Thoughts on Garfield?

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Arlene is Liz's pet, who seems to mostly live at the vet's office, like an office mascot or something. I know she sometimes visits Garfield in the back yard, sitting on the fence together, but that seems to usually be when Jon and Liz have dates, so.... It's possible that Nermal belongs to the irate neighbor, but he IS someone's pet, it's just never really shown WHO. Garfield's animosity toward him seems to stem from his annoyance with having an irritatingly cute and playful kitten around who gets more attention, and basically seems to live to annoy him with questions and trying to get him to play.

As for the family, yeah, that sums them up. Jon does visit the farm on occasion, like in the Christmas special, and a few episodes of the cartoon, and quite a few strips. Mom, dad, brother, and grandmother, and I think he has a cousin too.

Also, not sure if you saw my edit above, but that is what Wiki had to say.

Wait, she is? Is that a recent thing? Because Arlene has been around for a long time too and I don't remember ever seeing her and Liz ever sharing a panel together.

Ah now I saw it. So Lyman got lost in the jungle and possibly died then.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Wait, she is? Is that a recent thing? Because Arlene has bebé around for a long time too and I don't remember ever seeing her and Liz ever sharing a panel together.

Ah now I saw it. So Lyman got lost in the jungle and possibly died then.

Ah, just looked it up, and Arlene is apparently a stray. Maybe Jon eventually took her in as an outdoor pet, because I could swear I'd seen her in some strips where they were at the vet's office. Or Jon just takes her in on occasion for checkups, maybe.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Ah, just looked it up, and Arlene is apparently a stray. Maybe Jon eventually took her in as an outdoor pet, because I could swear I'd seen her in some strips where they were at the vet's office. Or Jon just takes her in on occasion for checkups, maybe.

Jon also has had several other pets besides Garfield and Odie. Mostly/always goldfish that Garfield ends up eating sooner or later.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Jon also has had several other pets besides Garfield and Odie. Mostly/always goldfish that Garfield ends up eating sooner or later.

Also birds. But for some reason, he leaves the resident mice alone....

[Andrew NDB]

This thread has inspired me to go back and get all of the Garfield books to date. Seriously. I miss those damn books. I don't even remember ever parting with them. *shrug*

[Andrew NDB]

Question: did they just stop making Heathcliff books at some point, like after the 90s? I can't find a lot of information to this end. I know that Geo Gately died and his son took over and the newspaper-style comics continue... but did they kind of just stop collecting Heathcliff stories into paperback books, like in the 80s-90s? In the books that looked like these:

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

This thread has inspired me to go back and get all of the Garfield books to date. Seriously. I miss those damn books. I don't even remember ever parting with them. *shrug*

Well, have fun!

[oldmanwinters]

This was probably the foremost thing from Garfield & Friends that will stuck in my head for the rest of my life:


Looks like it even helped spawn an actual conspiracy theory:
https://kingfm.com/the-wyoming-doesn...the-cat-video/

(I work with a lady from Wyoming, FYI)

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

This was probably the foremost thing from Garfield & Friends that will stuck in my head for the rest of my life:


Looks like it even helped spawn an actual conspiracy theory:
https://kingfm.com/the-wyoming-doesn...the-cat-video/

(I work with a lady from Wyoming, FYI)

That's one of the few episodes I remember the best haha

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Question: did they just stop making Heathcliff books at some point, like after the 90s? I can't find a lot of information to this end. I know that Geo Gately died and his son took over and the newspaper-style comics continue... but did they kind of just stop collecting Heathcliff stories into paperback books, like in the 80s-90s? In the books that looked like these:

https://i.ibb.co/Ph4GwSQ/81j-G-Huzqa-L-AC-SL1500.jpg

Good question. I'm guessing they must have? Heathcliff did seem to just kind of vanish after a while. Maybe the brand lost out to Garfield.

[Prowler]

I had honestly never heard of Heathcliff until this thread. Either it was never available in my country or it was published here before I was even born.

Well, going by the fact he's also a rather overweight orange cat like Garfield, I could see why that might have held him back.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Well, going by the fact he's also a rather overweight orange cat like Garfield

Even though Heathcliff looks like he's drawn similarly as overweight as Garfield, in-story he's always been treated as if he's fit and active.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Even though Heathcliff looks like he's drawn similarly as overweight as Garfield, in-story he's always been treated as if he's fit and active.

Yeah, Heathcliff is definitely a brawler you don't want to mess with.

Love his old theme-song:

"Heathcliff, Heathcliff no one should
Terrify their neighborhood
But Heathcliff just won't be undone
Playing pranks on everyone."

Originally Posted by Prowler

I had honestly never heard of Heathcliff until this thread. Either it was never available in my country or it was published here before I was even born.

Well, going by the fact he's also a rather overweight orange cat like Garfield, I could see why that might have held him back.

I doubt Heathcliff ever had a quarter of the national exposure Garfield got around his heyday. I grew up in a small Tennessee town, and I was lucky to get The Tennessean (out of Nashville) almost every Sunday to enjoy the comics. Garfield was always a front-page strip, but it don't think it even carried Heathcliff... maybe he had a daily strip in the weekday issues. As far as their cartoon shows, Garfield got the one-hour spot on CBS Saturday morning for years while I remember the Heathcliff cartoon airing Sunday mornings or weekday early afternoons on one of the lesser networks (might have been covered in basic cable but maybe something like UPN or WGN). Never a great timespot, IMO.

EDIT: Oh, apparently the Heathcliff cartoon debuted in 1984! WAY earlier than I would have thought (and a bit before my time) so it makes sense the show had long since fallen into syndicated reruns by the early 1990s.

[Prowler]

What did you guys think of the Garfield movies?

I thought it was OK. I think Bill Murray did a fine job as Garfield. Also, interestingly, that movie had Jon and Liz becoming a romantic couple a few years before the comic strip did. I didn't think much about it at the time because movie adaptations often have considerable differences from the source material and I guess I just assumed Jon and Liz getting together was the best possible happy ending they could think of.

Never watched the sequel.

[sdp]

It's been a long time but I also remember the first garfield movie being OK, it wasn't the greatest comedy but an alright movie, I know it's always reviewed to poke fun at how horrible it is though. The second movie I was bored, clearly intended at very young audiences, which is fine since it's garfield.

[Prowler]

I barely even remember it anymore tbh. I remember it not being as good as the comic strip or the 80s cartoon, but live action adaptations of comics and animated series always end up being a mixed bag to some degree. It could have turned out way worse.

I was a bit disappointed with Garfield being the only CGI animal in the movie. Arlene and Odie were two real animals with a dubbed voice-over lol. But other than that it was entertaining enough.

[oldmanwinters]

There's a lot here I didn't know about Heathcliff:
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/...out-heathcliff

Shame he missed out on a coveted "Holiday Special" in 1984 due to apparent incompetence by Ruby-Spears on a different project.

[LeotheLateBloomer]

I remember first getting into the Garfield through the comic strips from the newspapers. Then eventually my parents bought be books on the character alongside Peanuts. This was at an early age. Sometime not to long after is when I discovered Garfield and Friends as well as TV specials. In terms of comic strip brands, if it wasn't Peanuts I was actively following as a child, it was Garfield. I think around late Elementary/early middle school, my dad bought me the Garfield Comic Book Maker, a kids' PC game where you can create your own comic strips and print them out.

I did watch the Garfield live action films and remember enjoying them in theaters but I don't think of them much other then "that time Bill Murray voiced Garfield." Don't know if he had any regret being involved in that as Owen Wilson did Marmaduke.

I watched the CG cartoon and I actually didn't mind it. Not Garfield and Friends good but somewhat enjoyable. Some of the VAs involved in that show returned from the previous cartoon. Was not a fan of the direct-to-video CG specials that occurred before the show came out.

I'm still more of a Peanuts fan but Garfield is my second favorite comic strip IP.

Originally Posted by Prowler

I had honestly never heard of Heathcliff until this thread. Either it was never available in my country or it was published here before I was even born.

Well, going by the fact he's also a rather overweight orange cat like Garfield, I could see why that might have held him back.

Which makes me feel old as I also was a huge Heathcliff fan since an early age. But I had more fond memories of the cartoon than I did the comics. Heathcliff pre-dated Garfield.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Question: did they just stop making Heathcliff books at some point, like after the 90s? I can't find a lot of information to this end. I know that Geo Gately died and his son took over and the newspaper-style comics continue... but did they kind of just stop collecting Heathcliff stories into paperback books, like in the 80s-90s? In the books that looked like these:

https://i.ibb.co/Ph4GwSQ/81j-G-Huzqa-L-AC-SL1500.jpg

I wish I had the correct answer for that but I follow Heathcliff's Instagram page and they seem to still be releasing new strips. Always found it weird how Heathcliff didn't speak in the comics (except for one story I recall) but did in the cartoon, voiced by the extremely amazing Mel Blanc (RIP God).

[Prowler]

One if my favourite Garfield strips.

If it's not food, what is it?