We did the Garfield related holiday specials as Lookbacks but much like "Peanuts" , "Garfield" did branch out into TV specials. So we are starting another sub-series for a look at "Garfield" specials. (Yay) Much like the Peanuts specials reviews we aren't going in order of appearance we are going just kind of in a flow. Let's start with "Garfield's Babes and Bullets" (What?)
This special came out in 1989 on guess what network? Yeah CBS. (The Charlie Brown Specials network , but we also have Garfield too) On May 23rd to be exact. Voice casting is as expected with Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield, there's also Law Rawls singing. Directed by Phil Roman like most of the specials. It won an Primetime Emmy for Oustanding Animated program (One Hour or Less) in 1989. Let's begin.
Garfield is bored. So of course he finds a trench coach and fedora and ends up in a noir movie. (Just like real life) The special turns black and white (saves on the coloring budget) and Garfield plays a private investigator named Sam Spayed (Really? Double Checks. Oh oh my) who like classic noir movies, narrates. Of course since this a private detective special a woman has to appear asking for for our hero's help. (They did another spayed joke too) The woman says her husband was murdered and needs Sam's help. (We are going with Garfield's character name here) The woman's name is Tanya O'Tabby.
Hey! She's not a tabby. /Copyright Garfield
Even the intro of the special is in black and white and Low Rawls sings the theme because of course. Sam decides to take the case and look for who murdered Tanya's 23 year old college professor husband. So Sam decides to go the morgue to look at Mr. O'Tabby's body. I love the morgue guy ,Burt Fleebish, he's kind of off but seems to enjoy his job. Sam drives to the scene of the crime and runs into Tanya who says that she's trying to figure out a clue of why her husband was there in the first place. They have coffee together and I think Sam has a thing for her.
Burt Feebish a Man of the town.
A big guy beats up Sam because you can't have a private detective thing without them being beaten up right ,Richard Diamond? Sam goes to the college to ask another professor some questions. This special mentions the world coffee alot.
Coffee so hot it seems from the side.
My Review: First oh the jokes, they kept going in this special I didn't write them because that's would be a lot and again watch the special to see the fun. Yes Sam Spayed. They did about 3 of those jokes based off his name. It is funny the used the Sam Spade character name with their own twist. The special did a good job of using the standard things you see in old detective movies having some twists on them and really being as fun as they could be with them. I really had fun watching it. The music fits very well , where they went with retro styled music then the background music really fit the mood. You can also try and piece the clues together yourself and figure out who did the murder. I can see why it won an Emmy in 1989 beating another Garfield special. If you like noir films , noir parodys, or both this is your special, and if you like Garfield it's a bonus. Well timed, well paced, funny, affectionate to what's parodying , has some good twists with it's parody, great animation, and wonderful music and acting give it try.
That's our look back , tune in next time (as we put on our fedora and trench coat) after we solve this case.
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