Toon Zone Talkback- "Happy New Year, Charlie Brown" 12/30 @ 8/7c on ABC

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SUPERIOR HOUSE NIKKA

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Tonight we visit Chuck and the gang as they ring in the New Year, Peanuts style.

HappyNewYearCharlieBrown.jpg
 
When was the last time this thing aired on TV? I have have an old VHS recording of this special from the first time it aired but that's the only way I've seen it in a good couple of decades.

It's nice that ABC is actually airing this. Hopefully it will end up on DVD sooner or later.
 
There were a couple of things I didn't quite get about this special. Charlie Brown has to read Tolstoy's War and Peace over the winter break? What grade is this kid in, anyway?

And how come Chuck has to read the book, but nobody else does?
 
Actually, the story from this special was taken from the comics. But I believe in the comics Charlie Brown had to read "Moby Dick".



Eh, because he's Charlie Brown..?

Anyway, what did you expect from a Peanuts special made in 1985? It's not fantastic, but they'd end up getting a whole lot worse.
 
It WAS great to see this special again after so long.:)

However...

ABC butchered it!!!:crying:

Before closing credits, as they're walking to school, Charlie tells Linus he finished the book at 3 A.M. January 2nd. Plus, poor Charlie mentions he got a D- grade on his report. To top it all off, Linus tells Charlie that their next assignment is to read "Crime & Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoevsky...and poor Charlie Brown passes out at his desk!!!:ack:

It's a shame it'll be at least a year before Warner Bros. puts the original UNCUT version on DVD!!!:crying: :crying: :crying:
 
Ive never been a fan of this special myself, it doesent have the "classic" feel of the Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween specials....

It's just bland...
 
As DG mentioned, the special was made in 1985, after the Charlie Brown specials had kind of passed their peak. But still, it was better the some of the specials that came after it.
 
Missed it as usual, but got home in time for Rudolph's Shiny New Year (I'm watching it now.)


So where's Rudolph's Shiny New Talkback?
 
That's the highest-pitched Peppermint Patty I've ever heard. She could pass for Sally.

This is also one of those controversial later specials where they show the Little Red-Haired Girl on camera and give her a name. Schulz allowed that decision, but later regretted it.
 
ABC is finally starting to take advantage of the Peanuts library. The last time I saw it was on Nicktoons TV back in 2003, and they used to show this regularly on The Disney Channel during the 1990's.

This is hardly one of my favorite Peanuts specials, because the storytelling is so uneven. Charlie Brown is the ONLY one that has to study during break, and what a way to burn a kid's brains out. His holiday dilemma fell on deaf ears except Linus.
Also, the events at the New Years' party was muddled. Peppermint Patty complained she was alone at midnight, but she was seen celebrating and singing with the other kids. (And Snoopy wasn't around to give her company?) Linus was celebrating too, but not with the Little Red Haired Girl (Heather :sweat:).

A few good gags were shown, like Rerun's square balloons. But with the change in pace already set in stone long after Vince Guraldi's 1976 death, it felt after a while that neither Schulz or Melendez were putting that much effort in the animated specials anymore.
 
One minor correction: The Little Red-Haired Girl is Charlie Brown's crush, not Linus's.




I mentioned this myself in post #3. :anime:
 
The reason he didn't show her in the strip is because everyone has different ideas of beauty, and she was better left to the imagination of the reader. At any rate, "Heather" is not considered official Peanuts canon.
 
Didn't Chucko get a girlfriend in the last year of the strip before Charles Schulz died? I haven't read a comic strip in years, so I'm not sure about that, but I remember reading or hearing that somewhere.
 
So, I guess I'm not the only one. Though I'd like to see Marcie as a girlfriend for Charlie Brown. She always accepts him for who he is, unlike Peppermint Patty who's always jealous of his interest in the little red-haired girl.



He went out with Roy Hobbs' great grand-daughter Royanne in the later years of the strip if that's what you're thinking about.



Thanks for mentioning that. I was wondering what happened afterwards. I think the trouble with ABC is that they make their commercial breaks too long so they can't play half-hour specials in their entirety.



Well, she was also seen and called 'Heather' in "It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown." I guess the writers of this one and the writers of that one had the same idea. Unfortunately the idea was different than Schultz's.
 
I recall this special.... though like others said, I don't think it was as enjoyable as the earlier ones. Yeah, I know he's Charlie Brown, but still--- "War and Piece" to a *third-grader*?! No wonder he got a Peppermint Patty-ish grade... :-p

-B.
 
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