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Spike and Tyke is a short-lived theatrical animated short subject series, based upon the American bulldog father-and-son duo from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Tom and Jerry cartoons.
Only two films were made in this spin-off series: Give and Tyke and Scat Cats, both released in 1957, and produced in CinemaScope and Technicolor, as the cartoon studio shut down the year the spin-off series was started. It is possible that more shorts had been planned, but weren't finished in response to the closure of the studio. The cartoons are written by Homer Brightman and produced and directed by Tom and Jerry creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Following the closure of the studio, Hanna and Barbera would move on to television animation production success with their own Hanna-Barbera Productions.
In the early 1990s, Spike and Tyke shorts returned as segments of Tom & Jerry Kids.
Spike was voiced by Billy Bletcher, and later Daws Butler. Tyke did not talk in the theatrical shorts, (possibly his barks were done by co-creator William Hanna) but did speak on the Fox Kids television series Tom & Jerry Kids, for which the duo appeared in their own segments, and occasionally in the Tom and Jerry segments. Spike and Tyke were voiced by Dick Gautier and Patric Zimmerman, respectively. Later, they appeared in the straight to video film Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring Spike was voiced by Maurice LaMarche and Tyke's barks were done by Frank Welker. The cartoons in the Spike and Tyke series also had the Tom and Jerry theme music playing over the opening titles.
Cartoons[]
| # | Title | Release Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Give and Tyke | March 29, 1957 |
| 2 | Scat Cats | July 26, 1957 |
Home media availability[]
Both Spike and Tyke cartoons have been released in their original widescreen formats (albeit letterboxed) on The Art of Tom and Jerry Volume 2 laserdisc set in the 1990s alongside other one-shot MGM cartoons directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera at MGM such as War Dogs (which Spike from Tom and Jerry makes a brief cameo appearance), Officer Pooch, Gallopin' Gals, Officer Pooch and The Goose Goes South. As of 2013, both cartoons are still unavailable on DVD.