''Garfield's Babes and Bullets'' is a 1989 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 ...

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 ...

, based on a short story of the same name by Ron Tuthill in the book '' Garfield: His 9 Lives''. It features Lorenzo Music as the voice of

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 ...

, the house cat, re-imagined as a private detective named Sam Spayed attempting to solve a murder mystery. The special won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (One Hour or Less). It has since 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 ninth of twelve

Garfield television specials The Garfield television specials are a series of twelve half-hour long American animated television specials based on the ''Garfield'' comic strip of the same name created by Jim Davis. All twelve specials were directed by Phil Roman, written by ...

made between 1982 and 1991.

Plot

Feeling bored, Garfield looks into a closet and finds a

trenchcoat A trench coat or trenchcoat is a variety of coat made of waterproof heavy-duty fabric, originally developed for British Army officers before the First World War, and becoming popular while used in the trenches. Originally made from gabardine, ...

and fedora. Donning both, he begins to fantasize he is Sam Spayed, a second-rate private investigator in a film noir atmosphere. Sam receives a visit from Tanya O'Tabby, a beautiful woman who hires Sam to investigate the death of her husband, Professor O'Tabby, who apparently drove off a clifftop road. Tanya believes it was murder, as her husband was an excellent driver, but the death was ruled as a simple car accident. Despite initially suspecting foul play (that Tanya killed her husband either for his money or because he was unfaithful), Sam agrees to take the case. No solid proof of murder comes to light when Sam visits the

morgue A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...

, although he notes that O'Tabby's shirt, chest and stomach hairs have yellowish-brown stains on them and secretly pockets a mysterious, painted "stone" that the coroner overlooked. Next, Sam goes to the university where O'Tabby worked and meets the late man's colleague and former advisor Professor O'Felix. He tells Sam how O'Tabby was on his way to visit an elderly benefactress the night he died, but dismisses Sam's idea that the professor was having an affair, saying his one weakness was instead a coffee addiction. Sam phones Tanya to tell her what he knows so far, only for his newly-hired secretary Kitty to spill coffee on him when he mentions talking to O'Felix about O'Tabby's "woman trouble". While cleaning himself up, Sam realizes that the "stone" is actually a ceramic fragment from a broken coffee mug and the stains on the late professor's clothing and body must have been coffee. He deduces that Kitty worked for O'Tabby before she came to Sam's office, and accuses Kitty of O'Tabby's murder, believing her motive was that she loved O'Tabby but the professor didn't love her. Kitty breaks down into tears, insisting that she did not kill the professor, having simply left the university out of being unable to bear not having him. She also explains that she did more than make coffee for O'Tabby, also filling his prescriptions for potent

sleeping pill Hypnotic (from Greek ''Hypnos'', sleep), or soporific drugs, commonly known as sleeping pills, are a class of (and umbrella term for) psychoactive drugs whose primary function is to induce sleep (or surgical anesthesiaWhen used in anesthesia ...

s to counter his coffee-induced

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, ...

. Deducing O'Felix is the murderer, Sam brings him to court. O'Felix was jealous of his former student's success and, having had his eyes on O'Tabby's position within the university for some time, murdered him by spiking his coffee with some sleeping pills, causing O'Tabby to fall asleep at the wheel and drive off the cliff to his death. Tanya visits Sam one last time, making it very clear that the romance he had hoped to have with her will never happen. Kitty starts to seduce Sam, only for reality to intrude via owner

Jon Arbuckle Jonathan Q. Arbuckle is a fictional character from the ''Garfield'' comic strip by Jim Davis. He also appears in the animated television series ''Garfield and Friends'' and '' The Garfield Show'', two live-action/ CGI feature films, and three ...

asking Garfield what he's doing in the closet.

Cast

* Lorenzo Music - Garfield / Sam Spayed the detective * Thom Huge - Jon Arbuckle, Landlord *

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 '' ...

- Odie, Burt Fleebish the coroner * Desirée Goyette - Tanya * Julie Payne - Kitty the secretary *

Nino Tempo Nino Tempo (born Antonino LoTempio; January 6, 1935) is an American musician, singer, and actor. He was a duet partner with his older sister April Stevens as well as the frontman for a 1970s funk band, 5th Ave. Sax. Career Antonino LoTempio w ...

- Lt. Washington the cop * C. Lindsay Workman - O'Felix * Lou Rawls - Singing voice

Production

'' Garfield: His 9 Lives'' was published by Ballantine Books under the ''

'' franchise in 1984, with creator Jim Davis writing he and his staff wrote the book to explore the character beyond what could be achieved in the comic strip. Ron Tuthill wrote the "Babes and Bullets: The Continuing Adventures of Sam Spayed" chapter, illustrated by Kevin Campbell. Film noir parodies were popular in films, with Sam Spayed and Tracer Bullet in ''

Calvin and Hobbes ''Calvin and Hobbes'' is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Bill Watterson that was syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly cited as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin and Hobbes'' has enjoyed b ...

'' marking the parody's crossover to comic strips. The television adaptation was written by Davis. It was directed and produced by

under his company, Film Roman.

Broadcast and release

After the airing of the initial animated ''Garfield: His 9 Lives'' special on November 22, 1988, ''Garfield's Babes and Bullets'' aired on May 23, 1989. It played on prime time 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 ...

. The special was included on the

'' Garfield Fantasies'', released in May 2005. It was featured along with the specials ''Garfield: His 9 Lives'' and '' Garfield's Feline Fantasies'' (1990).

Reception

The special won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (One Hour or Less) in 1989. The animated version of ''Garfield: His 9 Lives'' was also nominated that year. In his

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

review, Randy Miller III called ''Garfield Fantasies'' the most unusual of the ''Garfield'' DVD collections, adding ''Babes and Bullets'' "ain't exactly ''

Sin City ''Sin City'' is a series of neo-noir comics by American comic book writer-artist Frank Miller. The first story originally appeared in ''Dark Horse Presents Fifth Anniversary Special'' (April 1991), and continued in ''Dark Horse Presents'' #51� ...

'' here, but this amusing caper is one of the best of the bunch." Author Mitzi M. Brunsdale described Sam Spayed as one of the "strange spinoffs" of the Sam Spade character, created by

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

in the novel '' The Maltese Falcon''. ''

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...

'' identified Sam Spayed particularly as a parody of 1940s film detectives and Humphrey Bogart, who starred as Spade in the 1941 film version of '' The Maltese Falcon''.

References

External links

* * {{EmmyAward AnimationLessThanHour 2001-2025 1989 films 1980s American television specials 1980s animated television specials 1980s American animated films 1989 television specials 1989 in American television American detective films CBS television specials Cultural depictions of Humphrey Bogart Film Roman television specials Television shows directed by Phil Roman Garfield television specials American neo-noir films Television shows written by Jim Davis (cartoonist) Emmy Award-winning programs