Garfield: His 9 Lives

Garfield: His 9 Lives is a 1984 book (ISBN 0-345-32074-3) of illustrated short stories showing the "nine lives" of comic strip character Garfield. It was adapted into an animated television special in 1988 as well as a screensaver for download on Garfield website.

The book is divided into ten segments; the first one displays the creation of cats in general, where the latter nine reveal events in Garfield's nine lives. Each of the nine stories has a short preface of Garfield in his modern incarnation, explaining how these various lives shaped aspects of Garfield's personality, such as the origin of his fear of the veterinarian, his love of destructive behavior, his proclivity for a slothful lifestyle, and his extremely playful side.

The book

Book cover

• "In the Beginning" (written by Jim Davis, illustrated by Paws, Inc. staff): The cat is created. The manner of the cat's creation, with a higher being dictating instructions to his staff and the language used by the staff while 'designing' the cat, is strongly similar to the manner in which products are designed in modern corporations. The staff wonders why the creator sees fit to give cat nine lives opposed to the usual one, prompting the creator to reply that he likes cats, revealing that he has feline features. It is strongly suggested that Garfield himself is the first cat.

• "Cave Cat" (written by Jim Davis; illustrated by Davis, Mike Fentz, and Larry Fentz): In the Stone Age, the first cat emerges from the sea and is domesticated. Cave Cat also meets his end when the vaguely reptilian giant dog (who resembles Odie and is termed Big Bob by the cavemen) attempts to play fetch with Cave Cat, throwing a tree at him and unintentionally crushing him. (This, as Garfield points out, explains why most cats fear dogs, and why Garfield himself tends to dislike and mistreat Odie specifically.)

• "The Vikings" (written by Jim Davis and Mike Fentz; illustrated by Fentz): A group of Vikings from the year 984, including Garfield the Orange, frozen in an iceberg for a thousand years, thaw out and wake up in "an especially warm and lovely spring day of 1984", and attempt to 'pillage' St. Paul, Minnesota. They are forced to adapt to the modern era after a notable lack of success with traditional Viking activities, and comment how modern American society is a "barbaric" one which defended itself against the pillaging, as well as snapping the bra of the bosomy female Viking Helga. Defeated, they succeed in securing employment and a house, but lose their proud spirits in the process. Garfield's Viking incarnation snaps them out of their ennui after he rediscovers the Petrified Weasel of Booga; it restores their spirits, causing them to revert to their Viking selves and proceed to run off to the Arctic Circle. The segment ends a thousand years in the future, with the strong implication that the same group of Vikings have been frozen in an iceberg and are about to thaw out once again in "an especially warm and lovely spring day of 2984". (This story explains why the otherwise lazy Garfield enjoys occasionally engaging in rampaging and destructive behavior he would seem too lazy to engage in, such as his constant attacks on the mailman.)

• "Babes and Bullets" (written by Ron Tuthill, illustrated by Kevin Campbell): Hard-boiled detective Sam Spayed investigates the suspicious death of a priest in a segment reminiscent of classic hard-boiled detective fiction, with occasional illustrations done in a manner much more realistic than the usual Garfield style. It was later adapted into the television special Garfield: Babes and Bullets. Shortly before the story begins, Garfield appears, saying that the most significant thing he learned from this life was that he swore off work.

• "The Exterminators" (written by Jim Davis; illustrated by Davis, Mike Fentz, and Larry Fentz): A trio of Three Stooges-like cats chase a mouse, and mayhem ensues. Garfield comments that he officially retired from the 'rat race' following this life, leading to his strong dislike of mice as a food source.

• "Lab Animal" (written by Jim Davis; illustrated by Gary Barker and Larry Fentz): at a secret government facility, lab specimen 19-GB receives an unusual injection, followed by his escape from the military base. After swimming across a river, the serum has some unusual effects, causing 19-GB to become a dog. Fortunately for 19-GB, he became the same species of dog the lab sent out to find him, allowing him to blend in with the search dogs. The pursuing soldiers then call off the search, as the dog looks at the reader with strange green eyes. Garfield claims that because of his experiences as a lab animal, he becomes nauseous at the sight of medical equipment. (This most likely explains his fear of the veterinarian.)

• "The Garden" (written and illustrated by Dave Kühn): Cloey and her orange kitten play in a magical, Wonderland-like, garden, which was built by Cloey's joyful Uncle Tod. However, like the Garden of Eden there is a test of character of a chest the pair must not open. The pair approach the chest and after much suspense, the pair resists the temptation, believing opening the chest could harm Uncle Tod, and stay in the garden forever. The segment is written with flowery prose similar to overly romantic poetry, and the illustrations have a strong surrealistic quality, as well as having many sharp graphics and neon colors that were characteristic of the 1980s. Garfield is shown happily smelling a flower's fragrance and said that his sixth life was his favorite. "My body got old and weak, but I never, ever grew up".

• "Primal Self" (written by Jim Davis; illustrated by Jim Clements, Gary Barker, and Larry Fentz): An orange housecat meets an ancient, primal, dangerous, possibly evil force, causing him to revert to an entirely feral state. It is unclear whether the housecat is corrupted by the primal force, or if its spirit is cast back into prehistory and stranded there, while the primal essence steals its body in the present day. The story ends with him preparing to attack his unsuspecting owner, an elderly woman; it is strongly suggested that he kills his owner afterwards. Garfield is shown to be terrified of the events in this life; he is depicted cowering under a blanket in his commentary on it, remarking that this life taught him that there are elements in a cat that are not to be toyed with.

• "Garfield" (written by Jim Davis; illustrated by Gary Barker and Valette Hildebrand; color by Doc Davis): Present-day Garfield meets lasagna, Jon, and Odie. This segment retcons the character's beginnings. Garfield notes that his current life is currently falling short of his expectations.

• "Space Cat" (written and illustrated by Jim Clements): While exploring outer space, your feline friend has a run-in with The Incredibly Huge Galactic War Fleet (IHGWF for short). The IHGWF doesn't like him, and shows it by blasting him to spacedust. It turns out he in a simulator, probably a computer game, and appears to be living in a world inhabited by both humans and anthropomorphic animals. The segment has a very strong resemblance to the Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy series, in both tone and thematic elements. Garfield and his ship get destroyed by the IHGWF, then he is seen emerging from a simulator at a video arcade, suggesting the life was only imagined or a video game. Garfield is shown as a cyborg during his commentary on it, remarking that while he'd like to live forever, he's well aware of his mortal state and refers to the segment as a 'sneak peek of his next life.'

The television special

Garfield: His 9 Lives
Title Card
Written by	Jim Davis (writer, creator) David Kuhn (segment "In the Garden") Jim Clements (segment "Space Cat") George Herriman (uncredited)
Produced by	Phil Roman
Starring	Lorenzo Music Thom Huge Gregg Berger Desirée Goyette
Music by	Ed Bogas Desirée Goyette
Production company	Film Roman Productions
Release date	22 November 1988 (USA)
Running time	60 min.
Country	USA
Language	English

The one-hour long television adaptation produced in 1988 featured four different "lives." (consequently leaving out four of the lives in the book: "The Vikings", "Babes and Bullets", the "Exterminators" and "Primal Self". "Babes and Bullets" was adapted into a television special of its own the following year: "Garfield's Babes and Bullets", which won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program of 1989.).

• "In the Beginning": Unlike the rest of the special, this prologue sequence is shot in live-action. (The scene where the angels question why God gives cats nine lives varies slightly from the storybook version; God's feline features are not seen—yet; he simply states that it might make a good jumping-off point for a good story.)
• "Cave Cat"
• "King Cat": In Ancient Egypt, the Pharaoh's sacred cat discovers what happens to him if the Pharaoh dies.
• "In the Garden"
• "Court Musician": The king demands a concerto from "Freddie" Handel, and if the king doesn't enjoy it ... Under the pressure of a deadline, "Freddie" delegates part of the work to his pet, one of Garfield's incarnations, a blue cat in this life.
• "Stunt Cat": Garfield is (briefly) a stunt double for Krazy Kat. As Garfield explains before it starts, this life was his shortest.
• "Diana's Piano": A young girl, Sara, receives a cat, Diana, who goes with her everywhere, especially to piano lessons. (This is the only one of Garfield's lives, in either the book or movie, where the cat is explicitly identified as female.) This story is told in flashback. The images are reminiscent of paintings. This story is closer than any of the others to reality; the cat, Diana, is just a normal cat.
• "Lab Animal"
• "Garfield"
• "Space Cat"

File:9LivesVHS.jpg

Cover of the VHS

The epilogue for this special differs in two crucial ways from the one in the original book. In the movie segment, a cloning machine ensures that Odie is present in the flesh with Garfield in his ninth life. Secondly, whereas in the book, the events of "Space Cat" were revealed to be just a highly advanced computer simulation (most likely a game,) Garfield and Odie perish in this segment; however, they are allowed to meet God. ("God" is apparently modelled on pictures on Lorenzo Music, Garfield's long time voice.) Because the odds were so unfairly stacked against them in this last life, Garfield succeeds in convincing God to restore both himself and Odie to life; also, because Heaven's computers are down at the moment, they don't have the records of how many lives Garfield has already lived, so Garfield gets his full nine lives back (at Odie's prodding, Garfield covers for Odie, who also receives nine lives.) The segment ends with God noting that 'We have to stick together,you know.' as his yellow, slitted feline eyes glow momentarily (this deliberately echoes the scene from the book's version of 'In the Beginning,' where God's features are shown briefly, to explain why God grants cats nine lives.) This implies that God grants Garfield and Odie their new chance not because of computer problems, but because of his fondness for cats. Both the book and the movie joke that cats, not man, are created in God's image.

External links

• Garfield: His 9 Lives at IMDb
• Garfield: His 9 Lives at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Garfield's Babes and Bullets at IMDb (one of the stories from the book was made into its own special)