The Basement Show

Tom and Jerry Lost Cartoon

After the events of the Tom's Basement short from the creepypasta, Boyfriend and Girlfriend decide to buy the same house from Tom's owners, which is now set for sale by Jerry. The mouse receives them and things starts normally until the two go downstairs to see the basement. There, they find a body, Tom's body, and Jerry closes the basement door behind him and is about to kill them, but Boyfriend, as usual, challenges him to a rap battle.

Song List

The Basement Show provides examples of:

• Acceptable Breaks from Canon: Both Tom and Jerry rarely talk in the franchise (save for The Lonesome Mouse episode, the 1945 musical-comedy Anchors Aweigh, and the 1992 movie, at least in the classic era), and the Switchin' Kitten Lightning and the Body Slammer don't even talk at all in their respective episodes (with the former just growling and barking like a dog). Still, none of them would have such great songs if that was the same case in this mod.
• Adaptational Badass: Tuffy (or Nibbles/Nebos) is either a baby or a child mouse that accompanies Jerry (and sometimes him and Tom) in his adventures, but he's mostly shown to be bad at fighting (War of the Whiskers aside) and puts his life in danger only to be saved by Jerry in one way or another (which makes sense considering he's a baby), though he's also been shown to prepare traps with Jerry when planning to defeat Tom. Meanwhile, his D-Sides counterpart, based on the creepypasta Jerry, of all people, is a teenager that took revenge on his version of Tom (called Mitt) for killing his uncle Jerry, by making him explode into pieces with gunpowder and taking his heart.
• Adaptational Modesty: Girlfriend wears her infamous "Faker" outfit from Vs. Sonic.Exe during "Hydrophobia", though in this case the jumper covers her whole torso and her proportions are noticably toned down.
• Adaptational Villainy:
  • While Jerry in the show is an antiheroic trickster at best (especially in the movies, where he's portrayed as a hero), and a mischievous sociopathic jerk at worst (with The Year Of The Mouse episode probably having his worst act yet), he's far from the bloodthirsty Serial Killer he is in Week 1, which makes sense considering this is his creepypasta counterpart.
  • Zigzagged with Tom. Technically speaking, Tom has... a weird relationship with Jerry, since they hate each other as much as they are best buds, even if they don't want to admit it. He does try to to hurt him, and more often than not even lethally at that, but most of these are either because the mouse asks for it, the owners tell the cat to get rid of him, it's mutual Friendly Rivalry or, you know, just cat instincts. With this in mind, it wouldn't be exactly out of character for him to attempt to do what his WB Splatter and 1945 counterparts did beforehand with their Jerrys, just not in a bloody way. That being said, the only times he hurts someone other than Jerry is either inadvertently due to collateral damage during his cat-and-mouse chase, they are on the mouse's side, or they're a big threat that both the duo and their friends must put a stop at. Even if he was just as much of a Sore Loser as his aformentioned counterparts were to Boyfriend and Girlfriend, his reaction would be to just make the former some Amusing Injuries instead of trying to stab him with a knife or kill him with a chainsaw, tie the latter to a firework rocket, or just blowing up the whole house with the couple inside.
  • Spike might be antagonistic towards Tom (and sometimes Jerry), yet he's also loyal to his owners and to his friends, and even helps Tom & Jerry in some occasions (especially Jerry, though). While it is true that he acts more like a realistic fearsome bulldog in his first appearance and wants to attack both Tom and Jerry, even then, at least he isn't shown to be agressive towards humans. His WB Splatter counterpart in the mod, however, looks like he's about to tear Boyfriend and Girlfriend to shreds, with "Hydrophobia" being a heavy metal track and having a brutal screen-shake mechanic while also having an only-5-misses mechanic midsong, not to mention the bloody corpse of Tom in the background that was previously mutillated by him like in the original Splatter edited image.
  • Butch might be a Jerkass and a rival (though sometimes friend) of Tom, trying to rob his lover over and over again, bullying him and, like any other cat, attempting to eat or get rid of Jerry; but if there's one thing for sure, it's that he's definitely not a monstruous cannibal, an extreme carnivore or a delusional freak ("It's better to meet them in another world than to spend the rest of your life in despair") like in "Desire Or Despair". Considering he's this mod's version of Starved, it's not really a surprise, either.
• Adapted Out:
  • In Blue Cat Blues, Jerry sits next to Tom on the railroads at the end of the episode, once he discovers that his lover married someone else, just like Tom. However, he's nowhere to be seen during the entire Week 2.
  • In "Black Humor", Boyfriend is the unwanted visitor of the scientist's castle in Switchin' Kitten instead of Tom. He and Lightning face off after the latter mistook the former's invitation to rap battle as a threat.
• Ambiguous Situation: Why Girlfriend straight up smashes the computer screen in "Steep Slopes" is unknown, especially since Boyfriend was there as a cursor, and she doesn't do it unconsciously, meaning that she didn't have any qualms with killing her lover at all.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: You play as Spike in "Desire Or Despair", as Skid & Pump in "Recurrence", and as Butch in the "Triple Trouble" cover.
• Angrish: It's confirmed that Jerry doesn't sing correctly in "Sirokou", but instead screeches out of frustration.
• Animals Not to Scale:
  • Tom and the other cats, of course. Exaggerated in comparison to Boyfriend, who's a midget.
  • The opening cutscene of Week 1 shows Jerry to be about the size of the average human preteen, but the actual gameplay shrinks him back down to his original size... alongside Boyfriend and Girlfriend.
• Anti-Frustration Features: Pausing in the middle of a song allows the player to access the "Options" menu, freely allowing them on-demand access to features such as toggling the mechanics (dodging, notes you have to avoid, etc.) and graphics (in case players find it easier to play without certain overlaid visuals). While doing so will reset the current song, the player does not have to quit out of the week entirely in order to access the menu.
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • Boyfriend and Girlfriend manage to escape from the clutches of Jerry at the end of Week 1, but Jerry doesn't receive any sort of karma in the end besides his loss in the rap battles, continuing to search for more victims who decide to buy the house.
  • Week 2 is both this and a Downer Ending. Tom is inevitably run over by the train, but unlike a similar situation with Served Plankton, Boyfriend is able to dodge the train before he is also killed, and is found by Girlfriend shortly after.
  • Both Boyfriend and Pibby's version of Boyfriend return to their respective home worlds at the end of Week 3, but Pibby's world (or, well, the entire multiverse within the Darkness' range) continues to be attacked by the Darkness and Tom, Jerry, Nibbles and Spike are still enslaved by it, making their show basically doomed and with none of their main characters surviving.
• Breakout Character: The Mad Scientist from Switchin' Kitten, who was just a Bit Character that appeared during the introduction of the short, makes a full appearance in the background of "Soul Chance".
• Broken Tears: Tom's down pose◊ during the Flashback of the Blue Cat Blues episode when he remembers how he lost his love of his life during "Shattered".
• Canon Immigrant: The Corrupted Tom (and the other corrupted T&J characters by the Darkness) is not part of the official Pibby pilot, nor any official Pibby or WB/CN media (as of now), but rather fanon concepts that became popular enough to be in this mod's canon.
• Composite Character:
  • 1945 Tom is actually a mix between two Tom and Jerry dark media: the first and better known one is another Splatter edited image, taken from Quiet Please!. The second one is a Creepypasta/urban legend spread on the Chinese forum website Zhihu. The legend tells of a Tom & Jerry episode that aired in 1945 (hence this Tom's name) that depicted Tom joyfully killing Jerry in a brutal fashion after some inexplicable channel fluctuations, followed by the discovery of a cassette tape that depicted a different episode foreshadowing the bombing of Hiroshima. This explains why he drops his hammer and pulls out a chainsaw to attack Boyfriend in "Chainsaw Maniac", as well as... well, the house blowing up in the end.
  • Meme Mouse is not really based on a specific variant of Jerry or any character in particular that existed before. He's more of a mix of different Tom and Jerry memes, Chinese, American and Latin American (the "¿Khé Verga?" meme).
• Creepy Good: Like in the episode it comes from, the Body Slammer is actually not aggressive towards Boyfriend, only to those who threaten it (and even then, it's more like a Slapstick beating than something serious). In fact, it's one of the few opponents that doesn't have a health drain like the rest. This is ironic, considering its Slasher Smile while taking the form of Jerry is what inspired the creepypasta.
• Death by Adaptation:
  • While it was implied but not shown in his source material, Tom effectively gets run over by a train at the end of Week 2.
  • It is heavily implied that both Boyfriend and Girlfriend die at the end of Week 4, given that 1945 Tom sets up an explosive that blows up the entire house the three are in. This is played straight on WB Splatter Tom, though.
• Downer Ending:
  • Just like what it was implied in the episode it's based on, Tom gets run over by the train at the end of Week 2, with only Boyfriend surviving his encounter by moving out of the rails. It gets even sadder considering the fact that nothing could change his mind, and he simply just went on with his suicide.
  • On Week 4, 1945 Tom sets up an explosive after losing against Boyfriend for the second time, killing the couple (along with himself) in the process. This is somewhat mitigated, though, given that it's far from the first time we see the couple being brought back to life thanks to Girlfriend, unlike poor Depressed Tom.
• Driven to Suicide: Depressed Tom in Week 2, of course. Though unlike other characters with similar motives, this Tom doesn't actually come from a creepypasta, but from the episode Blue Cat Blues.
• Dope Slap: After "Unstoppable Block", Boyfriend returns to Girlfriend, swapping places with his Pibby counterpart again. He looks at her in embarrassment, while she just slaps him across the face and makes his head spin.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Famished really has such a deep voice, especially contrasting with Butch's normal voice.
  "It's better to meet them in another world than to spend the rest of your life in despair... Come on, Spike! Make your choice! I'm the disaster itself!"
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Again, Famished, whose chromatic alternates hungry growls and high pitched snarls.
• Expy:
  • Famished to Starved, and Jammy to Sunky, both featured in the Vs. Sonic.Exe mod.
  • Mousetale Jerry is obviously his AU version of Sans, like in the original fanwork.
  • Jewellery.HXA and his Soul versions of Tuffy, Spike and Tom are all ones to Sonic.exe and his Soul slaves too.
• Foreshadowing: The lights in the background of "Shattered" are brighter than in the first 2 songs. If you saw the original episode, you probably know what it means.
• Gory Discretion Shot: Losing to Famished has him grab Spike, knock his trash can lid shield away, then swipe at him with gory sound effects. Spike's cooking pan helmet then falls in from the top of the screen over the word "RETRY?" written in blood red, but the actual carnage Famished causes to Spike isn't seen. Given Famished's inspiration, it's clear that Spike ends up Eaten Alive offscreen.
• Idiot Ball: Girlfriend magically moves the knife WB Splatter Tom is throwing at Boyfriend and sends it back to him, yet she somehow gets tied to a firework rocket off-screen by the similarly powerless 1945 Tom (who was previously at the same distance as Splatter, by the way).
• Let's Duet:
  • A villainous example. WB Splatter Tom and 1945 Tom sing together against Boyfriend in "Splatter". They still lose.
  • Skid & Pump, as expected, sing together in "Recurrence".
• Living Toy: Tom on Wheels is a real toy still available on eBay... and, apparently, he can also talk and sing, at least in this mod.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The initial countdown is replaced with the "Don't you believe it" line said by Tom in reference to a radio program. It's also mentioned in the creepypasta itself.
  • Week 1's Jerry Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness is a reference to the image that inspired the creepypasta◊ in the first place, which is that of the Body Slammer disguised as Jerry and making a Slasher Smile in the episode Invasion of the Body Slammers.
  • The name for "House for Sale" is a reference to a line from the creepypasta: "The last shot is Jerry putting up a "For Sale" sign on the yard of the house, laughing, clearly planning to do it all again".
  • In general, there are various references to the French children's song "Alouette", the same song Nibbles sings to himself in The Two Mouseketeers.
  • Midsong during "Shattered", we see Tom remembering the events before Week 2, which are frames from the Blue Cat Blues episode.
  • The different voices used for each variant of Tom & Jerry might sound like Vocal Dissonance... if it wasn't for the fact that both Tom and Jerry never had any definitive type of voice for each episode or adaptations, since they rarely talked at all (William Hanna might have made the iconic screams for Tom and some of his dialogues, but not even he stayed all the time recording all of Tom's voices). Some were more deep, others more high or in-between. So of course each Tom and Jerry would have different vocals.
• Rodents of Unusual Size:
  • A more downplayed cartoony example with Jerry. Unlike certain other bipedal mice Boyfriend (and his great-great-grandfather, in the latter case) faced before, Jerry's more like a common mouse in the show (well, the cartoony anthropomorphic kind, anyway). Here, at least in the cutscenes, he's almost the size of Boyfriend and Girlfriend. What's weird is that, in gameplay, both of them and Jerry become mouse-sized with no explanation whatsoever, given the dimension of the objects and Tom's hand in the background.
  • Same goes with the D-Sides Tuffy, Nepoli, the Corrupted Tuffy and the other Jerrys (not the gameplay part, of course), except for the Proxima64 Jerry, who's the size of a mouse.
• Promoted to Playable: Twice, in fact; Spike is playable in "Desire Or Despair", and Butch is the player character for the "Triple Trouble" cover (ironically, Butch is the one who faces a version of Spike in this cover instead of vice versa like in "Desire Or Despair").
• Public Domain Soundtrack: Various songs in the mod has a bit that references the 1879 children's song "Alouette", which is also the same tune featured in The Two Mouseketeers.
• Oh, Crap!: Girlfriend notably looks panicky and unsettled during "Sirokou" when fire appears on the screen and Jerry turns more blatantly monstrous.
• Shout-Out: There's plenty:
  • The voice for Meme Mouse comes from the one used by players to complain about mouse-side teammates or make fun of the cat-side players in the Chinese server of the battle mobile game Tom and Jerry: Chase.
  • Speaking of Meme Mouse, "Meme Mania" has references to "Beloved Tomboyish Girl", "U.N. Owen Was Her?", "Lunatic Eyes ~ Invisible Full Moon", the Among Us Trap Remix, "Astronomía" by Tony Igy & Vicetone, "We are Number One", "Megalovania" (which is also referenced in "Steep Slopes"), and "Super Idol de Xiao Rong 热爱105°C的你" by Tian Yiming, respectively.
  • "Menaced" has a reference to Mucho Mouse, Mousetale Jerry's theme.
  • "Tragical Comedy" has a reference to Dejection.
  • "None of All" has a reference to Sunshine.
  • "Desire or Despair" has a reference to Cycles, once again repeating the now iconic riff from "Execution".
  • Famished's "I LOVE THAT MOUSE!" phrase in this artwork◊ is a reference to Starved's phrase: "i love that hedgehog", but in capital letters and with an exclamation mark instead of only lowercase letters.
• Suddenly Voiced: Famished pauses partway through "Desire Or Despair" to taunt and intimidate Spike, fully voiced, before getting back into the song. No other opponent does this.
• Turns Red: Jerry starts to get pissed off midsong during the V1.5 and V2 "Vanishing" (more notoriously in V2, where he slowly starts to get annoyed instead of immediately like in V1.5, and attempts to kill BF before "Sirokou"), as well as its replacement, "Evaporate". In the old "Vanishing", he's already angry.
  • In V2.6, Jerry does this to even more drastic effect in "Sirokou", where he undergoes full Demonic Possession, spouting red or black sclera, coughs up blood, and just generally acts more deranged until the song ends.
• Uncanny Valley: Famished looks like a creepy, shadowed, but still recognizable version of Butch in his idle pose. When he hits notes, though, he looks more like someone in a greyscale costume with Butch's head on top, making him look strange and off-putting, on top of being a vicious cannibal. And when he talks partway through, only his mouth is animated until he leans forward, giving an even more sinister vibe.
• Weapon Twirling: In "Sirokou", Jerry spins his knife in his hand in at least three poses - his up pose, his right pose, and when he prepares to slash at Boyfriend.
• Would Hit a Girl: Just before he attempts to kill Boyfriend in "Chainsaw Good", 1945 Tom ties Girlfriend to a firework rocket, and after losing once more, he blows up the entire house with them (and himself) inside.
• Zombie Apocalypse: Week 3, set in the apocalyptic world of Pibby, has our Boyfriend accidentally swapping places with his Pibby counterpart; surrounded by corrupted versions of Tom, Jerry, Nibbles and Spike, Boyfriend is forced to team up with Pibby and must rap battle Tom in order to survive.