Trivia / Garfield Specials

• Cast the Runner-Up: According to Mark Evanier, Gregg Berger auditioned for Garfield originally. After Jim Davis noticed he was good at doing dog noises, he cast him as Odie.
• Channel Hop: A production company example regarding the specials. The first two were produced by Lee Mendelson-Bill Melendez Productions, who also did the Peanuts specials, while the rest were done at Film Roman. In an interview with Bill Meléndez, he stated that he had to drop the Garfield specials because Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz didn't want his team to adapt both strips concurrently.
• Crossdressing Voices: In the Greek dub of A Garfield Christmas, Garfield was voiced by Chrisoula Papadopoulou (who also had roles in Garfield and Friends).
• The Danza: In Garfield Goes Hollywood, Desirée Goyette voices Desirée the Classical Cat.
• Deleted Scenes: The Comic Book Adaptations notably contained several scenes that are not shown in the actual specials.
  • For example, in the adaptation of Garfield's Halloween Adventure, Garfield snatches a ring from the pirate ghosts' treasure chest. When he and Odie return home with their candy, they find the pirate ghosts waiting for them. After the ghosts chase them up a tree, Garfield figures out they want the ring back, so he gives it back to them and they disappear.
  • Garfield makes only one "Whoever invented X should be drug out into the street and shot" joke in the Christmas special, but the comic book version adds a second one.
• Edited for Syndication: The leaving town sequence from "A Garfield Christmas" was cut short by a second or two, removing a segment where they back out of the driveway. Also, the brief shot of Garfield and Odie under the table before Grandma feeds them is often cut. The reverse happened for the scene where Doc Boy and Grandma play piano, which was not originally in the special, but added in subsequent airings. Also, the scene where Grandma talks to Garfield about Grandpa was reanimated to include a shot where Grandma looks at a picture of her and Grandpa. Also, a few seconds of "You Can Never Find an Elf When You Need One".
• Executive Meddling: A strip replicated in Here Comes Garfield had to be changed because CBS wouldn't allow Garfield to put his hands on Jon's neck. Instead, Garfield grabbed and shook Jon's cheeks.
• Missing Episode: Garfield's Judgment Day was a movie, then a special, that Jim Davis was forced to abandon due to being unable to find an animation studio willing to animate the film (possibly due to it being darker than the usual specials; the plot involved a tornado destroying much of the town). The story was released as a (currently out-of-print) story book.
  • As for ones that actually were made, Happy Birthday, Garfield, an hour-long documentary made for the tenth anniversary (which notably contained the only existing piece of footage for Garfield's Judgement Day and the very first Garfield animation from 1980, which adapted three very early strips and has the voice of Scott Beach), and Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, which was always intended for limited viewing and hasn't really had any reason to be re-aired aside from irony value.
• Non-Singing Voice: Unlike Garfield and Friends, Garfield's singing voice was typically provided in the specials by Lou Rawls, though Lorenzo Music still sings some of the songs as Garfield.
• The Other Darrin: Sandy Kenyon voiced Jon in Here Comes Garfield. Thom Huge took over for the other specials (plus the TV series). May count as an inversion as Huge had previously voiced Jon in the Garfield segment of The Fantastic Funnies.
• The Other Marty: However, it may be obvious that Huge voiced Jon on Here Comes Garfield as a placeholder before Kenyon redubbed his lines.
• Playing Against Type: In many of the specials and Garfield and Friends, Julie Payne usually voiced the more mature or snarkier women characters ^note  i.e. Liz & Lanolin and Desiree Goyette the younger, more childlike ones ^note  i.e. Nermal and Chloe . In Babes and Bullets it's switched, with Desiree voicing the seductive Tanya, and Julie voicing the younger and more innocent Kitty.
• Recycled Script:
  • The December 1984 comic strip arc of Garfield re-meeting his family was recycled from the 1983 special Garfield on the Town.
  • Many one-off jokes were directly recycled from the comics, most prominently in Here Comes Garfield and the Christmas special. For example, the Christmas special took a punch line from a 1982 strip ("Why, just look at me. I talk to cats!").
• Star-Making Role: Prior to this, Lorenzo Music was better known as a writer and only occasionally as an actor (his most recognizable role prior was Carlton, the never-seen doorman on Rhoda, a series he created). Becoming the regular voice of Garfield gave him a reasonably steady career as a voice actor from the 80s onward until his death in 2001.
• Technology Marches On: Here Comes Garfield's third act relies on the idea that the City Pound will put down animals whose owners can't be identified or located. Back when the special was made, the only real way to have any sort of information about you on your pet was via collar tags, which many pets disliked wearing. In the 21st century, it's been common practice to have subdermal chips implanted in your pets for ease of identification, so the whole incident wouldn't have been able to happen.
• What Could Have Been: Prior to Lorenzo Music being selected, Sterling Holloway auditioned for Garfield in Here Comes Garfield. Imagine Garfield with the soft spoken voice of Winnie the Pooh.
• Written by Cast Member: Lorenzo Music co-wrote Garfield on the Town.

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