Garfield's Halloween Adventure

Garfield's Halloween Adventure
Title
Created by	Jim Davis
Written by	Jim Davis
Directed by	Phil Roman
Starring	Lorenzo Music Thom Huge Gregg Berger C. Lindsay Workman Desiree Goyette
Theme music composer	Ed Bogas and Desiree Goyette (music and lyrics) Lou Rawls and Lorenzo Music (vocals)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jay Poynor
Producer(s)	Phil Roman
Editor(s)	Mark R. Crookston Sam Horta
Running time	24 minutes
Production company(s)	Film Roman United Media Productions
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	October 30, 1985
Chronology
Preceded by	Garfield in the Rough
Followed by	Garfield in Paradise

Garfield's Halloween Adventure (originally titled Garfield in Disguise) is a 1985 American animated television special based on the Garfield comic strip. It features Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The special's plot is one of the darkest Garfield stories adapted to television.

Plot

Garfield is awakened early in the morning by the Binky the Clown Show and learns that it is Halloween, the night you can get a lot of candy. Garfield's excitement about this is expressed with his "candy, candy, candy!" mantra during the episode. Garfield gets out of bed a few hours later in a good mood. He puts on his blanket and scares Jon (voiced by Thom Huge), who is busy carving a jack-o'-lantern. Garfield then scares Odie (voiced by Gregg Berger), but then he then gets an idea and asks Odie to help in Trick-or-treating, in order to get twice as much candy for himself. The two of them head for the attic to find costumes. After trying on old clothes in a trunk, they settle on pirate costumes.

Jon gives them sacks, tells them to have a good time and not to be out too late. They head out trick-or-treating amongst other children in the neighborhood. They visit every house in the neighborhood and Garfield declares they have had a successful evening. They step out on a dock and Garfield notices more houses across the river, so he and Odie take a row boat to get to the other side. Garfield notices they are drifting downstream and tells Odie to put out the oars, but Odie misunderstands Garfield's command and throws the oars overboard, leaving the boat adrift as the current takes it down the river.

Soon the boat arrives at an abandoned dock near a run-down mansion. Garfield and Odie notice a light in the window and see that it is coming from a fire in the fireplace. They venture inside the home, thinking it is empty, to warm next to the fire and are startled to find an old man (voiced by C. Lindsay Workman) sitting in a nearby armchair. The man tells the duo a story that only he knows — 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, even if it meant rising from the grave. Garfield notices it is almost midnight and is skeptical but the man tells him to believe it. The old man then tells them the pirates had a 10-year-old cabin boy, and that he was that boy, who was with the pirates and that he never took the treasure for himself because the pirates would have tracked him down. Garfield and Odie start to leave and Garfield asks the man if he wants to come too, but the old man has disappeared. The man steals their boat and leaves the two behind.

The longcase clock chimes midnight and Garfield and Odie watch as a ghostly ship materializes on the river and pirate ghosts emerge from the water. Garfield and Odie hide in an empty cupboard as the ghosts reclaim their buried treasure from the floorboards of the house. As the cat and dog stay where they are, Odie sneezes and it alerts the ghosts to their whereabouts. Making a run for it, Garfield and Odie jump into the river to escape, where Odie has to save Garfield as he cannot swim. Garfield and Odie wash ashore and find their boat with the candy still inside and untouched. They go home happy and Garfield rewards Odie's rescue by (reluctantly) giving him his rightful share of the candy for saving his life. Garfield then turns on the television and sees the old man wearing the pirate hat Garfield had lost in the river, hosting an all-night pirate movie festival. Garfield abruptly turns off the television and goes to bed.

Songs

• "Good Morning" (instrumental)
• "This is the Night (Trick or Treat)" performed by Lou Rawls
• "Scaredy Cat" (instrumental)
• "Breakfast" (instrumental)
• "What Shall I be" performed by Lorenzo Music
• "Yo Ho Ho Ho" performed by Lorenzo Music
• "Scaredy Cat" performed by Lou Rawls
• "Yo Ho Ho Ho (reprise)" performed by Lorenzo Music

Book adaptation

There are some differences between the TV special and its book adaptation:

• While they are trick-or-treating, Garfield tells Odie a little of Halloween's history, with its origins as a seventh-century druid festival celebrating the day of Samhain, Lord of Death.
• After the old man disappears, Garfield and Odie notice that their boat has been pulled away by the current. The old man is not depicted rowing the boat away in the book, implying that he is a ghost who has simply vanished.
• Before leaving the old house, Garfield grabs a ring from the treasure, making the pirate ghosts chase the cat and the dog all the way to Garfield's house. Garfield gives the ring back and the ghosts disappear.

Awards

In 1986, Garfield's Halloween Adventure won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.

External links

• Garfield's Halloween Adventure at IMDb
• Garfield's Halloween Adventure at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• X-Entertainment article containing screen-shots