Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry started in 1940 and has barely needed dialogue since. A cat wants a mouse. The mouse is smarter. That's the entire premise, and it has carried the pair through more than a hundred and sixty shorts, seven Academy Awards, and every television schedule on the planet.

The reason it travels so well is that the humour is entirely physical. There's no joke to translate. Hanna and Barbera built the timing so precisely that you can drop an episode in front of anyone, in any language, at any age, and it works. Very little animation from the era holds up like this.

Tom is the one people quietly root for, which is strange given he loses constantly. He's not malicious so much as ambitious beyond his ability, and every scheme collapses in a way he genuinely did not see coming. Jerry, honestly, can be a bit of a menace about it.

The supporting cast matters too - Spike's protective bulk, Butch's alley-cat swagger, and the occasional appearance of characters who exist purely to make Tom's day worse.

This collection covers Tom in several moods, Jerry in several more, and the dogs and cats who complicate things. Pick a side, though most people already know theirs.