How many Christmas specials can Peanuts have? The answer is a few.
"I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown" is an hour long (with commercials) Christmas special from 2003, that first aired on ABC, and as of this writing airs once a year on ABC.
This special focuses on Rerun Van Pelt, the little brother of Linus and Lucy. The primary plot, and I say that because there's loose connections in this special, is that Rerun really wants to have a pet dog.
That's the main focus but most of the special is vignettes of Rerun's daily life: He rides on the back of his mother's bicycle and she's not the most cautious rider, he wants to play with Snoopy, people ask him about his "weird" brother and sister. Rerun is an interesting peanuts character , because he's one of the youngest ones, he's one that was introduced in the 1970's but there wasn't much done with him. His primary gag was the riding on the back of his mother's bicycle. Schulz didn't really have much ideas for the character. For awhile, he was background or not shown at all. (He appeared in the 80's special "Happy New Year") He got a resurgence in the 90's and is in many Peanuts strips many of which were put into special, and a later special, "He's a Bully".
We get to see how Rerun interacts with his sister and brother which brings us some funny moments like when Lucy threatens to knock down his blocks and she asks what he would do? His answer was that years down the lane he would refuse to sign a co-sign on a loan for Lucy and her husband. Which causes her to just storm away and not knock down the blocks.
you could say, he blocked her... ha ha ha / Copyright Peanuts
Later on, Rerun is at school and there's a character that was introduced in the comics in the 90's called "The little pig-tailed girl" she and him are working on some crafts in Kindergarten. When she says she's tired of "this Kindergarten stuff" he says maybe they could go to Paris one day. The next day, he gets in trouble for harassment. (What?) ( This segment is based off strips from January of 1997 and one from 2000. )
Nothing can be proved/ Copyright Peanuts
Then it gets to the plot of Rerun still wanting a dog. More daily life of Rerun stuff, with Rerun being with his mother. They did put in a Schroeder and Lucy moment. (We do have time for this) It has some funny moments to it. Rerun asks Charlie Brown if Snoopy has any family members, to which Charlie says he does. Charlie Brown talks about Snoopy's brother, Marbles, visiting but leaving after one day because Snoopy is a bad pilot. Then about Andy and Olaf. (We get sweet shot of inside Snoopy's house) There's Spike. (His last special was "The Girl in the Red Truck" ) To fill in the gap, he asks Snoopy if he can play with him, which works for a while until Snoopy grows tired of this apparently.
Yay/ Copyright Peanuts
more after the jump
