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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
YAY!!!!!!!, July 26, 2004
A Kid's Review
This review is from: Garfield and Friends, Volume One (DVD)
Finally!!!!! This is great!! I always wanted Garfield and Friends on DVD!! and now my dream has come true. I just got this and it's great. The way the show goes is,
Garfield show
U.S. Acres show
Garfield Show
Garfield or U.S Acres Quickie.
Wonderfully, I found what episodes are in the show!!! Here they are (This list does not list Quickies.)
Disc 1
:Show #1: Garfield's Moving Experience / Wade, You're Afraid / Good Mousekeeping
Show #2: Nighty Nightmare / Banana Nose / Ode To Odie
Show #3: Fraidy Cat / Shell Shocked Sheldon / Nothing To Sneeze At
Show #4: Garfield: Peace and Quiet / U.S. Acres Wanted: Wade! / Garfield Goes Hawaiian
Show #5: Box O'Fun / Unidentified Flying Orson / School Daze
Show #6: Identity Crisis / The Bad Sport / Up A Tree
Show #7: Weighty Problem / The Worm Turns / Good Cat, Bad Cat
Show #8: Cabin Fever / Return Of Power Pig / Fair Exchange
Disc 2:
Show #9: The Binky Show / Keeping Cool / Don't Move!
Show #10: Magic Mutt / Short Story / Monday Misery
Show #11: Best Of Breed / National Tapioca Pudding Day / All About Odie
Show #12: Caped Avenger / Shy Fly Guy / Green Thumbs Down
Show #13: Forget Me Not / I Like Having You Around / Sales Resistance
Show #14: Pest Of A Guest / The Impractical Joker / Fat And Furry
Show #15: Rip Van Kitty / Grabbity / The Big Catnap
Show #16: The Great Getaway / Scrambled Eggs / Hansel And Garfield
Disc 3:
Show #17: The Sludge Monster / Fortune Kooky / Heatwave Holiday
Show #18: One Good Fern Deserves Another / Goody Go-Round / The Black Book
Show #19: The Legend Of The Lake / Double Oh Orson / Health Feud
Show #20: Binky Gets Cancelled! / Show Stoppers / Cutie & The Beast
Show #21: The Lasagna Zone / Sleepytime Pig / Yojumbo
Show #22: Pros And Cons / Rooster Revenge / Lights! Camera! Garfield!
Show #23: The Legend of Polecat Flats / Hogcules / Brain Boy
Show #24: Maine Course / No Laughing Matter / Attack of the Mutant
Bonus Material: Trailer for Garfield Movie
This set has three DVD's and about 9 hours and 30 minutes of film time.
This Is great!! I would also suggest Garfield as himself,also Garfield's Holiday specials coming ou this October
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Just as much fun now as it was years ago..., January 24, 2005
This review is from: Garfield and Friends, Volume One (DVD)
Garfield and Friends was always one of the funniest cartoons on TV when I was a young kid. In fact, aside from your Looney Tunes, your Animaniacs and your Fairly Oddparents, I think it's one of the funniest cartoons ever.
There are a number of "Quickies" in this show that are short jokes, most of which are animated versions of actual comic strips, and at the show's midpoint, there is a cartoon originally called "Orson's Farm" and later called "U. S. Acres," featuring a number of unique and amusing characters. Orson; the pig voice of reason and the cultured one, Wade the eternal scaredy-cat duck, Roy the trick-playing rooster, Sheldon, the walking egg whose legs are the only part of him that are hatched, but who somehow has all manner of appliances in his shell, and so on and so forth. These characters each have their own unique behavior patterns, but are funniest when some running-gag is introduced to their lives or when making fun of public service announcements (which is what I choose to interpret large parts of this cartoon as.) However, virtually every time Orson and Friends come on, they wind up in a musical number, many of which are really quite trite. However, I'm going to dismiss even many of these for a reason I will later outline.
The real meat of the show is Garfield himself, and he, Odie and Jon (and occasionally a guest-character or several) occupy two thirds of the show's longer segments. Garfield and his supporting cast are quick with a joke and good at coming up with funny coincidences and/or well thought out cartoon gags a few times every minute, which may not seem like much where sheer volume is concerned, but when Garfield does it, it feels classy.
Many of Garfield's supporting characters get by largely on the strength of either a light-hearted parody (Cactus Jake,) a modified running-gag (Binky) or else an innocence that leads to them being funny in Garfield context or developing a funny joke without realizing it (Nermal.)
However, the most funny thing about Garfield and Friends is easily its tongue-in-cheek parodies of just about everything that occurred before and during the 80s. Garfield was the master of the tongue-in-cheek parody. His show showcased rather frequently concepts that were already very popular in animated cartoon shows (such as the public service announcement, the talent show, the cowboy episodes and so forth,) but these concepts, while only mildly interesting in something like The Flintstones or Scooby-Doo, are truly hilarious in Garfield because Garfield knows how trite these concepts are, smugly professes that, then uses them anyway and in some cases, even apologizes to the audience. One that really stands out in my mind is when a half-staggering man tells Garfield, Jon and Odie to "walk this way" (another popular cartoon cliche of the time,) and he responds by looking right at the screen and saying "Don't worry, folks. We're not gonna do that stupid joke." I laugh every time I think about that. Making fun of cliches is something I've always found wonderfully amusing. I loved it in MST3K, I loved it in the Simpsons, and I love it in Garfield.
The quiet cynicism with which Garfield pulls off this lost art of making fun of the cliches appearing in one's own animated series sets a beautiful mood for humor, and when you think about it, sort of reminds you of a real cat's attitude. This is Garfield's greatest strength and the reason I have excused so much of the Triteness of U. S. Acres.
"Garfield and Friends; Volume 1" contains slightly more than one season of this wonderful show and introduces many of the characters that made the series so funny. Garfield, Binky, Odie, Jon, Nermal, Cactus Jake, Liz and more all appear herein, perfectly faithful to the spirit of the comic strip, and in my opinion, way better than the movie.
I do have one gripe, however. During the first two seasons of this show, the theme song was rather annoying (amusing, but annoying if heard more than once in the same afternoon.) Still, it's worth it to get to see these great episodes again. I hope you like them as much as I did.
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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Splut!, May 7, 2004
This review is from: Garfield and Friends, Volume One (DVD)
The fun never ends with the first installment of the long awaited release of "Garfield and Friends" Volume 1 on DVD. This is a show that has stood the test of time and is fun for all ages. I'm 31 and I still occasionally take out my Garfield and Friends VHS tapes from their secret vault for some laughs! I, like all fans of the big orange cat, am anxiously awaiting all episodes to be released on DVD. ...I met Jim Davis last year on the 25th Anniversary tour and he is a great guy - go out and buy this DVD!! Episodes should include: Disc 1: Show #4: Garfield: Peace and Quiet / U.S. Acres Wanted: Wade! / Garfield Goes Hawaiian Show #5: Box O'Fun / Unidentified Flying Orson / School Daze Show #2: Nighty Nightmare / Banana Nose / Ode To Odie Show #3: Fraidy Cat / Shell Shocked Sheldon / Nothing To Sneeze At Show #1: Garfield's Moving Experience / Wade, You're Afraid / Good Mousekeeping Show #6: Identity Crisis / The Bad Sport / Up A Tree Show #7: Weighty Problem / The Worm Turns / Good Cat, Bad Cat Show #8: Cabin Fever / Return Of Power Pig / Fair Exchange Disc 2: Show #9: The Binky Show / Keeping Cool / Don't Move! Show #10: Magic Mutt / Short Story / Monday Misery Show #11: Best Of Breed / National Tapioca Pudding Day / All About Odie Show #12: Caped Avenger / Shy Fly Guy / Green Thumbs Down Show #13: Forget Me Not / I Like Having You Around / Sales Resistance Show #14: Pest Of A Guest / The Impractical Joker / Fat And Furry Show #15: Rip Van Kitty / Grabbity / The Big Catnap Show #16: The Great Getaway / Scrambled Eggs / Hansel And Garfield Disc 3: Show #17: The Sludge Monster / Fortune Kooky / Heatwave Holiday Show #18: One Good Fern Deserves Another / Goody Go-Round / The Black Book Show #19: The Legend Of The Lake / Double Oh Orson / Health Feud Show #20: Binky Gets Cancelled! / Show Stoppers / Cutie & The Beast Show #21: The Lasagna Zone / Sleepytime Pig / Yojumbo Show #22: Pros And Cons / Rooster Revenge / Lights! Camera! Garfield! Show #23: The Legend of Polecat Flats / Hogcules / Brain Boy Show #24: Maine Course / No Laughing Matter / Attack of the Mutant Bonus Material: Trailer for Garfield Movie Note: this review is NOT an endorsement for the upcoming feature film, which I will NOT be seeing. (Despite my deep admiration for the talented Bill Murray as the voice of Garfield)
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