Odie
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| Odie | |
|---|---|
 Odie |
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| First appearance | Garfield comic strip (August 8, 1978) |
| Created by | Jim Davis |
| Portrayed by | Gregg Berger (providing his barks and other dog sound effects in animated appearances and Garfield Gets Real) Unnamed real dog(s) in the live-action films |
| Information | |
| Species | Beagle (Daschund in the live-action films) |
| Gender | Male |
| Date of birth | August 8, 1978 |
Odie is a fictional character in the Jim Davis comic strip Garfield. He has also appeared in Garfield and Friends, two live-action feature films, and two CGI films.
He is a kind but dumb yellow-furred, brown-eared beagle. In the live-action films based on the Garfield franchise, he is played by a dachshund. In the comic of August 26, 2007, Garfield describes Odie's species as "purebred clown" after trying to find out what kind of dog Odie is with the help of a book. [1]
Odie usually has a large tongue and slobbers in his appearances. Recently, as of 2000, he is seen walking on two feet instead of all fours, just like Garfield.
In the television series, Odie's appearance is usually announced by the sound of the cavalry's bugling.
Contents |
[edit] History
Odie was based on a car dealership commercial Jim Davis wrote, and it featured Odie the Village Idiot. Davis liked the name Odie and decided to use it again [2].Odie first appeared in the comic strips on August 8, 1978, which is considered his birthday. There has been only one comic strip that celebrates Odie's birthday, in 1995[3]. He was originally a pet to Jon Arbuckle's roommate Lyman, but Lyman disappeared from the series after about five years (with the exception of a one-panel cameo appearance in the strip for Garfield's 10th birthday). Odie eventually becomes a pet to Jon. There were some strips stating he was a pet to Jon originally.
In the motion picture, Odie was adopted by Jon at a veterinarian center.
[edit] Speaking
Odie is the only animal character in the strip without a recurring voice bubble, as he is portrayed as a "normal" house dog. However, he was once shown to be thinking "I'm hungry" [4]. Odie has also said "Hi to the people, dummy" when Garfield was using him as a dummy. [5] He also said "I don't know, I'm kinda scared," as a "mistake" in the cartoon episode "Mistakes Will Happen". More recently, he was seen actually speaking in one of Garfield's dream sequences.[6] He also sometimes thinks like Garfield. [7]; he sometimes says minor things in episodes such as "Ta-da!", "Huh?", or more commonly, panting "Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Whenever he talks in the show, he actually does speak by moving his mouth (and has said things as intelligible as "No horsey?" (from the episode Dessert in the Desert), which is notable, although other dogs have actually spoken in other episodes. Odie even says "Right!" in the first episodes of Garfield and Friends including Peace and Quiet and Nighty Nightmare. His RIGHT! yelling is to agree with Jon after he talks to Garfield. Odie also speaks in barks similar to actual English in his Dog voice in Garfield Gets Real.
[edit] Odie and Garfield
Odie is, to Garfield, a complete slobbering idiot. One strip[8] shows him enjoying classical music on TV with the novel, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, nearby after Jon and Garfield leave the house. Another has him lock the others out of the car on a camping trip, where he enjoys the sandwiches, radio, and chips, while the others just get wet. In others he has been seen setting decoys, writing poetry, and finding a complete superhero outfit making Garfield look like a loser-in a few seconds! One theory is that there are two Odies, a smart one and the more common idiot. In one strip, Garfield went to see what was at the end of Odie's tongue, and it turned out to be a second Odie! Odie has managed to take revenge on Garfield occasionally, and Garfield sometimes cannot avoid noticing it. Garfield acknowledges this by saying "He's not as dumb as he looks, but then again who could be?" However, Garfield on numerous occasions actually does care a great deal for Odie, most notably in the first Garfield special Here Comes Garfield, in which Odie is briefly captured by the dogcatcher and Garfield realizes through flashbacks of him and Odie playing together and how sad his life would be without him (in these series of flashbacks by Garfield, the song "So Long Old Friend" is played in the background). In one strip [9], Garfield states that Odie is made of rubber.
Odie all too often gets kicked off the table by Garfield; once Odie tried to push Garfield off the table, but Garfield was too heavy[10]. In addition to getting kicked off the table, Odie is often the victim of Garfield's pranks. Curiously, Garfield has taken offense to others treating Odie in this manner. In one strip, he punches out another cat who beats up on Odie, insisting "Nobody beats up on Odie but me!"[11] Similarly, in Garfield: The Movie after seeing Happy Chapman use a shock collar on Odie, he says, "Hey, nobody gets to mistreat my dog like that except me!"
Odie does manage to get a little revenge on Garfield. Once, Jon accuses Garfield of clearing out his closet except for the T-shirt saying "I love cats." While Garfield professes his innocence, he is hurled out of the house. Comically Odie steps out to laugh at Garfield, wearing a plaid shirt, indicating he framed Garfield.[12] Once, he managed to give Garfield a taste of his own medicine in a strip where Garfield tried to have fun with an Odie mask. Odie wasn't at the edge of the table, and while Garfield wondered where Odie was, he showed up (wearing a Garfield mask) and kicked the tabby off the table.[13] Odie would also commonly do things to Garfield, but he gets his revenge. In one strip series, Garfield gets beat up by a bulldog after kicking him and has to wear a cast for nearly a week.[14] The cast covers Garfield's entire body but his face. Odie torments Garfield throughout the series. In the final strip, though, Garfield tells Jon that he'd like to keep his cast after being asked what he would like to do with it, and strikes Odie with it.[15]
[edit] References
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (2007-08-26). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ Character profile (click on Odie)
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (1995-08-08). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (1980-06-15). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (1989-03-03). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (2005-07-10). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (1995-12-21). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (1989-04-27). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (1984-08-19). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (2005-08-14). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (1981-06-12). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (1999-02-02). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (1996-10-29). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (1980-10-27). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
- ^ The Garfield Vault Strip. Garfield.com (1980-11-01). Retrieved on 2008-06-08.
[edit] External links
Garfield and Friends official site
