History of Dogs ( Les chiens ne font pas des chats) is the 42ndUS/EU episode of the first season of The Garfield Show.
Synopsis[]
For a documentary, Garfield provides a history on dogs that's described in an offensive way, much to Odie's annoyance.
Plot[]
The episode begins with Odie chasing and trying to catch his tail. Besides him in an armchair, Garfield, dressed up in a gown and with glasses, announces to the audience that their topic of the day is the study the dog, scientifically known as canis lupus familiaris.
Garfield explains, all while denigrating the species, that most scientists believe that the dog descended from wolves, having been tamed by human beings to hunt. To cavemen, they provided use in their acute sense of smell or ability to fetch items, but lacked any intelligence. Eventually, during the development of agriculture, man developed the "working dog" to assist in herding, hauling and pulling. Garfield demeans Odie, opining that Odie was bred to act as a paperweight, doorstop or large stone. Later in history, Garfield explains that dogs became more sophisticated and intelligent when lords and ladies used them for sport, though their intelligence dropped yet again from then to the modern day.
Having been asked by his director, and to prove his point, Garfield has Dr. Bonkers use a machine to test both his intelligence and that of Odie's. The results describe a cat's intelligence as that of a rocket scientist, a brilliant surgeon, and a Greek philosopher; it describes a dog's as akin to a common houseplant, an amoeba, and a medium-sized container of potato salad, leaving Odie feeling dejected. Garfield continues, explaining that toy dogs would eventually become popular in modern times, though this did little to fix their behavioral traits. From there, the director calls to cut and take a break.
In the kitchen, Odie confronts Garfield over his portrayed history. Garfield defends himself by saying that he didn't write dog's embarrassing history, and kicks Odie out the house. Outside, Odie convenes with the neighborhood dog, Hercules, the local Rottweiler, and local Doberman, and the four each show their distaste. However, they soon start to smell smoke and find it emanating from Vito's pizzeria with Vito having fallen asleep with the oven still going. Getting into the restaurant using a spare key, the dogs wake Vito, and Odie uses a fire extinguisher to douse the fire. Back at the house, Garfield overhears about the incident from his director, prompting him to arrive at the scene. Vito is being interviewed, and announces that for their heroic deeds, the dogs will be awarded free pizza for life, much to Garfield's shock.
Concluding the documentary, Garfield concedes that dogs have do have admirable qualities after all, and are truly "man's best friend". For doing so, the four dogs reward Garfield with a pizza.
Characters[]
Main Characters[]
Minor Characters[]
- Wolves
- Wolf Pup
- Caveman
- Cavedog
- Cavewoman
- "History of Dogs" Crew
- Director / Jim Davis (voiced by Gregg Berger)
- Professor Bonkers
- Vito Cappelletti
- Anchorwoman
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode of the show to feature a documentary; the other is History of Cats.
- Alongside History of Cats, this is the only other episode of The Garfield Show to have been written by Kim Campbell.
- According to this episode, a rocket scientist's I.Q. is an average of 144.
Goofs[]
- The title of this episode is missing the "s" at the end of "Dogs".[1]