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Prior to the popular Saturday morning animated series Garfield and Friends, Jim Davis brought Garfield into your home through 12 animated specials from 1982 to 1991. Each special was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program with four of the twelve winning in the category.
My top 5 favorite specials:
5. Garfield Goes Hollywood - 1987 - Garfield attempts to raise money to appear on "Pets Search." Garfield and Odie have been singing and dancing on the fence each night and Jon creates the Elvis styled group "Johnny Bop and the Two-Steps." Garfield and Odie are embarrassed at Jon's poor singing but they win at the regional level and win the trip to Hollywood for the final round. Jon, thinking fame and fortune have gone to Garfield and Odie's heads, suggest they throw the competition and just go home to their normal life. Garfield and Odie carry on anyway as "The Dancing Armando's" but lose anyway and win a sailboat for 2nd place. The special ends as Garfield admits to Jon he's happy to be back home, even if the sailboat is up on blocks in their landlocked backyard.
4. Garfield's Halloween Adventure - 1985 - Garfield learns that it's Halloween and he becomes excited at the thought of trick-or-treating for candy. He convinces Odie to join him and the duo goes dressed as pirates. They somehow find their way to a dock and Garfield decides to cross the river by rowboat to find more candy but soon find themselves drifting downriver. The boat settles at the abandoned dock of a run-down mansion. Venturing into the home thinking it's empty they find an old man in an armchair. He tells a tale about pirates who buried treasure in the floor of the mansion, and signed a blood oath to return at midnight 100 years later... this very night! The man disappears and they find he has stolen their boat. The clock strikes midnight and a ghost ship materializes on the river as pirates emerge. Hiding in the cupboard, Odie sneezes alerting the pirates so Garfield and Odie make a run for it and jump into the river to escape. Washing ashore they find their boat with the candy untouched inside. At home, Garfield gives Odie his fair share of the candy and turns on the television. He sees the old man from the mansion wearing a pirate hat hosting an all-night pirate movie festival. Garfield quickly turns the tv off and decides he better head to bed.
3. Garfield in Paradise - 1986 - Jon, Garfield, and Odie take a trip to Paradise World, a third class cheapskate's version of Hawaii. They arrive on the island and check-in at a deserted motel only to find there is no beach within sight of the motel. The trip is getting boring until they decide to rent a car and search for a beach. For a low price, they get a really nice Chevrolet Bel Air and cruise in style. The car, however, mysteriously speeds away and drives it's own course, right into the middle of a native village. The three presume they are in serious trouble until the natives begin bowing down before the car. The tribal chief, The High Ramma-Lamma, explains that the villagers (the Ding-Dongs) learned English from "beach movies" and in 1957, "The Cruiser," (a James Dean/Fonzie type) drove his car into the village and introduced the people to 1950s pop culture. The Cruiser eventually saved the village by sacrificing himself and driving his car into the nearby volcano to prevent it from erupting. In thanks, the village is devoted to the 1950s and believes that Jon's rental car is the same one the Cruiser owned. Suddenly the volcano begins to erupt and the villagers decide it wants the car. The car starts up again and zooms towards the volcano... with Odie clinging to the hood. As it plummets into the crater, Odie is presumed dead. Garfield spots him climbing out unharmed, thankfully, and he's carried back to the village in a hero's fashion.
2. Garfield's Thanksgiving - 1989 - Click HERE to check out my article on this one! Jon invites Garfield's vet back to his house for Thanksgiving but it's an utter disaster. Grandma comes to the rescue and cooks a giant Thanksgiving feast, saving the day. Jon earns a kiss on the cheek at the end of the day, thanks to Grandma's quick work.
1. A Garfield Christmas - 1987 - Garfield dreams of getting every present he ever wanted, but awakens to find Jon giddy with excitement that it's Christmas Eve morning. Jon takes Garfield and Odie to his parent's house for Christmas where Garfield and Grandma build a fast friendship. Odie works secretively in the barn while Garfield watches Grandma and Ma Arbuckle cook dinner. After dinner, the family gathers to trim the tree and sing songs and reminisce over holidays gone-by. Later, when everyone is asleep, Garfield follows Odie out to the barn. There he discovers a stack of love letters from Grandpa to Grandma. The next morning, Jon and his brother wake early to open presents and Garfield gives Grandma the letters, which bring her to tears. In the end, Odie reveals that all along he's been working in the barn on a back scratcher as a present for Garfield.
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- Here Comes Garfield - October 25, 1982
- Garfield on the Town - October 28, 1983
- Garfield in the Rough - October 26, 1984
- Garfield's Halloween Adventure - October 30, 1985
- Garfield in Paradise - May 27, 1986
- Garfield Goes Hollywood - May 8, 1987
- A Garfield Christmas - December 21, 1987
- Garfield: His 9 Lives - November 22, 1988
- Garfield's Babes and Bullets - May 23, 1989
- Garfield's Thanksgiving - November 22, 1989
- Garfield's Feline Fantasies - May 18, 1990
- Garfield Gets a Life - May 8, 1991
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