Spike and Tyke

Spike & Tyke is a theatrical animated short subject series, based upon the american bulldog father-and-son team 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.

The Spike & Tyke cartoons were produced and directed by Tom and Jerry creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and were among the last of the original MGM theatrical cartoons made. The studio was shut down in 1957, and Hanna and Barbera would move on to television animation production success with their own Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Spike was voiced by Billy Bletcher, and later Daws Butler. Tyke did not talk in these theatrical shorts, but did speak on the FOX 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 are voiced by Richard Gautier and Patric Zimmerman, respectively. 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.

Spike and Tyke (characters)

Spike (occasionally referred to as Butch, Bulldog or Killer in each four for Killer, one for Bulldog and two for Butch episodes) and Tyke are fictional characters from the Tom and Jerry series, created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Spike is a stern but occasionally dumb American bulldog who is particularly disapproving of cats, but a softie when it comes to mice, and later, his son Tyke. In the shorts, Jerry would often try to get Tom in trouble with Spike making him a shoo-in for a beating from the bulldog. Spike has a few weaknesses that Tom tries to capitalize upon: his possessiveness about his bone and his ticklishness. He made his first appearance in the 1942 Tom and Jerry cartoon Dog Trouble, and his first speaking role was in 1944's The Bodyguard, where he was voiced by Billy Bletcher up until 1949, from which point he was voiced by Daws Butler. Tyke is known as a cute, sweet, happy and a loveable pup. He is Spike's son and they make the perfect father and son, with Spike spending much of his free time comforting his son, taking him out or teaching him the facts of life of being a dog. In Tom and Jerry Kids, Tyke has a speaking role and was the first time that Tom and Jerry fans were able to hear Tyke speak.