| A Garfield Christmas | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | A Garfield Christmas Special |
| Created by | Jim Davis |
| Written by | Jim Davis |
| Directed by | Phil Roman George Singer (co-director) |
| Starring | Lorenzo Music Thom Huge Gregg Berger Julie Payne Pat Harrington Jr. David L. Lander Pat Carroll |
| Theme music composer | Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette (music and lyrics) Lou Rawls, Thom Huge, Gregg Berger, Desirée Goyette and Lorenzo Music (vocals) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | Phil Roman |
| Running time | 24 minutes |
| Production companies | Film Roman United Media Paws, Inc. |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
| Release | December 21, 1987 |
| Related | |
A Garfield Christmas Special is a 1987 American animated television special based on the Garfield comic strip, created by Jim Davis. It is directed by Phil Roman and stars Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield the house cat, as well as Thom Huge, Gregg Berger, Julie Payne, Pat Harrington Jr., David L. Lander and Pat Carroll. The special is about Garfield spending Christmas with the Arbuckle family on their farm, and discovering the true meaning of Christmas.
Davis, who wrote the teleplay, cited it as semi-autobiographical. The special was first broadcast December 21, 1987, on CBS and was often rebroadcast in subsequent years at Christmastime: until 2000 (December 14, 2000 was the final CBS broadcast). It was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program and has been released on DVD.
This was the seventh of twelve Garfield television specials made between 1982 and 1991.
Jon wakes up Garfield on Christmas Eve morning, telling him that they're going to the countryside to celebrate Christmas with Jon's family on their farm. Garfield is annoyed that they always go to the farm and the family never comes to Jon's house. During his drive to his family's farm, Jon talks about Christmases he had when he was a boy, with his parents, brother Doc Boy, and Grandma, while Garfield listens with great cynicism.
Upon arriving, Grandma and Garfield quickly grow a special bond. While Jon, Garfield, and Odie take a walk, Grandma spikes Mom's sausage gravy with chili powder, bragging that her sausage gravy just won the Greene County Fair. Jon and Garfield return for dinner, while Odie works on something secretive and then sneaks back into the house. After dinner, they decorate the tree. Jon asks Garfield to put the star on, as no one else can reach the top of the tree. As the family sings Christmas songs, Grandma tells Garfield about her beloved and deceased husband, whom she especially misses at Christmastime because of his unspoken, but obvious, love for the holiday. Afterwards, Mom asks Dad to read a book called Binky, the Clown Who Saved Christmas. Dad is reluctant, as he is tired of reading it every year, but gives in. At night, Garfield notices Odie's suspicious activity and follows him to the barn, seeing Odie making something out of a piece of wood, some wire, a plunger handle, and a hand rake. While there, Garfield stumbles upon some old letters and realizes they must be 50 years old.
On Christmas morning, just when it seems like all the presents have been opened, Garfield gives Grandma the letters he found in the barn. These letters were love notes written to Grandma by her husband from when they first met each other and married. Garfield also finds out that Odie has been busy making his ultimate Christmas gift: a homemade back scratcher. Garfield gladly thanks and embraces Odie for the gift he made. This is a rare glimpse at Garfield's softer side, as Garfield learns one of the true meanings of Christmas: "It's not the giving, it's not the getting, it's the loving! There, I said it. Now get outta here."
"Here Comes Garfield" from the special of the same name can be heard instrumentally when Jon wakes up Garfield from his dream.
In writing the teleplay, Davis based it on experiences he had celebrating Christmas with his family on their farm in Indiana, with many Arbuckles modeled after Davis family members. [1] Davis' real-life brother was known as Doc Boy. [2] Davis referred to the story as "very autobiographical", adding "That was my Christmas on the farm". [3] However, he noted Grandma was an entirely fictional character, added for the emotional subplot of having time with loved ones at Christmas. [3]
Lorenzo Music, Thom Huge and Gregg Berger reprise their respective roles from past films as Garfield, Jon Arbuckle, and Odie. Julie Payne and Pat Harrington Jr. voice Jon's mother and father, while David L. Lander voices Jon's brother, Doc Boy. Grandma was voiced by Pat Carroll, who at the time was becoming increasingly popular in voice work. After the 1970s, she was working on Legends of the Superheroes and Pound Puppies . [4]
The episode first aired on December 21, 1987. [5] According to Bustle , the special was rebroadcast every year until 2000. [6] It often played along with the 1965 Peanuts special A Charlie Brown Christmas. [1]
In 2004, A Garfield Christmas was released on the DVD Garfield Holiday Celebrations , along with Garfield's Halloween Adventure and Garfield's Thanksgiving . [7] It appeared 23rd in TV DVD sales for the week of November 10, 2007. [8] In 2014, Entertainment Weekly reported copies of the DVD "were selling on eBay like rare collector's items". [9] Garfield holiday-themed specials, including A Garfield Christmas, were also receiving millions of views on the website YouTube. [2] It was consequently re-released on another DVD compilation, The Garfield Holiday Collection, on November 4, 2014, sold only by Walmart, and was also made available for digital download on November 11 that year. [9]
The special was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program at the 40th Primetime Emmy Awards. [10]
In 2004, TV Guide ranked the special 10th on its 10 Best Family Holiday Specials list. [11] In 2013, Scott Neumyer of Parade called it "a delightful little short featuring everyone's favorite cantankerous orange cat". [12] That year, Jef Rouner of the Houston Press described the episode as "depressing" and mostly unfunny, remarking that since Grandma cannot hear Garfield's thoughts, "what we're watching is a sad old widow so desperately lonely without her late husband that she has begun talking out loud to a visiting cat". [13] In 2014, Johnny Brayson of Bustle called it "a bona fide classic". [6]
Garfield is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as Jon in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as Garfield, it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human owner Jon Arbuckle, and Odie the dog. As of 2013, it was syndicated in roughly 2,580 newspapers and journals and held the Guinness World Record for being the world's most widely syndicated comic strip.
Garfield: The Movie is a 2004 American comedy film based on Jim Davis' comic strip Garfield. Directed by Peter Hewitt and written by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, it stars Breckin Meyer as Jon Arbuckle, Jennifer Love Hewitt as Dr. Liz Wilson and features Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield, who was created with computer-generated imagery.
Garfield and Friends is an American animated television series based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. The show aired on CBS as part of its Saturday morning children's lineup from September 17, 1988 to December 10, 1994.
Gregory Alan Berger is an American voice actor. He is known for his roles as Jecht from Final Fantasy X and the Dissidia Final Fantasy games, Grimlock from The Transformers, Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter from Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Odie from all Garfield animated media, Cornfed Pig from Duckman, Bill Licking from The Angry Beavers, Agent Kay from Men in Black: The Series, The Gromble from Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Captain Blue from Viewtiful Joe, Eeyore from Kingdom Hearts II, Hunter the Cheetah (1999–2002) and Ripto from Spyro the Dragon, as well as The Thing, Galactus, and Attuma from Marvel: Ultimate Alliance.
Here Comes Garfield is a 1982 animated television special based on the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis. It was the first half-hour Garfield TV special. It is directed by Phil Roman and features Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield the house cat, as well as the voices of Sandy Kenyon, Henry Corden and Gregg Berger.
Garfield on the Town is a 1983 animated television special, directed by Phil Roman and based on the Garfield comic strip by Jim Davis. It once again starred Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield, and also featured the voices of Thom Huge, Gregg Berger and Julie Payne.
Garfield in the Rough is a 1984 American animated television special based on the Garfield comic strip. It once again featured Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The special was first broadcast October 26, 1984 on CBS. It has been released on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD home video.
Garfield's Halloween Adventure is a 1985 American animated television special based on the Garfield comic strip. It is directed by Phil Roman and written by Garfield creator Jim Davis, and features the voices of Lorenzo Music, Thom Huge, Gregg Berger and C. Lindsay Workman. It originally aired on CBS on October 30, 1985.
Garfield in Paradise is a 1986 animated television special directed by Phil Roman, based on the Garfield comic strip by Jim Davis. It features Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield the house cat, other regulars Thom Huge and Gregg Berger, and guest star Wolfman Jack. It originally aired on CBS on May 27, 1986.
Garfield Goes Hollywood is a 1987 American animated television special based on the Garfield comic strip. It once again featured Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The special was first broadcast May 8, 1987 on CBS and was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program at the 39th Primetime Emmy Awards. It has been released on both VHS and DVD home video.
Garfield: His 9 Lives is a 1984 book of illustrated short stories that showcase the "nine lives" of Jim Davis' comic strip character Garfield. The book is divided into ten segments; the first one displays the creation of cats in general, where the latter nine reveal events in Garfield's nine lives. Each of the nine stories has a short preface of Garfield in his modern incarnation, and explains how these various lives shaped aspects of Garfield's personality, such as the origin of his fear of the veterinarian, his love of grinny behavior, his proclivity for a slothful lifestyle, and his extremely playful side. The book was later adapted into an animated television special in 1988, and a comic book by BOOM Studios from 2014 to 2015.
Garfield Gets a Life is a 1991 animated television special based on the Garfield comic strip written by Jim Davis. It features Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The special was first broadcast May 8, 1991 on CBS. It was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program at the 43rd Primetime Emmy Awards. It was the final in the series of twelve Garfield television specials, in spite of the success of Garfield and Friends as CBS cancelled new animated specials in 1990. It is the only CBS Garfield special directed by John Sparey instead of Phil Roman, although the latter served as producer.
Garfield's Thanksgiving is a 1989 American animated television special based on the Garfield comic strip. It once again featured Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The special was first broadcast November 22, 1989 on CBS and was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program at the 42nd Primetime Emmy Awards. The events of the special take place during the second season of Garfield and Friends. It has been released on both VHS and DVD home video. On overseas DVD copies of Garfield's Holiday Celebrations, this special is replaced with Garfield in the Rough.
Garfield's Babes and Bullets is a 1989 animated television special directed by Phil Roman, based on a short story of the same name by Ron Tuthill in the book Garfield: His 9 Lives. It features Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield, the house cat, re-imagined as a private detective named Sam Spayed attempting to solve a murder mystery.
Garfield's Feline Fantasies is a 1990 American animated television special based on the Garfield comic strip and is produced by Film Roman, United Media/Mendelson, and Paws, Inc. It once again featured Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The animated short was first broadcast on May 18, 1990 on CBS and September 10, 1991 on CITV and was nominated for Outstanding Animated Program at the 42nd Primetime Emmy Awards. The events of the special take place between the second and third seasons of Garfield and Friends. It has been released on both VHS and DVD home video.
Garfield Gets Real is a 2007 American direct-to-video animated comedy film based on the comic strip Garfield. It was produced by Paws, Inc. in cooperation with Davis Entertainment, and The Animation Picture Company and distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It was written by Garfield's creator Jim Davis, who started working on the script in the autumn of 1996. This was the first fully animated Garfield production since the 1991 television special Garfield Gets a Life, and the season finale of Garfield and Friends. The DVD was shipped to stores on August 9, 2007. Gregg Berger, an actor from the original series, reprises his role of Odie, but Garfield was voiced by veteran voice actor Frank Welker, since the original actor Lorenzo Music died six years earlier in 2001 and Jon is voiced by Wally Wingert, as Thom Huge retired that same year. The film received unfavorable reviews.
Happy Birthday, Garfield is an hour-long television special dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the Garfield comic strip, hosted by its creator Jim Davis. It uses both live-action and animation.
The Garfield Show is a CGI animated television series produced by Dargaud Media and Paws, Inc. It is based on the American Garfield comic strip created by Jim Davis. The animated series focuses on a new series of adventures for the characters of Garfield, Odie, and their owner Jon Arbuckle, alongside staple characters from the strip and a number of unique additions for the program. Both Davis and producer Mark Evanier, who previously wrote episodes for the 1988 original cartoon animated series Garfield and Friends, co-wrote stories for the program, with the cast including Frank Welker, Wally Wingert, Julie Payne, Jason Marsden and Gregg Berger. Welker and Berger had previously voiced various characters in Garfield and Friends.
Jonathan Q. Arbuckle is a fictional character from the Garfield comic strip by Jim Davis. He also appears in the animated television series Garfield and Friends and The Garfield Show, two live-action/CGI feature films, and three fully CGI films.
