It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown
Genre Animated TV special
Created by Charles M. Schulz
Written by Charles M. Schulz
Directed by Bill Melendez
Voices of Jamie E. Smith (Charlie Brown)
Jodie Sweetin (Sally Brown/Frieda)
John Christian Graas (Linus van Pelt)
Marnette Patterson (Lucy van Pelt)
Phillip Lucier (Peppermint Patty)
Lindsay Bennish (Marcie)
Sean Mendelson (Franklin)
Deanna Tello (Peggy Jean, Violet, and Patty)
Matthew Slowik (Harold Angel)
Brittany M. Thornton (Additional Voices)
Bill Meléndez (Snoopy and Woodstock)
Theme music composer Vince Guaraldi
Composer(s) Vince Guaraldi
David Benoit
Country of origin USA
Original language(s) English
Production
Executive producer(s) Lee Mendelson
Producer(s) Bill Melendez
Running time 28 minutes
Release
First shown in November 27, 1992
Chronology
Preceded by It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown
Followed by You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown is the 36th prime-time animated TV special based on the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on the CBS network on November 27, 1992.

The program is composed of various storylines from the comic strip. It was the first Christmas-themed Peanuts special since the inaugural A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965, though an episode of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show featured a new Christmas vignette in 1985. This was the final "new" Peanuts animated special to air on CBS. The network cancelled all future animated specials in 1990, even though they still aired in re-runs until 2000.

Plot

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown is composed of several Christmas-themed story lines, all taken directly from the Peanuts comic strip:[1]

  • Charlie Brown tries to sell wreaths door-to-door.
  • Peppermint Patty worries about her Christmas book report.
  • Peppermint Patty and Marcie attend a performance of Handel's Messiah. The following day at school, Peppermint Patty writes about the performance. Neither her nor Marcie know Handel's first name, so Peppermint Patty credits the piece to "Joe Handel."
  • Snoopy becomes a Santa on the street, Lucy and Sally beg to differ.
  • Woodstock and his bird friends play chamber music inside a snowman's hat.
  • Charlie Brown tries to explain the true meaning of Christmas to Sally (who is convinced that the true meaning of Christmas is "getting all you can get while the getting is good") when she is writing a letter to Santa, but she tunes them out. She also writes to Mrs. Claus, Mary Christmas.
  • Snoopy, Woodstock and his friends dance with the candy canes that were on Charlie Brown's tree.
  • Sally goes to Linus's house for the meaning of Christmas and complains to Linus about calling birds in "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Linus tells Sally about Albert Schweitzer and how he disliked Christmas presents because he "hated to write thank-you notes." Sally asks who Albert Schweitzer was.
  • Charlie Brown sells his entire comic book collection in order to buy Peggy Jean a nice pair of gloves, only to find that she has already bought a pair.
  • The kids participate in a Christmas play, where Marcie plays The Virgin Mary, Franklin gets the role of Gabriel, Peppermint Patty reluctantly plays a sheep, and Sally, who has to say the line "Hark!" in the same play to summon a herald angel, inadvertently yells "Hockey stick!". Later, Harold (herald) Angel drops by to visit Charlie Brown, looking for Sally.

In the final scene, Lucy tells Linus to get up from the beanbag, but Linus refuses, saying that they remembered the time when they opened presents under the Christmas tree, and thinking that why they haven't been nice all day. Lucy angrily tells him that he's driving her crazy. The film ends with Linus saying, "Joy to the world".

Release

Broadcast

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown was first shown on CBS on November 27, 1992, and was the last Peanuts special to have its television premiere on that network. The show received a 10.0 rating and was watched by about 9.3 million households.[2]

The special no longer airs on American television as both CBS and its successor "Peanuts" broadcaster, ABC, abandoned it in favor of other specials. In Canada, YTV still airs it as a standalone special as of 2012.

Home media

A VHS release was made available at Shell gas stations a few months prior to the TV airing, which would make this the first Peanuts special released directly to video.[3] Paramount gave it another video release in 1996, and it was later included as a bonus special on the DVD and Blu-ray of A Charlie Brown Christmas by Warner Home Video, who currently owns the rights to both specials.

Cast

  • Jamie E. Smith: Charlie Brown
  • John Christian Graas: Linus van Pelt
  • Marnette Patterson: Lucy van Pelt
  • Jodie Sweetin: Sally Brown/Frieda
  • Matthew Slowik: Harold Angel
  • Phillip Lucier: Peppermint Patty
  • Lindsay Benesh: Marcie
  • Sean Mendelson: Franklin
  • Deanna Tello: Peggy Jean/Violet/Patty
  • Brittany M. Thornton: additional voices
  • Bill Melendez: Snoopy and Woodstock

Music

Rather than having a new musical score composed for It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown, jazz composer Vince Guaraldi's musical scores were redone by jazz pianist David Benoit. It was the first time Guaraldi's music had been used in a Peanuts special since It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (save for an arrangement of "Linus and Lucy" done by Ed Bogas and Judy Munsen for It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown and What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown!), although Benoit had scored an episode of This is America, Charlie Brown prior to this special.

References

  1. ↑ "A trove of yule's neglected videos". The Washington Times. 1993-12-16. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
  2. ↑ "Nielsen Ratings/Nov 23-29." Press-Telegram (Long Beach, Calif.), Dec. 2, 1992.
  3. ↑ McGuire, Scott. Peanuts Animation and Video List. Accessed Dec. 22, 2012.
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