Product Details

• Actors: Lorenzo Music, Thom Huge, Gregg Berger, Howard Morris, Frank Welker
• Writers: Jim Davis
• Producers: Jim Wyatt
• Format: Animated, Box set, Color, Dubbed, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 1.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 1.0)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Dubbed: Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• DVD Release Date: July 27, 2004
• Run Time: 30 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000244EK6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,355 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Garfield and Friends, Volume One" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Garfield, the newspaper cartoon strip by Jim Davis, was such a hit when adapted to occasional animated specials on CBS in the 1980s that the network built a Saturday morning series, Garfield and Friends, around the portly, sardonic cat. The new show, wrapped within its winning programming formula, also proved successful. Episodes of Garfield and Friends featured two eight-minute stories starring Garfield, the airhead pooch Odie, and their owner, bachelor Jon Arbuckle, that were joined by one short, delightful new cartoon called U.S. Acres, concerning the misadventures of a group of barnyard animals led by a clever pig called Orson. Garfield and Friends expanded to an hour by season 2 and lasted seven years; several members of the vocal cast also had leading roles on U.S. Acres, and both shows attracted such celebrity guests as Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and Debra Messing.

As with the CBS specials, Garfield and Friends fortunately found Jim Davis in a hands-on, production capacity. But if the new shorts prove not quite as soulful as those longer, prior productions, they are nonetheless witty, well-written, and spirited. The 24 episodes (48 individual Garfield 'toons in all) included in Garfield and Friends, Volume 1 are full of fresh ideas and good laughs. Among the highlights are "Box o' Fun," in which Garfield proves to have a Snoopy streak when an ordinary cardboard box becomes (courtesy of Garfield's imagination) a vessel for numerous, wild-eyed adventures. In "Nothing to Sneeze At," Liz the veterinarian consents to a mercy date with Jon, only to find Garfield jealously tagging along. The slapstick "Magic Mutt" finds Garfield and a dog dueling in a magic shop, turning one another (and poor Jon) into a variety of animal and human forms. About U.S. Acres: It may take an episode or two to catch on, but once it does, the show proves to have a sweet sophistication similar to Garfield. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Get set for the first Garfield & Friends collection, featuring 24 episodes of the hilarious animated Saturday Morning TV series starring that fat and sassy feline who lives for lasagna and can't stand diets, exercise and Mondays!  Along with his not-too-bright pooch pal, Odie, and gullible owner, Jon, Garfield coughs up a hairball of humor that every human will love. Each episode contains a Garfield sandwich, featuring two slices of Garfield & Friends and a chewy center of U.S. Acres, the show featuring Garfield’s farm-fresh friends, also created by comic genius Jim Davis.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars YAY!!!!!!! July 26, 2004

A Kid's Review

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 Read more ›

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

By K. Ostrowski

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. Read more ›

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Splut! May 7, 2004

By J. L. K.

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) Read more ›