Garfield (character)

Garfield
File:Garfield.png Garfield in black-and-white
First appearance	Garfield comic strip (June 19, 1978)
Portrayed by	Lorenzo Music (animated series and prime-time specials) Bill Murray (live-action/CGI films since Garfield: The Movie)
In-universe information
Species	Orange Tabby cat
Gender	Male
Family	Sonja (mother), Raoul (half-brother), Jon (owner), two unnamed grandfathers, Arno (uncle), Barney/Bernice (uncle/aunt), Berle (uncle), Bernie (uncle), Bob (uncle), Ed (uncle), Edna (aunt), Evelyn (aunt), Harry (uncle), Hubert (uncle), Leo (uncle), Morty (uncle), Nick (uncle), Patrick (uncle), Ralph (great uncle), Reba (aunt), Roy (uncle), two unnamed uncles, unnamed great uncle

Garfield is the main protagonist of the comic strip Garfield by Jim Davis.

Character

He is a lazy, fat, selfish, orange, anthropomorphic tabby cat who enjoys eating (especially lasagna), sleeping, and tormenting his owner Jon and Odie the dog. He considers himself to be more intelligent than humans and other animals. He hates Mondays, and is often struck by bad luck in Monday comic strips. He enjoys performing on a wooden fence in the middle of the night, although he is usually booed at and bombarded with various objects. He can't stand spiders, and although he doesn't chase mice (unless bribed to do so), he is often seen trying to eat birds. He frequently destroys Jon's curtains and ferns, as well as the flowerbeds of Jon and their neighbor, Mrs. Feeny. He detests being taken to the vet, and usually tries to hide from Jon when informed or if he has a "feeling". In one strip sequence in 1986, their home address is revealed that Garfield, Jon and Odie live in 711 Maple Street. However, in Garfield in Paradise, Garfield's fantasy dream had a cat named Mike say that he's from Wages, Nevada(this was a fantasy), and in the Garfield & Friends episode of the 2nd season has Jon running from a Chicago airport .

Name

Jim Davis named Garfield after his grandfather, James Garfield Davis. According to an interview with Jim Davis in the second Garfield compilation book, Garfield Gains Weight, the name "Garfield" makes him think of "...a fat cat...or a St. Bernard...or a neat line of thermal underwear." He "speaks" through thought bubbles, and even though other animals can understand him, Jon generally cannot (although Jon is quite frequently shown having what looks like a conversation with Garfield's thoughts and has often guessed Garfield's thoughts verbatim, somewhat like the characters in Peanuts when talking to Snoopy).

History

Garfield was born June 19, 1978, in the kitchen of Mama Leone's Italian Restaurant and loved lasagna the day he was born. Ever since then, it has always been his favorite food. According to his grandfather, he was born five pounds, six ounces, surprisingly enough, he managed to fit in a tiny bed. Later in his life, Garfield runs across his Mother again one Christmas Eve, accidentally, and meets his other grandfather for the first time. When Jon came to the store, he had to choose between Garfield, an iguana, and a pet rock. According to the strips, Garfield first stood on just two feet on May 17, 1981. However, this contradicts some of the earlier strips. For example, he is shown tap dancing on Jon's head in the strip for May 6, 1979. Also, in the strip for September 16, 1979, Garfield sleepwalks away on two feet. In the TV special Garfield Gets a Life, Jon's car is revealed to have an Indiana vehicle registration plate at the end of the episode, indicating that they live in Indiana. In Garfield Goes Hollywood, while Jon, Mr. Bant, Odie and Garfield are on Pet Search, the announcer says that they're from Muncie, Indiana. This is possibly because Jim Davis is from Indiana, and Paws, Inc. is located in Muncie. In his cartoon appearances, Garfield usually causes mischief in every episode. In June 1983, comic strips introduced Amoeba Man, one of Garfield's alter-egos, yet he was only shown in 6 strips (6-20 through 6-25). Amoeba Man is only one of his few imaginary alter egos though, his most common one being the Caped Avenger. And for a very short period of time, Garfield would fall prey to various dogs e.g. Bungee Dog, Warm up dog etc which would squish him in any direction. It is also given that Garfield uses the "sandbox" on occasion, such as in one 1978 strip, he says he hates commercials because they're too short for a trip to the sandbox. It was revealed on October 27th, 1979 that he doesn’t like raisins. His birthday is 1978-06-19, the day the first Garfield strip was published. Interestingly, on Garfield's 25th anniversary in 2003, several strips were featured with him interacting with the version of him from 1978. Garfield frequently gets into many adventures, such as getting stuck in roll-up shades, sparring with mice, and getting locked up in animal shelters. In 2005, Garfield and Jon appeared in several comic strips of Blondie in honor of their 75th anniversary. Garfield got excited because he didn't have to think. There was an earlier Blondie crossover on the Garfield strip published April 1, 1997.

Garfield was one of the cartoon characters featured in Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.

Eating

A long running gag is that Garfield is a ravenous and gluttonous eater. He is almost always shown eating a foodstuff high in fat. Among the spaghetti, pizza, cookies (particularly those from Jon's mother) hamburgers, whole chickens, popcorn, pie, pork chops, doughnuts, ice cream, Chinese food, steaks, and sweets he consumes, his favorite food has been stated consistently as lasagna and he may commonly be seen in his trademark eating position with his head arched back, mouth wide open, shoveling food down his throat with a big smile on his face. He is very desperate to steal Jon's food, and will go to any extent to obtain it. In one strip, he snatched a cylindrical shape off a plate Jon was carrying, ate it, and remarked, "I hope that was food". Although eating is a hobby for him, Garfield is very picky. He is known to detest cat food (only on occasion, as he can be seen eating cat food frequently), raisins, snails, fruitcake, grapefruit and vegetables, especially during his occasional diets. These are followed by hallucinations of some of his favorite foods following him around, asking to be ingested.

Subsequently, another running gag revolves around Jon's attempts at putting Garfield on a diet. In retaliation, Garfield will often seek methods to either sneak away food behind Jon's back, or physically harm Jon. Another common gag is the talking scale. During each of his diets, Garfield would weigh himself, saying something to the scale first. Upon stepping off, the scale would respond by making a derogatory remark about his weight, such as "I was made for people and pets, not cargo ships".

Mischievous Habits

Garfield has a knack for mischievous habits. Besides tormenting Jon with his sarcastic remarks or kicking Odie off a table, Garfield's favorite victim is the mailman, often ripping the mailman's pants to shreds, or at times dragging the mailman around. Jon often gets calls from neighbors about his cat eating their flowerbeds or trying to eat their pet birds.

His hatred towards spiders always results with them being whacked with a rolled newspaper or stomped by his foot. He occasionally does the same to other insects such as flies (in some strips, he is shown to hate flies more than spiders).

He likes to eat ferns and other types of flowers. Some strips feature common flowers talking to each other, only to be eaten by Garfield in the end.

When outside, Garfield enjoys teasing other dogs; they are usually chained up or smaller in size than Garfield. However, he occasionally faces the misfortune of the chain/rope not being securely tied (resulting in Garfield being chased and/or injured by the dog), or the dogs are not as small/weak as they seem.

Next to Odie, Jon is his favorite person to prank. When Jon is asleep, Garfield often goes to extreme measures to wake him up - whether it be hopping on his stomach, waking him with a goblin's mask on his face, frightening Jon, or even attempting to throttle him (as he does in some early strips), Garfield always seems to have the upper hand on Jon's sleeping habits.

Family

Over the course of the strip, Gafield has shared information on members of his family:

• Uncle Arno — Known for saying, "Life is like a festival; you have to get out there and enjoy it." He was run over by a parade.
• Uncle Barney — Once went to the vet and came back as Garfield's Aunt Bernice.
• Uncle Berle — Described as crazy and thought he was a dog. He always chased himself up trees and was constantly exhausted as a result.
• Uncle Bernie — Coined the phrases, "Never listen for a train by putting your ear on a train track," and "Curiosity killed the cat," in that order.
• Uncle Bob — Used to say, "Slow down, take it easy," before being hit by a bus.
• Uncle Ed — Described as crazy, he liked to sniff waffle irons, and his face was used for tic-tac-toe games. He also always said, "Never belch out loud," and blew out an eyeball one day. However, this may be a different Uncle Ed.
• Aunt Edna — Used to say, "Let a smile be your umbrella," until her dentures were blown clean through the garage door by a bolt of lightning. She also married a hyena.
• Aunt Evelyn — Plucked all her hair from her body to stop shedding. She currently recides in L.A., with a family that thinks she is a chihuahua.
• Uncle Harry — He lived in a gas plant in Gas City, Indiana. He was a famous mouser, eventually chasing a mouse into Tank #2. He is now a paperweight in Bayonne, New Jersey.
• Uncle Hubert — Once caught a 30-pound canary in Chicago, and was last spotted over Dallas, Texas. For this reason, Garfield does not chase birds.
• Uncle Leo — Always had a smile until an incident with denture weevils.
• Uncle Morty — Was killed by his gluttony, after trying to take a papaya from a silverback gorilla.
• Uncle Nick — Loved to destroy things and used to eat chickens whole. There are two conflicting statements to his current status, however. In one strip, it is said that he tried to swallow an ostrich after he mistook it for a chicken, with his last words being, "That's the biggest chicken I ever saw." In another, it is stated that he is presently a postal employee in Chicago.
• Uncle Patrick — Famous for the quote, "I regret that I have but nine lives to give to my country."
• Great Uncle Ralph — The only mention of Great Uncle Ralph claims he was a warthog.
• Aunt Reba — Garfield reacts with her name when Jon revealed that his tennis racket was strung with catgut.
• Uncle Roy — Said to be weird, he underwent a species change operation that transformed him into a dog; He later chased himself to death.
• There are also two unnamed uncles and one great uncle. One uncle went to the vet once and had his brain replaced with that of a chicken. The rest of his life was spent sitting on eggs in grocery stores. Another uncle used to play with yarn, and is now a pattern in an angora sweater. The great uncle was lion who ate a sick monkey.
• Cousin Sly - A mouser. Appeared in Garfield on the Town.
• Raoul - Garfield's half-brother, a mouser.

Voice-Over Time Line

• Scott Beach (deceased) -1981
• Lorenzo Music (deceased) - 1982 - 1994
• Bill Murray - 2004 - 2008
• Frank Welker - 2007 - Present

Other media

The GGI version of Garfield, as seen in Garfield 2.

• In the two live-action movies and Garfield Gets Real, Garfield was created using CGI animation, though the Garfield Gets Real version is closer to his original form than his live-action movie form.
• In the animated series and prime-time specials, he was voiced by Lorenzo Music. In the live-action movies, he is voiced by Bill Murray. An interesting side note is that the two actors also shared the role of Dr. Peter Venkman as well. In Garfield Gets Real, he is voiced by Frank Welker who played Bo, Booker, and Sheldon in Garfield and Friend's U.S. Acres Episodes, and also worked with Lorenzo Music as Dr. Ray Stanz in The Real Ghostbusters, in Garfield and Friends when Lorenzo was ill Frank would occasionally voice Garfield.

External links

• Garfield - The Official Site of Garfield.