80-40
"IT'S NO PICNIC"
At the Insect Research Laboratory, Benny, an experimental ant, accidentally
gets a double dose of a New instant growth serum, grows twice his size with a
huge appetite, breaks out of his ant farm case, and escapes into the woods with his little
ant friend George in tow. During their time on the lam, George is run
constantly ragged with figuring ways to satisfy Benny's ravenous cravings,
until they invade the picnic grounds of our heroes, Tom and Jerry. There,
George pilfers a sandwich, olives and apple pie for Benny to scarf down. Even
when T&J play baseball, Benny consumes both Jerry's ball and Tom's bat!
Later the professor arrives from the IRL with an antidote for Benny's
condition: specially formulated apple and sugar bread injected with a giant
antidote serum. Benny eats the bread and shrinks back to his original size; by
mistake, Tom also ingests the bread, and he shrinks, too! The professor traps
both cat and ant under a lab glass; on noticing Tom's condition, he assures
him that the serum's effects on him will wear off in 2 days. Benny and Tom
watch in disgust as George and Jerry polish off some of the picnic food.
TRIVIA & NOTES:
Benny and George are based upon the title characters of the 1937 John Steinbeck novella,
Of Mice And Men; Benny is based upon the developmentally disabled Lennie Small,
while George is, of course, patterned after protagonist George Milton, a quick-witted man who is friends with Lennie.
This is an obvious throwback to the theatrical cartoon shorts of the 1940s and 1950s which were replete with lampoons of Of Mice And Men.
Tom is seen with a horrendous monobrow in one scene!
Tom & Jerry's previous encounters with insects on the show were with
termites in Episode #80-21, "Termites Plus Two," and with a mosquito in
#80-45, "The Campout Cutup." They were briefly transformed into gnats in #80-26,
"The Sorcerer's Apprentices."
The use of ants in "It's No Picnic" could be in reference to 2 of the classic Tom & Jerry shorts Pup On A Picnic
(1955) and Barbecue Brawl (1956), both of which
featured Spike and Tyke being plagued by an army of ants!
Jerry talks. He says "Huh?"
ORIGINAL ANIMATION:
Jerry proceeds to pitch that apple
Jerry describing Benny to Tom
Jerry further describing Benny to Tom
Tom clutching a baseball bat
