China Cat is an episode from the second season of Garfield and Friends.
Synopsis
While visiting an authentic Chinese restaurant, Jon and Garfield are told a story about why orange cats with black stripes should never eat too much.
Plot
Garfield and Jon are walking around Chinatown during the Chinese New Year. Upon finding a Chinese restaurant, both enter for a dinner of authentic Chinese Food. Inside, a serviceman is about to send them to their table when he looks at Garfield and flees in terror. Shrugging off what happened, Jon looks for a table on his own. After being seated, one of the waitresses asks Jon if he is ready to order. Jon orders a chow mien and says Garfield will have everything else. Horrified, the waitress tells him not to let Garfield eat so much food. She leads the two to another section of the restaurant, where she shows Jon and Garfield a screen depicting a Chinese Dragon and a cat similar to Garfield, then tells a legend about it.
A long time ago in a village in China, everyone worked hard to maintain life and their crops; despite this, they were always hungry as they were forced to give all of their food to a dragon nearby. One day, an orange and black cat was tasked to give lasagna to the dragon. Since he was so hungry, he ends up eating the entire dish. The cat claims that it is invisible food; the dragon threatens to eat him and everyone else in the village if he is not fed.
Thinking of a way to save himself, the cat gets the dragon to accept an eating contest, seeing who can eat more food. Before long, the cat eats his fill and the dragon declares his turn. The dragon then realizes that the cat has eaten all of his food, thereby tricking him. Enraged, the dragon chases the cat across the Chinese countryside, where they are never seen again. Meanwhile, the villagers were free to eat their food with the dragon gone. The waitress then tells them that, according to legend, if another cat similar to the one in the story were to eat all the food, then the dragon will return for revenge.
When Jon looks for Garfield, he and the waitress hear a commotion from the kitchen; they discover that Garfield has eaten everything there. The waitress pleads for Jon to take Garfield away before the dragon comes, with Jon reluctantly complying. As the two are walking home, Garfield sees what appears to be the dragon. He tries to run away as Jon asserts him that it is just a paper dragon to celebrate the Chinese New Year. He then expresses his skepticism that the legend will come true. The paper dragon turns out to be the real dragon in costume as he follows Jon and Garfield.
Characters
Major characters
- Garfield
- Jon Arbuckle
- Waitress (voiced by Julie Bennett)
Minor characters
- Chinese restaurant workers
- Villagers
- The Chinese Dragon
Trivia
- This segment has been pulled from current reruns on television due to its supposedly stereotypical depiction of Asian characters. The episode itself was animated in Taiwan.[1]
- During the show's 2019-2021 run on Boomerang, this segment was replaced with "The Horror Hostess Part 1".
- It was uploaded as part of "Garfield & Friends - China Cat | Cock-A-Doodle Dandy | Beach Blanket Bonzo (Full Episode)" on the show's YouTube channel on March 30, 2022.[2]
- Jon stated that he was born in the year 7738 according to the Chinese calendar. Accurately, its 4649 (1951 in the Western Calendar) in the Chinese calendar.