''A Garfield Christmas Special'' is a 1987 American animated

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

based on the ''

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his hum ...

'' comic strip, created by Jim Davis. It is directed by

Phil Roman Philip Roman (born December 21, 1930) is an American animator and the director of the ''Peanuts'' and ''Garfield'' animated specials. He is the founder of animation studios Film Roman and Phil Roman Entertainment. Early life Philip Roman was ...

and stars Lorenzo Music as the voice of

the house cat, as well as Thom Huge,

Gregg Berger Gregory Alan Berger (born December 10, 1950) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Jecht from ''Final Fantasy X'' and the ''Dissidia Final Fantasy'' games, Grimlock from '' The Transformers'', Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter from '' ...

, Julie Payne, Pat Harrington Jr., David L. Lander and

Pat Carroll Patricia Ann Carroll (May 5, 1927 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress and comedian. She was known for voicing Ursula in ''The Little Mermaid'' and for appearances in CBS's ''The Danny Thomas Show'', ABC's '' Laverne & Shirley'', and NB ...

. The special is about Garfield spending

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

with the Arbuckle family on their farm, and discovering the

true meaning of Christmas The true meaning of Christmas is a phrase that began to appear in the mid-19th century when a shift toward a more secular culture resulted in a national backlash. Christians began to see the secularization of the celebration day of the birth of Ch ...

. Davis, who wrote the teleplay, cited it as semi-autobiographical. The special was first broadcast December 21, 1987, on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

and was often rebroadcast in subsequent years at Christmastime: until 2000 (December 14, 2000 was the final CBS broadcast). It was nominated for the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series. In the following list, the first titles listed in gold are the winners; those not in gold are nominees, which ...

and has been released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

. This was the seventh of twelve Garfield television specials made between 1982 and 1991.

Plot

Jon wakes up

on Christmas Eve morning, telling him that they're going to the countryside to celebrate Christmas with Jon's family on their farm. Garfield is annoyed that they always go to the farm and the family never comes to Jon's house. During his drive to his family's farm, Jon talks about Christmases he had when he was a boy, with his parents, brother Doc Boy, and Grandma, while Garfield listens with great cynicism. Upon arriving, Grandma and Garfield quickly grow a special bond. While Jon, Garfield, and Odie take a walk, Grandma spikes Mom's sausage gravy with chili powder, bragging that her sausage gravy just won the Greene County Fair. Jon and Garfield return for dinner, while Odie works on something secretive and then sneaks back into the house. After dinner, they decorate the

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

. Jon asks Garfield to put the star on, as no one else can reach the top of the tree. As the family sings Christmas songs, Grandma tells Garfield about her beloved and deceased husband, whom she especially misses at Christmastime because of his unspoken, but obvious, love for the holiday. Afterwards, Mom asks Dad to read a book called ''Binky, the Clown Who Saved Christmas.'' Dad is reluctant, as he is tired of reading it every year, but gives in. At night, Garfield notices Odie's suspicious activity and follows him to the barn, seeing Odie making something out of a piece of wood, some wire, a plunger handle, and a hand rake. While there, Garfield stumbles upon some old letters and realizes they must be 50 years old. On Christmas morning, just when it seems like all the presents have been opened, Garfield gives Grandma the letters he found in the barn. These letters were love notes written to Grandma by her husband from when they first met each other and married. Garfield also finds out that Odie has been busy making his ultimate Christmas gift: a homemade back scratcher. Garfield gladly thanks and embraces Odie for the gift he made. This is a rare glimpse at Garfield's softer side, as Garfield learns one of the true meanings of Christmas: "It's not the giving, it's not the getting, it's the loving!"

Voice cast

Songs

* "Gimme, Gimme, Gimme, Gimme" performed by Lou Rawls * "Can't Wait Till Christmas" performed by Thom Huge, Lorenzo Music, and

* "

O Christmas Tree "" (; "O fir tree", English: O Christmas Tree) is a German Christmas song. Based on a traditional folk song which was unrelated to Christmas, it became associated with the traditional Christmas tree. History The modern lyrics were written in 1824 ...

" performed by

* "Christmas in Your Heart" performed by ensemble and Desirée Goyette * "You Can Never Find an Elf When You Need One" performed by Lou Rawls and Desirée Goyette * "A Good Old-Fashioned Christmas" (ending song) performed by ensemble "Here Comes Garfield" from the special of the same name can be heard instrumentally when Jon wakes up Garfield from his dream.

Production

In writing the teleplay, Davis based it on experiences he had celebrating Christmas with his family on their farm in

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, with many Arbuckles modeled after Davis family members. Davis' real-life brother was known as Doc Boy. Davis referred to the story as "very autobiographical", adding "That was ''my'' Christmas on the farm". However, he noted Grandma was an entirely fictional character, added for the emotional subplot of having time with loved ones at Christmas. Lorenzo Music, Thom Huge and

reprise their respective roles from past films as Garfield, Jon Arbuckle, and Odie. Julie Payne and Pat Harrington Jr. voice Jon's mother and father, while David L. Lander voices Jon's brother, Doc Boy. Grandma was voiced by

, who at the time was becoming increasingly popular in voice work. After the 1970s, she was working on ''

Legends of the Superheroes ''Legends of the Superheroes'' is an umbrella title for two 60-minute live-action television specials produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that aired on NBC on January 18 and 25, 1979. The series was loosely based on Hanna-Barbera's ''Super Frie ...

'' and ''

Pound Puppies Pound Puppies is a toy line that was created by Tonka in the 1980s. It later inspired an animated TV special, two animated TV series, and a feature film. Shipments of the toys over five years generated sales of $300 million in 35 countries. Toy ...

''.

Broadcast and release

The episode first aired on December 21, 1987. According to ''

Bustle A bustle is a padded undergarment used to add fullness, or support the drapery, at the back of women's dresses in the mid-to-late 19th century. Bustles are worn under the skirt in the back, just below the waist, to keep the skirt from dragging. ...

'', the special was rebroadcast every year until 2000. It often played along with the 1965 ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and infl ...

'' special '' A Charlie Brown Christmas.'' In 2004, ''A Garfield Christmas'' was released on the DVD '' Garfield Holiday Celebrations'', along with '' Garfield's Halloween Adventure'' and ''

Garfield's Thanksgiving ''Garfield's Thanksgiving'' is a 1989 American animated television special based on the ''Garfield'' comic strip. It once again featured Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The special was first broadcast November 22, 1989 on CBS and was nomi ...

''. It appeared 23rd in TV DVD sales for the week of November 10, 2007. In 2014, ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...

'' reported copies of the DVD "were selling on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

like rare collector's items". ''Garfield'' holiday-themed specials, including ''A Garfield Christmas'', were also receiving millions of views on the website

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

. It was consequently re-released on another DVD compilation, ''The Garfield Holiday Collection'', on November 4, 2014, sold only by

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

, and was also made available for digital download on November 11 that year.

Reception

The special was nominated for the

at the

40th Primetime Emmy Awards The 40th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, August 28, 1988. The ceremony was broadcast on Fox from the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California. The ceremony was pushed back from its newly established September date because o ...

. In 2004, ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

'' ranked the special 10th on its 10 Best Family Holiday Specials list. In 2013, Scott Neumyer of '' Parade'' called it "a delightful little short featuring everyone's favorite cantankerous orange cat". That year, Jef Rouner of the ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely by advertising ...

'' described the episode as "depressing" and mostly unfunny, remarking that since Grandma cannot hear Garfield's thoughts, "what we're watching is a sad old widow so desperately lonely without her late husband that she has begun talking out loud to a visiting cat". In 2014, Johnny Brayson of ''

'' called it "a bona fide classic".

References

External links