Best of Breed (Garfield and Friends)

After Garfield tries to trick Jon into mailing Odie and Nermal to his parents, Nermal then demonstrates cute tricks to him. Garfield doesn’t see the point of the tricks, but then Nermal showcases several blue ribbons that he’d won in the Cat Show; then he informs Garfield that another cat show is coming the following day. Garfield asks Jon to enter him in the show, but Jon laughs at the idea. After realizing that he’d hurt Garfield’s feelings, Jon decides to enter him in the show anyway.

At the show, several cats are eliminated from the final running except for numbers 13 and 5. Garfield is number 13, and he soon discovers that number 5, his competition, is Nermal. They both compete in three events: talent, obedience and skill. In the talent competition, Garfield sings and dances while Nermal plays with a ball of yarn, and Nermal wins. The obedience competition has Garfield following simple commands, and when Nermal’s turn comes, Garfield replaces the original command list with an array of bizarre commands, but Nermal wins anyway.

In the skill competition, Garfield creates a remote-controlled hot air balloon, which he soon sends flying out the building. The moderator then calls for Nermal, but he doesn’t show up. Nermal is then disqualified and Garfield wins the blue ribbon. Jon runs out and congratulates him; then he wonders where Nermal is because no one saw him leave the building. It is then revealed that Nermal is inside the hot air balloon, having been tricked by Garfield into thinking that it is a dressing room.

[edit] Notes

Odie does not speak in this episode.
Garfield’s number in the Cat Show is 13. Nermal’s number is 5.
The moderator at the Cat Show initially calls Garfield and Nermal by their numbers, but for the rest of the show he calls them by their names.

[edit] Goofs

Best of Breed is a British title generally given in competitions for dogs, not an American title for cats but once it was used for rats.

[edit] Quotes

Nermal: Look at all these blue ribbons I won in the Cat Show.
Garfield: Best Whiskers…First Place, Purring Competition…Most Push-ups… Most push-ups?