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.
