Garfield in the Rough

Storyline

Garfield is living in a boring, black and white world, claiming that all the color has gone out of his life (which explains the subtitle at the beginning "Please do not adjust your sets, all the color has temporarily gone out of Garfield's life"). Jon agrees that all the color has gone and suggests a vacation as a remedy. The color suddenly comes back into Garfield's life. He is excited that Jon wants to take him and Odie on vacation, where he imagines himself in places such as Acapulco, Honolulu and Venice. After realizing that each destination has its drawbacks, Garfield concludes it doesn't matter because they won't be staying home. This joy is short-lived once Jon announces that they're going camping. But Jon forces Garfield to go.

After a long, exhausting journey (from Garfield's point of view), the trio arrives at the campgrounds to check in, while Garfield immediately taking a dislike to one of the camp rangers for insulting him. After a few shananigans at their campsite, including placing a live fish in the coffee pot, Jon finally gets his new "super deluxe" tent set up, although the result doesn't really match the ad. Unlike Jon, who is very enthusiastic about it, Garfield doesn't take to the outdoors, stating that "it would be greater if it were inside". As night falls, the trio listen to the radio which is interrupted by a news bulletin about a panther that has escaped from a local zoo on the morning Jon, Garfield and Odie arrived at the camp lurking in the Lake Woebegone (a reference to the fictional town, Lake Wobegon) woods area. Right after this news on the radio, the announcer says: "We now return to our regular broadcast of fun music." It then plays "So Long Old Friend" from Here Comes Garfield. Garfield is terrified and tries to leave but Jon stops him and assures him that Lake Woebegone is miles from their location (as his geography skills are off) and that they're perfectly safe. Following the announcement, Jon takes out a banjo and while playing it sings a campfire song which his mother used to sing called "Camping Is My Life" (While Garfield and Odie do the background vocals while enduring it) before the trio go to bed. After they go into their tent, on the hilltops, the panther comes out and growls softly as it eyes their campsite.

The next day, Odie wakes Jon up at the crack of dawn by licking his feet. This sends Jon rolling down the hill into the lake while still in his tent with Garfield in tow. After Garfield tells Odie to play with something poisonous, Odie runs off into the nearby woods, passing a sign that reveals to be the Lake Woebegone area that the panther is lurking in (also revealing that they are actually closer to Lake Woebegone than Jon thought they were. The park rangers are hunting for the panther, and attempt to warn Jon to evacuate, but, after finding no one there, leave a note and move on. This proves unfortunate as a gust of wind kicks up after they leave, tossing the message into a recently extinguished campfire, where it burns up. Despite not hearing a man-eating beast growling in the night, Jon does find out that Garfield and Odie (to a lesser extent) have eaten all the food for the week in the middle of the night, except for the dried fruit (to which Garfield replies "Bon Appetit, mon frier.") and throws a massive fit. Meanwhile, Garfield passes off Jon's rant by heading into the nearby woods to wait for the heat to die down. While there, he starts to appreciate the beauty of nature, until he meets two forest animals, a beaver named Dicky and a bunny named Billy who warn Garfield about the escaped panther, claiming it has already attacked other forest animals. Odie appears, after scaring all but Garfield away by accident, and the two eavesdrop on the two rangers passing by with a dart gun, hoping to capture the panther. The two decide now is the time to collect Jon and leave before they are attacked by the beast and run all the way back to the campsite.

Upon their return, Garfield tries to warn Jon of the danger but Jon suggests that they have dried fruit. He also refuses to move while Garfield tries desperately to convince Odie to get into the car. However, during the commotion the full moon comes into view and shines down on the camp to reveal that the panther has now entered their campsite and is approaching the three as they look on in horror. Garfield runs up a tree while Jon and Odie hide in the tent, followed by the car as the panther tears the tent to shreds and then manages to break into the vehicle by smashing through a window. Scared but unable to watch his family being killed, Garfield leaps from the trees and takes on the panther, clawing at its head and neck but is shaken off. Garfield is in serious danger until the park rangers enter the campsite and knock the beast unconscious with a tranquilliser dart from their dart gun. Jon congrats Garfield for being a hero, Then the rangers come by and told Jon that they were heroes too for saving Garfield from the panther, if they didn't make it on time or if the dart missed the panther, Garfield, Jon & Odie would've been killed, Jon then says he feels they have had enough adventure and recommends they break camp and return to civilization, much to Garfield's joy, The rangers return the panther to the zoo, while Garfield, Jon & Odie set off for home with Garfield bragging over how he took on the panther and the special comes to an end.

Cast

Songs

Awards

Quotes adapted from the strips