Jim Davis' snarky comic strip cat, Garfield, returns to primetime with a 1991 Christmas special.
If the animation looks a little off at the start, it's to illustrate a dream sequence that Garfield (Lorenzo Music) is having. Instead of spending the holidays at home, Garfield is packed off for a trip to visit Jon's parents on their farm. Pat Carroll and David Lander are among the guest stars.
Here's "A Garfield Christmas":
If you've seen these scenes played out in the daily strip, you know what to expect.
Rating: A.
4 comments:
I see the clip provided is of the '91 revised version of the special. Prior to 1991, the scene of Grandma playing the piano was not animated, but appeared in a book adaptation of the special from '87. Several shots were re-worked as well including Grandma telling Garfield about her husband. When the special appeared on Hulu a few years ago, it used a restored print using the '87 version instead.
Hmmm, I wonder why they went back and did a reboot?
I still don't know, I assume they had the piano sequence planned out but perhaps they couldn't fit it in at the last minute back in '87, but it is quite a stretch of time between then and the early 90's to go and fix it. Another interesting change comes when the guys leave to go to bed after the dad reads the Binky story. In '87, he's show having this dizzy look on his face while in '91, he's got this bored, slightly peeved look!
http://imgur.com/RFadT8E
Someone a while back posted clips from the '87 version of these moments clipped/altered in '91. Not great video though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIBMIuMezJI
The tune when Garfield spies on Odie used to sync up a lot better in '87, especially the plop sound effect matching the final notes at the end as the letters fall on Garfield's head.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohAuJxm-W_Q
Here's the Grandma talking to Garfield scene in a split-screen fashion, not perfect of course! I thought this was probably be best of the scenes they redid simply for the darker atmosphere with the shadows and even showing Grandpa in the picture frame. The lesser cuts used certainly added a bit of weight to the seriousness of Grandma's memories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvAwpyhiKYg
Next year, I'll see if I can find the original cut from '87.....
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