Garfield's Halloween Adventure

"Garfield's Halloween Adventure" (originally titled "Garfield in Disguise") is a 1985 Halloween animated television special. "Garfield's Halloween Adventure" is the fourth half-hour special based on the "Garfield" comic strip and the first Garfield holiday special. It features the voice and music talent common in Garfield animated specials including Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield and Lou Rawls providing songs.

The special was released on VHS in 1992, and later on DVD in 2004 as part of the "Garfield: Holiday Celebrations" collection.

Storyline

Garfield is awakened by the Binky The Clown Show and learn that it is Halloween. Garfield enlists Odie's help in Trick-or-treating, hoping to get twice as much candy for himself. After trying on different costumes in the attic, Garfield and Odie settle on pirate costumes.

Soon they are out trick-or-treating amongst other children in the neighborhood. After several encounters with what appear to be real ghosts and goblins in costume, the pair find that they have visited every house in the neighborhood. Garfield notices more houses across the river, so he and Odie take a boat to get to the other side.

Odie misunderstands Garfield's command to "put out the oars" and throws the oars overboard, leaving the boat adrift down the river. Soon the boat arrives at an abandoned dock near a run-down mansion. Garfield and Odie venture inside the home to warm next to the fireplace and are startled to find an old man sitting in a nearby chair. The man tells the pair that they have chosen the wrong night to visit - 100 years ago that very night, pirates, pursued by government troops, buried their treasure in the floor of the mansion and signed a blood oath to return for the treasure at midnight 100 years later. The old man claimed to be the cabin boy, now 110 years old, from this very pirate ship. Before Garfield and Odie could decide on leaving, the old man steals their boat and leaves the two behind.

The clock chimes midnight and Garfield and Odie watch as a ghostly ship materializes on the river and pirate ghosts emerge. Garfield and Odie hide in an empty cupboard as the ghosts reclaim their buried treasure from the floorboards of the house. A ghost blows black pepper in a keyhole and into Odie's nose, causing him to sneeze and alerting the ghosts to where they are. Making a run for it, Garfield and Odie jump into the river to escape, where Odie has to save Garfield as he cannot swim.

The pair wash ashore and find their boat with the candy still inside and untouched. They go home happy and Garfield rewards Odie's rescue by giving him his share of the candy.

Garfield later turns on the television and sees the same old man, this time in a pirate hat, hosting an all-night pirate movie festival. Garfield abruptly turns off the television and goes to bed.

Book adaptation

The book adaptation, which retains the original title "Garfield In Disguise," deviates in only a few ways. First, it adds a scene with Garfield telling Odie a little bit about Halloween's history, with its origins as a seventh-century Druid festival celebrating the day of Samhain, Lord of Death. Second, the book implies that the old man himself is a ghost, and their boat is merely pulled away by the current instead of stolen by the old man. And finally, an extra sequence is included in which Garfield takes a ring from the treasure and is followed home by the pirate ghosts until he returns the ring.

ongs in "Garfield's Halloween Adventure"

* "This is the Night" performed by Lou Rawls
* "What Should I Be?" performed by Lorenzo Music
* "Over the Raging Sea We Go (pirate song)" performed by Lorenzo Music
* "Scaredy Cat" performed by Lou Rawls and Desirée Goyette

Awards

*1986 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program

Trivia

*"Garfield's Halloween Adventure" marks the first appearance of Binky The Clown.
*The boat that Garfield and Odie use to cross the river is named "Carolyn," Garfield creator Jim Davis's then-wife's name.
*First time Odie sneezes.
*Throughout the episode Odie's earring switches back and forth between his left and right ears inexplicably
*In the very last scene of the cartoon when Garfield has turned off the television and is laying in his bed holding his teddy bear Pooky, his right arm (typically orange) turns brown (the same color as the stuffed animal he is holding).

External links

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* [http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0690/ X-Entertainment article containing screen-shots (offensive language warning)]