20 Garfield Stories (Part One)

Happy 2019 everybody! The new Garfield and Friends DVD came out a couple days ago, and no surprise--they're the widescreen remasters. Of course, the disc is predominantly Garfield shorts, but a few U.S. Acres shorts are sprinkled in too. As of this post, none of the shorts have been released on Boomerang's app yet, and with the majority coming from the last two seasons of the show, it could be some time before we see the full episodes.

Thanks to WorldCat.org, I can provide a rundown of the shorts included...

• Garfield: The Wight Stuff (Season 6. Show 95)
• Garfield: Canine Conspiracy (Season 6, Show 92)
• U.S. Acres: Snow Wade and the 77 Dwarfs Part One (Season 6, Show 92)
• U.S. Acres: Snow Wade and the 77 Dwarfs Part Two (Season 6, Show 93)
• Garfield: The Pie-Eyed Piper (Season 6, Show 96)
• U.S. Acres: How Now, Stolen Cow? (Season 6, Show 97)
• Garfield: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Mouse (Season 6, Show 98)
• Garfield: How to Drive Humans Crazy (Season 6, Show 98)
• Garfield: Lost and Foundling (Season 6, Show 102)
• U.S. Acres: The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere's Duck (Season 6, Show 101)
• Garfield: Stairway to Stardom (Season 6, Show 101)
• Garfield: The Life and Times of the Lasagna Kid (Season 6, Show 100)
• Garfield: Films and Felines (Season 6, Show 102)
• Garfield: Garfield's Garbage Can and Tin Pan Alley Review (Season 6, Show 105)
• Garfield: The Legend of Johnny Ragweedseed (Season 7, Show 107)
• Garfield: Top Ten (Season 7, Show 108)
• Garfield: Puss in High Tops (Season 7, Show 110)
• U.S. Acres: Kiddie Korner (Season 7, Show 114)
• Garfield: Alley Katta & the 40 Thieves (Season 7, Show 118)
• Garfield: Clash of the Titans (Season 7, Show 118)

As long-time readers of the blog may recall, Season 6 was the season that the U.S. Acres gang was dropped from the logo. Given the blunders on the Boomerang release, I would have expected them to get the title cards wrong... but to my pleasant surprise, at least two U.S. Acres shorts use the correct "character-less" versions. (Photos courtesy of Nostalgic Nathan)

One real head scratcher though is the theme song that opens this disc. Although the song itself is correct (for Season 6 anyway), the majority of clips shown were never used in any broadcast version of the theme song. One might assume they threw these clips together as a "preview" of sorts to show what's on the disc, but several of the shorts (and quickies...) represented actually aren't on the disc (eg, The Garfield Musical, Grape Expectations). Whether this new version of the intro is exclusive to this release or intended as a replacement for Seasons 3 and beyond remains to be seen.

(Video once again courtesy of Nostalgic Nathan)

Once I get a copy of the disc for myself, I'll write a more in-depth review with better screenshots (and perhaps my brief thoughts on the shorts...).

In the meantime, you can pick a copy of the disc up here for a mere $4.79. 

Thanksgiving

via The Jackson Sun

 Garfield's Thanksgiving, though technically not part of Garfield and Friends, deserves some recognition, what with the limited amount of Thanksgiving-themed specials and movies there are as it is.

By this point, the Garfield specials had tackled Halloween and Christmas. It only made sense to explore one of Garfield's natural favorites -- Thanksgiving! Though arguably the weakest of the trio, Garfield's Thanksgiving delivers plenty of fun for fans.

via Orlando Sentinel

The interesting thing about this special is that it takes a different direction in focusing on Jon mores o than Garfield. True, a prominent part of the story involves Garfield's diet coinciding with Thanksgiving (the horror!), but the main plot is actually more about Jon's attempt to impress Liz on a Thanksgiving dinner date.

Of course Jon sucks at cooking (as viewers of the TV series saw a year earlier), so Grandma comes to the rescue at the last minute and secretly saves the day. What a woman.

Though it probably won't join the ranks of its Peanuts companion any time soon, Garfield's Thanksgiving is a fun annual rewatch.

I can do without that sappy dinner song though.

Happy Thanksgiving folks, and don't forget to jog off those Thanksgiving bellies the next morning!

Funny Garfield drawings

Garfield and Friends was typically a very on-model show, but every now and then a funny drawing would sneak in.

More 4k Stuff

Missed these when I first went through the remastered episodes. I'll let the differences speak for themselves.

Garfield and Friends 4k Review/Analysis

When 9Story got the rights to Garfield and Friends, I'll admit I got my hopes up. Call it wishful thinking, but I thought it might be a sign that we'd finally see a proper release for the series -- one that would feature the original U.S. Acres title artwork and utilize all the missing footage.

Fast forward to this year when the 4k restoration was revealed. My heart sank, and I immediately knew in my mind we'd see cropped episodes with little to no chance of them being released in the proper 4:3 ratio.

Well, the cat's outta the bag. Boomerang released the first set of episodes on their website (also on the app) and it's worse than I think anybody could have imagined.

Immediately obvious to long-time fans of the show is that while the "Friends Are There" intro remains in place as it should be, the entire intro has been inexplicably reanimated.

 Gone are the loose, fluid movements of Garfield and the U.S. Acres gang as they battle for dominance in the theme song. Instead, we're treated to a stiff, lifeless imitation which lacks all the excited Saturday morning energy that benefited the original.

If you don't have the Boomerang app, you can check out a (poor quality) video of this intro here.

Edit: Somebody's uploaded a comparison video. Check it out here, but you've been warned!

The episodes themselves are of course cropped to widescreen, although the title cards are still presented in 4:3. For the most part, they look tolerable enough with some minor tweaks made to bring back the true color of the artwork -- although some deliberate changes were made. One look at Unidentified Flying Orson's title card, and it's clear that somebody in charge didn't like the color orange.




Coloring issues aside, it's at least a nice surprise that the original U.S. Acres titles are used--even the quickie screens. It's unfortunate that they're cropped, but at least they provide a look at how the original broadcast versions appeared.




A noteworthy headscratcher is the copy we're given of Show 7. The entire episode is presented in "Retrovision" -- which is little more than a fancy way of saying that they weren't able to restore the episode and instead decided to superimpose the proper 4:3 footage on top of widescreen-suitable images.

The Garfield segments and quickies use a background meant to resemble Garfield's living room, whereas the U.S. Acres segments have a background designed like a barn.

Further supporting the theory that the original elements were inaccessible are the poorly Photoshopped title cards. The Worm Turns' title card at least tried to resemble the original artwork. The same can't be said for the U.S. Acres quickie's opening screen, which more closely resembles the Orson's Farm logo.


And before anybody asks -- no, none of the "missing" quickies are included. Looks like we won't be seeing the elusive "Mountains" Binky segment just yet.

Every episode also has the original closing credits replaced with a generic, hastily Photoshopped background that was definitely not designed in the 80s -- although the original "Friends Are There" instrumental continues to play over top. Casual fans may not care, but longtime fans of the show will no doubt miss the the wide-eyed, blinking Garfield of the first season's shows.


Frankly, barring some questionable color choices, needless cropping, and some issues with brightness/saturation, the episodes themselves look better than they ever have. There's no doubt a large chunk of money went into these restorations, and for what it's worth, a new generation of children will get to enjoy the show. Collectors and long-time fans are the ones who get the real slap in the face. I'm a hardcore believer in preserving animation and media as originally made, and I'd happily buy the series all over again if it meant seeing a proper release. But we got what we got, and it's clear from the show's treatment in this so-called "restoration" that the higher ups simply didn't care.

I don't know about you, but I'm probably just going to save these U.S. Acres title screens and call it a day.

Maybe take a nap too.

Coming Soon... Garfield and Friends in 4k!

Since this image has been making its way around, it only made sense to address it here. Following a previous announcement all the way back in May 2016, it seems 9Story Media (who currently own Garfield and Friends' distribution rights) has followed through with their plans and remastered the entire series in 4K!

As of this post, no footage of the restoration has been officially released, so whether or not these use the US masters is up in the air. I did however stumble across a set of images on 9Story's distribution site which seem to confirm they've been cropped to create a false widescreen image. Real unfortunate decision, as the picture quality is far superior to the DVDs (although a bit over saturated).

Original

Restored(?)

Oh hey, I'm still here

... ah right, this blog.

Been over three years since I last wrote something here. Have to admit, I lost some interest for a good while, but some recent discoveries have made me want to revisit this place and possibly start things up again.

Eeeuugggh, just looking at the way I used to write here is a real headache. Whether I end up posting again after this or not, I can promise one thing... I won't sound like some snobby, Garfield-savvy know-it-all. At least not intentionally. 

There's too many updates to squeeze into one post, but it only makes sense to showcase my most recent discovery.

Behold on the left -- two more original U.S. Acres Quickie screens! The tape I got these on appears to be copied from an online source -- unfortunately I haven't been able to track down said source, so unless it shows up somewhere, this is probably the best quality we're going to get.

Nevertheless, I think we can all appreciate finally seeing the "Definitions" quickie gag in its original form.

Will there be more posts, or is this just a crazy one-off to tide you guys over until another three years pass by? We'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.