The fourteenth episode of the fourth season of Garfield and Friends.
Post-Opening Sequence Line: "This show is the most fun you can have without marinara sauce."
The Idol of Id
While touring a museum, Garfield and Odie accidentally touch an idol that exchanges the minds of anyone who touches it.
Bedtime Story Blues
Orson reads Cinderella to Booker and Sheldon, who keep making changes to the story.
Mamma Manicotti
On a vacation, Garfield, Jon and Odie decide to have pizza for lunch and stumble upon Papa Plastisque's Pizza Parlor. But the pizza is so hard that even Garfield doesn't want to eat it. As they drive off, Garfield smells a delicious aroma of Italian foods and ask Jon to stop. Once they stop, they see a restaurant, and as he tucks into spaghetti, Garfield decides that this food is the greatest Italian food he has ever tasted.
The chef's name is Mamma Manicotti, owner of her own restaurant (which is also her home). As Jon and Odie join Garfield in feasting on different Italian Food, Jon asks her if there's a motel around since they're travelers. She offers them a room for the night as she needs the money. Just then, Papa Plastique comes in telling Mama to sell her recipe to him, but she refuses. Upset, Papa claims that one day she'll be begging to him to but the recipes before he leaves. Mama wonders if this is the right decision, and Garfield, who happened to overhear, gives her a thumbs up.
Unfortunately, Papa Plastique doesn't give up. Knowing that people don't like his food, he decides to hire a private investigator to get the recipe. But the investigator decides to take a different approach by stealing her recipe instead. At night, Garfield and Odie decide to spend the night in the kitchen, as they adore the smell of Mamma's Italian food, when suddenly the investigator breaks into her house. They hide under the table while the investigator enters the kitchen, searching for her recipe. But his plan is foiled as Garfield and Odie stop him just in time for Mamma and Jon to call the police.
The next day, Papa Plastique invites all four of them to his office, and apologizes to them for his investigator's action, but also decides to make one final offer for Mamma's recipe. Once again Mamma refuses, as no one could duplicate her recipe. So Papa makes a deal with her - she'll give one of the recipes to his chefs. and if they can't duplicate her cooking he'll give her 10 thousand dollars. She agrees. Soon, his chefs manage to duplicate her spaghetti sauce, but as Garfield (the taste tester) tasted it, he quickly learns that it's awful, due to the chefs replacing the ingredients with cheap ingredients. Mamma berates them, and Papa tells them to make a new one with fresh ingredients. Unfortunately, they can't seem to find the right taste for Garfield to find it similar to Mamma's spaghetti sauce. After many failed attempts, Papa gives up and gives her the money. As they leave, Papa can't believe the chef cannot duplicate the recipe, while one of his chefs comment that Mamma might have not given them a missing ingredient. Garfield (the one who's been narrating the story the whole time) mentions that he's right.
The next year, the guys go back and finds out that her restaurant is a huge success. She reserves seats for them as a show of thanks for helping her out, while they dig into her food. Before the episode ends, Garfield asks the viewers if they are curious as to what her missing ingredient is, and decides to show them. He tells the viewers that the answer is 'love' as Garfield comments "Good cooking doesn't come from the kitchen, it comes from the heart."
The Idol of Id contains examples of:
- "Freaky Friday" Flip: The idol causes the minds of Garfield and Odie to exchange.
Bedtime Story Blues contains examples of:
- Affirmative Action Girl: Booker and Sheldon try to make the princess in the story different types of this, including a cowgirl, an astronaut, and a race car driver (as well as giving her an evil twin).
- As Long as It Sounds Foreign: The three ninjas all speak in vaguely Japanese-sounding gibberish.
- The Big Bad Wolf: One of the changes that Booker and Sheldon make to the story is adding a wolf that tries to eat Cinderella. When Orson asks the twins what a wolf has to do with Cinderella, they tell him that all great fairy tales have a wolf in them (and some even have two).
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: When Orson's brothers take on the form of Cinderella's stepsisters (before Booker and Sheldon change them into being boys), Wart is cast as the Blonde, Gort is cast as the Brunette, and Mort is cast as the Redhead.
- Cinderella Plot: Orson attempts to read the story of Cinderella to Booker and Sheldon, as it's the only book he hasn't read to them yet, but the twins make numerous changes to the story, much to Orson's ire.
- Fractured Fairy Tale: The changes that Booker and Sheldon make to the story of Cinderella include making Cinderella and her stepsisters boys (and the latter ninjas), having Cinderella work at a pet store, making the king's messenger a rap master, making the fairy godmother the richest guy in the world, and having the characters get attacked by dinosaurs.
- Gender Bender: One of the numerous changes that Booker and Sheldon make to the story is making Cinderella and her stepsisters boys.
- Gratuitous Ninja: The chicks insist that Cinderella's three stepsisters be replaced by three stepbrothers. Then they decide that they should be ninjas instead, just because.
- Garnishing the Story: One of the changes that Booker and Sheldon make to the story is that the characters get attacked by dinosaurs. Orson naturally questions what dinosaurs are doing in the story of Cinderella.
- Motor Mouth: At the end of the segment, Orson becomes so annoyed with Booker and Sheldon's changes to the story that the reads it the right way really fast."Cinderella was a poor girl who lived with her ugly stepsisters. One day they announced that the King was throwing a ball so the prince could choose a bride. The Stepsisters wouldn't let Cinderella go to the ball, so she stayed home. Her Fairy godmother appeared and changed a pumpkin into a coach and some mice into horses and she told Cinderella, 'Be home by twelve or else!' and Cinderella went to the ball. She looked beautiful and the Prince fell in love with her, but then it was twelve and she had to leave, so she ran off, but she left one glass slipper behind, and the Prince said, 'I must find the woman whose foot fits this shoe and I will marry her!', and then he went to the house until he found Cinderella, married her, and they lived happily ever after, and that's the end, so now go to bed!"
Mamma Manicotti contains examples of:
- Even Evil Has Standards: Papa Plastique wanted Mamma Manicotti's recipes badly and he’s a sleazy dirtbag, but not to the point of sanctioning burglary.
- Lethal Chef: Papa Plastique is a more self-aware version, since he's at least aware that his product isn't that good. His pizza is so tough that it's almost made of rubber. Even his chefs qualify for this trope as Garfield shows signs of disgust due to their 'improvisation' of Mamma's spaghetti sauce.
- The Narrator: This episode features Garfield as both a narrator and a character in this story—most episodes in the series do not have a narrator.
- Out of Character Is Serious Business: Papa Plastique's food is so bad not even GARFIELD will eat it.
- Secret Ingredient: What Mamma Manicotti didn't tell them was that the secret ingredient is not actually an ingredient but the love of cooking, as she always tastes her food and tries to find the right spice whenever she cooks.
- So Okay, It's Average: Papa Plastique's attempts to duplicate Mamma Manicotti's sauce with fresh ingredients fall firmly into this territory, with Garfield giving grades ranging from C- to C+.
- Supreme Chef: Mamma Manicotti. Garfield says that her Italian food is the greatest food he ever tasted.
- Villainy-Free Villain: While Papa Plastique is clearly a jerk and a sleaze, and he does use a private investigator to try and get the recipe in a morally grey manner (it's the investigator who chooses burglary), at no point does he do anything actually criminal, and when he can't replicate Mamma Manicotti's spaghetti sauce, he does hand over the money as he promised, even if he does so grudgingly.
