Seriously, we don't have a thread for Charlie Brown and the gang?

It's time for a Peanuts thread, which I'm sure will get traffic around Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, and, of course, Arbor Day (Arbor Day????).

Meanwhile, on July 7th, the Peanuts 1960's collection will be available on DVD.

It features:

The Charlie Brown Christmas
(the yearly all-time classic)
It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
(He'll show up next year, I know he will!!!)
Charlie Brown All-Stars
(rather progressive, having a co-ed baseball team back in the 60's)
You're In Love, Charlie Brown
(the ladies have a thing for bald-headed kids)
He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown
(Peppermint Patty can be such a truant officer)
It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown
(summer camp special, with Lucy and Snoopy arm-wrestling)

How about we finally give the old blockhead some respect??

It's time to talk about all of these specials, and all of the other ones:

The one where they went to France?
Snoopy meets his family?
The moto-cross race?

and many, many, many, many more:

The white-water raft race?
Charlie Brown and Snoopy are competing in a decathalon?
Snoopy is getting married?
Charlie Brown is .........................

Bon Voyage has always stuck out in my mind. I saw it as a kid, and always thought it was a little ludicrous that this bunch of grade school kids got to go to France all by themselves while I was stuck in suburbia in the U.S.

Also, I wonder to this day what exactly Marcie is yelling at the French motorists.

I have always loved A Charlie Brown Christmas. Neither of my children liked it at all - they were more into The Grinch, another all time favorite of mine, but that's probably in another thread.

The Peanuts will always have a place in my heart. "The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show" was my first favorite show and the second role I ever acted in was Snoopy in "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" when I was seven.

Ironically, some Peanuts moments have scarred me for life. The first was in the television special for "You're A Good Man . . ." Before Snoopy sings "Suppertime," he envisions a scenario where Charlie Brown forgets to feed him. Ol' Chuck comes out and finds Snoopy's skeleton on top of the doghouse! I think I screamed when Snoopy's arm fell lifelessly down to the side. The other scarring moment was all of "Why, Charlie Brown, Why?" which I am sure contributed to my phobia of cancer.

Outside of the holiday specials, there were a lot of weird movies. Snoopy joins the circus (Life is a Circus, CB), Snoopy tries to solve a mystery (It's a Mystery, CB), Snoopy dreams about being a sled dog (What a Nightmare, CB), the gang visits WWI and WWII memorials in France (What Have We Learned, CB) and Snoopy dances (It's Flashbeagle, CB). There was also one where Snoopy's cousin Spike falls in love with a real non-cartoon woman.

Robert Smigel's parody of A Charlie Brown Christmas is brilliant and hilarious.

It's The Girl In The Red Truck, CB

The "real non-cartoon" woman is Charles Scultz's own daughter, Jill.

The special was made shortly after "Roger Rabbit", with the majority of the special being "real" actors & actresses
interactting with Spike, who was painstakkenly drawn on each frame of celluloid.

After all the specials, the networks just caved in and gave the gang their own weekly series.

As I said before, Peanuts was often progressive, daring to go where no kids cartoon went before.

It's the "sequel" to "Bon Voyage, CB" (you can see the gang at the beginning of this leaving the chateau where they lived in "BV, CB").

and then they get to travel around all of France looking at battlesites, unsupervised. What kind of grade school did these kids go to??

Unfortunately, they waited WAY too late to cash in on the popularity of the strip AND the specials, and as a result the ongoing series aired for like a single season and then vanished into thin air.

I loved the Peanuts cartoons when they first came out but outside a couple of the movies, the big two specials (the Halloween and Christmas ones) and MAYBE a couple of the lesser known ones, the cartoons don't hold up well. A lot of the later ones were of dubious quality ("It's Arbor Day..." stands out as the turning point in the franchise as far as when the cartoons started sliding downhill) and some of the educational ones that were put out don't hold up well upon repeated viewing. It's one of the reasons why I am hesitant on buying the (I presume) first volume of the complete Peanuts series.

That said, I'm shocked that no one hasn't tried to buy the animation rights to the strip and do a full-scale revamp/relaunch in cartoon format. I know ABC/CBS were putting out new specials sprinkled in with the older ones, but a full-scale reboot (perhaps with Snoopy talking via voice-overs and NO RERUN) could be great if done properly.

What, no love for Flashbeagle?

I just remember all of the Peanuts specials being the only place I'd ever see ads for Dolly Madison snack cakes.

You can still find Zingers, only now, Hostess makes 'em!

?

The moment Snoopy passes by Franklin on the sidewalk with other kids, and Franklin's the only one pop-locking and break dancing, I was thinking to myself "Oh C'mon!"

No love yet for This is America, Charlie Brown and What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown? I got my dad a VHS of WHWL for father's day, and it really holds up. The scenes with the cartoon-colorized footage of D-Day is striking (it's right at the beginning of the clip - the first few seconds are in the first part video if you're so inclined to check it out in its entirety, but that's most of it...)

You can get the Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas shows in one boxed set; I first noticed it at B&N last Christmas. ASAIC, it's the only set worth having. Although I've always been interested in seeing the sled dog show, for some reason. Have any of you seen it?

Which is the one where they're supposed to go on a class trip to an art museum but they end up in a supermarket without realizing it and walk around looking at all the food as if they're works of art?

I have the single disc versions of the X-Mas and Halloween special. Another reason of sorts for me being hesitant about buying the box set.

And I've seen "What a Nightmare..." (the dog sled episode); it's great but VERY VERY off-the-wall as far as experimentation goes. Basically outside of Charlie Brown's appearance in the opening/closing segments, Snoopy is the sole cast member in the special and the whole thing is played rather grim with only one or two moments played for comedy.

At least the Peanuts gang doing commercials for snack foods was a bit more believable than Snoopy and the gang doing commercials for life insurance (which they still are).
"Well, if Peppermint Patty says that this is the best life insurance around........."

or as I like to call it, "Let's Get Educational, Charlie Brown"
Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang meet historical figures and see moments in history like the Wright Brothers flying at Kitty Hawk, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the Golden Spike at the Transcontinental Railroad (which Snoopy himself drives in).


What A Nightmare, CB!
At least 20 years before Wall-E, Peanuts does a TV special that has dialogue only at the very beggining and end.

Of course, there's It's Your First Kiss, one of the worst examples of the cartoons' failure to understand Charlie Brown's status as just a regular loser and portray the world as actively conspiring against him. In this case, Lucy does her usual pull the football routine in an actual football game, yet everyone still blames the loss on Charlie, including Charlie himself. I recall there was also one where he and no one else had to read War and Peace and do a report on it over a weekend.

Happy New Year, Charlie Brown
I'm still wondering to this day every time they show it how the other kids have plenty of time to party and goof off while poor CB is frantic about getting the book read.
(On a side note, Jeremy Miller (Ben Seaver from Growing Pains) did the voice of Linus during the mid 80's, until his voice changed. This is one of the specials featuring him as Linus.)

That's the main reason Lucy was my least favorite character of the entire series. I hated her so much except for her scenes with Linus.

Wasn't there one in which Snoopy got lost and was locked (and abused?) in a cold dark basement by a not-very-nice kid? I remember that one messing me up as a young child.

Snoopy, Come Home
While en route to a hospitalized Lila, Snoopy's former owner, Snoopy is "detained" by a bratty girl named Clara until he and Woodstock escape.
Snoopy also keeps running into signs that say "No Dogs Allowed" (musically accented by the deep tones of Thurl Ravenscroft).
Great, now I can't get that theme song out of my head.

For some reason, that guy's voice scared me more than any of the actual content in any of the Peanuts specials.

I know...didn't the writers stop and think that there might have been parents in the audience that were taping the game and might have caught that on tape? I know if I saw that I'd have run it over to the coaches and gotten Lucy benched.

I think I remember reading that the first time this aired the next day the TV station was filled with angry calls complaining about this fact from either angry children or parents who said their kids cried at that part. So many in fact that the next time this aired it was heavily edited so that Lucy still puled the ball away, but no one blamed Charlie Brown this time.

It was similar to the Halloween ep where the day after it first aired, children felt so sorry for Charlie Brown (who the hell did his parents piss off that all he got was a rock?!) they they sent the TV studio some of their own Halloween candy for Charlie! They got about 2 pounds of candy from children, from what I head.

And after "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown", the studio got flooded with hundreds of home-made valentines addressed to Charlie Brown.
University in Canada introduces grade lower than "F".
"You've given me a "Z"?? That's not a grade, that's sarcasm!!!!" - Peppermint Patty

Don't forget to vote for the Blockhead and friends as the "Ultimate Cartoon Ever" in the Rec Room.

You think that is bad, my wife and I recently watched Race for your Life, Charlie Brown, the one where they all go to summer camp. As near as I can tell it is a totally unsupervised camp, and at one point the kids go on a multi-day raft race down a river, they are almost killed by an avalanche, and they are forced to sleep outside in snowy weather.



I read the "Schultz and Peanuts" biography a while back (it was excellent). One thing I remember was that towards the later part of his career Charles Schultz was able to get back the rights to all the characters (when he first started they were owned by the syndicate). Also even before that, he had the right to refuse any Peanuts side project (including all merchandise). So any new Peanuts project would have to be done with the permission of his family. Considering they didn’t want anyone to take over the strip after his death I am not sure they would want anyone to do cartoons.

How old are they supposed to be, anyway? I was just thinking about this.

They are releasing vol. 1 of the 70's TV specials on DVD. It's got one I definitely haven't seen before, "Play it Again, Charlie Brown." Lucy gets Schroeder to agree to play the piano at a concert for the PTA, but he only plays classical and Peppermint Patty reveals that the concert is going to be all rock music.

The titles for the Peanuts 1970's Collection Volume One are:

Play It Again, Charlie Brown
(Beethoven never had to deal with a beagle dancing on his piano.)
You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown
(I liked the storyline in the comic strips better; Linus loses the election when he tries to tell the student body about the Great Pumpkin.)
There's No Time For Love, Charlie Brown
(How can you mistake a supermarket for an art musuem?)
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
(Back when I was a kid, I thought Snoopy's idea for Thanksgiving dinner was really cool.)
It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown
(Snoopy does Sherlock)
It's The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
(I loved the quadrophonic stereo system that Woodstock had in his birdhouse.)

I'm sad that we're missing a few other titles (Snoopy, Come Home...Be My Valentine...What A Nightmare...Arbor Day), but I guess they'll be in Volume Two (or Three).

All and all, a nice collection of holiday favorites and now-seldom seen but very funny specials.

Available October 20th

"Hank" gets yanked for a encore showing of "It's The Great Pumpkin, CB".

"Snoopy Come Home" is already on DVD, along with "A Boy Named Charlie Brown".

That said, anyone know if the other two Peanuts films have come out on DVD yet?

I still have my Peanuts bedsheets and I plan to pass them down to my children :).

Peanuts was my world when I was a kid.

Tonight at 8:

"It's The Great Pumpkin, CB"

Linus van Pelt: "More people believe in Santa Claus than in you, Great Pumpkin, but let's face it; Santa Claus has had more publicity."

Followed by "You're Not Elected, CB"

Linus van Pelt: "If elected, my first act will be to appear before the School Board."
[Lucy whispers in his ear]
Linus van Pelt: "I'm sorry. I will not be able to appear before the School Board. They meet at 8:00, and I go to bed at 7:30."

Tomorrow at 8:

"It's The Great Pumpkin, CB", again.

(Sorry "Hank", but, you suck!!!)

I like a lot of the little bits in "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!"
Like the opening sequence where Snoopy helps Charlie Brown with his leaf raking, or the ending, where despite her 24/7 bitch persona, Lucy goes out in the middle of the night to find Linus and bring him home and put him to bed.

I am enjoying the Peanuts cartoons all over again with my young sons.

I noticed a while back on Amazon.com that "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" will be released on dvd in January 2010. I can't wait for this one.

Again, the question of "Where were the parents?" must be asked. I know the 60's were a much safer time but still, c'mon.

The non-existant (or unseen) parents makes about as much sense as a dog who walks on two legs, owns a Van Gogh and sleeps on top of his dog house.

Snoopy owns a Van Gogh? I must have missed that bit of knowledge. Awesome. Of course he does.

I still remember a sketch on Roundhouse where they had a commercial for "It's Puberty, Charlie Brown!" His voice was changing into the trumpet noise they used for adults. "Oh no! My voice is wa wa wa wa wa!"

It's what, Charlie Brown??? I had no idea they had a special called that! Wow they were really covering all areas of childhood. I never saw that one or even heard of that before.



LOL!!! That is soo funny. and cute.

It wasn't a real special, it was a sketch on a comedy show.

Yeah, that's the one with those rotten bullies. Though, thanks to them, I love shouting when appropriate of course, "We're number one!!! We're number one!!!"

HA. I remember that show as being lame, but maybe I just didn't watch it enough, because that's hilarious.

Am I the only one who remembers 1988's Snoopy the Musical?

I remember being really angry that Faith Hill butchered "Poor Sweet Baby" for some Peanuts anniversary special.