The eighth episode of the third season of Garfield and Friends.
Post-Opening Sequence Line: "It doesn't start till' the fat lady screams!"
Fit for a King
In this episode, Garfield tells a story about a town called Portly Bay, which has a king called Jon the Wide. The townsfolk like him because he is fat, and every year he earns his weight in gold (literally). He is kind, and and states that as long as they have the gold, he will not charge taxes. The jealous evil Duke of Blurk wishes to usurp the throne, and seeks help from a witch. The witch gives him a fat cat that will solve his problem. The Duke gives the king the cat as a taster, which the king agrees to. Unfortunately, this turns out to be a disaster for the king, as the cat eats all of his food and he isn't given a chance to eat at all.
Over the past months, King Jon becomes so thin that he makes peanuts during pay day amounting to only a few coins. Luckily, the rules state that the gold is measured by whoever wears the crown on his head, the king decides to crown the cat king instead, and so the town is rewarded with a record-high amount of gold. The Duke is furious that his plan backfired and refuses to pay the witch, so she curse him by transforming the duke into a mule. The story ends with a feast for the cat, as King Jon worries the money will be gone faster than expected due to the cat.
Ben Hog
While everyone else is off at the State Fair parade, Orson is guarding the harvest and his brothers distract him with a copy of Ben-Hur.
Dessert in the Desert
After Jon gets a flat tire, Garfield and Odie get lost in the desert and begin to see mirages.
"Fit for a King" provides examples of:
- All for Nothing: Although the cat did bring in a lot of gold with his weight, King Jon worries that the kingdom will have to take a write-down because of how much it'll cost to feed the cat year-round.
- Bullying a Dragon: After the witch waited many months, she demands pay from the Duke for her services, but he angrily dismisses her demand on the grounds that her plan didn't work. Thus, she turns him into a mule.
- Butt-Monkey: King Jon, as the Cat keeps eating him out of house and castle.
- Didn't Think This Through: The Duke really should've come up with a back-up plan for what if the witch's plan (the Cat) didn't work, and then acts like it's all the witch's fault the Cat was crowned as king and not him.
- Intimidating Revenue Service: The Duke of Blurk wanted to tax the citizens of Portly Bay for everything such as breathing air.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By having sent a cat upon King Jon to eat up all his food so that Jon won't weigh enough to fund the town when comes payday, the Cat is instead crowned as King and the town gets an even richer fate than had the Duke not intervened.
- Oh, Crap!: The Duke when he sees that the King's solution to his loss of weight being to just crown the cat instead, and thus panics over seeing how much gold the cat was bringing in. He gets angry about his scheme failing.
- Rhymes on a Dime: This episode's dialouge is done in rhyme.Garfield: Once upon a merry time, oh by the way, this thing's in rhyme.
- Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: This episode ends with Garfield reading the last line of the book;Garfield: And now this tale I must suspend, for I have come to... the finish.
"Ben Hog" provides examples of:
- Banana Peel: Orson's fantasy ends with his brothers tossing one into the road to stop him and win the race.
- The Dog Bites Back: When Orson's brothers tell their horse, "Faster, you stupid horse", the horse breaks away from its cart and pulls the pigs, still holding onto the reins, away.
- The Cameo: A slave resembling Kirk Douglas can be seen on the slave gallery, and the statues in the arena resemble Jon.
- Imagine Spot: Upon getting distracted by his brothers' copy of Ben-Hur, Orson has one where he competes in a chariot race against his brothers.
"Dessert in the Desert" provides examples of:
- Comically Missing the Point. When Jon finds out that Garfield took the spare tire out of his car's trunk to make room for more snow cones, he tells Garfield "Do you realize what a mistake this is?", to which Garfield tells him "You're right; I should have brought less lemon and more grape."
- Exact Words: This episode begins with Garfield holding a snow cone and asking Odie if he wants a lick. Odie says "Yeah, yeah!" and Garfield licks him. Odie is not amused, but Garfield tells the viewers "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that to him."
- Hollywood Mirage: Jon's car breaks down on a desert road, leaving him, Garfield and Odie stranded. As Jon goes to get the car fixed, Garfield explains and demonstrates the cartoon definition of mirages several times to Odie, including at least one Red Herring. The ending takes a turn for the Mind Screw when it's revealed that the guy who towed and repaired the car was himself a mirage.
