Garfield
Garfield is the popular comic strip created by Jim Davis featuring the cat Garfield, the less than brilliant pet dog Odie, and their socially inept owner Jon Arbuckle. The character is named after Davis's grandfather, James Garfield Davis (who was probably named after former U.S. President James Garfield).
Overview
Debuting June 19, 1978 (also considered Garfield's birthday), the syndicated comic strip pokes fun at pet owners and their relationship with their pets often portraying the pet as the true master of the home. Garfield also appeals because of the way he struggles with very human problems, such as diets, hatred of Mondays, apathy, boredom, and so on.
Over the course of the strip, Garfield's behavior has became more 'human' and less 'cat-like.' His appearance has also evolved, initially being drawn as grossly obese with flabby jowls and small round eyes. Later, his appearance was slimmed down and his eyes enlarged. By the 1983, his familiar appearance - featuring oval-shaped eyes - had taken shape. By this time, Garfield had begun walking on two feet, and the strip changed to more of an emphasis on sitcom situations (Garfield making fun of his owner's stupidity, Jon's inability to pick up girls) and less on the foibles of cats. A number of the strip's readers feel that the quality of the writing has lessened, even as the artwork has retained a consistent level of quality (although Davis is no longer the sole, or even principal, artist).
The comic strip was turned into a cartoon special for television in 1982 called Here Comes Garfield . Actor Lorenzo Music, previously known as the voice of Carlton the doorman on the show Rhoda, was hired to portray the voice of Garfield. Soul singer Lou Rawls provided musical accompaniment. Twelve television specials were made (through 1990) as well as a television series, Garfield and Friends, which ran from 1988 to 1994.
A live-action movie version of the comic strip, Garfield: The Movie (with a computer-animated Garfield and live-action Odie), debuted in the USA on June 11, 2004. Due to Music's death in 2001, Bill Murray provided the voice of Garfield. This was an inspired choice, as Music provided the voice for the animated version of Peter Venkman, Murray's character in Ghostbusters.
Characters
Primary characters
- Garfield: fat orange cat with distinctive black stripes and an attitude. He hates Mondays (not applicable if it's also his birthday), loves to eat and sleep (both to amazing amounts), watch TV, and play jokes on Jon and Odie. His favorite food is lasagna, although he hates raisins. He has been seen trying to catch and (presumably) eat birds, although he does not eat mice. He also hates spiders.
- Odie: loveable but dopey yellow-furred, brown-eared dog constantly panting with his very large tongue, and the only character without a "voice." Often kicked off the table by Garfield or the victim of some practical joke. Odie's original owner was Lyman, a friend and roommate to Jon Arbuckle. However, Lyman disappeared in 1983 and Odie became a pet to Jon. Odie is, to Garfield, a complete slobbering idiot (though it's not the actual case since Odie did manage to take revenge on Garfield occasionally, and Garfield usually cannot notice it). He is rarely seen without his giant tongue and drooling. He is also the sucker to Garfield's antics such as being kicked off a table and being clobbered a distance. Recently Odie seems to be walking on two feet more often. He first appeared on August 8, 1978.
- Jon Arbuckle: their owner. A total nerd and clumsy individual who is extremely unlucky in the world of dating and coolness. Primary fodder and conversation partner to Garfield and is often the butt of his jokes. Was (possibly still is, due to it never being contradicted) a cartoonist, but this reference has not been seen since the early days of the comic strip. His full name has been revealed as Jonathan Q. Arbuckle in a Christmas strip.
- Arlene: Garfield's on-and-off girlfriend. A thin pink cat who seems to be the one living thing in the world who can successfully crack jokes at Garfield on a regular basis. She has got a pair of thick' n' sexy lips with a very thin neck.
- Pooky: Garfield's huggable teddy bear. First appearance was October 23, 1978. The strip shows Garfield searching through Jon Arbuckles's bottom drawer, finding Pooky, and adopting him as his own.
- Nermal: cute kitten who flaunts his cuteness (the cutest kitten in the world, he says), which annoys Garfield immensely, usually resulting in him shipping Nermal to Abu Dhabi. Often comes in unannounced, much to Garfield's chagrin. He was originally meant to be owned by Jon's parents.
- Mom: Jon's mother who's always cooking up a meal.
- Dad: Jon's father who tends the family farm.
- Doc Boy: Jon's only brother who tends to the pigs on the farm, and as much a loser as Jon. Resents being called Doc Boy. He is apparently younger than Jon.
- Grandma: This harly-riding, leather-wearing old lady never quits. She loves Jon and Garfield, and occasionally makes appearances throughout the series. We get to know the most about her in Garfield's Christmas special, where we learn that her husband has passed away and she talks about her life with him.
- Lyman: friend of Jon's who lived with him for a while; original owner of Odie. He disappeared from the comic in 1983; his disappearance was never fully elaborated upon. Fans and regular readers of the comic strip cite a rumor that Lyman was removed from the strip because of the suggestion that he was actually engaging in a homosexual relationship with Jon Arbuckle. Jim Davis has dismissed this rumor as nonsense; he has stated that Lyman no longer appears in the strip because Davis didn't find the character to be very interesting. His last appearance in the strip was a cameo in the logo panel for the Sunday strip published on June 19, 1988. A webcomic called Melonpool involved this character in one of its storylines, showing why he disappeared from the Garfield strips in the first place. Of course, since Melonpool is a spoof piece, it has no continuity with Davis' work and is just for kicks with a disclaimer attached. Recently, Davis, was forced to directly address the issue of 'What happened to Lyman?'. According to Davis, Lyman's original purpose was to be someone who Jon could actually talk to and express other ideas - a role more and more taken over by Garfield himself. Hence he was removed; without explanation.
- Irma: waitress and owner of "Irma's Diner," diner occasionally patronized by Jon and Garfield. The food, service, and mental stability of her place is questionable. Her idea of a "chicken surprise" is her coming up to the table wearing a rubber chicken mask and saying "SURPRISE!."
- Dr. Liz Wilson: Garfield's veterinarian and long-time crush of Jon Arbuckle. Occasionally dates him, but these always become disasters (often thanks to Garfield tagging along for the ride).
- Herman the Mailman: one of Garfield's favorite chew-toys (Garfield doesn't think dogs should have all the fun), and always finding a way to deliver mail safely to the Arbuckle house (Note: He did succeed).
Secondary characters
- Hubert and Reba are Jon's stereotypical "grumpy old neighbors".
- Mrs. Feeny is another neighbor, who has never appeared in the strip. Garfield likes tormenting her little dog (who has also never appeared) and as such Mrs Feeny is always complaining to Jon about Garfield over the phone.
- Stretch is Garfield's rubber chicken. Jon gave it to him on his birthday.
- Ellen is a local girl whom Jon often trys to go out with. She has never appeared in the strip, but many strips focus on Jon phoning Ellen asking for a date. She usually asks him to do something very stupid first, before refusing.
- Jon's house is also inhabited by mice (unnamed, though one of their first appearances shows one of them giving Garfield a business card for "Herman Vermin"), enjoying a quite full social life - to much annoyance of Jon. Garfield, however, cannot be bothered to chase them, and according to him they tend to either bribe or blackmail him to stay so. One particular mouse in the comic strip started appearing in 1984, and was named Squeak by Garfield, but he looked no different from the other mice. His TV show counterpart went by the name Floyd and was able to be told apart by being the only mouse with oval-shaped eyes like the other characters. The mouse character in the movie was named Louis.
- Garfield's otherwise boring life is occasionally enriched by spiders, who sometimes walk around the house or dangle from the ceiling - and whom he finds amusing to squish using a rolled-up newspaper. This, of course, leads to several attempts by the spiders to get back at Garfield - unsuccessful in most cases.
- When on diet, Garfield often has hallucinations, taking shape in walking food with limbs and a provocative manner of encouraging Garfield to eat them. This, of course, is impossible (as they don't exist), much to Garfield's frustration.
- Two trusty household appliances in the comic are the bathroom scale and the alarm clock. The two objects are quite different personalities: While the former usually allows itself to be quite cynical and crude about Garfield's overweight state, the latter sometimes retracts from ringing loud and waking Garfield, since he tends to pummel the disturbing factors.
- Binky the Clown is a television personality noted for his extremely loud and piercing greetings, most notably "HEEEEEEEY, KIDS". In the Garfield TV series, he became more of a regular, and would modify his greeting to suit who it was he was greeting, such as "HEEEEEEEY, CAT". He also occasionally had his own segment on the show, called "Screaming With Binky".
- Cactus Jake a stereotypical cowboy who happens to be a friend of Jon. He was seen only in the TV series.
- Al G. Swindler is, as his name suggests, a swindler, often conning Jon whenever he can. He only appeared in the TV series, and at the end of the episodes he was in, he would always say, "It's getting tougher and tougher to make an honest buck these days."
- The Buddy Bears are a trio of annoying singing bear cubs who never disagree (except when it comes to pizza toppings). They only appeared in the TV series, and Garfield has remarked that he "hates Buddy Bear episodes." In one episode, they attempted to take over his show by making it more educational, but Garfield attempted to foil them by commenting that they knew nothing about gazorgenplats, something he made up. The TV producers (in the show) called his bluff when they created the Gazorgenplat Show, and giving it Garfield's time slot.
Garfield marks his territory
- His album: Am I Cool or What?
- His suction-cupped kitties: "Stuck on You" phenomenon across America and takes several years for production met the demand (Which was created after an idea trade with Scott Adams in 1990, which involved what type of object could hold the thing other than sticky items).
- His books: introduces the "Garfield format" in publishing as its books are horizontally oriented to match comic strip dimensions
- His comic strips: published in over 2570 papers in the world, a world record
Television
- Garfield and Friends (Animated cartoon series, 1988–1994)
- Garfield Gets a Life (animated special) 1991
- Garfield's Feline Fantasies' (animated special) 1990
- Garfield's Thanksgiving (animated special) 1989
- Garfield's Babes and Bullets' (animated special) 1989
- Garfield: His 9 Lives (animated special) 1988
- Garfield Goes Hollywood (animated special) 1987
- A Garfield Christmas Special (animated special) 1987
- Garfield in Paradise (animated special) 1986
- Garfield's Halloween Adventure (animated special) 1985
- Garfield in the Rough (animated special)1984
- Garfield on the Town (animated special) 1983
- Here Comes Garfield (animated special) 1982
Movie
External links
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