Tom Terrific!

Tom Terrific! is Terrytoons' first original series made specifically for television and was created by Gene Deitch. The series follows a gee-whiz boy hero who lives in a treehouse with his big canine sidekick (Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog) and can transform into anything he wants, thanks to his magic funnel-shaped "thinking cap", which also enhances his intelligence. His main arch-foe is Crabby Appleton, whose motto is "I'm rotten to the core!". Other foes include Mr. Instant the Instant Thing King, Captain Kidney Bean, Sweet Tooth Sam the Candy Bandit, and Isotope Feeney the Meany. It had twenty-six stories, each split into five episodes, with one five-minute episode broadcast per day. Compared to the Technicolor shorts playing in theaters, the series is produced in black and white reminiscent of uncolored outline illustrations.

Gene Deitch adapted the cartoon from his earlier newspaper comic strip, "Terr'ble Thompson", distributed during the 1950s by United Features Syndicate. The original premise was about a six-year old boy imagining to be the "Hero of Hist'ry" and travelled back in time to assist historical figures, predating Peabody's Improbable History from Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Why It's So Terrific

 * 1) Tom Terrific is an excellent hero character who can transform into anything with his shapeshifting powers, coming from his magic funnel-shaped "thinking cap".
 * 2) * Mighty Manfred the Wonder Dog is a great sidekick, despite his slow-going personality.
 * 3) The first Terrytoons cartoon to be made exclusively for television.
 * 4) The theme song is pretty catchy to listen to.
 * 5) The animation is subpar at best, but makes up for it with Jim Tyer on board.
 * 6) * There are very few backgrounds with gray tones, while most of them are uncolored outline illustrations.
 * 7) * In the second season, the characters were eventually colored in solid white.
 * 8) Tom Terrific's character design looks extremely cute.
 * 9) A number of villains were created to keep the show from becoming formulaic. Besides Crabby Appleton, there are others such as Mr. Instant the Instant Thing King, Captain Kidney Bean, Sweet Tooth Sam the Candy Bandit, and Isotope Feeney the Meany.
 * 10) Great writing from the talents of William Bernal, Jules Feiffer, Phil Eastman, Bud Evsalin, Bob Kuwahara and Ralph Newman.
 * 11) Terrific music cues from Philip A. Scheib.
 * 12) The debut of Sidney the Elephant, who stole the show and received his very own theatrical Technicolor cartoon series.
 * 13) Lionel G. Wilson did a good job providing most of the voices, especially for the wicked Crabby Appleton.
 * 14) The show was best known for predating Cartoon Network's Adventure Time.
 * 15) Tom Terrific was popular enough to star in his own comic books, along with the rest of the cast.
 * 16) The series got a DVD release in Jerry Beck's collection of Terrytoons stuff in the early 2000s.

Unterrific Qualities

 * 1) The series was canned after Bill Weiss took over the Terrytoons studio.
 * 2) Tom Terrific's personality in the 1999 pilot, Curbside, reduced him to being an ordinary kid and a lack of shapeshifting superpowers.
 * 3) * On top on that, neither of the supporting cast returned in the pilot besides Tom himself.
 * 4) At the beginning of the show, the animation didn't use cel paint for the characters (making them look transparent).
 * 5) The series was never remade in color for the color television market of the late 60s, thus fading into obscurity.

Trivia

 * Alongside Sidney the Elephant, he is one of the characters to appear in the failed pilot, "Curbside". Unlike his depiction in the original show, Tom Terrific lacks the power to shapeshift. Gene Deitch, creator of the show, criticized the pilot for not being true to his character.
 * In "Elephants Stew", Sidney first appeared as a prototype encountering Tom and Manfred.
 * Long thought to be lost after its initial run, the series was found by Jerry Beck and transferred from film to DVD in the early 2000s.