Movie Info:
Writer: Charles M. Schulz
Directors: Bill Melendez, Phil Roman
Cast: Bill Melendez, Peter Robbins, Christopher Shea, Sally Dryer, Tracy Stratford, Kathy Steinberg, Gail DeFaria, Lisa DeFaria, Glenn Mendelson, Ann Altieri, Ann Altieri, Chris Doran, Karen Mendelson, Geoffrey Ornstein, Jimmy Ahrens, Todd Barbee, Christopher DeFaria, Robin Kohn, Hilary Momberger, Robin Reed, Stephen Shea
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Warner Home Video
Release Info:
Original Release: December 9, 1965, October 27, 1966, November 20, 1973
DVD Release Date: September 23, 2008
Online Availability: Amazon for $33.99
It’s time for another Peanuts review. Dominick did a review for one of the DVDs released in this set, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Now it’s my turn to review the entire set. I grew up with the Peanuts. Didn’t we all? I’m pretty sure anyone who grew up from the mid-1960s onward has happy memories about watching Peanuts holiday specials while growing up. I’m a child of the 80s and I know I do.
When I had my son, one of the first movies I let him watch on VHS (this was back in the mid-90s, a little before DVD became the only thing to own) was A Charlie Brown Christmas. Since he was just a little baby, he’s been in love with Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang. Now that he’s 13, he still loves Peanuts and honestly, who could blame him? What’s not to like? It’s one of those cartoons that no matter how old you are you’re going to like it. Watching A Charlie Brown Christmas is pretty much an ingrained tradition in most households, ranking up there with watching It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story (which is going to be re-released this year on DVD - and I’m very excited about this) every year at Christmas.
Peanuts brings families together. I can remember gathering in front of the television with my older brother and my mom to watch the Peanuts specials. Now that I have my own family, all of us (and still my mom is with us) gather up in the living room to watch it on the big screen television. I feel something warm and tingly inside me every time I watch Peanuts holiday classics. I guess you’d call it nostalgia. It reminds me of my past, present and reminds me of how magnificent my future can be as I expand my family and allow the future children in my family to enjoy the Peanuts gang as much as I did when I was their age.
There are three primary Peanut storylines included in this box set. The first one is the newly released version of, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Next, is the ever-popular, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Finally, there is the special that started it all, A Charlie Brown Christmas. If I had to rate each special in order of my favorite from greatest to least favorite, I’d have to choose, A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and then It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
It was harder than heck to pick my favorite because I love all three of these Peanuts specials. I’ve seen them hundreds of times before and I’ll continue to watch them every single year for as long as I live.
Peanuts Holiday Collection Plots
This holiday collection is comprised of three discs. Each disc has a holiday special on it, plus individual bonus features. The best thing about this is that you’ll get one extra Peanuts episode on each disc for a total of six Peanuts stories. That’s not counting the special features. While you can purchase these DVDs separately, there really is no sense in doing that when you can get this entire set altogether for a much lower price.
The first disc is for It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. As I mentioned before, Dominick did a review of this exact same DVD, when it was released a few weeks ago. This is the exact same DVD down to the quality and the bonus features as the one now being sold separately, so if you own that one, you might want to hold off on purchasing this set. You can buy the other two DVDs individually, as well.
It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown is all about Halloween. It contains one of the best Peanuts lines ever…”I got a rock.”
For those who don’t know about the rock, this is what Charlie Brown says he gets at every house he goes to trick or treating. In It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Linus believes the great pumpkin, a Halloween version of Santa Claus, is going to come to the pumpkin patch. He writes the great pumpkin a letter in anticipation of his arrival. Since the great pumpkin brings the little children toys and goodies and since Sally is in love with Linus, she is faced with the difficult task of deciding whether she will stay in the pumpkin patch with Linus or go trick or treating with the rest of the kids.
This was the second holiday special to be produced for television. It was also the first Peanuts animated television series to feature Snoopy and the Red Baron, show Lucy pulling out the football on Charlie Brown and show Charlie Brown getting invited to anything (this episode he is invited to a Halloween party). The first two things were quite popular from the Peanuts comic strip, but had never been a part of a Peanuts television special before.
The bonus episode on this DVD is called “It’s Magic, Charlie Brown”. This is a Peanuts episode I’d never seen before. In it, Snoopy finds a magic book. He decides to put on a magic show as the great Houndini. While his tricks aren’t always so great, he manages to make Charlie Brown invisible. Initially, this bothers Charlie greatly, but when he sees how he is able to benefit from being invisible he sets out to get back at Lucy for all she’s done to torture him over the years.
On the second disc is A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. I absolutely love this holiday special. This was the last of the holiday specials (in this set) to be made. This one was actually made in the early 70s. You can hear how the characters voices have changed from Christmas and Great Pumpkin to this one. That is because they both used nearly all the same actors and those actors were now too old to voice for Thanksgiving.
It’s almost Thanksgiving. Charlie Brown and Sally are going to their grandparents house. When Peppermint Patty invites herself, Marcy, and Franklin to Thanksgiving at “Chuck’s” house, Charlie Brown has no choice but to host a Thanksgiving party in his backyard before going to his grandparents’ house. Luckily, Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock pitch in, but when the only food for dinner is popcorn, jellybeans, buttered toast and other things kids (and dogs) can make, the guests are disappointed in Charlie Brown.
The bonus episode on this disc is from the This Is America, Charlie Brown series. The episode is called “The Mayflower Voyagers”. This tells the tale of the Pilgrims as they travel from England to the new world on the Mayflower, their landing at Plymouth Rock, the harsh winter they had to endure and ultimately, the celebration of their first Thanksgiving. Whether your child likes history or not, they’re going to love this DVD.
The third disc in the set features A Charlie Brown Christmas. The very first Charlie Brown television special ever, A Charlie Brown Christmas has become a part of people’s lives since it first aired in 1965. This was such a huge success, it made it possible for all of the other Peanuts television specials, series, and movies to become such a success. It also made Peanuts a household name.
It’s Christmastime and Charlie Brown is depressed. At Lucy’s prodding, he agrees to direct the Christmas play. After assigning parts, Charlie Brown realizes that it won’t be a Christmas play without a Christmas tree. So, he sets out with Linus to get the best tree ever. He thinks getting a good tree will make the rest of the kids in the play start to respect him as the director. However, when he gets to the tree lot, he sees a tiny, crooked tree that reminds Charlie of himself. The little tree is an outcast.
Despite Linus’ warning, he buys the tree. While initially everyone is upset with him, the true meaning of Christmas is soon understood by the kids and everything turns out okay. This is one of the best cartoon holiday specials ever. It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling every time I watch it.
The bonus feature for this DVD is, “It’s Christmas Time Again, Charlie Brown”. This is my least favorite episode/special in the entire set. It doesn’t really capture that Peanuts spirit the other specials do. Ultimately, this is why the primetime stations have stopped airing it during the Christmas season.
In this bonus episode, Charlie Brown has a girlfriend named Peggy Jean. She is a little red haired girl. He goes door to door trying to sell wreaths to try and buy her a pair of gloves, but ultimately has to sell off his comic book collection to do so. Peppermint Patty tries to figure out what she has to read in order to do her Christmas break book report. In the meantime, the majority of the Peanuts gang (excluding Charlie, Linus and Lucy) are in the school Christmas play. Both Patty and Sally have only one line (Patty is a sheep and forgets to say Baa and Sally is an angel who only has to say Hark but instead says Hockey Stick!), but both mess up their lines. That’s pretty much the jist of this bonus. Sadly, this is the only thing keeping this set from getting a perfect 5.
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
All of the DVDs in this set have been enhanced. These specials were made in the 1960s and 70s (minus the bonus episodes, which were made at various other points). For being over 30 years old they look fantastic! All three of these DVDs have been remastered. That means a clearer, vibrantly colored picture. There are only minor instances of grain and that’s the only problem though you have to look closely to see any flaws at all. The greatest thing about these DVDs is how bright the animation is. It looks brand new and yet it isn’t. I’m so impressed. Thank you Warner Home Video!
The sound for all three specials is exceptional. One of the bonuses, “It’s Christmas Time Again, Charlie Brown” is slightly lower in volume, but the volume is consistent once you adjust it for this episode. Otherwise, everything comes through loudly and clearly with no additional volume toggling. The English Dolby Digital mono track is excellent for a mono track. Most of the sound is forward with the music clearly in the back. There are additional mono tracks in Spanish, Japanese, and Portuguese.
There are subtitles available in the following languages English, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai.
Visual:
Audio:
Bonus Features:
While all of the bonus episodes are technically bonus features, I listed them above. There are also a few other bonuses included in this set. All of these bonuses are new and are not included in any of the previous Peanuts holiday collections.
Included in the DVD box (which is actually quite attractive and well put together) is A Charlie Brown Christmas Six Song Sampler CD. The songs included on this CD are “My Little Drum”, “Linus and Lucy”, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!”, “Christmas is Coming”, “Fur Elise”, and “Greensleeves”.
All of the DVDs have a special making of featurette. These featurettes look at the vision for each of these specials and contain incredibly interesting tidbits about each special. On the It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown DVD this featurette is entitled, “We Need a Blockbuster, Charlie Brown!”. The A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving DVD has the featurette, “Popcorn & Jellybeans: Making a Thanksgiving Classic”. Finally, A Charlie Brown Christmas has the featurette, “A Christmas Miracle: The Making of A Charlie Brown Christmas”. All of these featurettes are extremely interesting and a welcome addition/upgrade from past Peanuts DVD releases.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
While Charlie Brown (and the Peanuts Gang) have put out a few different holiday collections on DVD, in the last ten years, this is by far the best. The quality for Peanuts Holiday Collection is vastly improved. There is a nice variety of bonus features and everything looks and sounds great. This is a major step up from the Classic Collections released in 2000 and 2005. My advice is, if you own a holiday set already, off load it on eBay. Pick up this one to replace it and enjoy. Those who don’t own these DVDs need to buy them now. These are holiday classics the whole family can enjoy and shouldn’t live without.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Peanuts Holiday Collection, DVD Review, Warner Home Video
Written by Ashtyn Evans - Visit Website
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