The Garfield Show
The Garfield Show | |
---|---|
| |
Genre |
Comedy Adventure |
Based on | Garfield by Jim Davis |
Developed by |
Philippe Vidal Robert Rea Steve Balissat |
Directed by | Philippe Vidal |
Voices of |
Frank Welker Gregg Berger Wally Wingert Jason Marsden Audrey Wasilewski Julie Payne |
Composer(s) |
Laurent Bertaud Jean-Christophe Prudhomme |
Country of origin |
France United States |
Original language(s) |
French English |
No. of seasons | 5 |
No. of episodes | 109 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) |
Jim Davis Robert Rea |
Producer(s) |
Kim Campbell Marie-Pierre Moulinjeune Mark Evanier (supervising) |
Running time | 22 minutes (Two 11-minute stories in each episode) |
Production company(s) |
Dargaud Media Paws, Inc. |
Distributor | Mediatoon Distribution |
Release | |
Original network |
France 3 (France) Cartoon Network (U.S.; 2009–2012) Boomerang (U.S.; 2015–2016) |
Picture format | HDTV 1080i |
Original release | November 2, 2009 – October 24, 2016 |
Chronology | |
Preceded by | Garfield and Friends |
External links | |
Website |
The Garfield Show is a CGI animated television series. Based on the American comic strip, Garfield, the series is executive produced by Garfield creator, Jim Davis, and co-written and voice directed by Mark Evanier, who also wrote most of the episodes for the Garfield and Friends series. Returning from Garfield and Friends are the voice actors Julie Payne (Liz) and Gregg Berger (Odie). Frank Welker replaces Lorenzo Music (due to his death in 2001) as the voice of Garfield, and Wally Wingert replaces Thom Huge (due to his retirement that same year) as the voice of Jon Arbuckle. Also returning is David Lander, reprising his role as Doc Boy from the earlier Garfield prime-time special A Garfield Christmas Special (1987). The show is produced by Dargaud Media and Paws Inc.[1] The show is directed by Philippe Vidal and the music is composed by Laurent Bertaud and Jean-Christophe Prudhomme.
Mark Evanier, one of the show's directors, stated in February 2017 that the show is on hiatus.[2][3] The last episode aired on October 24, 2016.
Plot
"Everyone's favorite fat cat Garfield returns to television in this new CG animated cartoon. To celebrate his 30th anniversary, every one of your favorite characters return too. Jon, Odie, Arlene, Nermal, and more return in the new series as well."[4]
The show features very loose continuity and is set in a different universe to the previous Garfield cartoon: Garfield and Friends. However the show sometimes makes references to the previous one. Unlike the previous cartoon, Liz is now considered a main character and has official relationship with Jon to reflect their current status in the comic strip. The Garfield Show also reestablishes Arlene as Garfield's potential love interest, as in the comic strip, replacing Penelope from the previous cartoon; despite being touted as a main character, her actual role in the series is relatively minor.
The Garfield Show also features many new characters that are part of the regular cast such as Vito: an Italian chef whose cooking Garfield enjoys and Squeak: Garfield's mouse friend that lives in Jon's house (replacing Floyd from the previous show). Unlike Garfield and Friends, the U.S. Acres segments and characters are omitted.
Episodes
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
First aired | Last aired | Network | ||||
1 | 26 | November 2, 2009 | December 23, 2009 | Cartoon Network | ||
2 | 26 | December 13, 2010 | June 28, 2011 | |||
3 | 26 | September 4, 2012 | October 5, 2012 | |||
4 | 27 | October 6, 2015 | September 2, 2016 | Boomerang | ||
5 | 4 | October 24, 2016 |
Characters
Main
Recurring
- Eddie Gourmand - a famous overweight food critic. His opinion on restaurants has a major impact on their success. He often crosses paths with Garfield, as they both enjoy Vito's cooking.
- Dr. Whipple - a recurring antagonist who while helping others is usually out of his own gain. Garfield often foils his plans. He is a parody of Dr. Phil McGraw.
- Professor Thaddeus Bonkers - a mad scientist who is really intelligent and yet really foolish as his inventions/discoveries always lead to disaster but he dismisses it as the world "not ready for his genius".
- "Doc Boy" Doc Arbuckle - Jon's brother who owns a farm. Jon always teases him by calling him "Doc Boy" much to his irritation.
- Aunt Ivy - Jon and Doc Boy's bossy aunt that often harasses Jon whenever she comes to visit. She doesn't like anything and likewise it is hard to find anything that likes her.
- Vito Cappelletti - an Italian chef who owns his own restaurant. Vito is a very ambiguous character either highly appreciating Garfield for saving his business often or determined to prevent Garfield from stealing his lasagna or pizza.
- Harry - a stray cat that lives in Garfield's neighbourhood. Harry is another ambiguous character that is sometimes acts as Garfield's friend and sometimes antagonizes him.
- Drusilla and Minerva - two annoying twins that like to dress up any animal they come across and usually Garfield falls victim to this. They are hinted to be either Jon's cousins or nieces but even they don't seem to know and claim that he's "some relative" of theirs.
- Herman Post - the mailman that works in Garfield's neighborhood. Garfield often plays pranks on him for "delivering nothing but bills" much to his dismay however to his delight, he continues to get a higher salary for doing his job as other mailmen are too scared of Garfield to take his place.
- Al the Dog Catcher - a clumsy dog catcher who is often fired for incompetence only to be rehired as seemingly no one else can do the job any better.
- Pete the Dog Catcher - another dog catcher that sometimes acts as Al's associate. Usually they are hired together to catch Garfield and Odie.
- The Evil Space Lasagnas - an alien race of living Lasagnas that try to conquer Earth but after witnessing Garfield's ravenous appetite for lasagna they are too fearful.
- Hercules - a mean chihuahua "with a bad attitude" who is actually a troubled loner deep on the inside. He sometimes hangs out with Mademoiselle Fifi, the chihuahua belonging to Jon's boss.
- Mr. Barker - Jon's former boss who commissions Jon's comics. He is a nice, yet often demanding, person.
- Mr. Allwork - a lawyer and businessman who acts as an antagonist. He usually tries to come up with schemes to make himself richer but has a soft spot for his son Jack.
- Esmeralda Brubaker - a museum curator who prioritizes science over any person's individual life. She'll stop at nothing to get what she wants and usually finds a way to do so legally.
- Neferkitty - leader of an ancient tribe of cats that once tried to take over the world and were banished to another dimension. Garfield tricks her into entering the human world alone where she is forcibly adopted by Liz's annoying niece Heather who renames her "Fuzzbutton" much to her chagrin. Since then she swears vengeance on Garfield and Odie.
Cast
French voices
- Gérard Surugue - Garfield, additional voices
- Bruno Choël - Jon, additional voices
- Gilbert Levy - Squeak, additional voices
- Véronique Soufflet - Arlène, Dr. Liz Wilson, additional voices
- Marc Saez - Nermal, additional voices
- Philippe Bozo - Harry, additional voices
- Eric Missoffe - Eddie Gourmand, additional voices
English voices
Main voices
Main cast members | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Frank Welker | Gregg Berger | Wally Wingert | Jason Marsden | Julie Payne | Audrey Wasilewski |
Garfield, Eddie Gourmand, Cleaning Robot, Evil Space Lasagnas, T3000, Paddy, additional voices | Odie, Squeak, Harry, Herman Post, Omar the Genie, additional voices | Jon Arbuckle, Al the Dog Catcher, Hercules, Myron, additional voices | Nermal, Vito, Liz's Father, Pete the Dog Catcher, Professor Bonkers, Humphrey, additional voices | Dr. Liz Wilson, Liz's Mother, Mom Arbuckle | Arlene, Gloria, Newscaster |
Additional voices
- Joe Alaskey[5] -
- Bob Bergen[5] -
- Corey Burton[5] -
- Frank Buxton[5] -
- Grey DeLisle - Jack Allwork, Nathan (seasons 2-4), Nathan's Mother
- Melissa Disney - Nathan (season 1)
- Bill Farmer[5] -
- Frank Ferrante - Lyman
- June Foray - Mrs. Cauldron
- Stan Freberg - Dr. Whipple, Fluffykins, Mole, Spencer Spendington
- Brooks Gardner[5] -
- Hank Garrett -
- Mark Hamill[5] -
- Laraine Newman - Aunt Ivy, News Anchorwoman, Winona, Angelica, Aunt Esther
- Maurice LaMarche - Samuel W. Underburger
- Phil LaMarr[5] -
- David Lander - Doc Boy Arbuckle
- Misty Lee - Angie, Scheherazade
- Tress MacNeille - Esmeralda Brubaker, Hostess, Squirrel #1
- Rose Marie[5] - Varicella
- Diane Michelle[5] -
- Candi Milo - Lester, Chester, Reporter, Squirrel #2
- Chuck McCann - Mayor Graffton
- Marvin Kaplan - Hiram “Hi” Pressure
- Jack Riley - Mr. Allwork, Ghost Cat
- Neil Ross - King Glorm, Tyler Edge, Brandon Scoop
- Jewel Shepard -
- Susan Silo - Neferkitty
- Laura Summer - Drusilla & Minerva the Twins
- Fred Tatasciore - Biff, Dirk Dinkum
- Scott Whyte[5] -
- April Winchell -
Development
The Garfield Show is a CGI series that started development in 2007 to coincide with the strip's 30th anniversary the following year premiering in France the following year.[6]
Following the previous animated series of Garfield that debuted in 1988, many of the crew members would return to work on The Garfield Show.
Lorenzo Music was replaced by Frank Welker in this series due to Music's death in 2001 while Wally Wingert replaced Thom Huge as Jon and Jason Marsden replaced Desirée Goyette as Nermal.
Broadcast
The series premiered in France on France 3 on December 22, 2008.
English-language episodes started airing on Boomerang UK on May 5, 2009, and later also on Pop.
English-Language episodes started airing on Boomerang (Middle East and Africa) and on Boomerang (Central and Eastern Europe) on November 7, 2009.
It aired on YTV in Canada from September 13, 2009 to December 30, 2011.
In the United States, it aired on Cartoon Network from November 2, 2009 to May 30, 2014. It also aired on Boomerang from February 4, 2013 to December 30, 2016.[7]
Home media
DVD title | Season(s) | Episode count | Release date | Episodes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Odie Oh! | 1 | 6 | October 5, 2010 | 9 ("Pup in the Pound" / "Odie in Love"), 20a ("From the Oven"), 21a ("Neighbor Nathan"), 22a ("Up a Tree") and 25a ("The Amazing Flying Dog") | |
All You Need is Love (and Pasta) | January 18, 2011 | 1b ("Mother Garfield"), 6b ("Desperately Seeking Pooky"), 10a ("Pet Matchers"), 11b ("Meet the Parents"), 14b ("Family Picture") and 26a ("Iceman") | |||
Private-Eye Ventures | April 12, 2011 | 1a ("Pasta Wars"), 2b ("Freaky Monday"), 4b ("Agent X"), 11a ("Curse of the Were-Dog"), 13a ("Curse of the Cat People") and 15a ("Time Twist") | |||
Spooky Tails | August 23, 2011 | 2a ("Orange and Black"), 3b ("The Robot"), 15b ("Time Master"), 17b ("Virtualodeon"), 18a ("It's a Cat's World") and 24b ("Mastermind") | |||
Dinosaurs Other Animal Adventures | January 10, 2012 | 3a ("Bone Diggers"), 12 ("Down on the Farm" / "The Pet Show"), 14a ("Underwater World"), 16a ("Fish to Fry") and 21b ("History of Dog") | |||
Summer Adventures | 7 | May 29, 2012 | 5b ("Perfect Pizza"), 10b ("Lucky Charm"), 17a ("Fame Fatale"), 18b ("Mailman Blues"), 19a ("Extreme Housebreaking"), 22b ("It's A Cheese World") and 24a ("Super Me") | ||
Holiday Extravaganza | 1, 2 | 5 | September 4, 2012 | 8b ("Turkey Trouble"), 20b ("Caroling Capers"), 27 ("Home For the Holidays") and 32 ("The Haunted House" / "Which Witch") | |
Spring Fun Collection | 2 | 6 | February 19, 2013 | 30b ("The Big Sneeze"), 34a ("Farm Fresh Feline"), 36a ("The Bluebird of Happiness"), 47a ("Stealing Home"), 50b ("Parrot Blues") and 51b ("The Mole Express") | |
Pizza Dreams | June 25, 2013 | 28b ("Gravity of the Situation"), 31a ("The Spy Who Fed Me"), 37a ("Fido Food Feline"), 40b ("Great Pizza Race"), 41a ("Master Chef") and 48a ("Love and Lasagna") | |||
A Purr-Fect Life! | October 22, 2013 | 29a ("The Art of Being Uncute"), 31b ("Meet Max Mouse"), 38b ("Garfield Astray"), 39 ("History of Cats" / "Black Cat Blues") and 50a ("Pampered Pussycat") |
Reception
Despite receiving more episodes than usual for an animated series, The Garfield Show has received mixed reviews. Common Sense Media gave the show 3 stars out of 5, saying "Infamous cat's antics are fun, if not exactly message laden."[8]
Kevin Carr of 7M pictures gave the show 2 stars out of 5 stating that the animation felt unpolished compared to the direct-to-video movies and that the show was full of "throwaway stories" because it "aims for a more kid-friendly presentation of the fat feline." He concluded his review stating he preferred "old-school cell animation as the week-to-week series CGI looks too much like cheap video game emulations, but I’m not the target market of these things".[9]
Justin Felix of DVD talk gave the show 2.5 out of 5 stating that "The Garfield Show isn't some great work of art, but it efficiently delivers cartoon animal fun that little kids would probably enjoy. The animation is a tad rudimentary and clunky at times, but it's good enough to pass muster for cartoon fare of this type."[10]
Mike Gencarelli of Media Mikes gave the show 3.5 out of 5 stating "it doesn’t compare to the classic Jim Davis cartoon but it is all we have right now." [11]
The series has a 3.8 score on Metacritic touting unfavorable reviews.[12]
Video game
A party video game titled The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space Lasagna, was released in July 2010 for the Wii. It includes over 12 minigames and supports the Wii Balance Board and Wii Motion Plus. The game was critically panned for its short length, lack of interactivity and monotonous gameplay.[13]
See also
References
- ↑ "The Garfield Show – Studios". The Garfield Show Diary.
- ↑ Evanier, Mark. "ASK me". NewsFromMe.com. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
- ↑ Evanier, Mark. "ASK me". NewsFromMe.com. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
- ↑ "The Garfield Show". TV.com. CBS Interactive.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Evanier, Mark. "Why I Haven't Been Sleeping Lately…". NewsFromMe.com. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
- ↑ "AWN Headline News". Animation World Network.
- ↑ "Boomerang Schedule - Cartoon Network". Cartoon Network. Time Warner. December 19, 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-12-19.
- ↑ "The Garfield Show". commonsensemedia.org.
- ↑ "7M Pictures - 'The Garfield Show: Pizza Dreams' DVD Review". 7M Pictures.
- ↑ "Garfield Show: Odie Oh!". DVD Talk.
- ↑ "DVD Review "The Garfield Show: Holiday Extravaganza"". mediamikes.com.
- ↑ "The Garfield Show". Metacritic.
- ↑ "The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space Lasagna". IGN.