DVD Review: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Movie Info:
Writer: Charles M. Schulz
Director: Bill Melendez
Cast: Peter Robbins, Christopher Shea, Sally Dryer, Kathy Steinberg, Gail DeFaria, Lisa DeFaria, Glenn Mendelson, Ann Altieri, Bill Melendez
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Warner Home Video

Release Info:
Theatrical Release: October 27, 1966
DVD Release Date: September 2, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon for $13.99

I grew up in the 80s, so like every kid who grew up from the 60s on, I grew up with Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang. I remember pouring through the Sunday comics at my grandparents’ house, just to find my favorite comic strips. Among them was Peanuts. Of course, I loved the Peanuts television specials. There was the original special, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Then there were specials for every other holiday including Thanksgiving, Easter, Valentines, and who could forget, Halloween?

Of course, my favorite Peanuts special isn’t one of the holiday specials. Don’t get me wrong. I love all of the Peanuts specials. I’m just partial to my favorite Peanuts special, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown. Nothing really compares to Peanuts in Europe. Needless to say, I still love the holiday Peanuts. I really can’t say that any of the Peanuts specials are my least favorite. It’s really hard to choose one over the other! That’ brings me back to It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

After the success of the original Peanuts special, the Christmas special, in the mid-1960s, Sparky Schultz and Bill Melendez sat down to come up with the next big blockbuster. It wasn’t just the fact that they wanted people to like Peanuts. They were told if their next Peanuts special wasn’t a hit they might not make any more, ever again. This gave Sparky the idea for It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. This is one of the saddest Peanuts episodes and also the most hopeful. For a while, I even believed in the Great Pumpkin, just so Linus didn’t have to be alone.

You really feel for Charlie Brown in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I mean, seriously! How much abuse can one child take?! The poor kid not only gets treated like crud by his peers (Lucy ruins his excitement over getting invited to the Halloween party by saying it “has” to be a mistake). He also has to deal with the cruel, evil Lucy Van Pelt. Just once, you hope Charlie will kick that football, but Lucy keeps pulling it out from him.

Let’s not forget how he is treated by adults. Charlie Brown messes up his own ghost costume by putting too many holes in it. Maybe that’s how they know its him. It’s still sad when he says, “I got a rock.” While all the other kids get candy and bumble gum, ol’ Charlie Brown gets nothing more than a bag of rocks. This kid just can’t get a break!

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown Plot
Linus and Lucy Van Pelt head out into the pumpkin patch. They’re going to find the perfect pumpkin. After Linus holds up a few choices, Lucy points to the one she wants. As Linus clumsily carries the pumpkin, he eventually has to roll the thing home. Unfortunately, Linus ends up getting rolled with it! After bringing it into the house, Lucy begins to gut it, upsetting Linus, since he thinks she’s killing the pumpkin.

When Charlie Brown is outside, raking leaves with his dog Snoopy, Lucy approaches him with a paper. It’s a signed document in which she promises not to pull the football out when he’s trying to kick it. Charlie Brown isn’t sure if he can trust Lucy, but he ends up doing it anyway, with disastrous results! This is definitely one of the most abusive episodes to poor Charlie!

With Halloween approaching, Linus can think of nothing else, but the arrival of the Great Pumpkin. The Great Pumpkin is kind of like Santa Claus. Instead of climbing down chimneys and leaving toys under Christmas trees, the Great Pumpkin finds the most perfect pumpkin patch. He travels around the world to find the patch where he leaves toys for all the good little children.

Linus is so sure the Great Pumpkin is real that he writes a letter to him. Lucy is horrified. She has her image to uphold. Snoopy laughs at him. Patty denounces the great pumpkin. Even Charlie Brown is not on Linus’ side. He doesn’t believe in the Great Pumpkin either. Everyone thinks Linus is a weird little kid. Everyone but Sally who is clearly in love with him.

When Charlie Brown finds out he’s been invited to his first Halloween party, Lucy has to burst his bubble. The invite is obviously a mistake. Charlie doesn’t care. He’s going anyway. The kids all make their Halloween costumes. Charlie Brown messes his up. As all the kids head out to trick or treat (Charlie Brown only seems to be given rocks for his efforts and not treats), Sally must decide to go out with her friends or stay in the pumpkin patch to wait for the Great Pumpkin with Linus.

This episode also includes the famous Snoopy Red Baron scenes. While not exactly cohesive with the entire plot of the Halloween episode, Snoopy does come dressed up in his flying ace gear. It is a nice sequence and a major nod to the comic strip.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
It looks like Warner Bros. has cleaned It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown up quite a bit. This DVD version has been remastered from the 2000 DVD release of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The animation looks swell. Considering this was originally animated in the 1960s it looks remarkably excellent. There are no longer any color problems. Peanuts cartoons often used to have that faded look, back in the 80s when I first saw them. Now, the colors are bright and vibrant. There is no smudging or glare. The black tones are solid and the contrast is sharp with very little if any softness.

The audio for this DVD is crisp and clear despite being English Dolby Digital Mono. The music could be more dynamic, but the sound comes through clearly and the dialogue and music have a decent balance with neither overpowering the other. There are additional audio tracks in Spanish, Japanese and Portugeuse. I guess a diverse group of people like Peanuts. All of these tracks are Dolby Digital Mono, as well. Subtitles are available in English, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
There are two bonus features on the It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown DVD. Both of them are really cool. The first is a bonus episode featuring the Peanuts gang. In It’s Magic, Charlie Brown, Snoopy finds a magic book. He decides he is going to be the great Houndini. With the help of Marci and volunteers from the audience, Snoopy performs rather mediocre magic tricks, all of which seem to been done unsuccessfully.

When Charlie Brown accidentally agrees to be Snoopy’s volunteer in the disappearing trick, he really disappears. An unexpected rain shower interrupts the show and Snoopy forgets to change Charlie back. With him invisible, Sally decides to move into his bedroom, and Charlie Brown takes advantage of this newfound freedom to get back at some of the people who teased and tortured him. In particular he decides to take on, Lucy Van Pelt!

There is also a brand new featurette included in the It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown DvD bonus section. The featurette, “We Need a Blockbuster, Charlie Brown” talks about how the idea for this Charlie Brown special came to be. The creators of the Charlie Brown specials, sans Charles “Sparky” Schultz, talk about the pressure they were under to make this a blockbuster hit, just like the Christmas special.

Sparky is mentioned fondly. He came up with the idea for having the show about the Great Pumpkin. There is a lot of discussion with his plans for the episode, the motivation behind it and they even talk to his son and widow about his vision for this Peanuts special. Overall, this is a comprehensive, engaging and interesting featurette.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
I’m a Peanuts fan for life. I could never NOT recommend any Peanuts special. I really must say though that out of the many specials that have aired, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is amongst the best. A true classic, old fans of Peanuts can relive the magic of the Great Pumpkin with this DVD. A new generation can also be introduced to Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang. If you’re ensure if your child will like this (but I don’t know a kid who doesn’t like Peanuts), check out It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown when it airs this October. It airs every year (I’m pretty sure on ABC). Otherwise, buy this right away! It’s worth the purchase!

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Peanuts, DVD Review, Warner Bros, Warner Home Video, Charles Shultz, Sparky, Linus Van Pelt, Lucy, Snoopy, Woodstock, cartoon, kids, Halloween

Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
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Dominick is in his late 20s. He lives in Michigan with his life partner, Ashtyn, their 14 year old son Robert, and their Shih-Tzu, Oliver. Dominick is a writer and the head editor for both LI Kids and Literary Illusions. He enjoys composing music and is an aspiring director/screenwriter. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, playing video games, watching movies, and singing.