A Mailman a Day...

What's the ideal snack? An apple? Potato chips? Chocolate cake?

For Garfield, it's the mailman's pants.

Based on the strip from June 22, 1986 (below), this is yet another quickie seen in the original CBS run but missing from all modern releases. I've actually had this quickie for a good while, but timestamp issues on the disc it came on posed too much of a challenge for me to upload it back when I first started this blog, and I basically forgot about it. Having come across another copy of the quickie in the big cache of recordings that was recently shared with me, I can finally share it with y'all! A big thanks to SOA, who has identified themselves in the comments of another post.

Comparing the quickie with the comic strip original, the adaptation is pretty faithful to the original, with only a few minor tweaks. Garfield doesn't mention milk in the quickie, instead substituting that for the inarguably sillier-sounding "moo goo gai pan." The rest of the adjustments are purely visual, mostly to create a more dynamic staging. I think the quickie loses a little bit of the original's energy by not showing Garfield and the mailman on screen together, but the latter's reaction to his forthcoming fate is great.

In the original, Garfield sits (presumably watching the mailman run off), while the quickie shows him walking back home with a more mischievous look on his face. proud of what he's done. It may boil down to personal preference here, but I think the original visual has a bit more edge. I like the idea that Garfield isn't just casually doing this. Making the mailman's life miserable is as important to Garfield as kicking Odie off the table or inflating Jon's grocery bill, and he's fully into it. Even after the mailman gets away, Garfield delights in his hasty departure.

Both gags are funny, but whenever given the choice, I like my Garfield with a little bit of an edge.

Come to think of it, how much do you think the mailman spends on pants every year?