The sixteenth and final episode of the sixth season of Garfield and Friends.
Post-Opening Sequence Line: "Today is 'Hit a Duck in the Face With a Lemon Meringue Pie Day'! We'll explain later."
The Third Penelope Episode
Garfield and Penelope have fantasies of what their lives would be like if they were married to each other.
Hare Force
When Orson reads Booker and Sheldon the story of The Tortoise and the Hare, the twins decide to make the story more exciting by turning it into a science fiction epic.
Garfield's Garbage Can and Tin Pan Alley Review
Garfield puts on a show in his backyard and invites all of his cat friends to watch it. The show disturbs Jon, who is trying unsuccessfully to sleep. When he eventually gets out of bed to stop the show, all of Garfield's friends hide and the police arrive to ask Jon what's going on. When Jon tries to explain the situation to the police, they don't buy it. Jon gets arrested, and as soon as the police leave, the cats come back and enjoy themselves.
"The Third Penelope Episode" provides examples of:
- Big Eater: Garfield. Penelope serves him a large quantity of Italian food, and Momma Manicotti tells her that she's never seen anyone eat the way Garfield does. Later, in one of Penelope's fantasies, she asks Garfield what he'd like to eat for dinner, listing a large quantity of food that starts with letters from A to C from a cookbook. Garfield tells her that it should be enough, but to leave out the consume, as he's trying to watch his diet.
- Just Friends: At the end of the episode, both Garfield and Penelope decide that they don't want to get married to each other and are perfectly happy just being friends with each other.
- Lazy Bum: Garfield. In one of Penelope's fantasies, she does all the work while Garfield lazes about in front of the TV.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Garfield fantasizes about having Penelope's mother move in with him if he marries Penelope. Penelope's mother insults Garfield, makes him exercise, and makes him get a job to support her family.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Garfield fantasizes about Penelope's mother moving in with him and making him exercise, he decides to take up long-distance running just so he doesn't have to get a job to support her family.
- Too Many Babies: When Momma Manicotti tells Penelope that she and Garfield will have many children, Penelope imagines a large litter of orange kittens returning from school and asking her for food, much to her horror.
"Hare Force" provides examples of:
- And Your Reward Is Edible: In Booker and Sheldon's version of The Tortoise and the Hare, the Hare challenges the Tortoise to a race, saying that the winner will get absolute control of the universe for all eternity, and a cookie. By the end of the episode, Booker, Sheldon, and Orson win the race, with the twins getting absolute control of the universe, and Orson getting the cookie.
- Adaptational Villainy: Booker and Sheldon turn the Hare from the Tortoise's cocky rival into an evil space lord from the Planet Clarion. The voice Frank Welker gave him is the same one used for Dr. Claw.
- "Bang!" Flag Gun: When the Fox fires the starter's pistol, out pops a flag that says "BANG".
- The Cameo: The Fox appears in this episode to fire the starting pistol.
- Dark Horse Victory: In Booker and Sheldon's version of The Tortoise and the Hare, neither the Tortoise nor the hare won the race; Booker, Sheldon, and Orson did, having imagined themselves into the story.
- Evil Takes a Nap: In Booker and Sheldon's version of The Tortoise and the Hare, when the Hare manages to get lightyears ahead of the Tortoise, he stops on the planet Beta Blue to catch a quick nap, little realizing that the greater gravity of Beta Blue would lull him into a greater sleep, allowing the Tortoise to get ahead.
- Fractured Fairy Tale: In this episode, when Orson tries to read Booker and Sheldon the story of The Tortoise and the Hare, the twins turn it into a Science Fiction story.
- Hair-Raising Hare: Booker and Sheldon rewrite the Hare as an evil space lord who rules from a secret lab on the Planet Clarion.
- Kids Love Dinosaurs: Booker and Sheldon begin their version of The Tortoise and The Hare by having the Tortoise fight a dinosaur in space. When Orson asks the twins why they need dinosaurs in their story, they tell him "What's a kids' show these days without dinosaurs?"
- Noodle Incident: When Orson first decides to read Booker and Sheldon their bedtime story, the twins hope it turns out better than last night, when he read to them from the Post Office Zip Code Directory.
- Spoof Aesop: After Orson finishes the story of The Tortoise and the Hare, he asks Booker and Sheldon what the story's moral is. Booker tells him "Never bet on a stupid hare".
- Take That!: One of the changes that Booker and Sheldon try to make to the story of The Tortoise and the Hare is making the Tortoise a ninja. They soon reject the idea, asking who'd want to see it. It's odd coming from two kids who usually believe everything's better with ninjas.note
- Trademark Favorite Food: The last words of this episode state Orson Pig's favorite food: "Chocolate chip! My favorite!"
"Garfield's Garbage Can and Tin Pan Alley Review" provides examples of:
- Cat Concerto: This episode has Garfield do comedy routines on a wooden fence, disturbing Jon's sleep in the process.
- Karma Houdini: Garfield receives no comeuppance for disturbing Jon's sleep or getting Jon arrested.
- Miscarriage of Justice: Near the end of the episode, when Jon comes out of bed to tell Garfield off for keeping him awake, trying unsuccessfully to sing the show's song, this attracts a policeman, who mistakes him for the one causing the disturbance in the alley. When Jon tries to explain to the policeman that the cats were the one causing the disturbance, the cats disappear, save for Garfield, who merely meows. The policeman then arrests Jon, accusing him of lying to him.
- Produce Pelting: Discussed; After Jon gets arrested, Garfield, Odie, and Floyd perform the finale of their show, saying that they'll do the show from his backyard tomorrow night so his neighbors can throw rotten fruit and bad language at him.
- Saw a Woman in Half: Discussed; When Garfield tries to put Nermal in a box for his magic act, Nermal asks him if he's going to saw him in half. Garfield tells him "What? and have two of you?" Garfield then does his trademark trick of mailing Nermal to Abu Dhabi. (Of course, Nermal shows up (still in the box) to dance with Garfield, Odie, and Floyd during the finale.)
- Self-Deprecation: Some of the lines in the titular show's song are "Critics agree, it merits a D, and it smells like a zoo!" and "In the whole wide world, you must have something better to do, than watch the Garfield Garbage Can and Tin Pan Alley Review!"
- Sickeningly Sweet: Nermal. His song is enough to make Garfield throw up, then pull him away with a Vaudeville Hook.
- Spoonerism: Floyd begins the show by saying "Good evening Genties and Ladlemen!"
- That Syncing Feeling: Odie's act in the show is lip-syncing to a record of Beautiful Dreamer. Garfield makes his act more interesting by tampering with the record player.
