Here Comes Garfield

Here Comes Garfield is the first half-hour animated television special featuring the comic strip cat Garfield. It featured Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The special was first broadcast October 25, 1982 on CBS. It has been released on both VHS and DVD home video.

Plot

Garfield and Odie are outside harassing a neighbor's dog when the owner, Hubert, calls the pound to capture Odie. When the dogcatcher arrives, Garfield flees, but Odie is too stupid to run away and is captured. Garfield decides to go home, but when he attempts to warn Jon about Odie, Jon thinks that Garfield is just suffering fleas and Garfield gives up telling Jon, but realizes how boring life is without Odie around, so that night, Garfield decides to rescue Odie. However, the dogcatcher captures Garfield and throws him into the pound, where he learns from a cell mate that Odie is going to be put to sleep in the morning.

During the night, Garfield has a series of flashbacks of all the good times that he and Odie had playing together and how sad his life would be without him. The next day, the dogcatcher takes Odie down the hall to be euthanized. Meanwhile, a girl arrives at the pound for a pet and chooses Garfield. Garfield sees his chance to escape and when the cell opens, Garfield runs out the door instead of towards the girl. The girl just watches in shock as the rest of the dogs escape the way Garfield did. Garfield leads the dogs on a stampede towards the dogcatcher carrying Odie. Garfield and the dogs eventually rescue Odie and break down the pound door, with the knocked-out dogcatcher on it. As the dogs run home, Garfield and Odie knock down the front door while Jon is attempting to fix it after Garfield knocked it down from the beginning. In the end, Jon bets that Garfield and Odie did something wrong in the night while he was worried about them, and Garfield and Odie agree. Soon after, Odie acts stupid and Garfield gets annoyed. But Jon gives Odie steak for acting like he's dumb. Garfield attempts to do the same thing but gets bacon and eggs instead. Garfield smashes his food on Jon's face. Then the credits roll.

Cast

• Lorenzo Music - Garfield
• Sandy Kenyon - Jon Arbuckle
• Henry Corden - Hubert
• Hal Smith - Reba / Skinny
• Hank Garrett - Fast Eddy / Fluffy
• Gregg Berger - Odie (uncredited) / Salesman
• Angela Lee - Little Girl

Soundtrack for Here Comes Garfield

There was a soundtrack for Here Comes Garfield released on LP and cassette on Epic Records. It featured songs from and inspired by the television special. Some of these tracks were re-released or re-recorded on the Am I Cool or What? CD.

Track list

1. "Here Comes Garfield" - (Lou Rawls)
2. "Move Me" (Desirée Goyette)
3. "Foolin' Around" (Lou Rawls and Desirée Goyette)
4. "Long About Midnight" (Lou Rawls)
5. "Big Fat Hairy Deal" (Lou Rawls)
6. "Up On a Fence" (Desirée Goyette)
7. "Life Is Just a Roller Coaster" (Lou Rawls)
8. "So Long Old Friend" (Desirée Goyette)
9. "Together Again" (Lou Rawls and Desirée Goyette)
10. "Here Comes Garfield (Reprise)" (Desirée Goyette)

"So Long Old Friend" is also referenced in Garfield in the Rough.

Differences from other Garfield cartoons

The animation for this first Garfield special and the second one, Garfield on the Town, came from the famous Peanuts cartoon team of Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson, giving them a look similar to the Peanuts cartoons. All future specials and the popular Garfield and Friends TV series were animated by Film Roman studios. Also, Jon was voiced by Sandy Kenyon, which his voice would later be taken by Thom Huge.

External links

• Here Comes Garfield at the Internet Movie Database
• Here Comes Garfield at the Big Cartoon DataBase