History ComicBook / GarfieldHis9Lives

* In the story "Babes and Bullets" (and the [[WesternAnimation/GarfieldSpecials television special]] based on it), the plot is kickstarted when a woman named Tanya O'Tabby hires Sam Spayed to investigate her husband's murder. She's so beautiful that his PrivateEyeMonologue is initially distracted with flowery descriptions, and when on the case, he posits that she's probably the FemmeFatale type who murdered her husband.

* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: In the normal ''Garfield'' comic strips, Jon Arbuckle's other pet Odie was actually that of his friend Lyman, who appeared for a certain number of strips as Jon's live-in partner and then vanished altogether without explanation. In one of the stories from this book (the story that retells Garfield's origin), Jon saw that Garfield was lonely and so he bought Odie from the pet store — the same pet store that Garfield was in — and brought him home to keep Garfield company.

** Crossing with IronicEcho: "King Cat" opens and closes with the Pharaoh sending his pet to supervise the construction of the pyramids. [[spoiler:First, Garfield carried by dogs and whipping Odie. Later, Odie - the pharaoh's brother pet - carried by cats and whipping Garfield.]]

* HopeSpot: "Space Cat" has Garfield attempting a desperation attack saying "[[PlotArmor I'm the hero]], and heroes never die. We always win our space battles. This oughta do it" [[spoiler:It doesn't work, and [[WrongGenreSavvy he literally meets God afterwards]].]]

* {{Leitmotif}}: A... [[EpilepticTrees thought-provoking]] use in the epilogue. [[spoiler:Garfield and Odie happily return to life to music from "The Garden" - then God says "We have to stick together, you know" to a musical sting from "Lab Animal", while sporting glowing cat eyes also seen in that segment. Then the song from "Court Musician" plays.]]

* LifeIsntFair: [[spoiler:After losing his last life, Garfield encounters God, who he tells that it wasn't fair for him to be put in the situation he was in (i.e being stuck in the middle of nowhere by scientists to monitor his last life and the odds were stacked against him with the I.H.G.W.F). Fortunately, God agrees and gives him another chance at life..nine chances to be exact]].

* LuckBasedSearchTechnique: "King Cat" has Odie find and free Garfield from the pyramid he's sealed in by accident when he pushes against one of the stone blocks..

* OffWithHisHead: Discussed one too many times by the VillainousHarlequin [[TheJester Jester]], not only before George Fredrick ("Freddie") Handel's concert, but also during said concert in which said jester uses the guillotine teeth to slice an apple, rips off the head of the picture of Handel, pulls off the head of the Handel doll, and even showing a slideshow of [[LosingYourHead cutting off each other's heads]], which is both scary and funny!

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: "Being a private dick isn't easy with a name like Sam Spayed."
-->'''Attractive Female Cat:''' Are you Spayed?\\
'''Spayed's Narration:''' I never know how to answer that question.

-->Caveman: CAT! ''(hops around, clutching his foot)''\\
Narrator: "Cat" was caveman-talk for "Darn it!"

* TheMourningAfter: [[spoiler: Sara never plays the piano again after Diana passes.]]

* HaveAGayOldTime: "Big Bob come!"

* GenreRoulette: Comedy is the main jest. But there's also noir, sci-fi, and horror.

* CatsAreMean: "Primal Self" portrays Garfield's life as a vicious cat named Tigger who is strongly implied to kill his owner.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Some of the stories go to ''much'' darker places than standard ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' fare, the most notable example being how "Primal Self" ends with Tigger about to kill his elderly owner.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: "(The world's first and last Cave Cat) bought the farm when he failed to feel the fetched frap tree."

* TheMourningAfter: [[spoiler: Sara never plays the piano again after Dianna passes.]]

* CatsAreMean: "Primal Self".

* ChainmailBikini: Helga the Viking.

* DistantFinale: "Space Cat".

* {{Expositron 9000}}: The beginning of "Space Cat":

* FilmNoir: Parodied in "[[NoirEpisode Babes And Bullets]]".

* MoodWhiplash: The [[NightmareFuel extremely dark]] story "Primal Self" comes between the childishly sweet and innocent "The Garden" and the almost purely comedic "Garfield".

* SpaceOpera: Parodied in "Space Cat".

* SugarBowl: Uncle Todd's garden.
* TransformationSequence: The Vikings transform from their modernised selves after Garfield shouts "Booga!" [[https://78.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7xvga3TGd1qdhcuko1_r1_500.jpg Also present in "Lab Animal".]]

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue: "The Vikings" and "Garfield" both have this.

* ArtShift: Often, as just like the book, the special was directed by many people.

* BadBoss: Garfield supervising the pyramid-building slaves in "King Cat".

* {{Face Framed In S|hadow}}tatic: God. And apparently he was modeled after Garfield's voice actor Lorenzo Music.

%%* LuckBasedSearchTechnique: "King Cat".

* MoodWhiplash: Two comedic segments, "In the Garden", two comedic segments, the [[TearJerker sad]] "Diana's Piano", the scary "Lab Animal", and more comedic segments (though the ending of the last is kinda dark).

* PassedInTheirSleep: [[spoiler:Happens to Diana herself at the end of "Diana's Piano".]]

* ShadowDiscretionShot: The {{painful|Transformation}} and scary TransformationSequence of "Lab Animal"
* ShoutOut:
** The story and animation of "Lab Animal" is a Shout Out to ''Literature/ThePlagueDogs''.
** While likely coincidental due to the special airing around the same time as the film's release, the "Lab Animal" version of Garfield bears a striking resemblance to [[WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany Oliver]].
* ThreateningShark: The alien fleet from "Space Cat" has shark-like ships.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Some of the stories go to ''much'' darker places than standard ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' fare...

* CelestialBureaucracy: Takes it one step further, by [[spoiler:having God's computers 'on the blink' and not being able to keep track of the number of lives.]]

** While likely coincidental due to the special airing around the same time as the film's release, the "Lab Animal" version of Garfield bears a striking resemblance to [[Disney/OliverAndCompany Oliver]].

May be distantly related to ''WesternAnimation/TheNineLivesOfFritzTheCat''. Between this and the licensed parody ''Webcomic/GarfieldMinusGarfield'', it seems, Jim Davis is a pretty cool guy.

* {{Whateversaurus}}: "Cave Cat" has the titular character who is a saber-toothed housecat, and Big Bob is a dogsaurus.

* AnachronismStew: In "Cave Cat" cavemen exist at the same time as dinosaurs, real-estate salesmen, and (in the book, but not the special) Creator/GeorgeBurns.

* OneMillionBC: "Cave Cat", complete with [[ArtisticLicensePaleontology dinosaurs.]]

''You got nine ways to lose''\\
- '''Theme song of the AnimatedAdaptation'''

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Incredibly Huge Galactic War Fleet pland to "atomize" Garfield's craft in five minutes. However, they seem to have these when Garfield pleads for them to spare his life, and "have a heart".

* ShaggySearchTechnique: "King Cat".

* "The Garden": A girl named Cloey and a certain orange kitten live in what may or may not be the Garden of Eden and confront what may or may not be PandorasBox. Diabetes flavoured.

* HornyVikings: "The Vikings"

** In the Kaboom! comics version 19-GB just turns into a [[NightmareFace monster cat]] after being injected with a serum.