy them, but I really don’t want to see a baby version of Space Ghost.