The sixteenth and final episode of the fourth season of Garfield and Friends.
Post-Opening Sequence Line: "I haven't had so much fun since Nermal fell in the mud!"
The Automated, Animated Adventure
When Jon wants to make a cartoon series about Garfield, he comes to Mr. Sprocket, who decides to digitize Garfield to demonstrate computer animation.
It's a Wonderful Wade
When Wade lets his cowardice get the better of him once again, he leaves the farm in depression. He gets a visit from his guardian angel, who shows him what the world would be like if he was never born.
Truckin' Odie
In this musical episode, Garfield sings about the time Odie rode with a rookie truck driver named Billy Bob, who tries to deliver cargo as he outruns a thief named Bruce.
"The Automated, Animated Adventure" provides examples of:
- Alliterative Title: The Automated Animated Adventure.
- Art Shift: This episode has Garfield turn into different versions of himself, including ones styled after The Simpsons and Felix the Cat.
- Exit, Pursued by a Bear: This episode ends with Mr. Sprocket, having been digitized, being chased by a T-Rex from one of his cartooons.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Just before Mr. Sprocket's computer animation program explodes, it digitizes him. At the end of the episode, Mr. Sprocket is shown to be in one of his own cartoons, where he is being chased by a T-Rex.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: When Garfield is about to be digitized, he says that he doesn't want to be a cartoon star, as they work on Saturday mornings, and he likes to sleep in.
- Spinoff Babies: Lampshaded; When Jon looks into marketing Garfield for TV, the network executive he talks to shows off various ideas he has using Applied Phlebotinum and a Magical Computer, among them a baby Garfield, complete with Lorenzo Music making cute cooing sounds. The executive mentions that it was the latest craze.note
- Shout-Out: Some of the ideas that Mr. Sprocket suggest are parodies of Scooby-Doo and Josie and the Pussycats.
- Take That!:
- When Mr. Sprocket shows Jon his computer animation studio, he calls it modern, efficient, and says it saves a lot of money. When Jon asks him if it makes cartoons better, Mr. Sprocket tells him, "Nah, but you can't have everything!"
- Garfield turns into something resembling Felix the Cat. When asking if things could possibly get any worse, he turns into a Bart Simpson lookalike and says "I was wrong; this is much worse!"
- Wraparound Background: When Garfield runs through a background of his house, the background keeps repeating. When Jon asks Mr. Sprocket why Garfield is moving like that, he tells him "Eh, cheap animation".
"It's a Wonderful Wade" provides examples of:
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: This exchange:Booker: Are you really having Wade guard the silo, Orson?
Orson: I need everyone else out in the fields! And look at all the chores that have to be done around here! And someone left all that dirt next to the old tractor shed, and there's my evil brothers hiding in the bushes... My evil brothers hiding in the bushes! - Foreshadowing: One of the things Orson notices is a pile of dirt next to the old tractor shed. Turns out that Gort, Wart, and Mort had dug a tunnel from the shed to Orson's silo, meaning they were able to steal the vegetables in the silo without even getting near it from the outside. Wade learns about this through his It's a Wonderful Plot dream sequence, and uses that knowledge to stop the plot from proceeding any further.
- Growling Gut: Played with; when Orson and Wade pour water into Gort, Wart, and Mort's underground tunnel to flush the three pigs out and recover their vegetables, Gort asks Mort and Wart if they hear something rumbling. Wart tells him "Must be my tummy!"
- It's a Wonderful Plot: Played with; this episode looks like a standard parody, as Wade learns that if he didn't exist, everone else's lives would be exactly the same. In the end, it becomes even more subverted; Wade goes back in time to prevent a robbery, using knowledge that he only gained because he had been a disembodied observer at the time. Unlike many uses of this trope, at the beginning of this episode, Wade acknowledges the Trope Namer as "that movie they show seven million times every Christmas".
- In Case of X, Break Glass: When Orson spots his brothers hiding in the bushes, he is revealed to have an emergency box that says "IN CASE OF GUEST VILLAINS, BREAK GLASS".
- Jerkass Has a Point: When Lanolin tells Orson that she's worried about their crop getting stolen, Orson assures her that he put Wade in charge of guarding the silo. Lanolin tells him that's exactly why she's worried. Lanolin may be one of the rudest characters on the show, but she knows that Wade is an extreme coward who would likely hide from any thieves he would encounter instead of stopping them.
- Kansas City Shuffle: Gort, Wart, and Mort are seen hiding in the bushes outside the silo, and when spotted, they run off, apparently foiled. This turns out to be a ruse, which distracts everyone else from realizing what the real plan is—they've already dug a tunnel into the silo and are stealing the vegetables stored within.
"Truckin' Odie" provides examples of:
- Accidental Passenger: Odie becomes Billy Bob's passenger when he hides from the rain in his truck. Since Billy had already gotten far in his route before discovering Odie, he knows that he would be behind schedule and possibly lose his job if he went back to return him to his owner, so he has no choice to keep Odie with him.
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: When Odie is stuck in Billy's truck, which is rolling out of control, he drives it onto some train tracks and through a tunnel. He then drives it out of the tunnel with the train chasing him.
- The Cameo: When Trucker Bruce is first introduced, he is seen reading a Power Pig comic book, with Orson as Power Pig on the front cover.
- Car Meets House: After Billy notifies the law about Bruce's attempted carjacking, resulting in Bruce getting arrested, Odie is still onboard the truck, which rolls out of control due to Bruce having left the truck in Gear. At one point, the truck drives right into the house of an elderly couple, pushing it away.
- Dumbass Has a Point: When it starts to rain, Odie hides in Billy Bob's truck to take shelter so he won't get sick.Garfield: Now, as we all know, this dog is dense and is not known for his brain,
but he'd had at least the common sense to seek shelter from the rain. - Forgotten Framing Device: This episode opens with Garfield on stage, playing a banjo and leading into the song. While this shows up again midway through for Garfield to say that he's "not in this episode", it isn't referenced at the episode's ending.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Trucker Bruce is seen smoking a cigar when he is first introduced.
- Iris Out: This episode ends with one on Billy's truck.
- Musical Episode: This episode's dialogue is sung by Garfield playing the banjo.
- Out of Focus: Garfield appears at the very beginning, playing the banjo and narrating the song. He briefly appears to sing a verse about sleeping, and is at the episode's ending, but Odie and Billy Bob's delivery is done entirely without Garfield. Referenced midway through:Garfield: If you're wondering what became of me, I was nowhere near the road.
I can't rescue Odie. I'm not in this episode. - Rhymes on a Dime: This episode's dialogue is all sung in rhyme.
- Sleepy Head: While Odie is off on his adventure with Billy Bob, Garfield is sleeping safe and sound in his bed. Garfield even sings a verse about sleeping in his song.
- Talking with Signs: Early in this episode, Garfield holds up a sign that says "GO AWAY!" when Odie wants him to play fetch with him.
- Trademark Favorite Food: It turns out that Billy's cargo was lasagna. When Odie returns home at the end of the episode, Garfield couldn't care less about his adventure... until he sees the logo for Luigi's Lasagna on the side of Billy's truck, at which point he salutes it with Tears of Joy in his eyes. At the end of the episode, Garfield is seen eating lasagna as he hitches a ride in Billy's truck.
