U.S. Acres
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 The main characters of U.S. Acres, as depicted on Garfield and Friends. From left to right: Orson, Bo, Wade, Lanolin, Booker, Sheldon and Roy. |
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U.S. Acres (known as Orson's Farm outside the United States) is a comic strip that ran from 1986 to 1989 created by Jim Davis, author of the popular comic strip Garfield. The comic was launched on March 3, 1986 in a then-unprecedented 505 newspapers by United Feature Syndicate. At the peak of the comic's popularity, there were children's books, plush animals (particularly of the characters Booker, Sheldon, and Orson), and posters of the main characters. Its animated adaptation was included in the TV show Garfield and Friends. U.S. Acres features various barnyard animals living on a farm.
The final daily strip was printed on April 15, 1989, while the final Sunday, and the strip itself, appeared on May 7, 1989. The strip's cancellation did not affect its animated counterpart, though, which remained a part of Garfield and Friends in its seven-year run until 1994.
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[edit] Books
[edit] Comic strip collections
Five comic strip collections were published, by Topper Books of New York City.
- Davis, Jim (1987). U.S. Acres Goes Half Hog!. Topper Books. ISBN 0-345-34392-1. (1986-03-03 through 1986-10-04)
- Davis, Jim (1987). U.S. Acres Counts its Chickens. Topper Books. ISBN 0-345-34881-8. (1986-10-05 through (1987-05-09)
- Davis, Jim (1988). U.S. Acres Rules the Roost. Topper Books. ISBN 0-88687-341-X. (1987-05-10 through 1987-12-13)
- Davis, Jim (1989). U.S. Acres Runs Amuck. Topper Books. ISBN 0-88687-437-8. (1987-12-14 through 1988-07-17)
- Davis, Jim (1989). U.S. Acres Hams it Up. Topper Books. ISBN 0-88687-469-6. (1988-07-18 through 1989-02-18)
Also, at least six comic strip collections were published by Berkley Books of New York City. However, some of these books are missing months of the strip and / or have strips out of order.
- Davis, Jim (1989). U.S. Acres: I Wasn't Hatched Yesterday. Berkley Books.
- Davis, Jim (1989). U.S. Acres: It's a Pig's Life. Berkley Books. ISBN 0-425-11833-9. (1986-05-24 through 1987-08-16)
- Davis, Jim (1989). U.S. Acres: Hold that Duck!. Berkley Books. ISBN 0-425-11877-0. (1986-08-18 through 1986-11-03)
- Davis, Jim (1990). U.S. Acres: Rise and Shine!. Berkley Books.
- Davis, Jim (1990). U.S. Acres: Try Counting Sheep. Berkley Books.
- Davis, Jim (1990). U.S. Acres: Take This Rooster, Please!. Berkley Books. ISBN 0-425-12007-4. (1987-04-14 through 1987-05-09, 1987-12-14 through 1988-02-08)
It should be noted that the last two months of the strip's run are not available in book form in the United States. The only known reprints of these strips are in the United Kingdom book Orson's Farm Cuts the Corn (ISBN 1-85304-176-9).
[edit] Children's books
- Davis, Jim. Story written by Jim Kraft, illustrated by Paws, Inc. (1988). U.S. Acres: The Great Christmas Contest. Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-05807-X.
- Kraft, Jim. Illustrated by Paws, Inc. (1989). U.S. Acres: Let's Play Ball. Bantam Books. ISBN 0-533-34627-X.
- Kraft, Jim. Designed and Illustrated by Brett Koth, Betsy Brackett, Thomas Howard, Dwight Ferris, and Dan Hasket (1989). U.S. Acres: Sir Orson to the Rescue. Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-34765-9.
- Kraft, Jim. Designed and Illustrated by Brett Koth, Betsy Brackett, Thomas Howard, Dwight Ferris, and Dan Hasket (1989). U.S. Acres: Beware! Rooster at Work. Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-34766-7.
- Kraft, Jim. Designed by Brett Koth. Illustrated by Brett Koth, Dwight Ferris, and Thomas Howard. (1990). U.S. Acres: Booker Meets the Easter Bunny. ISBN 0-553-34831-0.
- Kraft, Jim, designed and illustrated by Betsy Brackett, Larry Fentz, Dwight Ferris, Dan Haskett and Brett Koth. (1989). U.S. Acres: The Big Camp-Out. Bantam Books.
- Wade Dives In
- Kraft, Jim, illustrated by Paws, Inc. (1989). A Most Special Easter Egg. Bantam Books.
- Wade's Haunted Halloween
[edit] Characters
[edit] Main characters
The primary traits of the cartoon's main characters were established during the run of the comic strip, even down to such visual gags as the head on Wade's inner tube having the same facial expression as Wade.
- Orson Pig (voiced by Gregg Berger): A kindhearted but often naive bibliophile whose work ethic makes him the functional leader. His good humor being tested is one of the common gags in the cartoons. He tends to avoid conflicts. He sometimes becomes a costumed superhero named Power Pig, which more often than not causes his friends or adversaries to fall down laughing at him. His imagination, especially when reading, is a double-edged sword: it can lead to him being the target or conduit for Roy's tricks, or he might unwittingly solve a real-life problem while imagining himself to be a book's character. It is known to cause mass hallucinations (indeed, one can often deduce that Orson is reading by the change of scenery) or even warp reality. (Oddly enough, this does not happen when he reads bedtime stories to Booker and Sheldon.) In the first two years of the strip's run, Orson had eyelashes like Nermal.
- Roy Rooster (Thom Huge): A loud, greedy rooster who endlessly enjoys practical jokes. Except for a few instances, he is tolerated because his job (waking up everyone and 'tending' to chickens) is important, although he does his best to avoid labor whenever possible. He has a special delight in tormenting the easy target of Wade.
- Wade Duck (Howard Morris): Wade is the "cowardly craven duck" of the farm. His good nature is sometimes shadowed by his overwhelming hypochondria and phobia of everything from chocolate doughnuts to finding out that it's Tuesday, and especially flying and rain. Wade is so scared of drowning that he constantly wears a kiddie pool inner tube (which, as a recurring joke, has a head like his on the front that always imitates his facial expression and what direction he's looking to match his own). He can be easily driven into an incoherent raving of fear. Unlike the other characters, Wade's eyebrows float above his head.
- Bo Sheep (Frank Welker): Lanolin's brother with a pleasant, "surfer" drone in his voice. Not particularly bright sometimes, but always cool, collected, and dependable. (Possibly a pun on Bo Peep.) In the comics, he was classified as dumb and stupid instead of a surfer-like personality. He would frequently walk off cliffs and misinterpret words. TV Bo isn't necessarily dumb... instead, they made him a surfer dude who said "whoa" and "man" in every sentence. That's not the original Bo. Jim Davis did have a hand in the development of U.S. Acres for television, so he must have liked the change.[1]
- Lanolin Sheep (Julie Payne): Usually shown as a hard worker but with a personality the polar opposite of her brother: loud and disagreeable (although she disagrees with everything he says and is often in denial). Was often seen doing laundry despite the fact none of the animals wore clothes. (Her name is that of the grease produced by wool-bearing animals, particularly sheep.)
- Booker (Frank Welker): A chick named by Orson for the pig's love of books. (Booker's comment to Orson about his name: "I'm just glad you don't love kumquats!" (May 23, 1986)) Booker and Sheldon were still eggs when Orson found them abandoned and decided to hatch them. Booker is extremely adventurous and (over) confident despite his size. He often chases worms, but can never seem to catch them. In the comic, he often called Orson "Mom", but in the cartoon, when it's discovered how Booker and his brother were hatched, he calls him "Daddy".
- Sheldon (Frank Welker): Booker's brother, who refused to hatch completely and appears as a walking egg with chicken feet sticking out of him. A recurring gag is to portray his shell as the perfect living space within (which is known to have a microwave oven, pinball machine, stove, and a table tennis table.), without ever showing it. In one episode, the shell finally hatched, only to reveal another shell underneath.
[edit] Secondary characters
NOTE: Most of the following characters only ever appeared in the animated cartoon version of U.S. Acres, or appeared differently in the original comic strip. Orson's brothers, for example, only appeared in the first few weeks of the comic strip, and only received names in the later cartoon adaptation.
- The main characters continually mention the farmer, although he is never seen. For example: "The farmer's not gonna be happy when he sees this mess." His only appearance in the strip was when his daughter, also an unseen character, introduced him to Orson.
- Booker continually chases worms (unnamed), without success.
- The farm's resident chickens (generally unnamed, though Frieda, Louise, Charlotte, Mabel, Valerie, Olivia, Vanna, and Natalie) are often romanced by Roy, as he is usually rescuing them from the Weasel. In one episode, they went on strike because they were sick of working for chicken feed.
- Orson's Mom was seen in the earliest weeks of the strip, telling Orson that he was special because he was a runt. She also makes an off-screen cameo in a flashback in the cartoon episode "Hog Noon". Curiously, though she was not portrayed as anthropomorphic in the strip, her cameo in the cartoon suggests that she was.
- Max the Skateboarding Bird was an overweight bird with a skateboard. He first appeared as an unseen character hiding behind a wall, whom Wade spoke with on October 13, 1986. The last panel of that strip was a call for reader submissions: "Kids: Who's Wade afraid of? You name it and tell me what it is." His physical appearance was revealed on March 3, 1987, using the winning contest entry. Max never appeared again after the week of strips featuring him, although a similar-looking turkey character makes a brief cameo in the cartoon episode "Badtime Story".
- Cody, a dog who only appears in the strip. He likes to attack the other farmyard animals and tries to maul them.
- Blue, a cat who only appears in the strip. She keeps Cody out of trouble.
- Brutus is the farm's local bull. Always angry, he usually charges around if he gets loose.
- Mort, Gort, & Wart (Frank Welker, Thom Huge, and Howard Morris, respectively) are Orson's three ugly, mean older brothers, and the only things Orson fears. Originally featured as nameless bullies in the first three weeks of the strip, they usually show up in the cartoon to abuse Orson or steal the gang's crops. Their appearances were almost universally accompanied by a stylized, electric guitar version of "In the Hall of the Mountain King."
- Fred Duck (Frank Welker), is Wade's geeky cousin, who isn't afraid of flying. (However, he has been known to pack a parachute in case he has a problem while flying.)
- The Weasel (Gregg Berger), often tries to kidnap the chickens so that he can eat them, but is usually stopped by Roy. The only other regularly recurring antagonist (even though he never appeared in the strip), he occasionally attempts to catch and eat Sheldon as well. Apparently, he's not the only weasel around, as one episode also had two completely different weasels, named Waylon and Spence, going after the chickens. The chickens have also been hunted by a Fox early on, and later a Wolf, neither of whom appeared as frequently.
- Plato (Frank Welker), is a brown rooster who applied to be the farm's resident rooster once, and he could easily charm the chickens, much to Roy's chagrin. However, he is also afraid of weasels. After his experience there, he went on to raise a herd of giant bunnies.
- Bernie (Gregg Berger), is Roy's agent, who is also an anthropomorphic pig. Sometimes, Roy, upset over how things are going with him, complains to Bernie, demanding him to put him on a different show.
- The Incredibly Stupid Swamp Monster(Frank Welker), called Swampy for short, is a robot who ran into the swamp after he was created by Dr. Karloffis Boar (a pun on Boris Karloff) and later became friends with Orson and the gang. The stuff from the swamp stayed on him for him to appear as a swamp monster. As his name suggests, he is incredibly stupid, and according to Wade, he has good billing because his name is in the title of both of the episodes he appears in.
- Chloe, Roy's niece, came to visit her uncle and his co-stars in the sixth season. After her uncle rescued her from the weasel, she took part with the gang in a fantasy based off of Snow White.
- Aloysius Pig (Kevin Meaney), Orson's pushy cousin, took charge in a few episodes of the seventh season. He bean-counted every scene, looking for anything that might be the least bit objectionable or cutting out anything that would be slightly considered over the show's budget, to the annoyance of the rest of the cast. His catchphrase is "That's not right!!"
- Garfield himself occasionally turns up in the animated version to make a special guest cameo. One particular episode even focused on his appearance as a thinly disguised "mystery guest".
[edit] Comic strip chronology
Orson the pig:
- First appearance - March 3, 1986
- First appearance as "Power Pig" - April 19, 1986
- Last appearance - May 7, 1989
Orson's mom, unnamed:
Orson's three brothers, unnamed:
Roy the rooster:
Booker and Sheldon:
- Booker and Sheldon first appeared as eggs on May 6, 1986 and continued as eggs through May 1986. Booker hatched on May 22, 1986. Sheldon partially hatched (legs only) on May 27, 1986. Booker and Sheldon's last appearance was on May 7, 1989.
Wade the duck:
The worm
- While worms had appeared in the strip throughout most of 1986, the first time that one was given a "voice" was on December 1, 1986. The worms' last appearance was on April 10, 1989. A few of the worm characters occasionally had names, such as "Willy," a young worm, with "Mom" and "Dad" (and who called each other "Estelle" and "Filbert" respectively).
Lanolin the sheep
- First appearance - January 15, 1987
- First mentioned by name - January 21, 1987
- Last appearance - April 11, 1989
Bo the sheep
- First appearance - January 19, 1987
- First mentioned by name - January 21, 1987
- Last appearance - April 9, 1989
Max, the skateboarding bird - character was sketched/designed by a child reader in a contest, to give Wade someone else to be afraid of.
- First appearance - March 3, 1987
- First mentioned by name - March 4, 1987
- Last appearance - March 7, 1987
Cody, the dog
- First appearance - November 30, 1987
- First mentioned by name - December 2, 1987
- Last appearance - July 2, 1988
Blue, the cat
- First appearance - December 4, 1987
- Last appearance - March 28, 1988
[edit] Trivia
- While Cody and Blue were drawn on the back cover of the first U.S. Acres collected comic strip book, published in early 1987, they did not appear in the comic strip itself until late in 1987 (and thus don't appear until the third book).
- In the Garfield cartoon episode "Fat and Furry," Garfield is handed $1 in change by the grocery clerk after buying groceries. The dollar, instead of having George Washington's face on it, had Bo Sheep's face.
- On the Garfield cartoon episode "Mistakes Will Happen", one mistake is the farm that Orson and the gang live at is in the middle of the woods
- On the episode "Mystic Manor", Garfield slides down a pole in the manor he is in. In the background, Orson and the gang is shown waving when he goes down the pole on one scene. This is used in the opening sequence in later seasons.
- In many of the episodes of Garfield And Friends, the U.S. Acres "gang" have Garfield accessories.
[edit] External links
[edit] Fan sites
[edit] References
- Incomplete list of U.S. Acres books at Michigan State University Libraries - Special Collections Division - Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection - "U.S.A." to "U Zemlji"
- ^ U.S. Acres page at platypuscomix.net
