TV Show Info
Show Name: Garfield’s Halloween Adventure
Studio: CBS
Genre(s): Animated/Seasonal
Release Date(s): October 30, 1985
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Jon…I hate you…I hate you with a passion.
It is Halloween and Garfield is celebrating. With Odie helping him trick-or-treat, Garfield sets out to get the most candy he can. When Garfield and Odie accidentally drift away on a raft while trying to reach another neighborhood, they find a haunted house and face ghost pirates seeking their treasure.
Garfield’s Halloween Adventure originally aired on CBS on October 30, 1985. It was based on an original story by Jim Davis, and an adaptation expanded the story in the cartoon. Also called Garfield in Disguise, it won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.
Chill Odie…I got this one!
This special was one of those specials that aired regularly for years. Along with It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, it was one of the few Halloween specials that you could watch as a kid and it was fun to mix it up with the horror movies that peppered the seasonal landscape.
Garfield was relatively “new” at the time and this also predates the perennial A Garfield Christmas (which came out on December 21, 1987). I remember growing up loving Garfield being from Indiana and this was one of the first times to get to see him animated.
Nothing terrifying here at all.
The story is very unbalanced. The first half revolves around Garfield’s quest for candy and the second half has a ghost story that is solved by simply running away. The ghost pirates just kind of randomly show up (and they do actually appear rather terrifying). They don’t really add anything to the plot other than make it more “Halloween-y”.
Garfield’s Halloween Adventure is a classic for kids from the ’80s and still is enjoyable for younger kids. It doesn’t hold up as well as some of the other cartoons, but if you are a fan of Garfield and looking for something to check out when Halloween rolls around (or seeking nostalgia), it is usually easily found on YouTube.
Related Links:
A Garfield Christmas (1987)
http://basementrejects.com/review/a-garfield-christmas-1987/
Garfield’s Thanksgiving (1989)
http://basementrejects.com/review/garfields-thanksgiving-1989/
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