Garfield's Halloween Adventure (also known as Garfield in Disguise) is a Halloween-themed animated television special based on the Garfield comic strip by Jim Davis. It first aired in the United States on CBS on October 30, 1985.
In the special, the fat orange cat Garfield persuades the dim-witted dog Odie to accompany him when he goes trick-or-treating on Halloween night> Garfield does this merely so that there will be two sacks of candy instead of one, meaning that there will be twice as much candy for him. Following a disastrous attempt to reach more houses on the other side of the river, and gain more candy from the people that live in them, the two animals eventually find themselves at a run-down old house. The old man who lives there warns them that they could be in great danger. Exactly one hundred years earlier, a band of pirates buried their treasure beneath the house. At precisely midnight, their ghosts will be coming to retrieve it. A comic book adaptation of the special was published, the story of which differs slightly from the version seen on television.
Plot
Garfield the cat is awoken early by The Binky the Clown Show on television. He gets excited when he hears the clown say that it is Halloween and that he will be able to get a lot of candy that night.
Some time later, Garfield gets out of bed and uses his blanket as an impomtu ghost costume . He scares his owner Jon, who is busy carving a pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern. In fright, Jon throws the pumpkin in the air and it gets stuck on his head. Jon removes the pumpkin, tosses it aside and it lands on the head of Odie the dog. Garfield laughs at Odie's stupididty and his ugliness before getting the idea that he can trick the dog into going trick-or-treating with him, so that he can get twice as much candy. Garfield intends to keep all the candy for himself.
Garfield tries on a vampire costume and startles Odie.
The cat and the dog go up to the attic and look through various old costumes, before eventually deciding on pirate costumes. Jon gives them a sack each, tells them to have fun and advises them not to stay out too late.
In the evening, the two set out to trick-or-treat. Odie is frightened to see the street suddenly full of ghosts and monsters. Garfield tells them that they are all just children in disguise, although, during a musical number, they seem to encounter some genuine scary creatures.
The two collect a large amount of candy and are ready to head home when Garfield notices more houses on the other side of the river. They take a row boat and Garfield tells Odie to put out the oars. The dog misunderstands the command and throws the oars into the river. The boat drifts downstream and eventually lands at a dock near a large old house.
Garfield and Odie see a light coming from a fire in the house. They enter the house, which appears to be empty, and warm themselves by the fire. They are shocked when they suddenly notice an old man sitting in an armchair. He tells them that they have chosen a poor night to come visiting. He explains that a hundred years earlier on that very night a band of pirates buried their treasure inside the house. They swore an oath written in blood in which they promised that they would return for the treasure on Halloween night one hundred years later, even if it meant returning from the grave. Garfield announces that they are leaving.He is about to ask the old man if he wants to go with them when he sees that the man has vanished. Garfield and Odie go outside and see the old man rowing their boat away, leaving them trapped.
A ghostly pirate ship arrives and pirate ghosts emerge from the water. They enter the house and retrieve the treasure from beneath the floorboards. Garfield and Odie watch them while hiding inside a cupboard. Odie sneezes, alerting the ghosts to their presence. The ghosts chase them out of the house and they jump into the river to escape. Odie has to save Garfield because the cat does not know how to swim.
The two eventually emerge on the other side of the river where they find the row boat and their two bags of candy untouched. They happily head home. At home, Garfield rewards Odie for saving him from drowning by reluctantly letting the dog have his half of the candy. Garfield switches on the television and is amazed to see the old man he had seen earlier announcing the start of an all-night pirate movie festival. The cat decides that he does not want to watch television after all, preferring to go straight to sleep.
Book adaptation
Front cover of the comic book adaptation of Garfield's Halloween Adventure.
A comic book adaptation of Garfield's Halloween Adventure (ISBN 9780808565376) was published in 1985.
There are a few differences between the television special and its comic book adaptation. While they are trick-or-treating, Garfield gives Odie a brief, inaccurate history of Halloween, saying that it developed out of the festival of a death deity known as Samhain or the Lord of Death. The book strongly implies that the old man is a ghost. He is not shown rowing the boat away, instead the boat is carried away by the current, suggesting that the old man has simply vanished. Before leaving the old house, Garfield takes a ring from the pirates' treasure chest. For that reason, after they emerge on the other side of the river, the ghosts continue chasing Garfield and Odie all the way home. The ghosts vanish when Garfield throws the ring to them.
See also
External links
- Garfield's Halloween Adventure on the Internet Movie Database.
- Garfield's Halloween Adventure on Rotten Tomatoes.
- Garfield's Halloween Adventure on the Big Cartoon Database.