A series of 12 animated TV specials based off the popular comic strip Garfield. All of them (except the first two, which were animated by Mendleson/Melendez Productions, famous for the Peanuts and Cathy specials) were animated by Film Roman, and all of them were broadcast on CBS between the years of 1982 and 1991.The specials are as follows:
Here Comes Garfield: Odie is locked in a dog pound, and Garfield must save him.
Garfield on the Town: Garfield falls out of the car on a visit to the vet, and is reunited with his mother.
Garfield in the Rough: Garfield, Jon and Odie go camping. Unfortunately, a killer panther is there...
Garfield's Halloween Adventure/Garfield in Disguise: Garfield and Odie go trick-or-treating, and while doing so, wind up at a haunted house.
Garfield in Paradise: Garfield and Jon go on vacation.
Garfield Goes Hollywood: Garfield, Jon and Odie attempt to win a talent show contest for people and their pets.
A Garfield Christmas: Garfield and Jon go to Jon's parents house for Christmas.
Garfield: His 9 Lives: An epic hour-long special where we see past and future reincarnations of Garfield (or Garfield's "Lives") . Based off a graphic novel. Has its own page.
Garfield Gets a Life: The final special. Garfield and Jon attempt to add excitement in their life.
The Garfield Specials provide examples of:
Animated Adaptation: Apart from these being based off the strip itself, many of the specials featured gags and lines adapted from original Garfield comic strips.
Bowdlerization: This strip, like many others, was animated into a throwaway gag in Here Comes Garfield. However, due to the request of CBS, Garfield grabbing Jon's neck and shaking it violently was changed to Garfield grabbing Jon's cheeks and shaking them violently.
Call Back: At one point in Garfield in The Rough, Jon turns on the radio set, and after a We Interrupt This Program report about the panther, So Long Old Friend from Here Comes Garfield starts playing.
Canada, Eh?: According to Lorenzo, the teacher in Garfield Gets a Life, speaking Canadian is easy: You talk like you normally would, but sometimes, you add an "Eh?".
Cool Old Lady: Jon's Grandma, who appears in both the Christmas and Thanksgiving specials.
Deliberately Monochrome: The entirety of Babes and Bullets, the Krazy Kat scene of His 9 Lives, and the first scene of In the Rough.
Epic Fail: Doc's attempt at playing "Oh Christmas Tree" on the piano in A Garfield Christmas.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: Babes and Bullets heavily implies that Garfield got laid. Twice. BY HUMAN WOMEN. It starts when in typical noir style, the sexy female client invites Sam Spayed to "have a little milk with her", and he reacts much as if she'd invited him in for coffee. At the end, his secretary picks up a pair of glasses and a bottle of milk, sashaying into Sam's office while throwing a few Fanservice poses, inducing an "oh wow" reaction from Sam. Also in Babes and Bullets, Garfield's alter-ego was named Sam Spayed.
Garfield: Halloween is my middle name! Gar-Halloween-Field.
Missing Episode: Garfield's Judgement 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 story was released as an (currently out-of-print) story book.
Noir Episode: Babes and Bullets. Wasn't included in the animated version of Garfield: His 9 Lives but was adapted into a stand-alone TV special the following year.
Non-Standard Character Design: Many of the specials featured a character (usually the villain) drawn in a more realistic style compared to the other characters. Examples include the dogcatcher from Here Comes Garfield and the panther from Garfield in the Rough.
Novelization: All the specials (except Garfield: His 9 Lives, which already was one) were adapted into small graphic novels. The art in them tended to look hurried.
The Other Darrin: Sandy Becker voiced Jon in Here Comes Garfield. Thom Huge took over in the other specials (plus the TV series).
Oven Logic: Shows up in the Thanksgiving special. Jon turns up the oven higher to cook the turkey faster, but ends up ruining it.
Jon: Doc Boy! My favorite brother. Doc: Don't call me Doc Boy. You've probably forgotten I'm your only brother. Jon: Oh. ...You're right.
Remember the New Guy: Most of Garfield's family appeared only in one week of strips and Here Comes Garfield without ever being mentioned again (except for his mom, who showed up in one other strip).
Rule of Three: All three of the holiday specials have Garfield saying "Nice touch." at one point in the special: Halloween Adventure after seeing the Dramatic Thunder behind the haunted house, Thanksgiving after seeing the dinner table, and Christmas Special after seeing the decorated tree after the lights have been turned on.
And then, referring to the room that Jon and company have rented, the cheapest, most run-down fleatrap room in the entire hotel as the ... wait for it... "Jack Benny suite."
Garfield also imagines himself as Don Ho at one point, while the character named "The Cruiser" seems to be a cross between James Dean and The Fonz.
Even though Jon's car rental is a 1957 Chevy, the red and white colors and trim and the fact that the car is apparently possessed are more likely to evoke comparisons with a certain 1958 Plymouth.
Sneeze of Doom: Odie does this in Garfield's Halloween Adventure while he and Garfield are hiding in a cabinet from some pirate ghosts. The sneeze is not only loud enough to attract the ghosts' attention, but it's powerful enough to blow the cabinet doors right open. With sheepish grins, Garfield and Odie close the doors again, and Garfield says, "Maybe they didn't see us..." Cue the Scare Chord as the pirate ghosts come through the cabinet!
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