''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 en ...
directed by
Phil Roman. It is based on a short story of the same name by Ron Tuthill in the book ''
Garfield: His 9 Lives''. It features
Lorenzo Music
Gerald David "Lorenzo" Music (May 2, 1937 – August 4, 2001) was an American actor, composer, musician, performer, writer and producer. Music began his career in the 1960s with his wife, Henrietta, forming the comedy duo Gerald and His Hen. He ...
as the voice of
Garfield
''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...
, 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 ki ...
.
This was the ninth of twelve
Garfield television specials made between 1982 and 1991.
Plot
Feeling bored, Garfield looks into a closet and finds a
trenchcoat and
fedora
A fedora () is a hat with a soft brim and indented crown.Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1958). ''A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern''. R. M. McBride Company. It is typically creased lengthwise down the crown and "pinched" near the front on both sides ...
. Donning both, he begins to fantasize he is
Sam Spayed, a second-rate private investigator in a
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...
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
A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...
. 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
An affair is a relationship typically between two people, one or both of whom are either married or in a long-term Monogamy, monogamous or emotionally-exclusive relationship with someone else. The affair can be solely sexual, solely physical or ...
, 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 pills to counter his coffee-induced
insomnia
Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder where people have difficulty sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep for as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low ene ...
.
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 asking Garfield what he's doing in the closet. Garfield responds to Jon: "Gettin' ready to roll the credits, pal!", breaking the fourth wall, and goes back in the closet, continuing his fantasy.
Cast
*
Lorenzo Music
Gerald David "Lorenzo" Music (May 2, 1937 – August 4, 2001) was an American actor, composer, musician, performer, writer and producer. Music began his career in the 1960s with his wife, Henrietta, forming the comedy duo Gerald and His Hen. He ...
- Garfield / Sam Spayed the detective
* Thom Huge - Jon Arbuckle, Landlord
*
Gregg Berger
Gregory Alan Berger (born December 10, 1950) is an American voice actor. He is known for his roles as Jecht from ''Final Fantasy X'' and the ''Dissidia Final Fantasy'' games, Grimlock from ''The Transformers (TV series), The Transformers'', Myste ...
- Odie, Burt Fleebish the coroner
*
Desirée Goyette
Desirée Goyette-Bogas (''née'' Goyette) is an American singer, composer, lyricist and voice-over artist. She has been nominated for two Grammy Awards and has voiced such characters as Betty Boop, Barbie, Nermal, Petunia Pig, Honey Bunny a ...
- Tanya
*
Julie Payne - Kitty the secretary
*
Nino Tempo - Lt. Washington the cop
*
C. Lindsay Workman - O'Felix
*
Lou Rawls - Singing voice
Production
''
Garfield: His 9 Lives'' was published by
Ballantine Books
Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...
under the ''
Garfield
''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...
'' 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
Film noir (; ) is a style of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood Crime film, crime dramas that emphasizes cynicism (contemporary), cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of Ameri ...
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 Print syndication, syndicated from November 18, 1985, to December 31, 1995. Commonly described as "the last great newspaper comic", ''Calvin a ...
'' marking the parody's crossover to comic strips.
The television adaptation was written by Davis. It was directed and produced by
Phil Roman under his company,
Film Roman
Film Roman, LLC, is an American animation studio currently based in Woodland Hills, California and formerly in Burbank. It was previously owned by Starz Inc., which is now a division of Lionsgate, and currently by Waterman Entertainment, the p ...
.
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 (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
.
The special was included on the
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 ki ...
''
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 Comic book, 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 Prese ...
'' 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 characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...
in the novel ''
The Maltese Falcon''. ''
Turner Classic Movies
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcas ...
'' identified Sam Spayed particularly as a parody of 1940s film detectives and
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...
, who starred as Spade in the 1941 film version of ''
The Maltese Falcon''.
References
External links
*
{{EmmyAward AnimationLessThanHour 2001-2025
1980s American television specials
1980s animated television specials
1989 television specials
1989 in American television
CBS television specials
Cultural depictions of Humphrey Bogart
Film Roman television specials
Television shows directed by Phil Roman
Garfield television specials
Television shows written by Jim Davis (cartoonist)
Emmy Award–winning programs