Odie - Relationship To Garfield

Relationship To Garfield

Although Garfield often impugns Odie's intelligence, one strip shows him enjoying classical music on TV with the novel, War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, nearby after Jon and Garfield leave the house. (According to Davis' comments in the 20th-anniversary book, "I couldn't resist.") Another has him lock the others out of the car on a camping trip, where he enjoys the sandwiches, radio, and chips, while the others just get wet. In others he has been seen setting decoys, completing a sudoku puzzle, completing a crossword puzzle (to Jon's amazement), writing poetry, and while playing as superheros with Garfield, finding a complete outfit to one-up Garfield's cape. One theory is that there are two Odies, a smart one and the more common idiot. It may be that Odie is actually smarter than he appears, and merely uses the idiotic front as a means to gain an advantage over Garfield. In two strips, Garfield went to see what was at the end of Odie's tongue, and it turned out to be a second Odie (which Garfield dismissed as an effect of a bad can of tuna from the previous night). Odie has managed to take revenge on Garfield occasionally, and Garfield sometimes cannot avoid noticing it. Garfield acknowledges this by saying "He's not as dumb as he looks, but then again who could be?" In the first episode of The Garfield Show an alien species that resemble lasagna scan Odie with a ray that indicates brain power - the result was zero.

Garfield on numerous occasions actually does care a great deal for Odie, most notably in the first Garfield special Here Comes Garfield, in which Odie is briefly captured by the dogcatcher and a teary-eyed Garfield realizes through flashbacks of him and Odie playing together and how sad his life would be without him (in these series of flashbacks by Garfield, the song "So Long Old Friend" is played in the background). In one strip, Garfield states that Odie is made of rubber. Other times Garfield tries to put the blame on Odie for some of the mishaps he has done. Jim Davis has stated, when asked why Garfield played so many pranks on Odie, that it was because "Odie is so kick-able. He sorta doesn't care. But Garfield would never hurt Odie for real. He just gives him a pinch now and again."

Odie all too often gets kicked off the table by Garfield; once Odie tried to push Garfield off the table, but Garfield was too heavy. In addition to getting kicked off the table, Odie is often the victim of Garfield's pranks.(Although, on a much earlier strip, Odie had kicked Garfield off the table while he was wearing a Garfield mask and Garfield was wearing an Odie mask.) Curiously, Garfield has taken offense to others treating Odie in this manner. In one strip, he punches out another cat who beats up on Odie, insisting "Nobody beats up on Odie but me!" Similarly, in Garfield: The Movie after seeing Happy Chapman use a shock collar on Odie, he says, "Hey, nobody gets to mistreat my dog like that except me!" That attitude is shown in an episode of Garfield and Friends when Odie is conned out of the grocery money by an alley cat. Garfield is visibly angry at what transpired and goes to great lengths to clear Odie's name.

Odie does manage to get a little revenge on Garfield. Jim Davis stated in the 30th anniversary book that Odie gets back at Garfield every few months. Once, Jon accuses Garfield of clearing out his closet except for the T-shirt saying "I love cats." While Garfield professes his innocence, he is hurled out of the house. Comically Odie steps out to laugh at Garfield, wearing a plaid shirt, indicating he framed Garfield. In one strip, while Garfield confesses how good friend Odie was as Odie never minds Garfield playing tricks on him, Odie slyly pastes a note on Garfield's back that reads "KICK ME". Once, he managed to give Garfield a taste of his own medicine in a strip where Garfield tried to have fun with an Odie mask. Odie wasn't at the edge of the table, and while Garfield wondered where Odie was, he showed up and up (wearing a Garfield mask) and kicked the tabby off the table. On at least one occasion, Odie was also prepared for Garfield trying to kick him off the table, setting up a pillow on the floor to land on after Garfield punts him. Yet another instance involved Garfield getting stuck in a tree and asking Odie (who sees him from the window) for help. Odie tosses Garfield Jon's bowling ball, and when Garfield curses Odie for his stupidity, the extra weight added by the bowling ball causes the tree branch to break and send Garfield falling to the ground. The final panel ends with Odie smiling evilly at the reader while Garfield notes how much he hates dogs. Odie would also commonly do things to Garfield, but he gets his revenge. In one storyline, Garfield gets beat up by a bulldog after kicking him and has to wear a cast for nearly a week. The cast covers Garfield's entire body but his face. Odie torments Garfield throughout the duration of this time. In the final strip of the storyline, though, Garfield tells Jon that he'd like to keep his cast after being asked what he would like to do with it, and strikes Odie with it.