To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Garfield comics and the success of the television specials, Jim Davis and his team decided to make Garfield into a television series, Garfield and Friends. Looking back at this semi-forgotten series, it's something worth talking about.
Every episode puts Garfield into a couple of 7 minute segments as well as a "quickie". I think it's fascinating how the comic strips translated well into longer stories fitting the satirical nature of the strips while including plots to add conflict. The show has a slice of life theme that fits the simplicity of the comics nicely.
Garfield is funny and has some pretty good uses of sarcasm and arrogance. It's fun watching Garfield's antics with others and how he sees the downsides of the world more than most people. Lorenzo Music is literally on point with his voice performance fitting the deep mellow sarcastic tone of the character. Jon's antics with his love life are also amusing as he tries too hard to woo Liz and feel completely fit in with everyone. It's also fun watching Nermal rival with Garfield on how cute he is, especially when he outsmarts Garfield when he tries to mail him to Abu Dhabi. I used to think Nermal may have been a girl at first, but he seems to be a boy. I was a little bummed when I heard Arlene doesn't exactly make an appearance in the series despite being on some of the publicity art, but I also heard about how they couldn't think of any good ideas with her. Binky the Clown also makes more of an appearance and it's fun watching him and his obnoxious clowning aggravate Garfield.
This also seems to be one of the first Garfield projects to be outsourced to animation studios overseas. It looks surprisingly identical to the in-house specials and keeps the charm of the style they were going for. I even love how smooth the animation is in the first intro from seasons 1-2, and I don't mean the terrible 2018 remake of it.
If there is one thing I'm not really a fan of in Garfield and Friends, it's the US Acres segments that play in-between. This being based on a short-lived comic strip series of the same name by Jim Davis, I don't find them nearly as entertaining as the ones featuring Garfield. Jim Davis didn't really write any of them either as he was more focused on producing and voice direction for the series. I don't hate the US Acres segments, I find them quite tolerable for what they are, but they do feel unnecessary and that they only exist to give the show a moral for kids like almost every animated show from the 80s.
Overall a pretty good way to give the famous feline an animated television series, even if I'd rather skip the US Acres segments. They get creative with the episode storylines and play around with new ideas and keep the spirit of the comics.
Every episode puts Garfield into a couple of 7 minute segments as well as a "quickie". I think it's fascinating how the comic strips translated well into longer stories fitting the satirical nature of the strips while including plots to add conflict. The show has a slice of life theme that fits the simplicity of the comics nicely.
Garfield is funny and has some pretty good uses of sarcasm and arrogance. It's fun watching Garfield's antics with others and how he sees the downsides of the world more than most people. Lorenzo Music is literally on point with his voice performance fitting the deep mellow sarcastic tone of the character. Jon's antics with his love life are also amusing as he tries too hard to woo Liz and feel completely fit in with everyone. It's also fun watching Nermal rival with Garfield on how cute he is, especially when he outsmarts Garfield when he tries to mail him to Abu Dhabi. I used to think Nermal may have been a girl at first, but he seems to be a boy. I was a little bummed when I heard Arlene doesn't exactly make an appearance in the series despite being on some of the publicity art, but I also heard about how they couldn't think of any good ideas with her. Binky the Clown also makes more of an appearance and it's fun watching him and his obnoxious clowning aggravate Garfield.
This also seems to be one of the first Garfield projects to be outsourced to animation studios overseas. It looks surprisingly identical to the in-house specials and keeps the charm of the style they were going for. I even love how smooth the animation is in the first intro from seasons 1-2, and I don't mean the terrible 2018 remake of it.
If there is one thing I'm not really a fan of in Garfield and Friends, it's the US Acres segments that play in-between. This being based on a short-lived comic strip series of the same name by Jim Davis, I don't find them nearly as entertaining as the ones featuring Garfield. Jim Davis didn't really write any of them either as he was more focused on producing and voice direction for the series. I don't hate the US Acres segments, I find them quite tolerable for what they are, but they do feel unnecessary and that they only exist to give the show a moral for kids like almost every animated show from the 80s.
Overall a pretty good way to give the famous feline an animated television series, even if I'd rather skip the US Acres segments. They get creative with the episode storylines and play around with new ideas and keep the spirit of the comics.
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