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Created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in 1940, the animated cat-and-mouse team of Tom and Jerry had had a long theatrical-film run before its first reincarnation as a TV-cartoon property in 1975. This and subsequent TV versions tended to dampen the gloriously violent and slapsticky tone of the original "Tom and Jerry" cartoons, usually bowing to whatever was considered to be Politically Correct at the time. Happily, CW's half-hour Tom and Jerry Tales, produced not by the team's longtime home of MGM but instead by Warner Bros. Animation, restored the old knockabout pizzazz of the vintage T&J short subjects, right down to the familiar "Smash! Zing! Eeek!" sound effects. As a bonus, the three short cartoons per episodes were fully animated, just as the team's glory days (most TV versions of "Tom and Jerry" were about as animated as a frozen fire hydrant). Joining the indestructible cat and mouse was their perennial enemy Spike the dog, who likewise joined in the spirit of things with no holds barred. Debuting September 23, 2006, Tom and Jerry Tales was simultaneously released on DVD.