Saturday Morning "Spike"

When I was a kid “Garfield and Friends” had a good long run on Saturday morning television. I seem to remember it was so popular it actually bled over and played in that early afternoon slot that twenty years ago was occupied by cartoons and now is taken up by Maury’s paternity tests. Around this heyday I told my Mom that there should be a Snoopy cartoon on Saturday morning. She said there had been, but it didn’t really work. I couldn’t imagine that a weekly Charlie Brown show could be any less great than that of his frequent primetime neighbor Garfield. It was only a few years later that the video releases of “The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show” came around exposing me to what I had missed when the show ran from 1983-1985.



Nineteen episodes were produced (according to Wikipedia, the world’s most reliable source) and were released on VHS two at a time in the nineties. The weekly show had a different vibe to it than the primetime specials. There were usually three different shorts in each episode that told simple stories based loosely on the daily comics. It’s likable, happy, full of well-loved characters but on the whole didn’t work. It’s hard to say what exactly didn’t translate but it’s right there. My opinion is that in bringing it into the world of other mindless Saturday morning comedies, they extracted the more adult themes often explored in the strip and replaced it with super-kiddy-friendly zaniness and random weirdness. It’s not terrible however, there are far more objectionable ways to pass 23 minutes, but its most likely best enjoyed by the die-hard fan. And since I obviously fit that description . . .



First up 1985’s, “Snoopy’s Brother Spike,” from the eighth volume of the video release. I do have to mention that one of the most enjoyable things about the series is its very catchy title sequence. “Let’s have a party with Charlie Brown and Snoopy, we can go dancing with Linus and Lucy . . .” The song first appeared on the album “Flashbeagle,” which coincided with the primetime special of the same hip, happening name.



The first short in this episode is entitled “The Pelicans,” which surprisingly refers to the name of Peppermint Patty’s baseball team. (Charlie Brown’s team has been beaten by The Pelicans all these years?) Peppermint Patty kicks us off by asking Chuck to help out her team one sunny day. He, of course, assumes she needs a relief pitcher, but alas no. This week’s humiliation comes in the form of Charlie Brown selling popcorn in the stands. The best part of this vignette is Charlie Brown’s constant amazement at the level of Peppermint Patty’s ball team. “You have fans?” “You hit home runs?”



After Chuck’s spent the whole game pestering Peppermint Patty to play, she finally lets him take the field. She then utters those famous last words, “we’re so far ahead we can’t lose!” This is immediately followed by Charlie Brown beaning her in the head with a baseball, sending her into a coma. When she wakes up, she vows to Marcie that she will see revenge. (No, really.) And her vengeance? It comes in the form of a pelican mascot costume. Charlie Brown, being unfamiliar with the term “self respect,” is tipped off by Marcie that the whole pelican thing sort of makes him look like a loser and won’t get him anywhere with that really hot red-headed chick. This of course leads to Snoopy donning the pelican suit and planting a big wet one on the schnoz of Peppermint Patty. He is of course the natural choice to be the pelican anyway. He made a damn good penguin once upon a Christmas play and, well, penguin and pelican sound the same.



The second story this morning is an even more direct callback to one of our favorite holiday traditions. “The Great Pumpkin” takes place one other Halloween. This one is a lot less festive, but still gives Linus a chance to espouse his beliefs to everyone within earshot. You see, this year there’s a big Halloween bowling tournament that’s got everyone all atwitter. Except of course for Linus, who is busy hooking up his pumpkin patch to a steady IV drip of sincerity. Peppermint Patty takes this opportunity to once again rub her outstanding athletic abilities in everyone’s faces. She teaches clumsy old Charlie Brown the ins and outs, the strikes and spares, etc. And for once, good ol’ Chuck has found a sport he can excel in!



Meanwhile, back in the patch, we see that Sally hasn’t learned her lesson, and is once again dangerously on the verge of missing all the fun in the name of her Sweet Babboo. At least this time they’ve got Snoopy with them, so there won’t be anymore “misunderstandings” when the Great Pumpkin comes . . .



That is until Charlie Brown gets a case of the nervous bowels and completely freaks at this bowling tournament (which is the least Halloweeny thing I have ever seen. Not one costume. No big hanging black cats. No jack-o-lanterns as far as the eye can see. This bowling alley sucks). Chuck is so jittery he bowls the wrong way.

And then we learn that Linus’ pumpkin patch is right outside the bowling alley, since Charlie Brown’s ball comes flying and bowls over Snoopy, Linus, and Sally. (Is there an excuse for such a lame Halloween party, if the bowling alley is right next to a pumpkin patch?! And c’mon Linus, how sincere could this pumpkin patch be, if drunken bowlers are probably coming out and puking in it every night?)



Those worries aside, Linus defies all logic and believes that the bowling ball was The Great Pumpkin. Okay. Then where are your toys, Linus? Where are your toys?? But, we humans are definitely capable of delusions. Maybe that was the point. I hope so, because I would have to be delusional to believe Charlie Brown could go one entire Halloween without someone giving him a rock.

This brings us to the final act, a little character study known as “Spike.” Possibly unbeknownst to you, Snoopy has quite a number of brothers and sisters. Belle, Spike, and I know there’s a fat one too. Spike is the brother that lives in Needles, Arizona in a cactus. (Fun fact: There really is a Needles, AZ and it pretty much looks like it does here: sand, tumbleweed, and a bounty of cacti. And if you happen to drive by it on the freeway, you’ll see a certain Snoopy sibling smiling back at you from the city limits sign.)

Spike is coming for a visit! And everyone is super-jazzed. Really. They can barely contain themselves. Mostly, Charlie Brown and Snoopy seem to think Spike will come and murder the cat that lives next door. You see, this cat is evil and is frequently known to shred Snoopy’s doghouse. He deserves to die.



So when Spike arrives and is pronounced by Lucy to be “as thin as a promise,” she decides to take in the spindly little puppy and fatten him up. She generously lets him camp out in Linus’ bed and puts him on an all milkshake diet. Linus is less than thrilled, but when Lucy is wearing an index card in her hair, you know she means business.



The fattening works and is met with celebrations comparable with those that would meet a newly risen Christ. But when pitted against Satan’s pussycat next-door Spike sets the record for world’s fastest weight loss. Seriously. In less than two seconds Spike sheds the milkshake weight and faints dead away. Someone should box up this cat and sell tickets. Fat people would line up for miles.




On the upside though, this event gives Charlie Brown reason to give us a variation on one of his trademarked catchphrases: “Why can’t I have a normal dog like everybody else, and why can’t he have a normal brother?”

All in all, a pleasant, if not an altogether too memorable experience. And I guess that’s about all one could ask of most Saturday morning cartoons. I won’t rate this one on the doghouse scale, as these episodes are clearly in another league. If you’re interested most of these videos are available on Amazon used for less than ten bucks.

Up next: the CB&SS episode titled "Snoopy's Robot," a futristic outing that combines elements of Peanuts, Star Wars, and the lesser known works of Phillip K. Dick.

Good Grief, It's Warner Home Video

This isn’t exactly new “news,” but it’s fairly close. A few weeks ago it was announced that Warner Home Video is now the official distributor of the Peanuts specials on home video. I am not a lawyer, or a corporation, or a fortune teller, but I feel good about this decision. The DVD releases so far have been nice, however they have released only the holiday specials, in addition to the usual one or two “extra” programs that are on most of the DVDs. (See previous post).

Okay, so I said I thought the change of hands was good, and I do. But, (and “that’s an awfully big but” as Pee-Wee Herman might put it), I am a little perplexed by the first scheduled releases under the new distributor. Coming in the winter of 2008- “Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown” and “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown” are finally coming to DVD. Oh, wait. I mean finally coming to DVD again. You see I actually already have both of these at home. On DVD. I feel as though I need to call the people who decided to generously grace the world with these new versions. I would paraphrase a favorite exchange from “The Great Pumpkin.”

“There were two lists, Warner Executive. One list to release on DVD, and one list not to release on DVD. These shows were on the wrong list.”

Now, I will re-buy them if they have other specials as “bonuses.” Specials not already on DVD. As much as I love anything Peanuts , I doubt I will get them otherwise. The press release proclaims the shows will be “completely remastered, in all-new deluxe editions, with newly created bonus features.” That’s nice, but I don’t recall there being huge problems with the way they looked on the first issue. I just hope that these DVDs will not under-sell and cause Warner to lose interest in releasing more titles. That’s happened with other properties (don’t get me started on Twentieth Century Fox and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”).

But regardless, since no one asked for them, here are my ideas:

A) I would love to see the specials released all together in one or two volumes. Call it “The Peanuts Gold Collection” or “Peanuts Compendium” and just get them all out there. These could be marketed in the same manner as those Disney vault releases, or the way they are doing the Looney Tunes cartoons. These would be marketed more towards adults, and I’m sure would be bought by the mature fan looking for a dose of nostalgia.

B) You could also go another route: back in those wild carefree days of VHS releases my Mom used to buy every video of “The Andy Griffith Show” she could find. Most of these videos just took a handful of episodes that featured a particular character and went under titles like “The Best of Aunt Bee, Volume 4” or “The Best of Barney and Thelma Lou.” You could obviously have a Holiday collection (much like the one that exists now featuring the fall/winter holidays) but it could be complete with Easter, Valentines, New Year’s, and the little seen “It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown!” “The Best of Lucy,” “Best of Peppermint Patty,” aren’t hard to imagine either.

What I would not do, is try very hard to market these towards kids. It’s not that kids hate Peanuts. They don’t, on the whole, but in the same way I doubt there are hundreds of angry four year olds screaming to have the new “Complete Popeye” collection, there would be similarly few lining up for “Schroeder’s Greatest Hits.” These shows have a fan base and I would play to them. I imagine it’s the same group of people buying the continually released books that will eventually print the entire run of daily comic strips.

I also hope to one day see DVDs of the other two Peanuts feature films not currently available: “Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown” and “Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come Back),” but these were not mentioned in the press release. Come on, who doesn’t feel the need to see Charlie Brown try to get out the door with a four foot long baguette? And then feed it to the car? I want to stay at the Chateau of the Bad Neighbor again.

You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown! (in fact you weren't even nominated)

I thought long and hard about which special to review first. Should I begin with a classic holiday special? A rare jewel? Certainly not “It’s the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown.” I chose a special that surprisingly still gets some air time, but little love. “You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown” is a special from 1972, it aired the same year the second Peanuts feature was released (“Snoopy Come Home”) and came along approximately one year before the gang settled down to popcorn and jelly beans in “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.” And in case you didn’t know, this special is available as a bonus (or B-side, if you will) on the “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” DVD.

Now, when I view the specials, I take a lot of things into account. First, my deep nerd-ish love of all things Peanuts. Second, that most of these offerings were made in (and if not, they definitely evoke the spirit of) “a simpler time.” There were over 40 primetime Peanuts specials and like anything that runs for decades (James Bond movies, “The Simpsons”) there are peaks and valleys, evolutions in style, and differences in current Snoopy alter-egos. I have favorites that stick out from each era, but I have to say I really love the style of the specials that were made in this time period. Something about the animation “flow” and a certain loose quality that tells me of the confidence the producers had. But enough high-fallutin’ jibber-jabber. Let’s get to the action!

Fade in: Sally is pissed off! Lucy gets a lot of notoriety for her crabbiness but Sally was no shrinking violet either. (Remember the fury of a woman who misses tricks-or-treats?) We soon learn the reason behind Sally’s firestorm of anger: her school locker. She can’t get the sucker open. Peanuts is known for its psychological insights and this is definitely one: a small, tiny, super insignificant detail of your day can seemingly ruin your life. And if you’re like Sally (or me) then you take this as a directive to ruin everyone else’s lives too. But, big brother Charlie Brown vows to make things right. If only we all had such big brothers.

Cut to: the next morning. Sally is still pissed, but resigned to go to school. But first the Brown children will settle in for a healthy breakfast. As Sally tells us in her own personal PSA: “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is a known fact that all of our country’s presidents started each day with a rousing breakfast.” She just can’t figure out how they all met up every morning. Especially since our founding fathers had to be either zombies or vampires to meet up with Nixon every morning. (Notice how much we can see of the kids’ kitchen. When I was little I loved seeing all the stuff in their house. I was a bona fide Peanuts freak since birth so I always dreamed of going through their closets, peaking in their drawers just to see what kind of junk they had. With the shows from this time period I came as close as I’ll get.)

And this is another interesting note: we’re all accustomed to not seeing adults in the Peanuts world (with a few exceptions), but as Charlie Brown and Sally are eating cold cereal (a Charlie Brown specialty) it does strike me as a little odd that Mom and Dad aren’t at least squawking in the other room. But, nevermind that because in walks Snoopy, complete with sleeping cap. He is of course a magical dog and apparently quite the chef. (Remember we’re twelve months away from seeing his true culinary genius in the Thanksgiving special). He whips up one of those delicious looking cartoon breakfasts that always makes me want 12 pieces of French toast. Snoopy does his best Alice the maid impression as he makes the kids their lunches, Charlie Brown says something like “Good Grief,” “I can’t stand it,” or “why can’t I have a normal dog like everyone else?” and we’re off to school.

At school we learn Sally hates her locker because she can’t reach the lock. We understand, Sally. Once Sally is safely dropped off in Ms. Othmar’s class (the same teacher Linus had the hots for a few years later in the original Valentines special, by the way), Charlie Brown finds his pal Linus talking to his cronies about who should run for student body president. Linus (who is blanket-free in this outing) suggests Good Ol’ Charlie Brown. Really? I think Linus’ lack of blanket has at the very least caused some temporary insanity. But just as quickly as Chuck’s dreams of acceptance speeches and Nobel prizes begin they are squashed. Lucy took a poll and found out that no one under any circumstances would ever vote for Charlie Brown.

At this time in history, Snoopy was deep into his Joe Cool phase. He would often break into school and try to pick up chicks, it’s just what he did. The best repercussion of this phenomenon was that we got to hear the “Joe Cool Theme” which is always awesome. Snoopy of course took it too far, by actually sneaking into a class and trying to solve a math problem on the board. (34+7+3= paw print). Alas, not everyone is as gullible as Peppermint Patty and Joe Cool is unveiled as merely a capricious doggy, and tossed out onto the street.

But, back to the real story: the election! Sally has a bright idea, since her big bro’s political dreams were smashed like that glass they step on in Jewish weddings, she thinks her Sweet Babboo would make the ideal candidate. Lucy takes another poll (applying a little more pressure since she’s asking about her own flesh and blood this time) and its found out that 99% of the school has been waiting for Linus to run for office for, like, ever.

In the most pot-boiling political scene ever, Linus is nominated for student body president. Linus proves a wise choice as he unleashes his inner politician during his campaign speech. We learn he is pro-drinking fountains, pro sick pay, for longer recesses, and has a violent anti-homework stance. Luckily no one asks about abortion or gay marriage and we’re in the clear with Linus in the lead.

Somehow through the chain of command, Snoopy is put in charge of campaign posters. He and Woodstock ably demonstrate why animals should never do this sort of work. (Maybe that’s what went wrong for John Kerry).

After dealing with Campaign-Postergate, Lucy puts Linus on a radio show (with an unknown broadcast range). The radio show is of the call-in variety and a little known fact is: this portion of the program was the inspiration for the long-running sitcom “Frasier.” All the callers to the radio show are insane, which gives an air of realism that balances out the Snoopy breakfast making scene earlier.

It’s finally time for the last of the campaign speeches. Linus reveals his inner Julius Caesar as he intones “Friends, schoolmates, teachers, countrymen . . .” and goes on to proclaim that his administration will bring down the false idols in high places, and release the grade-schoolers from their spiritual Babylon. We also finally get a glimpse into the psyche of Linus’ opponent Russell Anderson. We see that he is just some kid. Nothing big or special, just a kid who, in his speech “promises to do the best I can.” This makes me want to simultaneously cry and vote Anderson.

So in Linus’ last speech, he figures he has everything so wrapped up he comes out of that most secret of closets: the big orange Great Pumpkin one. This is met with many a’slap to the forehead by his campaign team. The scandal wreaks such havoc that it puts him neck and neck with Russell Anderson in the polls. At this point I’m so taken with Anderson’s meek demeanor and candor I’m hoping he squeaks out a win.

This special also answers the eternal question: Whatever happened to Violet? According to the picture above, she is a cub reporter for the Washington Post.

And when it comes election time, if I didn’t believe in the honesty and over-all trustworthiness of the Peanuts gang I’d swear they threw the vote (is it common practice for one party’s campaign team to work every job during the election?) But I guess its all on the up and up, since at the last minute even Russell Anderson pledges allegiance to Linus. In an 84 to 83 vote we now have President Van Pelt.

Of course when the time comes for Linus to live up to his campaign and tell off the principal, things don’t go as planned. Linus is the one who gets “educated!” The important lesson is taught to all the children out there that politicians are all just puppets to some greater master who pulls the strings.

And so, we are back where we began. Sally is pissed! Only this time it’s not her locker, but her Sweet Babboo that has stepped on her landmine. “They’re all the same! Promises, promises! You elect them and they weasel out of their promises!” You have to hand it Ms. Brown, she’s out there lifting the wool off the kids’ eyes about the untold evils of all those Washington fat-cats. And that message is at least as timeless as the true meaning of Christmas.

I’m trying to come up with a way to rate the specials that are reviewed. You know “3 of out of 4 Snoopy doghouses” or something. I guess until I come up with something better that’s good enough. And this special gets: (you guessed it)

. . . how I hate him!

. . . no, no. I don't hate anyone. At least probably no one that you know. That's just how the first Peanuts strip ends. Remember? I hope so.

At any rate, this is the inaugural post, and I thought it fitting to evoke that timeless piece of history. Not that I compare this blog to the Peanuts strip (although it will most likely run for about 50 years as well).

So in this forum, I plan to review the Peanuts specials. That's my one main goal. Since so many aren't available now except on out-of-print VHS tapes, and maybe there's a burgeoning Snoopy fan out there wondering "how exactly did Flashbeagle pan out?" I hope to one day answer that question.

Also, I will comment on anything that relates to Peanuts if it comes up in the news. (This is probably going to be rarer, as Charles Schulz is, right now, visiting that great Daisy Hill Puppy Farm in the sky.)

And lastly, the least this blog can do, is bring together millions of techno-savvy Peanuts fans around the globe. In fact, even if you're not techno-savvy (meaning you've never heard of Moby) this blog will bring you into this worldwide community. (Ask your grandchildren to print out the blog entries for you.)



There you go, in case you were dumbfounded by earlier comments, this will help you stay in the loop. Happiness is being in the loop.