You have no idea how happy that has made me! I've been looking forward to our annual celebration here in December.
On Fridays, I'll be sharing some old articles for your enjoyment, while on Mondays, there will be brand-new offerings.
First and foremost, I want to kick off this Christmas season with A Garfield Christmas! This special was the seventh in a series of twelve Garfield television specials, produced by Film Roman and CBS, featuring the voice talents of Lorenzo Music as Garfield. First premiering on CBS on December 21, 1987, it was paired with a A Claymation Christmas Celebration, and became an annual holiday staple on the network until 2000, often alongside A Charlie Brown Christmas.
For a little bit of extra festive fun, I thought I'd go through and list all of the items that Garfield's dreamed-up gift-giving machine provides during the opening sequence.
Garfield is napping, and Jon wakes him (in his dream) to give him his Christmas present. "It's the gift that keeps on giving, Garfield!" Jon screams as he shows him a machine that produces whatever gift you think of.
In order, Garfield wishes for (and receives)...
His first wish was for a pile of riches, and he received all sorts of gems, diamonds, and pearls.
"And that's just for starters! Now this is what Christmas is all about," he says.
The song "Gimme" by Lou Rawls plays as the gift machine begins to spit out the title credits.
As the credits roll and the song plays, the machine spits out a new bed for Garfield, a new suitcase (presumabely for an expensive vacation), a video camera, a present in red wrapping paper, a guitar, two gift boxes (yellow and white), a television, a "boom box" style radio, a microwave, a Christmas ham, a train set, a plug-in fan, a toaster, another gift wrapped in yellow paper, a cooked turkey, a model airplane, a drum, a bowling ball, a basketball, a set of golf clubs, another yellow colored present, and a sound system and speaker set.
The animators use a sleight-of-hand trick and reuse some animations to fill out the pile of presents, reusing the train set, fan, toaster, gift box (yellow), and turkey. They skip a few items from the first round, but then reuse the bowling ball and sound system/speaker set, as well as the model airplane. They then add a teddy bear (Pookie), a purple ball, a trumpet, and another wrapped present (in red). A camera tripod and a dark green wrapped gift box shoot out as Garfield leaps into the pile of gifts like Scrooge McDuck.
The pile of gifts also shows a lantern, a soccer ball, a birthday cake, a fish tank (with fish), an alarm clock, a baseball bat, a Christmas tree, a candy cane, a green and white wrapped gift box, and a blue and purple ball before the special fades into Jon waking Garfield from his dream. For real this time.
I've always wanted to take the time and jot down what Garfield got from that contraption, and I'm glad I finally did it.
If you're still with me... be a doll and read "A Cartoon Christmas: Garfield Christmas Special"
You can also watch it below, for free, on YouTube through the official Garfield channel.
.png)
Comments