The eleventh episode of the fourth season of Garfield and Friends.
Post-Opening Sequence Line: "Hey, I'll return the favor. When you get your own cartoon show, I'll watch."
Bouncing Baby Blues
When Garfield and Odie shop at the supermarket, they accidentally take a cart with a baby in it. Garfield is tasked with looking after the baby while Jon calls his mother.
The Ugly Duckling
Orson tells Booker and Sheldon the story of the Ugly Duckling, with Wade Duck in the titular role.
Learning Lessons
When Garfield is ordered by the network to have educational content on his show, the Buddy Bears appear to give lectures on whatever Garfield mentions.
"Bouncing Baby Blues" provides examples of:
- Alliterative Title: Bouncing Baby Blues.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: This line from Garfield when he goes shopping at the beginning:"One can of orange juice, one can of grapefruit juice, one can of orange grapefruit juice."
- Broomstick Quarterstaff: When Garfield accidentally picks up a baby girl named Jennifer, having mistaken her for the missing baby, he gets chased by Jennifer's mother, who attacks him with a broomstick. He tells Jennifer's mother that she should be riding the broomstick instead of swinging it.
- Delayed Reaction: Jon is shocked when he sees how much stuff Garfield bought from the grocery store, citing a baby as one of his examples. He orders Garfield to put everything away and leaves, at which point Garfield counts down from five to see Jon react to finding the baby.
- Denied Food as Punishment: After the baby crawls into the load of groceries that Garfield takes home, Jon finds out and forces Garfield to look after the baby until his mother arrives or else "No chocolate layer cake for a year."Garfield: Oof, he knows just how to threaten me.
- Dramatic Drop: The baby's mother drops the eggs she bought on the ground when she discovers her son is missing.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: This line from Garfield when he finds the baby missing:Garfield: What a well-behaved kid. He's so quiet, you'd hardly know he was there. (checks the laundry basket to find the baby isn't there) Oh, joke's on me, I guess. He isn't there. (Beat) He isn't there!
- Face-Revealing Turn: When Garfield finds what looks like the missing baby, as it has the same brown hair and blue pajamas, it is shown from the back. When Garfield picks it up, it is revealed to be a baby girl, as she has a pink ribbon and eyelashes.
- Goo Goo Getup:
- This episode's title card depicts Garfield dressed in a bonnet, diaper, and booties.
- When the baby runs away, Garfield dresses Odie as a baby against his will to take the real baby's place until he can find him. The baby's mother is not fooled when Jon gives her the disguised Odie, but Garfield manages to find the real baby and return him to her. At the end of the episode, the disguised Odie whispers something in Garfield's ear, which results in Garfield saying, "No, I will not change you!".
- Missed Him by That Much: Garfield leaves Jon's house in the hope of finding the baby before Jon notices he's missing, after which, the baby crawls back through the dog door.
- Sickeningly Sweet: Garfield is disgusted by Jon calling the baby cute. He then says that by federal law, you are required to call babies cute.
- Straying Baby:
- The baby wanders into Garfield's grocery cart when his mom leaves to buy some eggs she forgot, kickstarting this episode's plot.
- Jon orders Garfield to look after the baby. Garfield decides instead to eat the food he got, resulting in the baby crawling away.
"The Ugly Duckling" provides examples of:
- Alliterative Name: Lanolin takes on the role of the Wicked Witch of the Wool.
- Book Ends: This episode begins with Orson reading from the phone book to Booker and Sheldon, due to having read the twins every book on the farm. At the end of the episode, when Orson asks the twins what they thought of The Ugly Duckling, Booker hands him the phone book, saying it's much more interesting.
- Brown Bag Mask: Wade wears one to hide his ugly mug, and so does the face on his inner tube.
- The Cameo:
- Fred Duck and Plato the Rooster appear as two of the villagers talking about the Wizard.
- Odie appears when Lanolin, Gort, Mort, and Wart all chase Wade through the hall of doors.
- Literal-Minded: When Roy asks Bo to make him a sandwich, Bo does so by turning Roy into a sandwich.
- No Fourth Wall: Booker suggests to Orson that he read him and Sheldon the story of The Ugly Duckling. Orson asks Booker what made him think of that, and Booker pulls out the title card, saying it's the title of this episode.
- Noodle Incident: At the beginning of this episode, Orson reads from the phone book to Booker and Sheldon. Neither twin is impressed, but Booker says it's better than last time, when Orson read to them from the Zip Code Directory.
- Not His Sled: Seeing his ugliness work as a secret weapon gave Wade a feeling of confidence and he goes, "I am invulnerable!" We then see him near a full file cabinet, adding, "Plus, I got thousands of 'He's so ugly' jokes to use up." Wade ends up living more secure in himself, happily even if unsightly, ever after.
- Rimshot: One plays whenever Wade makes a joke about how ugly he is.
- Scooby-Dooby Doors: At one point, Lanolin, Gort, Wart and Mort all chase Wade through a hall of doors. As they run in and out of the doors, Odie runs with them. Orson describes the scene as a "typical cartoon chase".
- Self-Deprecation: In Orson's retelling of The Ugly Duckling to Booker and Sheldon, Wade bemoaned he was SO ugly... leading someone to ask, "How ugly are you?" He'd answer, "I'm so ugly..."
- "...my face can stop a sundial."
- "...when I enter a room, mice run up chairs."
- "...I frighten scarecrows."
- "...I look worse than my driver's license photo."
- "...I have to sneak up on the mirror to shave."
- This works in Wade's favor when he takes the bag off his head to frighten three lackeys intending to hurt him and show just HOW ugly he was. It also scares Lanolin (The Wicked Witch of the Wool) enough to let Wade snag her shoes.
- Wicked Witch: Lanolin's role in the story of The Ugly Duckling is The Wicked Witch of the Wool.
"Learning Lessons" provides examples of:
- Alliterative Title: Learning Lessons.
- Deadpan Snarker: Garfield. When the Buddy Bears teach the viewers how to speak Italian by having them say "Per favore mia dia de Cetriolini", meaning "Please let me have some pickles", Garfield says "I've had nightmares about being in Italy and not being able to get Pickles!" in a very sarcastic tone.
- Emergency Taxi: Garfield hails a cab to escape from the Buddy Bears and their constant educational tidbit sprouting. It doesn't work, since Bertie is driving the cab he's in. (His driver's license is even placed on the back of the driver's seat!)
- Exact Words: At the beginning of this episode, Garfield disguises himself as a painter Named Leonardo DaGarfield and asks Odie if he will let him paint him. Odie obliges, and Garfield rubs paint on Odie.
- Executive Meddling: Invoked; the Network President adds the Buddy Bears to Garfield's show to provide educational content. The Buddy Bears start explaining all of the jokes and giving lectures on anything Garfield mentions.
- Gone Horribly Right: To get the Buddy Bears off his show, Garfield tells them to teach the viewers about Gazorninplats. The bears are unfamiliar with the term and are unsuccessful in looking it up, so they leave the show. Unfortunately, Garfield runs into the Network President, who expresses interest in Gazorninplats, despite Garfield insisting that he made them up. The Network President then decides to greenlight a new show called The Gazorninplat Hour, which will take Garfield's time slot.
