Garfield’s Halloween Adventure
First, thanks for making the first week of Dino Drac’s 2016 Halloween Countdown a smash success. Well actually I have no idea if it was a smash success. But it felt okay.
And thanks for being a part of Dino Drac’s After Dark’s first week, too! The survey responses have been tremendous. They’re now my favorite things to read on my phone when I’m hiding under blankets in total darkness. Sometimes you manage to spook me.
I’m very excited about next week’s run of goodies, which should/will include a new video, the next podcast and maybe one of those heavy hitter topics that I’m realllllly trying to portion out slowly. Stay tuned. You have to.
Get ready to watch Garfield’s Halloween Adventure, which is suddenly available on YouTube on many different accounts. (Not sure what that’s about. Maybe Jim Davis worked out a profit sharing agreement. Or maybe these uploads aren’t long for the world.)
One thing I’ve learned about Garfield’s Halloween Adventure? It’s a super hard sell for people who didn’t grow up watching it. I can’t deny that nostalgia plays a part. Halloween certainly had more than two animated TV specials, but the two that people my age remember most are Charlie Brown’s and Garfield’s. Nothing else comes close.
It debuted in 1985 and returned annually for years, though admittedly for nowhere near as many years as It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which still gets played today. I was six years old when the special began its run, and would grow to consider no Halloween season complete until I’d heard Garfield sing the “Scaredy Cat” song.
It’s ironic that I get so much mileage out of the Halloween season as an adult, because I definitely didn’t as a kid. Back then, it was like five scattered days of fun, tops. There was the day you got your costume. The day you carved your pumpkin. Mischief Night, if you were old and stupid enough. And finally Halloween itself.
Somewhere in the middle of them was the day (night, actually) that you got to watch Halloween specials on television. Cartoons, in prime time! It was one of the season’s biggest events, and the season didn’t have many of them.
So thanks, Garfield. You gave weight to my Halloween seasons back when I needed the assists. In return, I will never stop watching your silly special. Or telling other people to watch it. Demanding, really.
In the comments, talk about your favorite Halloween specials, Halloween sitcom episodes, and/or Halloween made-for-television movies. Which did you love? Which became parts of your annual traditions? Which do you wish you’d gotten to see more than just once?
