Garfield's Halloween Adventure (aka Garfield In Disguise)

Premiered October 30, 1985

"Halloween is my kind of a holiday. Not like those other stupid holidays. I don't get pine needles in my paws. There's no dumb bunnies, no fireworks, no relatives, just candy. Boom, you go out, you get candy. It's as simple as that."

Garfield (Lorenzo Music) wakes up and is excited to learn that it's Halloween.  He informs Odie (Gregg Berger) that this is the night when dogs help cats get candy.  If Odie helps, he'll get one piece of candy.  They go hunting in the attic for costumes.

After trying on many outfits, they settle on pirate costumes.

Orange Beard the Pirate and Odie the Stupid 

Their owner, Jon Arbuckle (Thom Huge) sends them off to trick or treat.

They have a productive evening of trick or treating, and score bags full of candy.  (Plus a couple of unusual trick or treaters.)

"Candycandycandycandycandy!"

Garfield then notices lots of houses on the other side of the river and wants to go across to pillage more candy.  He and Odie find a boat and commandeer it "in the name of Orange Beard, the pirate!"

However, Garfield's plan doesn't work out as intended.  Odie quickly loses the oars and they drift downstream for a while, unable to steer.  They are dejected and Garfield says he's done being a pirate. Just when all seems lost, Odie spots a dilapidated, old house on an island.  Garfield thinks maybe  they should go inside.

What the house contains will make this a Halloween they will never forget!

RigbyMel says:

I remember watching this special when it first aired.  I was a big fan of Garfield back in his 1980s heyday and watched many (but not all) of the assorted tv specials and series featuring the character.   This one really sticks in my memory because the whole pirate ghost plot scared the bejeezus out of me when I was a wee, sensitive little girl.

ZOINKS!

That being said, Halloween is supposed to be spooky and this special delivers horror and hilarity with just the right amount of gusto for kids (and the young at heart).

The scenes of Garfield and Odie trying on Halloween costumes found in a trunk in Jon's attic are quite amusing as is Garfield's mantra of "Candycandycandycandycandy!" and also stuck in my memory.  Recent re-watchings made me realize how many inoffensive, but forgettable songs were included in this special,   (The best ones are the cod pirate song Garfield sings on several occasions and the presence of Lou Rawls's singing voice.)

 We also get plenty of fun interaction between Garfield, Jon and Odie, as one would expect. There is also a nice little moment where Garfield doesn't let his greed get the better of him and decides Odie deserves his ACTUAL fair share of the candy after all they've been through together on this particular Halloween. This is not an unexpected plot point, but it is well deployed.

It's also interesting to note that Garfield's Halloween Adventure was the first Garfield animated special to feature a completely original story, as opposed to one that was adapted from the comic strips.

Garfield's Halloween Adventure is definitely worth seeking out during the Spooky Season!

RigbyMel's rating:



3 and a half jack o'lanterns

"My boat's gone, my candy's gone, the dead pirates are coming any minute, it's past my bedtime, and I wanna go home!"

J.A. Morris says:

While I was also a huge fan of the lasagna-obsessed feline back in the 80s, I didn't watch this special until recently.  But it's become a Halloween tradition in our house.  It has just enough spookiness to keep viewers (especially younger ones) on their toes.  The last act is especially chilling compared to other holiday specials of its era.

While the songs aren't classics, two of them are sung by Lou Rawls.  The opening theme is a fun up-tempo number.  Rawls also delivers another song called 'Scaredy Cat', sung from the perspective of Garfield.

Garfield & Odie get a scare from a creepy old man.

The voice actors here are the same ones who later worked on the series Garfield And Friends.  For me, Garfield will always "speak" with the voice of Lorenzo Music, and Music is great as always.  C. Lindsay Workman is also memorable as the voice of the old man who lives in the (possibly) haunted house.     

A note about the title:It originally aired as Garfield In Disguise, I'm not exactly sure when or why the name was changed.  The special currently streams on Hulu and Amazon.  It's being reissued on a dvd titled Garfield Holiday Collection on November 4. 

Spaceclown?

I didn't see this as a kid, so I'm giving it slightly lower rating than RigbyMel, since it doesn't hold any nostalgic value for me. But Garfield's Halloween Adventure is an entertaining special and a reminder of why Jim Davis' characters were so beloved in their time.
J.A. Morris' rating:

3 jack o'lanterns

Garfield's Thanksgiving

"Do you see that, Odie?  Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  That's the day people celebrate having food by eating as much of it as possible!  Yes, that's the day people try to eat every turkey, pumpkin and cranberry on the face of the earth.  It's a tradition.  And you know how I LOVE tradition!"
-Garfield explaining Thanksgiving to Odie.

Premiered November 22, 1989

Garfield (Lorenzo Music) looks at the calendar and sees that he's scheduled to go to the vet that day. He notices that the next day is Thanksgiving and tries to trick his owner, Jon (Thom Huge) into believing Thanksgiving has already arrived.

Jon goes food shopping, Garfield thinks he's in the clear, but they stop at the vet on the way home.

Jon flirts with Dr. Liz Wilson (Julie Payne), the veterinarian. She's not interested in him, so he resorts to holding his breath until she says yes to his advances. Liz succumbs saying she "hates to see a dumb animal suffer." Liz agrees to have Thanksgiving dinner with Jon at his house. While examining Garfield, Liz says he's overweight and puts him on a low-fat/low-carb diet. Upon hearing this, Garfield gets very upset.

Thanksgiving Day arrives, Jon starts cooking dinner. He has no idea how to cook a turkey. Liz is arriving in three hours.

Jon decides to just put the turkey in the oven and turns the heat way up to make up for lost time. Garfield knows that won't work, but he doesn't care because his new diet prohibits him from eating any turkey.

Liz arrives and wonders if her prescribed diet was a bad idea. Garfield acts sick, so she tells him she would "rather see him fat and healthy." She recommends exercise instead.

  So Garfield is free to eat Thanksgiving dinner, but he remembers that due to Jon's stupidity, there's won't be any dinner. Garfield gets Jon to call his Grandmother, hoping she can save the day.

 Grandma (Pat Carroll) arrives and goes to work in the kitchen, while Jon stalls with Liz in the living room.

Can Grandma save Thanksgiving? Will Liz think even less of Jon after their Thanksgiving "date"?

J.A. Morris says:

"Garfield's Thanksgiving" is a lot of fun, especially for fans of Garfield's newspaper strip and Saturday morning series.  There aren't that many Thanksgiving specials, but this is one of the best.  Garfield's primary goal in life is to eat as much as possible, so he makes a perfect subject for a Thanksgiving story.  Lorenzo Music is excellent as Garfield (one of the best voice casting choices of all time), the rest of the voice cast is pretty good too.  Julie Payne also has some great deadpan lines as Liz.

While I've never been as bad a cook as Jon Arbuckle is in this special, but I have committed some Thanksgiving blunders in the kitchen.  So this is something I could relate to.  I also don't think Thanksgiving dinner is the best time to have a "first date" in real life, but it goes okay for Liz and John.

As a cat owner, I also appreciated the sub-plot about taking Garfield to the Vet. 

The only thing that doesn't work is a song called "It's A Quiet Celebration" sung by Desiree Goyette.  It's about the meaning of Thanksgiving near the end of the show.  The sentiment is fine, but it feels out of place in Garfield's Thanksgiving.  On the other hand, the opening song by Lou Rawls, "Make Thanksgiving One Whole Meal" is great.  We don't have many "Thanksgiving-themed" songs, I'm sorry this Rawls' song didn't catch on beyond the special.  Give the song a listen:

 

Like I said, if you're a Garfield fan (especially a fan of '80s-era Garfield), you'll love Garfield's Thanksgiving.  If you're not familiar with America's favorite Fat Cat, this Thanksgiving special will serve as a nice introduction to the character. 

J.A. Morris' rating:
Four Pumpkin Pies!

RigbyMel says:

This is a classic Garfield special.   We have the obligatory cooking disaster Thanksgiving trope,  Garfield freaking out about being forced to diet near the holiday (and arguing with the talking scale, which compares him to Orson Welles)  and there is even a visual reference to U.S. Acres, the other  Jim Davis comic strip from the 80s.   Check out Orson the U.S. Acres pig in Liz the vet's waiting room:

Orson the U.S. Acres pig waiting to see the vet

Garfield vs. the RX2 talking scale:  "Judging by your weight, you are Orson Welles."

I also must give a shout out to the great voice work by Pat Carroll (best remembered as Ursula in Disney's The Little Mermaid)  as Grandma (yay for Grandma!) and Gregg Berger as Odie the dog.   Odie's self-appointed policing of Garfield's diet is something I remembered from watching the special when it was new (or at least new-ish) and it remains funny.

Odie acting as a literal whistle-blower when Garfield tries to cheat on his diet

As a history geek, I actually wanted to hear more of Jon's lecture on the history of Thanksgiving that he uses to stall Liz while Grandma is at work in the kitchen.   I would not have been bored by it, but to each their own!  

The only note that rings false to me in this special is the Desiree Goyette "It's A Quiet Celebration" song that J.A. Morris mentions above, the sentiment of it is nice, but the cloying presentation of said sentiment isn't easy to take. 

Despite the annoying song, this is a special that makes for recommended annual Thanksgiving viewing.

RigbyMel's rating:
4 Pumpkin Pies