It's A Lookback, Charlie Brown: What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown (Re-Write Edition)

Peanuts 

            This is another re-write edition of a post that I did. I do these at times when I feel I could expand, flesh out and make a post better than previously done, or edit it or add in more thoughts.   (You can read the original post here) 

       The first time I did wrote about this special was in 2015 when I started the Peanuts lookback series as part of the 65th anniversary of Peanuts. I've decided to do this post again because I think there's a little more say and posting it on the date that happens to be 80th Anniversary of D-Day, which connects back to this special.   What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?  is the 26th Peanuts special it first aired on CBS (Charlie Brown's Station) on May 30, 1983.  

          This special is connected to the final Charles Schulz made Peanuts film  " Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back) " that came out in 1980.  The connection being that this special is taking place in France where Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, and Snoopy have been sent as exchange students. None of the movie characters show up in this special (except at the start of Charlie Brown's story)  and the story of the movie doesn't have anything more to happen:  they  just gave a good reason for the characters to be in France. 

        It starts with framing device of Charlie Brown taking out a photo album to add photos to it. Sally comes up to him to ask him what is he doing?  Charlie Brown mentions the movie and Sally decides ask the question  what did he do after the events of the movie before he got home. Then asks him what did he learn?  The intro is awkward here.  Charlie Brown says the reminds him of a question Linus asked him. 

        The full title card of this special is interesting and I usually don't talk about the title cards of Peanuts specials.  It's very simple: a light blue background with the word "What Have Have Learned, Charlie Brown?"  in a dark blue serif font.  Then a red  under it that says "A Tribute" A very formal  card, also kind of bland and stately. This is kind of strange for a Peanuts special.  

        The phrase "A Tribute" does play into this special and what it does, it'll take a bit of its time to get there, maybe by design. 

         Charlie Brown tells Sally Brown (ok then) the story in flashback mode. You get the Peanuts hallmarks of Snoopy driving a car , which is apparently a Citroën 2CV so someone went no, we are using a real car here.  They get rear-ended by a truck which causes a pile up and I think Marcie starts swearing at the other cars in French.( In the movie, we found out that Marice can speak French) and Snoopy doing television safe version of "the finger".  (Kind of , really seems that way) Apparently, it's alright though,  so move on?   The title card I mentioned earlier shows up here.   

In France, this is an insult/ Copyright Peanuts 

          Alot of this special is just this thing happens then we move on to the next thing happens. I wanted to say vignettes with some cohesion, it's pretty much just stuff happening.  Also, I don't think Citroen paid to have their car in this, this would be bad adverting that car wants to die.  Can Snoopy fix the car? Snoopy gets electrocuted - Doesn't die, get mad at car and kicks it and the car collapses like it was held together with tissue paper, duct tape and glass.  Woodstock fights himself in a mirror, fights is a lying term because he gets injured after hitting the mirror.  The non animal characters are like ok don't care, and Peppermint Patty wants lunch.  (If they don't care, why should I?)

        Eventually, they find a French lady to get a new car from. I love that she accept that Snoopy is a) the car driver, and b) Marcie telling her that he's a World War I Flying Ace. Where I think she's very happy about it.  Perfect reaction.  The new car has a wind up in the front  that is apparently there for a new running gag of Charlie Brown getting electrocuted and nobody caring. (life be like that). 

         It was a nice touch for them to mention they have to ferry back to England to get the airport  to get back home. In the movie they went to England first then ferried to France. This was before the Chunnel existed.  

            Most of the stuff up to the point the group camps outside in open air until morning. Is kind of a bit silly, but not bad.  It has a  good mixture of comedy and Peanuts moments. I like how the moment aren't cluttered. Things don't run longer than they should. The jokes get their point and not outstay that. The part where the car is being driven as a mess of pieces and Peppermint Patty being tired of it that quickly.  It works. There's not  a bunch of talking, and gives itself time to breathe.  It is lulling the viewer into something though. 

more after jump 

A Charlie Brown Watch: "Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin"

Peanuts 

         I will yell from a hill that I am not a fan of the "Snoopy Presents" title set up for these things, but they will do it anyway just to taunt me personally.  It's time for another Peanuts special made by current partial owner Wildbrain for Apple TV Plus. (Apple TV Plus , At least we aren't Paramount Plus)  Like some of the other modern Apple TV Plus era specials they've decided to give specials with a geared focus on characters, this time Franklin. 

         This one called "Welcome Home, Franklin" came out on February 16, 2024 [doing these dates so it's historically known or something].  First, let's mention another comic strip for a bit here and  that would be "Jump Start" , that's a currently (as of this writing) running comic strip written by Robb Armstrong.  that first came out in 1989.  The two main characters of that strip are Marcy and Joe , Marcy being named after Marcie from Peanuts and Joe from Snoopy's alter-ego name "Joe Cool." Charles Schulz and  they did  strike up some repour with each other.

           The 1994 special "You're in the Superbowl , Charlie Brown" you might have heard Franklin given a last name of Armstrong,  after uh Armstrong.  Now he's was brought in to be part of the writing of this special about Franklin.  [source]    

          A quick back story about Franklin and his introduction. In 1968 (not a fun year) just days after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.  a school teacher in Los Angeles named  Harriet Glickman wrote Schulz about the idea of him adding a black character to the comic strips.  [Source]  Through some correspondence back and forth  he decided to introduce a character named Franklin. Franklin first appeared on July 31, 1968. 

              Franklin was added to the world of Peanuts and his first showings when he goes to Charlie Brown's neighborhood was a sense that it was very strange which I mean, he's not wrong.   Anyway, I'm going to talk about the special now.

           There's something odd about a Peanuts special doing a 4th wall break where a character directly a) freezes time b) and then even doing an almost "you might be wondering how I got here?" thing.  I'm now more sad we didn't get a record scratch.  Franklin mentions that his father is in the military and that he had to move once again.  

 

August 1, 1968 / Copyright Peanuts 

        Which does fit with the comic strip in when Franklin was introduced his Dad was in Vietnam, which if any one tries to say Peanuts never did contemporary things, it did, it was never locked in a time bottle it just didn't over do it either. 

more after the jump 

It's Another Special, Charlie Brown: One Of A Kind Marcie

Peanuts 

            So Peanuts has made it to the big 50, that's right the 50th special.  Though that doesn't seem to be a big mark and the promotion isn't really like that either. This is another special in the era where Peanuts is doing things on Apple TV Plus. (Apple TV+ The other streaming service that exists)   This one again also goes with the "Snoopy Presents" name because sure alright. It's my now running motion to be slightly annoyed by that. The rest of the title, also means that that Charlie Brown is still pushed to the back for a different character. I'm not overtly bothered by that, but it does kind of get to be something as this seems to be the new way they go.  This one is about Marcie, a character I do like. 

               Snoopy Presents: One of  a Kind Marcie first came out on August 18, 2023.   I will still point out that these specials are animated nicely and look good, if only the issue about how they look is how glossy the tend to end up looking.  Or how some of the parts tend to look darker than what used to be a bit brighter, but will repeat that I'm glad the stewards of Peanuts , that being  Wildbrain, Sony Music Entertainment Japan, and the Schulz family at least have kept he hallmark style of how they looked and a 2D look and feel.  The music is at least a somewhat nice touch and feel to the idea. The character designs seem to still stick to more of the 1960's and 1970's designs more than advancing to even using the 80's and 90's clothing of some of the characters because I think they fear that. 

                It starts with Marcie reading a book and then Peppermint Patty calls her because Marcie is the caddy for Peppermint Patty in golf.  Peppermint Patty is in the school's golf tournament.  I'm also surprised that there's like a girl that looks like a mini Peppermint Patty clone.  It also has interrupting Snoopy... and Woodstock.  I will say Peppermint Patty and Marcie doing golf is something that is in the strips. They've also decided to have Peppermint Patty think Snoopy is a kid here because sure, it's from the comics, but she did eventually stop thinking that. 

She also thinks sandals are good golf shoes/ Copyright Peanuts 

              It is nice to see Marcie and Peppermint Patty's friendship here being done with them nicely, though it does remove some of the rough parts that is also their dynamic, which seems to be something these newer specials seem to do.  Then there's  a part where Peppermint Patty is looking at the school golf cup and the names on it and saying that she'll be on their next, then Marcie wonders where the caddies' names are, then P.P says why would they do that? Marcie calls the sport a team sport, and Peppermint Patty says "yeah, me. myself, and I" then Marcie seems to get mad and tells her why don't "me myself and I" pick up the bags then. Then the special cuts to Franklin being president of the school because OK. It's oddly done there to me, like hold on?  Also, also Lucy and Schroeder are in the same school as Peppermint Patty, Marcie and Franklin here because OK.  

VOTE! / Copyright Peanuts 

      I will point out I'm also very pedantic on Peanuts. Even knowing that specials and the comic strips didn't constantly follow each other, the specials at least followed the strips in the basics. Also, we had an election plotline before.    Lucy announces she's running for president (I'm scared) , Pig pen wants to run, and Peppermint Patty tells Marcie she thinks Marcie should run.  Marcie doesn't think it's a good idea. 

Feelings/ Copyright Peanuts 

more after the jump 

A Charlie Brown Watch: Lucy's School

Peanuts 

 

      Another special?  WildBrain and Apple have decided that after like 10-years of no new specials to just make a bunch and release them over a period of 8 months.  They made 4, this is the 4th one , now in total count of television specials we've reached 49.   They did the Snoopy Presents title again, and it's just "Lucy's School", so that's fun.   Actually, that they've not done much Charlie Brown focus in these specials is something else as well.  Part of this post will be me being pedantic, but that's how I am with Peanuts. 

          It might be hard for some to remember, while for others it might be fresh, but I am talking about the last day of school, for the school year. Though, not the way it's depicted here waiting in the classroom for the the final minutes, my last day of schools were always more casual, and  had sometimes had a mixture of melancholy because some wouldn't be coming back the next school year for whatever reason. I grew up in a place where some of the kids were from military families and moved and stuff.  The special starts with the feeling you get on the last day of school a countdown to beginning of what's seen as the best time of the kid year- summer vacation. 

They want to have their 104 days of summer vacation/Copyright Peanuts 

   

    It shows the school empty except this one classroom where Charlie Brown and friend are quiet, minus Peppermint Patty snoring, and the only noise you hear is the clock deeply ticking. You get the feeling of tense waiting and it's well done. They also get to show off some of their animation which again, in these specials have been nice. 

    Nit Pick #1 It shows Peppermint Patty and Franklin in the same school as Charlie Brown, so yeah holding that well guys. Though sometimes in some specials they would be shown in the same class/school as Chuck it's a something to nitpick.    

   

        

      The bell rings and it's summer.  There's a summer song that sounds like someone wanted the Beach Boys, but also wanted the Chordettes, and wanted them to be drunk. It's a montage song and pretty fun to see the fun of summer. (Even though summer is hot and annoying) It's still kind of funny to see them have Patty and Peppermint Patty co-exist.  The song dies and there's a giant sign that says "Back to School Sale" coming. I like how that's depicted too, it's like a looming danger which it does feel to a kid, the looming danger of the end of fun.  

Doom / Copyright Peanuts 

           The one week left until school, also apparently the Peanuts tribe are going to a new school, which brings me questions.  Mostly, what? Why? Did they age the peanuts oddly, what?  I'm confused. The others are nervous that the new school is huge and different. Lucy wasn't nervous but then gets more nervous. 

    

     I guess the idea here to show the fear of starting a new school, though being oddly vague at the idea that they apparently are going to a school where there are also bigger kids, that would only imply like middle school or something, which is what?   

More after the jump

A Charlie Brown Watch: To Mom (and Dad), With Love

Peanuts 

     Oh no, they did it again with a Peanuts special being called "Snoopy Presents: To Mom (and Dad), with Love"  no Charlie Brown. With that again put aside, apparently, Apple, Wildbrain and Peanuts have decided that they have to make up for the idea there were no Peanuts specials  from 2011 to 2020 by giving three in the span of 5 months.  This time, they are going for a holiday not really covered in Peanuts : Mother's Day.  

 

         "How can Peanuts do Mother's Day, there's no shown adults rrrrrrrrr!" That guy then proceeds to tear his shirt and scream into the street, which is weird.  Yeah, the one thing Peanuts is known for is not showing adults in the strip, but have been shown in some specials, this special won't but it's not like it hasn't been done. 

  

              "To Mom (and Dad), with Love" I'm just going to call this "To Mom" for short later on, because yes, (good reason) first came out May 6, 2022 again on Apple TV Plus. (The streaming service that gives you that fresh new car feeling)    It's 38 minutes again, because they really like that length.  

                I do like to mention the 38 minutes here because the first minute is Woodstock flying around as he goes to Snoopy  and wakes him up. (That was a good minute)  It also shows Charlie Brown kicking a football (reeeee he can't do that, even though he's been shown to kick one, just that Lucy messes things up when she holds it, reeeee) and this leads to more sports because football practice, which um, that's different, Charlie Brown has a football team. (what?) 

 

Lucy almost had a "My Nose" moment / Copyright Peanuts/Wildbrain

         This special has the water color styled backgrounds again while the animation quality is still pretty good (they really want the 2000's specials to feel bad about themselves).

    Peppermint Patty and Marcie show up and it's about Peppermint Patty getting there to be the coach of the team.  You, the person reading this post, might be wondering we are 3 minutes in and no Mother's Day, where the plot?  I say, how do you do know this was 3 minutes in?  Pig Pen shows up with a fancy wrapped gift and has to explain why he's late to football practice. (He prefers soccer?)  The fancy wrapped gift is mother's Day. (They are playing football in Spring, is this the USFL?) 

This is the AAC / Copyright Peanuts/ Wildbrain

       The other kids are like, woah, Mother's Day is tomorrow? Woah! (If you are not reading this on a Saturday before Mother's Day it's not tomorrow) Peppermint Patty quickly changes the subject, because we need more football stuff. (we do?)  Charlie Brown is talking to Linus about what his mother likes and wonder what Linus is doing for Mother's Day. He's going to write her a special letter. (Thanks son)

More after the Jump 

A Charlie Brown Watch: It's The Small Things, Charlie Brown

Peanuts

     

    Woah, another new Peanuts special, since that Apple thing exists and they proceeding to make more. Better than us waiting 40 years right?   This is "It's The Small Things, Charlie Brown" (wasn't expecting a Blink-182 reference ) is a Peanuts special that came out on April 15, 2022.  I am happy it's using the name conventions of the classic specials, compared to "For Auld Lang Syne".  

     Since this is one of those streaming exclusive specials and that means it has a unquie run time of 38 minutes, which seems to be the same length as "Auld Lang Syne" it's kind of interesting how that length is shorter than what would fill an hour long slot on network TV, but longer than what would fill a 30 minute slot.   If lengths affect things, I would think that filler would be less happening, there are specials where stuff just happens to fill out time. (Though Peanuts filler is like an extra treat sometimes, minus that birthday special.) 

       The animation of the special has the same look as the other one (I'm not going to keep typing the name) it's a very nice high quality 2D animation. Again , I do wish the feature film had this look. Wild Brain is like yeah were putting money into this.   The backgrounds look less detailed than before, they look like they are going for a simplified look, but a comic strip look, the backgrounds are more detailed than the strips, it's almost like a painted look. The characters are walking through a painted world, it's an interesting design choice. It's moves fluidly too and it feels pretty nice, and not too off putting for media that has been done more stilted ,by nature, before.   The character designs go back to their classic known looks that tends to happen now, so Lucy in the blue dress instead of pants (80's -90's strips and some later specials had her and other girls wearing pants). It's full spirited though.  

       The music is once again done by Jeff Marrow who seems to do an alright job of capturing  the right tone of jazz for the specials, if you are picky about your Peanuts jazz music. It also has grand music like at the start giving it a movie quality sound during the baseball game at the start. 

     

    The special starts with Charlie Brown playing baseball in a large field against Peppermint Patty's team. I can tell it's a dream , because I'm me, and I can tell.  Charlie Brown  is able to throw a pitch so powerful that it makes Peppermint Patty collapse. (You're going to prison for murder, Charlie Brown) Like I said, it's a dream, because Snoopy wakes him accidently, with a water hose. They did change Charlie Brown's voice actor from the last special, and to me, it seems little off, most of the time they've been able to capture the same voice type for Charlie Brown, but this one doesn't seem as Charlie Brown. I'm not going to be mean to kid voice actor; I find it a little off for Charlie's voice though.  Linus' voice was retained from the last special and he sounds like how Linus usually sounds, even when there's been different voices.  

Ahhhh Charlie Brown is heavy/ Copyright Peanuts/ Wild Brian 

   

       Charlie and Linus walk around and Charlie talks to him about the dream we saw. Linus is a realist against Charlie Brown's more up spirit and thinks they don't have the best chance to beat Peppermint Patty's team.  (Also we don't ask the question of how many years directly they've been losing that will hurt your head and time in general will rip apart)  I do like how it fits the characters: Charlie Brown is an optimist and wants to have the spirit that he'll win, Linus is a realist and doesn't go for an outcome that seems far fetched from past data. 

When your baseball team loses/ Copyright Peanuts/ Wild Brain

       This special decided to bring back Shermey into usage, they went deep again. Snoopy comes into the special, like how he's been treated in Peanuts media for years. (wow roar)   They really have Snoopy come in trying to steal the scenes, the special has become sentient.  (help!) Sally shows up and she wants to play in the baseball team, because Charlie Brown made a promise when she turned 5 she would get to join the team.    

Home run?  / Copyright Peanuts/ WildBrain

    Sally has the same voice actress that's been used through out the WildBrain Studios era of Peanuts.  Sally seems to very excited on the idea of playing on the baseball team I don't think it makes sense, Charlie Brown, to give Sally an oversized uniform. (Lucy almost dies, so that's something)  It tries to show that Sally isn't good at baseball, which sure she wouldn't be, Charlie Brown's optimism and care are what is at play here. 

Same/ Copyright Peanuts / Wild Brain

       Someone remembered "You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown" Peppermint Patty shows up on  a motocross bike. (We've won You're a Good Sport bros!)  Her team also shows up on the same kind, minus Marcie is made to suffer. (poor Marcie)  I find it interesting that Thibault is on Peppermint Patty's team and that they decided to use Thibault for something, then again Franklin is on Charlie Brown's team instead of Peppermint Patty's , so, they are going for 100% accuracy here. Also odd to see Peppermint Patty's character be more antagonistic than she normally would be, even with baseball.  There is a difference in her role has been shown and how it was here, but it might only distract a person like me who does too much Peanuts stuff, than a casual viewer. 

it's  a gang! run!/ Copyright Peanuts/ Wild Brain

    Sally also gets to take up the plot, where Sally feels left out and then she meets a flower that's on the pitcher's mound and starts talking to it.  Charlie Brown tries to give his team a pep talk, after they feel bad.   I like that Charlie Brown keeps his spirit and wants to rally his team  to a victory.  Then something happens, the flower plot shows up. 

                

You're watching HGTV....back when we used to do gardening shows/ Copyright Peanuts/ WildBrain

       The team is bothered that Sally is just laying there looking at the dandelion. Sally says that she's not going to move and she's going to protect the flower. No matter what they try. (I wasn't expecting Horton Hears a Who in my Peanuts special) Plan B is to just play around Sally until she gets bored. ( I do wonder where Sally got a book though)  

This is what they mean by dandelion tea/ Copyright Peanuts / Wild Brain 

More after the jump

It's a Lookback, Charlie : It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown (Re-Write Edition)

Peanuts  

    Time for another one of my re-write posts, as I've done with other posts,this is away to either take an old post and expand, refresh, and fix up, and this one might need that. (You can red the original one here) 

    This is the 32nd Peanuts special , that first aired on CBS (The Charlie Brown Station) on September 27th, 1988.  This Peanuts special is not like the others in many ways.  I like to think of the 80's Peanuts specials being a period of just whatever they felt like doing, CBS was paying... and all the holidays had been done, so why not? 

   

    This special is another hour-long special (46 minutes without ads) and following "Snoopy! The Musical, the animated version" . This one is about Spike, one of Snoopy's brothers he actually becomes more prominent in the 1980's and 1990's strips  where Charles Schulz must have decided to write more about the desert beagle instead of the famous one.  Spike is named after Schulz's childhood dog and his character lives in Needles, California. 

      There''s a simple  format to Spike's strips, he's alone in the desert, so he's interacting with things more than people. He's writing letters, and has some of his own adventures, much like his brother.  

   "It's the Girl in the Red Truck" starts with a shot  of a desert and a red truck. Wow the animation is amazing, eat your eyes, Pixar, go away anyone else, the desert looks so real and life-like, like wow! The scenery is amazing, it's beautiful, this was made in 1988? wow, we've not advanced at all.  This was peak animation. 

Beautiful/ Copyright Peanuts 

     Alright, I've dragged the joke out too long. This special is hybrid. (it runs on gas and electric) When it cuts inside Spike's home, which is a cactus, the internals all animated, when spike looks out he's animated but the rest is live-action.   This was not even the first time Peanuts had done hybrids like this and they've done it after this for ads as well. But those were ads this was a special.  It also wasn't made in 1988, it took four years to make this and it was delayed, they actually wanted it to air in March.   Hmm? What other live-action/ animation thing was coming out in 1988? (Hmmmmm)  They wanted this out in March because later that year "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" was coming out.  It's funny, they both were being worked on around the same time.  This is not going to be that well done in production,but it's not awful, it's good for CBS. (Cheap But Serviceable-- someone said maybe) 

It's like animation with real life backgrounds/ Copyright Peanuts

     The music is interesting, it takes it's own direction, instead of being jazz it's something. 

It kind of sounds like old video game music or it's for a desert travelogue. This special is 50 minutes long and it will fell 50 minutes long.  The credits say starring Snoopy's Brother Spike, since he doesn't speak, it's very correct.  It's also starting someone named Jill Schulz. I wonder who she is, so besides having his daughter play the girl... (more on her soon calm down)  his son Monte helped with the script. (oh)  

    

    I also have to say, since Spike is added in later, because animation, that means they had some camera people out in the desert just taping desert, without other people to put Spike in later, that's kind of funny.  They also bought some fake cacti to use because the real  ones might not have been in the right spot. (what does even mean?)    

   

    Hey there's Charlie Brown, you remember him,  but he won't be her long. He's just here to remind you, you should be watching a different Peanuts special where he and Snoopy are there longer.  They just are there to tell you his name is Spike incase you didn't see the credits, and fill time between some Spike walking the desert scenes. They are reading a letter Spike sent, and it leads into a the red truck and girl. (Finally, took forever for this special to Girl in the Red Truck) 

The special Charlie Brown-ed before it Girl-ed /Copyright Peanuts 

   

      If you have a strong attention span , this special is for you. Spike and the girl wave back and forth when she drives by.  This is feels like they really wanted to fill out that 50 minutes.  Finally the red truck gets tired, and decides to break down right near spike. The girl (I'll say her name soon, don't worry) hears Spike's French practice tapes, which is interesting for a dog that doesn't talk to be learning.  She's seems impressed by the tape and learns his name is Spike. I do like the blend of animation and not in this movie.   She takes up most of the dialogue because someone has too, as she starts to fix her truck.  

I'm the girl not in the red truck/ Copyright Peanuts

        She asks Spike would he like to come with her and he decides..yes., I think I will. Also safety first message, they make a point of mentioning that Spike but his seatbelt on and how smart he is for doing so. (Click it or die it) It got my attention.  They go to the diner  and we get scene where Spike knows the diner owner, Molly. Classic Peanuts dogs favorite drink is root beer, he's a regular customer. (That's the world I want to live in) 

                

Nice of this place to serve cartoon dogs/ Copyright Peanuts

           Molly and Jenny (going to use her name now) are talking and giving us some information about Jenny and some stuff about a guy should be coming back.  Jenny is an aerobics instructor as well.  Back to the red truck, since it's in the title it needs love too.  Again, this special is really filling out it's  50 minutes; though, it is nice to see Jenny and Spike spending some time together.  There is an awkwardness to using Spike, because Jenny has to do all the talking essentially to fill in space, it's like when Peanuts characters are with Snoopy or an adult and have to do the lifting. 

Standing on the dock of the bay, there's  a lady looking a nothing/ Copyright Peanuts

         Spike gets to watch TV at Jenny's nice house, I like how the remote switches from real to animated when the need for Spike to use it. Hey, it's Jeff!  You know Jeff.  Fine, Jeff is Jenny's boyfriend, at least I hope he is, and he comes into the house and is surprised to find Spike and thinks he's a wild animal, and doesn't like that he's in his chair.  You can feel the tension, is Jeff jealous of Spike? (Find out... after the jump) 

This is my chair. I love this chair !/ Copyright Peanuts

It's a Lookback, Charlie Brown: For Auld Lang Syne

Peanuts 

      

     When started the Peanuts posts here on this site, there were 45 specials in all, the most recent of those was from 2011, that being  "Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown"   The 2010's by happenstance ended up being the first decade where there was only 1 new Peanuts special since the things started in the 1960's. 

     Most of the post Schulz death specials take a plot  or vignettes from the strips and purpose them into specials. Which wasn't a new thing, that happened after his death, but it seemed to be the way to go after his death.  In the 2010's there was a slight dry up of Peanuts media, not  a drought though.  There was a French shorts series called "Peanuts", that also ran on Cartoon Network/Boomerang in the US, there was some graphics novels, and even a movie.  

    Now of the 45 specials only a few had reruns by 2019, those being The Christmas one, the shorts Christmas one made to fill time because ABC wants more ads, The Great Pumpkin, Thanksgiving, an episode of "This is America Charlie Brown", You're Not Elected, I Want a Dog, New Year, She's a Good Skate. Be My Valentine, and A Charlie Brown Valentine. The Easter Beagle stopped running in 2014, because I guess Disney ABC just didn't care, that also meant they didn't run either , Lucy Must be Traded or Charlie Brown's All Stars any more anyway.

 

        In speaking of ABC, they did renew rights, after their initial pick up from CBS in 2000, and that contract was up in 2020.  The Streaming is the future folks decided to swerve and cause chaos, but before that some changes happened with Peanuts.  In 2010, United-Media owned 80 percent of Peanuts sold that to Iconix Brand Group, the Schulz Family still had 20 percent.  In 2017, Canada's DHX bought Iconix's stake  and this (as WildBrian ) is who co-owns Peanuts currently. They decided to jump into making Peanuts media quickly. They decided to work with new streaming service , in the great  streaming race, with Apple's Apple TV plus, which is the  one with that might not have alot of people using it.  

      

     Wildbrain made two series "Snoopy in Space" and "The Snoopy Show" for the streaming service, so far. They are doing that thing were they want to milk using Snoopy as  a centerpiece even though Peanuts has always been more about the people than Snoopy, but corporation gonna be corporate. In a more sad decision (though some will say, it's the future, and  that's where I walk away muttering under my breath) they decided to abandon normal television to have Peanuts specials , the holiday ones mostly,  stream on Apple TV Plus (I'm sure their subscriber was happy)  after running on  a broadcast network of some sort since 1965.   It's not really the future, it's that a desperate Apple had money to splash hoping that people would chose them for to be another streaming service they have to contend with.   This is did cause some backlash so Apple decided to go to PBS , to help them out  and run the fall/winter holiday specials at least once. 

      In this deal, they made a new special  and I don't like the title : "Snoopy Presents : For Auld Lang Syne"  the thing that bugs me is the name being that way. Snoopy Presents, instead of the conventional  like "For Auld Lang Syne, Charlie Brown"  or  "A Charlie Brown Auld Lang Syne" or "Charlie  Brown's  Auld Lang Syne"  the focus on Snoopy and his name as the brand is slightly tedious and annoying to me, I'm mostly writing this to say I don't like it as some one who loves Peanuts and even knows why the specials don't use Peanuts in the titles.   It's also annoying for consistency reasons where 45 specials use  some variation of  same title structure and number 46 just walks up here  and messes up things. I'm not going to use my distaste for the title though to take away from anything about the special itself. From 2021, this  is "Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne" (the only time I will call it this in this post) 

         The animation style is  pretty nice, I'm glad it's full 2D and not 3D CGI, but looks like the budget was increased from the 2000's days (The blanket one from 2011 had nice animation)  The backgrounds are nice and feel like Peanuts. 

Snowy day/ Copyright Peanuts 

    

   This special is going to be focused on Lucy, it's not the first time a Peanuts special focused on not Charlie Brown, especially if you've read my past  Peanuts posts. Lucy is happy that her Grandma is coming soon, this is the famous blanket hating grandma. Also we get a "Citizen Cane" mention.  Snoopy's brothers and his sister come over to the Brown house for their own fun with Snoopy.

The answer is Rosebud/Copyright Peanuts 

 

    Charlie Brown is feeling down that he didn't do well on his resolutions that past year. (I  mean, most people don't care about their resolutions after February so...)    The first 6   minutes are really setting up things  and maybe some Peanuts Easter eggs like they are trying to make sure they remember Peanuts' biggest hits. (I would do the same , but do 80's and 90's strip deep cut references), then on Christmas Eve and Lucy gets a phone call and gets news from Grandma that she's not coming.  

It's like a cheap game where you dress up a still Lucy/Copyright Peanuts

     Like the Peanuts Movie, using that as a comparison since this is new story instead of ripped from the comics, they use more famous 60's- early 80's designs of the characters (so girls not Peppermint Patty in dresses) the phone is rotary not even push button, etc.

More after the Jump 

A Post About Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown: Scotland Bound, Charlie Brown

Peanuts 

            After a long debate that caused 402 injuries and 3 wars, and somebody to lose a tooth, we are doing this blog post. What is it? Well, this time we are doing a post about something Peanuts related (there's no way that caused that much problems, this place is very much doing Peanuts stuff)  about a graphic novel ( that's it bring in the tanks!). So why? Well this graphic novel that came out this year, 2021 AD, is based off storyboards for a special that went unproduced (yet, they made It was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown, this world is sad) that was maybe called "Will Ye No Come Back Again, Charlie Brown?"  I say maybe because we don't know if it was ever going to have a different name and that was a developmental name. The graphic novel is called "Scotland Bound, Charlie Brown". 

  

      The graphic novel was written by Jason Cooper, the art was done by Robert Pope and Hannah White. The idea was to take some of the original storyboards and make a story out of them. Let's take a look at this undone special now. 

        It starts with Franklin visiting Lucy's  booth which is something we really don't see much, and interaction is funny and leads into the plot of Charlie Brown who has a pen pal, something we see in the strips, and he's exited it's from his Scottish Pen Pal from Scotland, Morag.   (Fun fact: Morag is a Gaelic name meaning great; the story mentions that it's the Gaelic equivalent  of Sarah)  Charlie Brown being Charlie Brown has fallen smitten with her. While the story is based off story boards the writer put his own work into this story and Cooper did a great job capturing the Peanuts character's characterizations. Anyway, in the letter Morag mentions that in a few months there's an annual international arts and music festival and that it would be fun to see him come some time. Charlie Brown being Charlie Brown takes that as he should go right now. 

  

           Charlie decides he wants to go so he has to make money and starts with a car wash. This turns into a bike, roller skate, etc wash.  It's kind of cool to see Charlie Brown's optimism and never give up sprit work through this arc as he tries to figure out ways to get money to go to Scotland; after Lucy gives him an idea, he inspires Lucy, Schroder, and Linus to help him and encourages them to come with him. Lucy with golf at St. Andrews,  Schroder playing at the festival, and Linus apparently is interested in the Loch Ness Monster because Great Pumpkin.  (what?)  Also Charlie Brown is trying to write a poem to preform.

        Since the story is called "Scotland Bound, Charlie Brown" and not "Charlie Brown doesn't make it Scotland, after failing a few times" he and his friends made enough money to fly on an airplane to Scotland. This being Charlie Brown we need something to bring his high down slightly, on the airplane he opens his latest pen pal message from Morag and finds out that she won't be there because she's in Mexico City, visiting a different pen pal of her thirty pen pals. (30? My writing hand is tried) 

      Anyway, at the airport in the great city of Edinburgh, there's a girl holding a sign that says "Charles Brown" (I like how a) Lucy mentions when Morag wrote to him as just Charlie and this girl as Charles, as they aren't getting his name right, and b) it's the same thing Marcie calls him) Anyway this girl is Nell, her family is hosting the Peanuts gang. 

         Nell is fun character to be introduced, the Scottish girl has a nice optimistic attitude to her. In the interview about the novel (that's included in the novel) the original storyboards were going to have a love triangle thing with Linus/Nell/ Charlie but Cooper decided to not have that in the story and I'm glad he didn't go with the love triangle thing.   Since this is a story in Scotland, let's talk about Scotland in the book. I like that how they depict the Edinburgh airport's distinct tower,  and the welcome sign those were nice touches. 

      Back to Nell, she provides a way for the Peanuts characters which are in a nice paired down basic amount of characters ,including Snoopy, to get to know things around Scotland and the festival plot line as well. She also provides a nice balance to the cast, by helping Charlie Brown when plans don't go the way he was expecting. She doesn't seem to mind Linus' odd quirks, even gets on well with Lucy.  There are some nice hints of Nell and Charlie Brown crushing splashed in. 

   

                   "Life's not really about what you wish were happening. It's about what  is happening.--Nell

                  We get to meet Nell's family's farm with Coos, which are like hairy cows. I like how Lucy takes  a liking to the creatures, it shows her sentimental side that's not seen too much and I'm glad they had that in this story.  There are some fun jokes and gags that'd you expect in Peanuts, but I'm happy the didn't do a football gag or something we'd expect.  

            

                   They go to different things like Lucy's golfing at St. Andrews (Peanuts characters have that power to visit exclusive golf clubs), then seeking out Loch Ness Monster.  There's a sweet moment of them thanking Charlie Brown for the fun trip, before something goes wrong, weirdly it's a Linus reason not a Charlie Brown reason. Linus thinks he saw the monster and gets too excited and cause the boat to fall over.  They are safe, but Schroder's piano is ruined.   He feels stressed about using a real piano for the show but he gets some encouragement thanks to Lucy  which provides another great moment. 

               

                    Charlie Brown who has been very confident this whole thing is up next, and he presents his poem (he's even wearing a kilt) and finds a creative way to present his poem to make it work out for him and the audience. It was creative and a cool tie in from an earlier scene. 

                 The story ends with Charlie Brown back at home writing to Nell,  and now I want a sequel.

    The art work is befitting a Peanuts media. The coloring and shade allow things to pop out well and provide a nice feeling of warmth when needed. There's also the classic feeling of Peanuts Sunday comics (since it's in color) with the simple backgrounds, but the detailed stuff is well done. The character expressions are well done and bring out their emotions.

               "Scotland Bound" is a great novel, I kind of would love to see it be animated as a special, it's a great story  and a fun ride. 

  This was pretty fun to read, and I'm kind of sad that it wasn't a special, maybe they should get on that. There's some good stuff with Scotland in it with out it feeling stereotypical , minus Loch Ness monster stuff, but you know.  It's all the great fun of Peanuts well told in a  great story. 

   That's it for now, tune in next time when the Peanuts go to Wales.  

 

 

Peanuts Film Festival : Bon Voyage. Charlie Brown (And Don't come back!!)

Peanuts 

       This time we are looking at the last Peanuts movie made when Charles Schulz was alive, and until 2015 was the last Peanuts theatrical movie.  "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!)"  (Which I 'm just going to call Bon Voyage)  came out in May of 1980.  This movie is a light Peanuts favorite of mine, probably because it was on rerunning on TV so much.  In our blogging order, this is the final Peanuts film we are looking at, this has been fun doing the Peanuts Film Festival theme of posts.  Let's get going. 

     The movie starts with a girl looking at  bag with the name S. Brown on it and writing a letter to some one named Charles. ( I wonder who that is) Meanwhile, in Charlie Brown land (what?)  at school Linus is talking to the class as if he was the teacher because that's how that works, and there are two new students named Babette and Jacques, who are exchange students.  In exchange, Charlie Brown and Linus have been chosen to go to France. 

I kind of want to see what these  French kids had to do for two weeks/ Copyright Paramount

       Charlie Brown then gets a letter, it's from the girl in the credits, in French, which is convenient  that he got a letter from France when he's going to France.  Peppermint Patty and Marcie are going to France too. (Which makes that Peppermint Patty being in Charlie Brown's class image earlier confusing since they go to different schools)   Lucy yells the title of the movie and we'll never see her again. This movie is literally 76 minutes long, which is shorter than a Hallmark Channel TV movie without ads. 

     And most of this movie that says our characters will be in France, barely gets to the France. There's an airplane ride scene where Snoopy does stuff on a plane (back when riding planes were fun) and the other characters do stuff.  They also have a meta moment of the movie being watched on the plane being a Paramount movie, which this movie is. Also Marcie knows French, which is convenient too!   She can read the letter, and the girl wants to meet Charlie Brown and welcome to stay at her home.  Which is called  , Château du Mal Voisin (House of the Bad Neighbor).  (Which means State Farm isn't there)    The girl's name is  Violette Honfleur.  

uhh Copyright Paramount / Paramount 

     This is movie is a movie that has time for stuff, which you can maybe forgive because it's Peanuts and you are here to see Peanuts, but if you wanted the plot to kick off, it's a long ride.  Linus knows Scottish geography  and they  are going to London. Yes, London. Which is not in France. (wow )  This movie feels like it's structured like the comic strip, where events happen with an arc through taking it's time to set it up then get to the meat. Some part of me wonders if this was an idea for a special but was given a theater run instead.  I don't want to be too hard on it, it's just something to note.

My life has been enriched , I'm Charlie Brown/ Copyright Paramount 

more after the jump 

      

Peanuts Thanksgiving and Christmas Special to air on PBS

News Peanuts 

     Previously on the blog, we told you that the Peanuts holiday specials were leaving ABC and going to Apple TV + exclusively.  It was move that wasn't  completely embraced  by people.  The "Great Pumpkin"  didn't air on TV this year, and was Apple TV Plus, there was a free two day window. They also offered  free windows for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  That free offering still requires an apple ID and  credit/debit card number that's not used for payment , but still.

       Wednesday, it was announced that the Thanksgiving special and Christmas special will be airing on TV after all, the network being PBS.  Yes, that PBS. PBS will be airing "A Charlie Brown" Thanksgiving Sunday, November 22nd at 7:30e/ 6:30c.  " A Charlie Brown Christmas" will air Sunday, December 13th at 7:30/6:30c. 

We’re feeling very thankful to team up with @AppleTV to share #ACharlieBrownThanksgiving with you this year! Tune in to this special one-night event on PBS and @PBSKIDS on Sun, Nov 22 at 7:30/6:30c. pic.twitter.com/ADW1R0FvCv

— PBS (@PBS) November 18, 2020

    These specials will air on PBS and the PBS Kids channel (which is on many PBS sub channels and website/app) The specials will still be on Apple TV Plus with the free window dates (Thanksgiving November 25th to 27; Christmas December 11-13).  This is a good move and you will be seeing Peanuts specials un edited without ads on PBS! 

      Sadly, the traditional broadcasts of  "Mayflower Voyages", "I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown", and "Happy New Year, Charlie Brown" have been mentioned for anything.  

Press release after the jump 

Peanuts Specials leaving ABC

Peanuts TV News 

 

        People wondering when the "The Great Pumpkin" was set to air on ABC, will be sad to find out that it won't be airing on ABC, this year. The Peanuts specials which have aired on ABC since 2001, after they left CBS (1965-2000) will  no long be airing on TV.  Peanuts Worldwide along with WildBrain have decided to make a deal with Apple to place the specials on their streaming service, Apple TV Plus. 

            Peanuts and Apple have been working together in the recent couple of years a series of specials "Snoopy In Space" was one of the launching series for Apple TV+ in 2019.   On Ocotber 2nd,2020 they announced a new series coming  in 2021 called "The Snoopy Show"   This year, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" will be on Apple TV plus, starting today (October 19th).  They will offer it free to everyone from October 30 to November 1. 

 

          "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" will be there on November18, free for all between November 25 to 27.     "A Charlie Brown Christmas" will be there starting December 4, and free between December 11 to 13.    

                I'm not sure about other specials "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown" which ABC paired with "Great Pumpkin", "I want a Dog for Christmas Charlie Brown" also wasn't mentioned.  Peanuts specials haven't really been on streaming , except for Hulu having them after the ABC broadcasts.    

      Apple TV  Plus costs  $4.99 per month with a seven day free trial. 

    

     It's sad the specials that have been airing on network broadcast TV since 1965, will be pushed to streaming exclusive world, instead of being a dual thing, which would be better.  

Press Release after the Jump 

Peanuts Film Festival : Race for your Life, Charlie Brown

Peanuts 

        Our Peanuts Film Festival series continues with the Peanuts film from 1977.  That would "Race for your Life, Charlie Brown". This would be the penultimate film in the catalog  that was made when Schulz was alive. The movie first came out in Japan, then the United Sates in summer of 1977.  It's not a long movie, clocking in about 90 minutes, it would be good for a TV movie length to get about 2 hours on your station.

       The theme music is awesome. The movie is about summer camp. Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucky, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Sally, Franklin, and Schroeder all together on a camping trip.  Sot he movie starts with the characters on a bus on the way to camp.  The bus has a tire blow out, while Sally tries to threaten a girl and didn't work.  They had the tire blow out just to have whatever that was happen.   Snoopy and Woodstock are riding  on a motorcycle because they are cool like that.

The only true stylish way to ride! /Copyright Peanuts 

      They make another stop before camp, so we can see Snoopy and Woodstock have root beer. Charlie Brown gets forgotten on the bus and has to hitch a ride with Snoopy. He should be happy that his dog isn't normal after all. At the camp, we meet the three villains of this movie , or more to be exact, antagonists, and their cat.  Snoopy is afraid of the cat, but Linus has a whipping blanket that scares them off.  (Marcie invents the idea of stay-cations)  Charlie Brown's goal is he wants to be a leader.
                   

I don't like paper work! Ban Papers!/ Copyright Peanuts 

          Peppermint Patty is with the other girls and they do this thing that will be used most of the movie, where the girls vote on everything. (Showing us  that democracy is a failure) The Europeans will laugh at Franklin for not knowing 24 hours time. Many parts of the movie is little sequences  of things that just happen then kind of just stop and move to the next scene.  Like the characters having physical training then doing camp stuff like making wallets.
               

We weed out the weak here at camp/ Copyright Peanuts 

             Finally, there are some events going on like tent competitions where different tent groups compete for different things.  Charlie's group doesn't do to well in the first time. Peppermint Patty's group also has a hard time with the bully group.

         The main meal of the movie is this raft race. (RACE for your life) The bully boys have a fancy raft that probably shouldn't be allowed, but apparently nobody official cares.  There are four teams , with Charlie Brown and the boys,  The Bully Boys, Peppermint Patty and the girls, and Snoopy and Woodstock. I like how Snoopy and Woodstock have a simple sail on a  little inner tube.

Other racers nobody cared about/ Copyright Peanuts 

               The girls continue their ballots and voting thing because that's how decisions should work. (democracy has failed)  The race takes a break at night as characters relax for the night, minus the bully boys who try to get a head start by going at night and changing the arrow that was warning racers about rock explosions.  Then it snows. (Alright then)

                                             Snow in summer! My kind of summer 

     The next day, the race continues. The three non-bully teams are close, not knowing anything that happened the night before. The rock blasting zone comes into play, the bullies could have ended up killing everyone else. Peppermint Patty thinks something is off, but Charlie Brown decides that this is a good way, and Snoopy already went that way.  Good thing they didn't die.  Snoopy saves the day, because that's why he exists.  Funny enough, the end up ahead of the bullies.

Good thing Charlie Brown can't die/ Copyright Peanuts 

      There's a storm because this movie needs action.  The bullies learn that teamwork is important. Snoopy lives a life lonely and depressed calling for Woodstock  and Woodstock calls for him as they look for each other. Will they prevail ?  Find out, after the Jump