''Garfield in Paradise'' is a 1986 animated television special directed by

Phil Roman Philip Roman (born December 21, 1930) is an American animator and the director of the ''Peanuts'' and ''Garfield'' animated specials. He is the founder of the animation studios Film Roman and Phil Roman Entertainment. Early life Philip Roman w ...

, based on the ''

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976 (later changed to ''Garfield'' in 1977), then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978, it chro ...

'' comic strip by Jim Davis. It features

Lorenzo Music Gerald David "Lorenzo" Music (May 2, 1937 – August 4, 2001) was an American actor, composer, musician, performer, writer and producer. Music began his career in the 1960s with his wife, Henrietta, forming the comedy duo Gerald and His Hen. He ...

as the voice of

the house cat, other regulars Thom Huge and

Gregg Berger Gregory Alan Berger (born December 10, 1950) is an American voice actor. He is known for his roles as Jecht from ''Final Fantasy X'' and the ''Dissidia Final Fantasy'' games, Grimlock from ''The Transformers (TV series), The Transformers'', Myste ...

, and guest star

Wolfman Jack Robert Weston Smith (January 21, 1938July 1, 1995), known as Wolfman Jack, was an American disc jockey active for over three decades. He was famous for his gravelly voice, and credited it with his success, saying, "It's kept meat and potatoes on ...

. It originally aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

on May 27, 1986. This was the fifth of twelve

Garfield television specials The Garfield television specials are a series of twelve half-hour long American animated television specials based on the ''Garfield'' comic strip of the same name created by Jim Davis. Most specials were directed by Phil Roman, written by Davi ...

made between 1982 and 1991. The story concerns the characters visiting a tropical vacation destination. The special was nominated for the

Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program The Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program is a Creative Arts Emmy Award which is given annually to an animated series. In the following list, the first titles listed in gold are the winners; those not in gold are nominees, which ...

and has been released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

Plot

Jon Arbuckle Jonathan Q. "Jon" Arbuckle is a fictional character from the ''Garfield'' comic strip by Jim Davis. He also appears in the animated television series ''Garfield and Friends'' and ''The Garfield Show'', two live-action/animated feature films, a ...

and

take their third class airline trip to Paradise World, a cheapskate's version of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. When they arrive on the island, Jon and Garfield check in at a deserted motel and are soon disappointed to find out that there is no beach within sight, and only an empty swimming pool in the back instead. When Jon and Garfield enter their room, they find

Odie This is a list of characters in the ''Garfield'' comic strip, created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis, organized by category and date of first appearance. Main characters Garfield First Appearance: June 19, 1978 Garfield is Jon's orang ...

hiding in their luggage. None of the trio has any fun until Jon, Garfield, and Odie plan to rent a car and search for a beach around the island. For a cheap price, they get a really nice and classic

Chevrolet Bel Air The Chevrolet Bel Air is a full-size car produced by Chevrolet for the 1950–1981 model years. Initially, only the two-door hardtops in the Chevrolet model range were designated with the Bel Air name from 1950 to 1952. With the 1953 model year, ...

to hit the beach and later begin to choose where to go when their car mysteriously speeds into a jungle on its own, stopping in the middle of a native village. Jon, Garfield, and Odie presume that they are in trouble until the natives begin kowtowing to their car. They meet the tribal chief (The High Ramma-Lamma), who explains that the villagers (The Ding-Dongs) learned English "from watching a lot of beach movies". In 1957, the Cruiser, a

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He became one of the most influential figures in Hollywood in the 1950s, despite a career that lasted only five years. His impact on cinema and popular culture was p ...

Fonzie Arthur Herbert Fonzarelli, better known as "Fonzie" or "The Fonz", is a fictional character played by Henry Winkler in the American sitcom ''Happy Days'' (1974–1984). He was originally a secondary character, but was soon positioned as a lea ...

-styled legend, drove his car into the village and introduced the people to the 1950s pop culture. The Cruiser eventually saved the village by sacrificing himself and driving his car into a nearby volcano to prevent it from erupting. The village is dedicated to a 1950s lifestyle and believes that Jon's rental car is actually the same one the Cruiser owned. In the village, Jon and Garfield find romance with the tribal princess, Owooda, and her cat, Mai-Tai. Meanwhile, the chief orders the village idiot, Monkey, to fix the car with Odie's assistance. Suddenly, the volcano begins to erupt and Owooda tells Jon that she and Mai-Tai must sacrifice themselves to save the village. However, the volcano rejects Owooda and Mai-Tai, and the village shaman, Pigeon, interprets that it wants the car instead and, if it does not have the car within thirty seconds, it will blow the island to pieces. Monkey and Odie make their last attempt to get the car fixed, which still does not work until Odie successfully taps the distributor cap with a hammer. The car finally starts and zooms through the village and up the volcano with Monkey driving and Odie hanging onto the hood. The car plummets into the crater, the volcano finally erupts, and the Cruiser's spirit and car's ghost drift out, speed off, and vanish into the night sky; the volcano is now at peace. Monkey and Odie are presumed dead until they climb out of the crater unharmed. Jon, Garfield, and the villagers finally carry Monkey and Odie back to the village in a hero's fashion.

Voice cast

as Garfield * Thom Huge as Jon Arbuckle *

as Odie/Pigeon *

as the Chief * Frank Nelson as Hotel Clerk/Salesman *

Desirée Goyette Desirée Goyette-Bogas (''née'' Goyette) is an American singer, composer, lyricist and voice-over artist. She has been nominated for two Grammy Awards and has voiced such characters as Betty Boop, Barbie, Nermal, Petunia Pig, Honey Bunny a ...

as Owooda * Julie Payne as Mai-Tai/Stewardess *

Nino Tempo Antonino LoTempio (January 6, 1935 – April 10, 2025) was an American musician, singer, and actor. He was a duet partner with his older sister April Stevens as well as the frontman for a 1970s funk band, 5th Ave. Sax. Biography Early life Anto ...

as Monkey * Carolyn Davis as Female Cat * Hal Smith as Off-screen voice

Songs

* "Inversion Layer Airlines Jingle" performed by

* "Hello, Hawaii (Can I Come Over?)" performed by

Lou Rawls Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American baritone singer. He released 61 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably the song " You'll Never Find Another Love like Min ...

and

* "Beauty and the Beach" performed by

, Thom Huge, and

* "When I Saw You" performed by Thom Huge and

Production

The special guest stars disc jockey

as the tribal chief. Creator Jim Davis was excited to work with Jack on the special, explaining, "It was just way fun. We did it for silliness." This was the final credit for Frank Nelson, who, once again, portrayed a variation on his recurring character from ''

The Jack Benny Program ''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio and television comedy series. The show ran for over three decades, from 1932 to 1955 on radio, and from 1950 to 1965 on television. It won numerous awards, including the 1959 and 19 ...

''.

Broadcast and release

The special first aired on May 27, 1986, at prime time on

. It was aired again in subsequent years. An illustrated

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

adaptation was published by

Ballantine Books Ballantine Books is a major American book publisher that is a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Ballantine was founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. Ballantine was acquired by Random House in ...

in 1986. In February 2005, the special was included on the

'' Garfield Travel Adventures'' along with the specials ''

Garfield in the Rough ''Garfield in the Rough'' is a 1984 American animated television special based on the Garfield comic strip. It once again featured Lorenzo Music as the voice of Garfield. The special was first broadcast on October 26, 1984, on CBS. It has been rel ...

'' (1984) and '' Garfield Goes Hollywood'' (1987). It was released on another DVD compilation, ''The Garfield Holiday Collection'', on November 4, 2014, sold only by

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

, and was also made available for digital download on November 11 that year.

Reception

The special was nominated for the

in 1986. The only other nominee was another ''Garfield'' special, ''

Garfield's Halloween Adventure ''Garfield's Halloween Adventure'' (originally titled ''Garfield in Disguise'') is a 1985 American animated television special based on the ''Garfield'' comic strip. It is directed by Phil Roman and written by ''Garfield'' creator Jim Davis, and ...

'', which won. In his 2005

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

review, Randy Miller III complimented the special on "memorable characters" specifically the

doppelganger and Wolfman Jack's character, concluding, "Plus, Jon gets some action." In 2008, Dan Walsh, creator of the website '' Garfield Minus Garfield'' recalled watching the specials and claimed, "I can still do a perfect rendition of 'Hello Hawaii,' from ''Garfield in Paradise.''" In 2014, Jim Davis identified ''Garfield in Paradise'' as "absolutely one of my favorites. It's bright, funny, here'srock n' roll in it."

References

External links

* {{Film Roman Garfield television specials 1980s American television specials 1980s animated television specials 1986 television specials 1986 in American television CBS television specials Television shows directed by Phil Roman Film Roman television specials Television shows written by Jim Davis (cartoonist)