Garfield's Thanksgiving

Title Card

Garfield's Thanksgiving is a 1989 animated television special based on the Garfield comic strip. It once again featured Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The special was first broadcast November 22, 1989 on CBS. It has been released on both VHS and DVD home video. On overseas DVD copies of Garfield's Holiday Celebrations, this special is replaced with Garfield in the Rough.

Plot

Garfield (voiced by Lorenzo Music) wakes Jon early and demands to be fed. Jon (voiced by Thom Huge) tries to go back to sleep, but Garfield (with Odie's help) scares him out of bed with military music and speaking like a drill sergeant. Jon wonders if people with goldfish have this problem. He feeds Garfied pancakes and coffee. Garfield decides to take a nap after breakfast but changes his mind to kick Odie (voiced by Gregg Berger) off the table. Garfield suddenly notices he has to go to the vet. He shoves the date into Odie's mouth hoping to make Jon forget and then notices that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. He reminds Jon who takes him shopping for the Thanksgiving food. On the way home Jon takes a wrong turn and reveals he remembered Garfield's appointment with the vet. While at the vet, Jon tries to ask Dr. Liz Wilson (voiced by Julie Payne) out, but she turns him down. Jon decides to hold his breath while she details the diet that Garfield must go on. Both he and Garfield faint. Liz changes her mind about the date. Jon invites her for Thanksgiving Dinner.

At home, Jon feeds Garfield half a leaf of lettuce for lunch. He has Odie use a whistle to hassle Garfield into his diet. Garfield weighs himself on the talking weight scale and destroys it for comparing him to Orson Welles. He then tries to sneak food from the kitchen but Odie stops him and he figures the lack of food must be making him hallucinate. The next morning Garfield becomes a sourpuss. Jon begins prepraring the meal, but doesn't have a clue how, as he didn't thaw the turkey overnight, doesn't bother to make stuffing, rubs butter on his skin instead of the turkey's and roasts it at 500 degrees instead of 350. Garfield helps ruin the meal by putting garlic powder in the vegetables. Jon shaves and then picks a suit, but forgets to put on pants. Liz arrives and tells him he's not wearing pants by saying, "Nice polka dot boxer shorts." Jon finishes dressing and invites her in. Liz realizes the diet is too strict for Garfield, who kisses her for letting him off. Garfield goes into the kitchen and observes Jon, who finally realizes he doesn't know how to prepare a thanksgiving dinner and wonders what to do. Garfield brings him the phone and with clues, gets Jon to call Grandma. Grandma (voiced by Pat Carroll) arrives seconds later and shoos Jon out of the kitchen and begins preparing the meal. She cuts the turkey into slices with a chainsaw, adds white sauce then batters and deep fries the slices into what she calls her famous turkey croquettes. Jon distracts Liz by giving her a history lesson about Thanksgiving. Grandma prepares sweet potatoes by covering them with butter, brown sugar and marshmallows. She then prepares "one-second cranberry sauce" and pumpkin pie. After quickly setting the table Garfield makes his signature comment, "Nice touch". Before departing Grandma tells Garfield Liz couldn't have found a better man than Jon and that she'd better not blow it. She also tells Garfield to eat a piece of pie for her and leaves. Garfield salutes her and comments "They just don't make 'em like that anymore." Garfield tells Jon, who has put Liz to sleep, that everything is ready. After eating Liz declares that it was a wonderful meal and thanks Jon for inviting her. Jon invites her for next year and she accepts. She then kisses Jon on the cheek before she departs. Jon, Garfield and Odie declare it was a great day and they're thankful for Grandma. Garfield goes back to tormenting Odie after Jon decides to put Odie on a diet.

Cast

• Lorenzo Music - Garfield
• Thom Huge - Jon Arbuckle
• Gregg Berger - Odie
• Julie Payne - Dr. Liz Wilson
• Pat Carroll - Grandma

Songs

• "Make Thanksgiving One Whole Meal" by Lou Rawls
• "It's a Quiet Celebration" by Desirée Goyette

Book adaptation

The book adaptation, which retains the original title "Garfield's Thanksgiving," deviates in the following ways:

• When Odie and Garfield awaken Jon, they demand pancakes the size of China. Afterward, as he finishes his breakfast, Garfield quips that it needs less "pan" and more "cake".

• Only Jon causes a commotion in the room - holding his breath until Liz accepts his invitation for Thanksgiving dinner - while Garfield spends the whole session silently going from denial into shock from being sentenced to a diet before passing out at the same time as a suffocating Jon.

• Odie and the scale are not involved in Garfield's torment, and Jon - too deliriously happy about having Liz over for Thanksgiving dinner - is ignorant to the fact that Garfield is in misery. Instead, Garfield comes across a mirror on his way back from his first minuscule meal, and quips that he's lost something already - his sense of humor. He is also weak and suffers from insomnia.

• While Garfield is cranky from a sleepless night and a single lettuce leaf for breakfast, he cheers up quickly after deliberately sabotaging Jon's dinner (specifically the vegetables), and is even cooperative by helping him pick a suit for the dinner (despite not telling him he forgot his pants).

• When Liz comes and waits for Jon to serve dinner, she takes the moment to inspect Garfield. After Garfield pretends to be suffering from every single symptom Liz casually mentions, she relents, takes him off the diet, and only prescribes for him light exercises instead.

• Jon ruins his own dinner by not preparing any of it properly. In the end, the turkey he did not thaw or butter is in terrible state, the sabotaged vegetables are smoking, and the pie he made is burnt.

• Jon is the one to decide to call Grandma. While Grandma prepares dinner - and Garfield stays to watch - Jon stalls for time by telling Liz about Thanksgiving history, which works so well it bores her to sleep until Grandma is done.

• At the end, there is no mention of any latter diets, and while Odie and Garfield sit comfortably with their full bellies as Jon sees Liz out the door, the three agree unanimously that they have one person to thank: Grandma.

Production

• Created by Jim Davis
• Written by Jim Davis and Kim Campbell
• Original Music by Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette