There's Peanuts specials that feature the gang doing hockey, though it's not a primary focus, there are few that focus on baseball (we've done two of them this year) , they've done figure skating, they've done football, they've done motocross? Well there's a Peanuts special about the characters doing Motocross and that's our lookback this time. "You're A Good Sport, Charlie Brown" first aired on October 28th, 1975 on CBS (Charlie Brown Station) This special was the third Peanuts special to win an Emmy. (This explains why it's on the Peanuts Emmy Honored collection DVD) So let's see what made Charlie Brown a good sport.
But first, tennis. The special starts with Snoopy doing some tennis practice ,meaning another sport featured in Peanuts media has been achieved. Snoopy ends up getting pelted and bonked on the head with tennis balls and this leads to the title card. Linus and Sally are going to play tennis too that is until they go to the courts and see it's all filled up. This enrages Linus and he goes off on saying that "big kids" are always taking up the court and that he hates them. (woah calm down there , Linus) Sally threatens the big kids to get off the court her boyfriend will beat them up, Linus runs away. Apparently. Snoopy found a spot to play though. In fact, Snoopy and his tennis match take up some time in this special. Now, Peppermint Patty comes over with a motocross bike and she meets Sally and also wants to talk about a great event. They are doing a motocross race and she would love it if Snoopy would compete.
Peppermint Patty, the biker/ Copyright Peanuts
Up next, Charlie Brown is practicing football with Linus and the drop kick, Lucy suggests they should do place kicks, and Charlie Brown starts yelling at her but, Peppermint Patty shows up on her bike to tell them the ways of motocross (ah hail motocross). Linus suggests that Charlie Brown should get a motor bike and compete and Linus would be the pit crew. Charlie Brown laments that he doesn't have money for a motor bike and gets real sarcastic with Linus. (This special has feisty , Charlie Brown) He does fall for Lucy's football trick though.
Where do we bury the gold? /Copyright Peanuts
Time for Charlie Brown to get a dirt bike. With a lucky number 13 on it. Peppermint Patty think she's gonna to win first place. Snoopy is also going to be competing as the Masked Marvel, because of course. Marcie is going to be interviewing people for the race. (She's on TV?) Oh the race is starting!
Race/ Copyright Peanuts
Charlie Brown and the Masked Marvel have wiped out and Charlie Brown gets brought to a pet hospital and Snoopy gets brought to a people hospital. Charlie Brown gets back to the race and Linus decides to kill a pumpkin and make into a helmet for Charlie Brown. (Alright then) Masked Marvel takes the lead , but wait number 7 Peppermint Patty retakes the lead. Charlie Brown's pit crew is very strange. 3 contestants remain, (I guess the others died) Charlie Brown, P.P and M.M. Masked jumps the mud , Peppermint gets stuck and Charlie drives through it. Masked in 1st, Charlie in 2nd. Masked's bike needs a little tune up I think, Jim. That's Right, Steve.
Uhh Snoopy / Copyright Peanuts
Snoopy then uses the tennis ball machine from earlier as a replacement. (can he do that, Jim?) Which also uses to shoot balls at Chuck because there are no rules. Snoopy thinks he's so far ahead that he decides to have picnic. Charlie Brown keeps on going and he takes first! (Dumb move by the Marvel, Steve) Then Snoopy gets stuck in some mud as Charlie Brown's run down bike does it's best. Charlie Brown wins the race! Charlie Brown wins the race! He won something. Charlie Brown gets a kiss from the Motocross queen , Loretta. He also wins 5 free hair cuts. Which he laments at because his father is a barber. (They couldn't get Pro-Bowl tickets, insert pro bowl joke here)
Nice to see some smiles from CB / Copyright Peanuts
Charlie Brown has some confidence and decides to try some baseball but, once again his clothes fall off and the special ends with him sitting there all sad.
We are almost done with the 70's in our Peanuts specials journey. (woah)
More after the jump.
This was the last special that aired with Guaraldi's musics scores while he was still alive. The music has less "light" jazz the past specials had one with a little 70's heavy flair to it. Though, rest of the music is more the normal sounds you'd expect. This is a fun special they decided to do something different for Peanuts and really in media. You (as much as I know) don't see much motocross depicted in media. The start with tennis seems out of place at first, but how they connect it to our main plot of the motocross race. Let's talk about Charlie Brown in this special, I mean he was much more forthcoming and sarcastic than normal but still himself and had an honest sincerity to himself. Peppermint Patty plays the part of the over confident person, while Snoopy is Snoopy.
The special plays with the normal expectations. Normally, you would think Charlie Brown is going to lose and we are going to see how he loses. It starts with him getting this bike that needs love, then it continues when he gets crashed but nothing's gonna stop him now. He continues to just keep on going no matter what really. So they reward the viewer and Charlie Brown by giving him a win. Now back to the other main two. Peppermint Patty is Peppermint Patty (meaning that she's in character in this special) but she never was really mean to anyone or says anything too far., she's just really over confident. In all honestly, I was more surprised that she kind of fell off the race that early. Snoopy is was willing to shoot Charlie Brown with tennis balls to win. Then he gets so over confident that he decides to have a picnic right there was the best undoing ever.
Also, Linus is a good friend.
Do I consider the winning the hair cuts thing a backhanding on the win? No. I say, because it's not because the prize wasn't the point really.
The gags in this special was fun as well, it a little "Wacky Races" vibe to it and we there was Snoopy reading"PlayDog" magazine they thought they could just sneak. So, Charlie Brown should really have invested his time in motocross. but fine, back to baseball. One day whenever I do a scale or something It will be more indepth: but I would say that this is in a top tier of Peanuts specials.
Tune in next time, when Linus goes for extreme sports!
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