Garfield in Disguise (1985): Garfield’s Halloween Adventure
Garfield’s Halloween Adventure aka Garfield in Disguise (1985) is the perfect mix of Saturday-morning nostalgia and Halloween-night spookiness. Think trick-or-treating, pirate ghosts, and plenty of lasagna-fueled attitude.
Garfield’s Halloween Adventure
Alternate title: Garfield in Disguise
Director: Phil Roman
Country: USA
If you grew up watching network television in the 1980s, you probably remember a half hour of spooky October fun that featured a lasagna loving cat with a slow drawl and a large appetite for candy.
This animated special goes by two names: Garfield in Disguise and Garfield’s Halloween Adventure.
When it first aired on October 30, 1985, CBS called it Garfield in Disguise. That was the name Jim Davis originally gave it and the one used in the early TV listings and promotional materials.
When the special hit VHS, they switched the title to Garfield’s Halloween Adventure, because that sounded easier for families to spot as a Halloween story.
Both names stuck, but Garfield’s Halloween Adventure became the more common one.
For several years afterwards, it was part of seasonal broadcast rotation around late October along with other holiday staples such as Garfield’s Thanksgiving (1989) and A Garfield Christmas (1987).
The Plot
The Garfield Halloween special begins with our titular cat sleeping in front of the TV.
When Binky the Clown bursts onto the screen shouting about Halloween, Garfield (voiced by Lorenzo Music) perks up fast.
“Free candy” is all Garfield needs to hear to decide to go trick or treating.
He figures that two candy bags mean twice the loot, so he convinces Odie to tag along, claiming that Halloween is the one night when dogs have to help cats find candy.
The two rummage through the attic and dig up old costumes. After some experimenting, Garfield picks a pirate outfit and Odie dresses as his mate.
Costumed and ready, they head out into the neighborhood, collecting candy from house to house.
Odie trembles at the sight of all the Halloween costumes, but Garfield is no “scaredy cat.” He tells Odie the monsters are just children in disguise—until he lifts a few masks and finds out some of them aren’t human.
Chasing the promise of even more candy, Garfield leads Odie farther from home than planned.
They find a river, climb into an old rowboat, and paddle across a creaky, isolated mansion near the shore.
Inside the mansion, the pirate theme takes over.
Garfield and Odie stumble upon an older man who tells them a ghost story about pirates who hid their treasure there a century ago.
The pirates had looted countless ships and fled to the house to escape the authorities.
Before sailing off into a storm, they signed a blood oath to return for their gold on Halloween night—even if they had to rise from the grave to do it.
When the clock strikes midnight, the man’s story comes true, and the long-dead pirates return.
Luckily, Garfield and Odie manage to escape and leave the island.
The episode concludes with Garfield and Odie sharing their candy.
In the TV version, the story ends there. But in the 1985 book adaptation, there is an additional scene in which the ghost pirates come back to reclaim a ring that Garfield had taken from their treasure. The pirates chase them up a tree, and Garfield surrenders the ring, allowing the ghosts to depart.
How it Ties Into Other Garfield Movies and Specials
Garfield’s Halloween Adventure is the fourth in a run of primetime Garfield television specials produced across the 1980s and early 1990s.
The specials include titles such as Here Comes Garfield, Garfield on the Town, Garfield in the Rough, Garfield in Paradise, and A Garfield Christmas.
Many of those specials share creative DNA with this one in terms of director Phil Roman and the principal voice cast.
The Halloween entry stands out because it is the one that most often gets revisited during the season and because it won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 1986.
The Creative Team Behind Garfield’s Halloween Adventure
The screenplay comes from Jim Davis the creator of the Garfield comic strip.
In an interview with The A.V. Club on October 27, 2014, he mentioned wanting to start the special with familiar elements (Garfield’s typical behavior and excitement for candy) and then shift the tone to something that would “at least scare four-year-olds.”
Beyond Garfield’s Halloween Adventure, Davis wrote and produced several other Garfield TV specials.
He also created U.S. Acres aka Orson’s Farm, another comic strip that was later adapted into segments on Garfield and Friends.
Phil Roman directed Garfield’s Halloween Adventure through his company Film Roman, which produced several Garfield specials and became a major force in TV animation thanks to The Simpsons and King of the Hill.
Where to Watch Garfield’s Halloween Adventure
The special was included on a DVD package called Garfield: Holiday Celebrations.
It’s also periodically available on several streaming channels, including YouTube.
Final Thoughts
Have you introduced this touchstone of late eighties network television to your children yet? Or is it your own Halloween tradition?
What other vintage Halloween specials do you think deserve more love and attention?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
And if you’re a fan of Garfield’s Halloween Adventure, you may also want to check out this Garfield Halloween 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle and a Halloween Scaredy Cat Pirate T-shirt.
Watch next: The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Halloween! (2016)
About the Author
Vanessa Morgan is the editor of When Animals Attack: The 70 Best Horror Movies with Killer Animals, Strange Blood: 71 Essays on Offbeat and Underrated Vampires Movies, Evil Seeds: The Ultimate Movie Guide to Villainous Children, and Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies. She also published one cat book (Avalon) and four supernatural thrillers (Drowned Sorrow, The Strangers Outside, A Good Man, and Clowders). Three of her stories became movies. She introduces movie screenings at several European cinemas and film festivals and is also a programmer for the Offscreen Film Festival in Brussels. When she is not writing, you will probably find her eating out or taking photos of felines for her website, Traveling Cats.
Discover more cat movies in my book Meow! Cats in Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy Movies.
I love all things Garfield.
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Have a fabulous Awww Monday and week. ♥
I watch it every year! Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween without it.
I absolutely adore Garfield and so pleased to show my kids the shows online.