Controversy
The Tom and Jerry Spotlight Collection sets have received intense negative consumer reaction, due to the edits in certain cartoons on each set.
The first set contained three edited shorts (The Milky Waif, The Truce Hurts and The Little Orphan), which Warner stated was a mistake (with the wrong prints being used). All three of these shorts originally included various characters in blackface. A replacement program was begun at the end of 2006, two years after the set's initial release. Warner Home Video has corrected the problem and the set can be purchased without any problems.
The second volume contained four shorts (The Lonesome Mouse, Polka-Dot Puss, Saturday Evening Puss and Nit-Witty Kitty) with edited sound tracks, again reported to be due to use of incorrect prints. These four shorts contained the censored Mammy Two Shoes audio track, instead of the original. However, Warner corrected the problem and the discs do contain the original Mammy Two Shoes tracks.
Consumers have also expressed disappointment at the fact that, although advertised as being "restored and remastered", none of the cartoons on the first volume are restored, as the original film negatives for all pre-1951 shorts were lost in the 1967 MGM Vault fire. Therefore, Warner had to rely on backup prints of these shorts, so many of them look unrestored or badly restored. Warner has for the same reason not been able to restore the original titles back into the shorts; many titles on these sets are re-issues (like The Midnight Snack). In a similar manner, Warner has not been able to restore the lost sequence to The Yankee Doodle Mouse. However, all widescreen/CinemaScope cartoons are restored in their original aspect ratios.
Complaints also arose over Mouse Cleaning and Casanova Cat being omitted from Volume 3 because of racial stereotyping, according to a Warner Home Video press release. These two shorts were the only Tom and Jerry shorts from the Hanna-Barbera era not present on DVD. These two shorts can be found on the European Classic Collection DVDs.
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