1250: Garfield's Horror Theatre Plus Actual Horror
| Garfield's Horror Theatre Plus Actual Horror |
 Made by: Kung Fu Cthulhu |
Explanation[edit | edit source]
This strip's premise is explained in the author's notes; however, this strip's author appeared to have forgotten about or otherwise been unaware of 328: Garfield of Leaves, which also tackled the October 1989 horror arc as a whole (two other SRoMG strips, #128 and #234, had used elements from singular original Garfield strips in that arc prior to even #328). (To be fair to this strip's author, the October 1989 horror arc as a whole had not been tackled again since #328; between that strip and this one, only #403 and #458 had made use of individual original Garfield strips within the arc.) The strip's credits also highlight the fact that the "Garfield's Horror Theater" original strip first ran exactly 17 years after the concluding strip of the 1989 horror arc.
The author writes:[edit | edit source]
These were always the Garfield strips that I thought stood out among the myriad of others. It was one that forsook humour in order to provide insight into an otherwise flat character, as well as presenting one of the most common fears shared among living beings: loneliness. In the way the arc presented itself, it not only succeeds to be creepy (by Newspaper Comic standards, anyway) and portray a certain amount of character development, but it also manages to become artistic, something that one wouldn't expect from a gag-a-day strip. I feel like this is easily the best thing that Jim Davis has ever written for entertainment purposes.
Why I edited this thing together was for two reasons: the first being that the infamous Halloween 1989 arc had yet to be parodied on this site (to my knowledge; I've read almost all of the SRoMG strips that have been published as I type this), and the last being that there had yet to be a "Horror Theatre" edit that was actually, well, scary. I feel like this strip not only accomplishes both of these things, but it can also be seen as an "Ending" of sorts to the fad. As it was with the "Garfield Skynet Garfield" spoof and the insipid "Pudding Pops" fad, the strips will obviously persist after the "Ending", which is perfectly fine with me.
For those of you wondering why I left the "WE'RE OUT OF COOKIES!" gag in, I did it to keep the 7×3 format of the strip working, which would keep it from having a blank space shoved in there. I feel like it sort of works as a half-hearted jump scare.
P.S.: Before anyone brings this up on the forums: Garfield is not dead. Jim Davis disproved that theory years ago.
Original strips: 1989-10-23, 1989-10-24, 1989-10-25, 1989-10-26, 1989-10-27, 1989-10-28, 2006-10-28.
Transcript[edit | edit source]
Garfield: Welcome to "Garfield's Horror Theater".
Garfield: Brr, there's a chill in here this morning.
Garfield: What an eerie sensation...
Garfield: This doesn't feel like my home.
Garfield: Jon? Odie?
Garfield: Anybody home?
Garfield: I'm alone.
Narrator: YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW ALONE YOU ARE, GARFIELD.
Garfield: Steady, Garfield. There must be a good reason why the house is empty.
Garfield: Jon must be at the grocery.
Garfield: My home as been abandoned. No one has lived here for years!
Garfield: But, that means... I haven't lived here for years!
Garfield: What's that?!
Garfield: WE'RE OUT OF COOKIES!
Garfield: Jon! Odie! You're home!
Jon: Hello, Garfield. Have some food.
Narrator: Locked fast within a time when he no longer exists, Garfield
grapples with his greatest fear... Loneliness.
Narrator: After years of taking life for granted, Garfield is shaken by a horrifying vision of the inevitable process called "Time". He only has one weapon...
Narrator: Denial.
Garfield: I DON'T WANT TO BE ALONE!
Jon: Want some breakfast, Garfield?
Garfield: Who needs IT? I need YOU!
Narrator: An imagination is a powerful tool. It can tint memories of the past, shade perceptions of the present, or paint a future so vivid that it can entice... or terrify, all depending upon how we conduct ourselves today...
Garfield: You have been watching "Garfield's Horror Theater".
