Thoughts on Garfield?

[IndigoErth]

Remember the cartoon back in the day, and always loved the holiday specials and had some of the books I got from the book club order forms at school.

[oldmanwinters]

I find the 1990s Garfield & Friends to be good television to this day.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by sdp

Viacom bought garfield like a year ago so perhaps an animated adaptation of their crossover will finally happen. Is garfield really any good besides Garfield and Friends? I think that's the only great Garfield thing that exists. The comics were always boomer humor that isn't funny, the animated specials reek of the 80s, the CG cartoon from the 2010s is just "ok". Garfield & Friends was actualy fun and enjoyable.

What's "boomer humor"?

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I find the 1990s Garfield & Friends to be good television to this day.

It was a good adaptation. I didn't care much about the farm episodes/parts. I guess that was another comic strip Davis worked on?

A comic strip series that sadly never got a cartoon adaptation was Foxtrot. And Bill Amend was open to the idea and even wrote a script for a pilot episode, I believe. But it never came to fruition. A shame, because a Foxtrot cartoon series had a lot of potential.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Prowler

What's "boomer humor"?

A phrase used by morons.

Originally Posted by Prowler

I didn't care much about the farm episodes/parts. I guess that was another comic strip Davis worked on?

Yeah, U.S, Acres was Jim's other comic strip that wasn't circulated as widely as Garfield was.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Leo656

A phrase used by morons.



Yeah, U.S, Acres was Jim's other comic strip that wasn't circulated as widely as Garfield was.

Yeah, I don't think I'd ever have heard of it if it wasn't for the Garfield and Friends cartoon. In fact, the first couple of times I watched the cartoon I was a bit confused why it wasn't just about Garfield lol.

[sdp]

[MsMarvelDuckie]

In a lot of ways, I found it funnier than Garfield, lol! Garfield was great- I grew up reading those strips every Sunday, and whenever I could get my hands on the comics section during the week. Still one of my favorites.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by sdp

http://www.shutupandtakemymoney.com/...humor-meme.jpg

I still don't get it.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Yeah, I don't think I'd ever have heard of it if it wasn't for the Garfield and Friends cartoon. In fact, the first couple of times I watched the cartoon I was a bit confused why it wasn't just about Garfield lol.

Yeah, I read it somewhere at some point. Didn't bother me. It was like the aforementioned Cadillac Cats skits on Heathcliff, just some variety in between the other stuff. I was fine with it.

Originally Posted by Prowler

I still don't get it.

Be grateful. Mad scribblings of a lunatic.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Yeah, I read it somewhere at some point. Didn't bother me. It was like the aforementioned Cadillac Cats skits on Heathcliff, just some variety in between the other stuff. I was fine with it.



Be grateful. Mad scribblings of a lunatic.

I guess Davis and the team that worked on Garfield and Friends thought 23 minutes episodes of Garfield would be a bit overkill or something.

Apparently the farm comic strip only lasted for a few years in the late 80s.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

It was pretty much life on a farm from the animals' perspectives. Sort of a tamer a d less political Animal Farm. But funny and weird, because all of the animals are neurotic.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

It was pretty much life on a farm from the animals' perspectives. Sort of a tamer a d less political Animal Farm. But funny and weird, because all of the animals are neurotic.

So like it was in the cartoon then. Sure, it was fun.

Jon also grew up in a farm.

Jim Davis did say he grew up in a farm with lots of cats. Makes sense.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Now that you mention it, I think those may have actually been the animals from Jon's family's farm! US Acres could easily have been the same farm, but seen from the POV of the animals themselves. We never really see the humans, after all, so....

[Prowler]

One thing the Garfield strip never explained what whatever happened to Lyman.

Yeah, Lyman. Remember him? He was Odie's original owner. And he'd appear in strips sometimes back in the day. It's most like he was living with Jon lol. Then, suddenly, he disappeared and was never seen or mentioned again and Odie became Jon's dog by default.

Whatever happened to Lyman is a mystery. I'm guessing because Garfield was meant to be a money making machine, Davis realised a recurring character like Lyman wasn't marketable, so he just wrote him out of the series and made Jon adopt Odie as his dog.

[Leo656]

When asked about Lyman once, Jim Davis supposedly said "Don't look in Jon's basement."

I doubt that's "canon" but it's one of the best "We just don't wanna put any thought into it, so let's move on" type of explanations I've ever heard about anything.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

He was not living with Jon, they were friends and possibly neighbors. Eventually he moved, which is how Jon ended up with Odie, iirc. He was not seen after that because he wasn't there anymore.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Leo656

When asked about Lyman once, Jim Davis supposedly said "Don't look in Jon's basement."

I doubt that's "canon" but it's one of the best "We just don't wanna put any thought into it, so let's move on" type of explanations I've ever heard about anything.

LMAO I didn't know that.

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

He was not living with Jon, they were friends and possibly neighbors. Eventually he moved, which is how Jon ended up with Odie, iirc. He was not seen after that because he wasn't there anymore.

Actually they were roommates for a while. There's even a strip where you see Lyman moving into Jon's house with a suitcase. That's also Odie's debut in the series.

[MsMarvelDuckie]

If memory serves, it was more like an extended visit due to some personal problems or something. My mom still has like the first 10 or so books of the old strips, that was in the first one, pretty early on, too, iirc. He sticks around for a while, moves out, and they were just neighbors or something until he left Odie with Jon and disappeared. But it wasn't really a long-term thing, from what I remember. In fact, Odie has belonged to Jon for nearly ALL of his time in the comics. Not sure where Nermal came from, but he seems to be a frequent visitor, so possibly a neighbor's pet. Lyman only had the one suitcase, so he obviously wasn't staying permanently.

Edit: he was introduced in 1978, moved in for a time, but later moved out, and was no longer a regular in the strip by 1981, and his last appearance was on Garfield's 10th birthday. He was a wildlife photographer, who left Odie with Jon when he went off to explore a jungle in search of some mythical creature and was never seen again. So basically, what I recalled, but with a few more details I'd forgotten about.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

If memory serves, it was more like an extended visit due to some personal problems or something. My mom still has like the first 10 or so books of the old strips, that was in the first one, pretty early on, too, iirc. He sticks around for a while, moves out, and they were just neighbors or something until he left Odie with Jon and disappeared. But it wasn't really a long-term thing, from what I remember. In fact, Odie has belonged to Jon for nearly ALL of his time in the comics. Not sure where Nermal came from, but he seems to be a frequent visitor, so possibly a neighbor's pet. Lyman only had the one suitcase, so he obviously wasn't staying permanently.

Ah I see.

And yeah, I don't think Nermal has an owner does he? Or at least they've never been seen.

Occasionally there was a strip where you'd see Jon mentioning to Garfield a neighbour called him earlier about Garfield causing havoc in their yard lol. I vaguely remember one where this lady calls Jon telling him Garfield is scratching her front door. Jon then tells her to turn off the can opener haha.

Other than Jon's parents and brother I remember a grandmother or his coming over to visit him. As for other side characters there's Liz, the vet, and Irma, the waitress. And the mailman which Garfield terrorises.

Does Arlene have an owner or is she a stray?

[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.