'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 1

Starting today, the animated TV show being looked at on the blog will be on the modern side with a recent one from Nickelodeon that’s actually really good thanks to its humor, heart, unique animation style, use of character, and a great look at family life:

The Loud House (Season 1)

Basic Premise

Throughout the 2000s straight into the 2010s, Nickelodeon didn’t really seem to have very appealing series, which is a shame considering how much of a powerhouse of entertainment they were in the previous decade with shows like Hey Arnold, Ren and Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life, Rugrats, and even the first three seasons of SpongeBob Squarepants, which hold up today.  After those shows, Nickelodeon’s programming became mostly boring, stupid, mean-spirited, or just downright disgusting and not worth your time with shows like Fanboy and Chum-Chum, Sanjay and Craig, and Breadwinners.  Not to mention, they’ve gone on to run shows like SpongeBob and Fairly Oddparents into the ground by having them run too long and lose what made them so beloved in the past.  Sure, in this time period they’ve released the two shows of the Avatar franchise, but those great shows are far and few between the bad shows.  Then, in 2015, Nickelodeon released a show that was actually critically-acclaimed called Harvey Beaks suggesting that the network was slowly getting out of its slump.  I trust that it’s very good, but I haven’t seen it due to lack of interest (maybe someday I will).  What did interest me though was the subject of the coming set of reviews which is the Nicktoon that followed Harvey Beaks that deserves all the praise it’s gotten, The Loud House.

This is a simple slice-of-life show where the stories are very basic and grounded in reality.  However, much like something like Peanuts, it gets a lot of mileage out of its basic life stories and creates something that’s funny, relatable, endearing, and overall universally appealing.  To be honest, it’s pretty easy to see that when you read what the show’s all about.  It follows an 11-year-old boy named Lincoln, who goes through life as the only boy in a family with 10 sisters each with their own distinct personality.  They include Lori, the bossy, boy-crazy teenager, Leni, the dumb blond, Luna, the aspiring rocker, Luan, the incurable prankster and comedian, Lynn, the sports nut, Lucy, the spooky little girl, Lana, the handywoman, Lola, the pageant queen, Lisa, the child prodigy, and Lily, the baby.  With characters this distinctive and rich with personality, one can tell that they can really do a lot with even the simplest of plots.  Sure enough they do which helps in making this a great achievement from Nickelodeon, which means a lot now.  However, to see just how great of an achievement this show is, we’ll be going through the many short cartoons that make up this show’s first season; BTW, it’s honestly hard to believe it's only a year old.  Anyway, we better get started exploring the life of Nickelodeon’s biggest family; brace yourselves, things will get chaotic.

 

 

Now on with the reviews:

 Left in the Dark

Not only is this a strong premiere cartoon, it’s a really dang great cartoon in general.  At its core is an incredibly simple story about Lincoln trying to beat his sisters to the TV and later heading down to the dark basement to fix everything when the power goes out.  That doesn’t sound like much, but thanks to the diverse cast of characters the story feels a lot bigger than it really is.  We get a great sense of what the sisters’ personalities are like near the beginning when Lincoln cleverly appeals to their interests so the way to the TV will be clear.  However, they really get a chance to shine when they head down to fix the power like Lori trying to make her authority as the oldest one clear by being in charge, Luan seizing every opportunity to crack a joke, Lisa sneaking in her experiments, and Lucy popping up out of nowhere scaring everyone.  They all make what’s happening a lot of fun, but this cartoon also shows how heartfelt this show can get.  It’s shown when Lincoln steps in to do whatever he can to protect his sisters from whatever horror is in the basement using what he knows from his favorite show.  Its real impact though comes in at the end when, after all that he went through, Lincoln ends up missing his show, but his sisters are quick to console him and remind him of how great he was in the basement, showing that despite how chaotic living together can be, the Loud siblings really do love each other.  Thanks to its showcase of personality, humor and heart, this cartoon is a great watch and one that demonstrates how great this series can be. 9.5/10

Get the Message

 

 

 

 

 

 

What happens in this cartoon is initiated by Lincoln’s most rocky sisterly relationship, which is with Lori.  While Lori is not a bad character at all, she doesn’t come off as one of the most enjoyable Loud siblings for being too bossy when enforcing rules, not being the most considerate of the feelings of others, and mostly focusing on her relationship with her boyfriend, Bobby, though to be fair, the boyfriend part of her character is pretty enjoyable for how over-the-top her feelings for him are presented.  All these traits are on display when Lincoln unintentionally wanders into her room while playing with a toy, and when Lori accidentally breaks the toy and doesn’t seem to care, prompting Lincoln to send her a mean message.  Later on, however, Lori does slowly start to show off her good side by buying Lincoln a new toy, and even if her reveal doesn’t sound genuine, it’s admittedly a good start to even more of Lori’s good side we see throughout this season.  The rest of the cartoon features Lincoln trying to delete his mean message from Lori’s phone as a result of what she did.  This whole plot is fine and good, but it’s not the show’s most engaging ones.  This is mostly due to an explanation of the plan that could’ve been cut out, many moments of Lincoln’s friend, Clyde, crushing on Lori which can get kind of creepy and would pop up frequently in many future episodes, and Lori not seeming sorry enough for what she did to make the audience really care if Lincoln deletes the message or not.  There’s honestly more entertainment from the small moments of other sisters, like Lana and Lola acting as hall monitors, Luna using her music to censor Lincoln’s message as well as Lori’s rant at the end of the cartoon, and Lucy showing up in the vent leading to Lori’s room to read one of her poems.  There’s enough material here to make this cartoon enjoyable, but certain factors prevent me from calling it a highlight. 7/10

The Ranking

1.      Left in the Dark

2.      Get the Message

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode of the season, featuring questionable morals of what it means when a girl picks on a boy in "Heavy Meddle," and an instance of embarrassing ones family leading to life-scarring hatred in "Making the Case."

 

'Toon Reviews 3: Peanuts 1960s Specials Part 6 + Final Thoughts

It Was A Short Summer Charlie Brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the last Peanuts TV special released during the 1960s, and while it’s overall very good, this is one I personally get the least amount of entertainment out of, regarding the 60s anyway.  The story is told through flashbacks that Charlie Brown and his friends look back on as they write a 500-word essay about what they did over their summer vacation for school.  Through the flashbacks, we see the Peanuts gang get up to so many escapades at camp, which is another common trope from the comic strips making its animated debut.  It should probably be noted that the reason Charlie Brown and the boys end up going to camp is because Lucy went behind their backs and signed them all up and convinced their parents that they wanted to go.  I find myself amused by the scene for the boys’ reactions, especially Charlie Brown alluding being signed up for camp to getting drafted, as well as disturbed that Lucy has the kind of power to rob so many kids of their summer and rope them into something they really don’t want to do.  This has got to be one of her nastiest moves.  Anyway, this scene is a good way to foreshadow what most of the special consists of while the Peanuts gang is at camp.  Much of what we’re exposed to are scenes of the boys and the girls competing against each other in various camp activities, and the girls having great fun with them and coming out on top, while the boys just can’t seem to find victory at anything they do and just feel miserable especially when the girls constantly rub their victories in the boys’ faces.  At first, it’s easy to get some mild enjoyment out of this setup, but to me moments like this seem to go on too long and just make me pity the boys and their failures instead of enjoying myself.  Also, considering the time this special first came out, I like that it shows that girls are capable of being strong and victorious, but it doesn’t completely work since in making the girls look strong, they had to make the boys look weak.  The goal is kind of botched if you’re just going to put another group of people in the role society had constantly put women into at the time.  Easily the most entertaining parts of the camp scenes involve Snoopy living it up at camp amidst the boys’ misery since any scene of a male character enjoying himself can liven up this story at this rate.  Now, because of Snoopy actually having a good attitude at camp he ends up being the most athletically capable member of the boys’ team.  As a result, he becomes the centerpiece of the climax of the special where he takes on the character of a figure known as the Masked Marvel and challenges Lucy to a wrist-wrestling contest.  This climax is easily the strongest point of the special with so much intensity packed into the background music as well as the animation which really entices you to root for Snoopy to win the boys a much-needed victory against the girls.  Speaking of the animation, it really goes out of the box and wild as we see the effects the wrist-wrestling has on Snoopy and Lucy with a lot of detail going into their strained faces and sweat.  Then, the whole scene caps off in a typical Snoopy fashion where he wins the match with a kiss while all Lucy can do is pitifully attempt to call it a foul.  Yes, this part of the special is packed with so much greatness that you can easily see why Charles Schultz himself considered it his favorite piece of Peanuts animation.  As great as the payoff was, it’s not really enough to shake off the somewhat depressing tone of the story, especially since after that, we cut to the present where we learn that Charlie Brown failed to meet the 500-word requirement for the paper and laments that it was a short summer, and that “it’s going to be a long winter.”  This tone does work since I feel like kids can really identify with the overall story when they experience summer vacation, realize it goes by so fast, and end up back in school before they know it.  Because of that, I can say this special is worth a look, and you can get a good amount of enjoyment out of it, just not as much as other Peanuts specials, during or after this decade.

Recommended

 

 

Ranking

1)      A Charlie Brown Christmas

2)      It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

3)      He’s Your Dog Charlie Brown

4)      You’re in Love Charlie Brown

5)      Charlie Brown’s All-Stars

6)      It Was A Short Summer Charlie Brown

Final Thoughts

The Peanuts specials are some of the most famous animated series of all time, and their debuting decade features some truly great performances and really show off how capable Schultz’s characters are of the animation medium.  The stories are simple, but the way they are executed allow them to come off as universally appealing filled with great humor from how the characters perceive the childhood events they go through, strong and honest messages, and a certain edge to the atmosphere by showing off how mean the world can be, even if it sometimes goes too far.  Plus, following the prevalent failure, Charlie Brown, through these specials allows the audience to see themselves in the situations that aren’t far off from what they go through in life.  I think it’s pretty common for a lot of people to find difficulty in certain things like finding out the meaning of Christmas, or winning a ball game, or trying to talk to a girl, or surviving summer camp.  In getting through these challenges, there are just so many obstacles that stand in your way, but many of these specials show that through trying and never giving up, you end up with something that makes it all worth it.  The point is made so strong in this decade, I can definitely say that this was when the Peanuts specials were in their prime.  While your favorite specials from the decade may end up being everyone else’s favorite specials from the decade, those being the two holiday specials, the other four are really nothing to push aside, with some of them worthy of being in the same league as the big two.  What makes the decade really stand out are just how strong the little things of the specials are.  The characters featured have a lot of memorable moments revolving around their identifiable traits, the simple animation of Bill Melendez immerses you into the childlike world with the simple backgrounds, solid colors, and the limited movement, which honestly when put together looks like a work of art, and most of all, the jazz music of Vince Guaraldi is in top-form.  The music just seems to bring everything from the writing, to the animation together, creating an atmosphere unique to this series of specials which keeps you invested in what’s going on, even if it’s not much.  Some of the most effective jazz pieces that do this include “Baseball Theme,” “Skating,” “Great Pumpkin Waltz,” the title themes from “You’re in Love,” “He’s Your Dog,” and “It Was A Short Summer,” and of course the anthem of the Peanuts specials “Linus and Lucy.”  This decade really demonstrates how Vince’s music added a lot to the Peanuts specials, and that his passing in 1976 was quite a cost, but that’s for a future post.  For the decade as a whole though, there’s just so much to appreciate that makes the specials stand out better here than in any other period.

Whether you’re a big Peanuts fan, or a mild one who only knows the series for its holiday specials, all the specials from the 1960s are worth a spot in your animation collection.  Buy them on DVD separately or together in the 1960s Collection Box Set ASAP.

 

Highly Recommended

 

 

That's all the reviews for the Peanuts specials of the 1960s.  Next time we'll be covering the first season of the recent Nickelodeon hit, The Loud House.  Until then:

Stay Animated Folks!

'Toon Reviews 3: Peanuts 1960s Specials Part 5

He’s Your Dog Charlie Brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Snoopy’s antics have been very strong points in the previous 4 Peanuts specials, so it makes perfect sense that it wouldn’t be long before he ended up getting a special of his own.  This is actually one of the few non-holiday specials I owned back in the 90s when VHS was in its prime and I always really enjoyed it whenever I watched it, and I still do today.  It’s a really fun story that shows off exactly why Snoopy is regarded as the best character of the Peanuts gang. He’s very versatile as he lives his life always knowing how to liven things up for himself and the rest of the gang and never needing to use any actual dialog, adding to his charm as a character.  In the case of this special, most of his antics revolve around him getting engrossed in his fantasy as a WWI fighter resulting in a collection of highly amusing scenes where what he pretends interferes with the lives of the other kids.  This is what starts the conflict of them all wanting Charlie Brown to put a stop to his dog’s mischief, and apparently the only way to do this that Charlie Brown can think of is to send Snoopy to obedience school.  However, since Snoopy is a beagle who just wants to have fun, he ditches school and spends time at Peppermint Patty’s place where he continues to live out his fantasy.  The scenes of Snoopy living it up give a unique look at how he views the world around him, such as how he pictures himself at a French café on leave as he’s served root beer.  Adding to the charm of these scenes is Peppermint Patty’s absent-minded view of the world which includes her viewing Snoopy as a “funny-looking kid with [a] big nose.”  Now, considering that Snoopy, regardless of whether or not it’s intentional, is basically mooching off of Peppermint Patty, there are some consequences to this behavior.  After escaping Charlie Brown when he actually goes as far as to leash him, Snoopy decides to move in with Peppermint Patty who in turn makes him do all the chores to get back at him for making her his servant.  It’s at this point where the story presents something not just for Snoopy, but also Charlie Brown and the other kids to learn.  As Snoopy is working for Peppermint Patty, the kids start to notice how dull their lives are without Snoopy around and want to have him back, allowing them all to grow to appreciate what’s good about him.  As for Snoopy, what he goes on to learn is shown in a visually striking manner.  After making a mess which leads to him being forced to spend the night in Peppermint Patty’s garage, Snoopy is shown to think about Charlie Brown ordering him about, but also begin to feel sad and miss him.  This is a great way to show Snoopy realize that even though others may discipline him a lot, he truly does have a good life at his own home, and it’s all conveyed through body language and no real dialog.  That’s always a plus as well as a great way to utilize the animation medium.  Moments like this make the moment at the end a strong and rewarding way to conclude the special with everyone happy to be back together.  Charlie Brown and the other kids end up more accepting of Snoopy’s antics since they liven up their lives once more, and Snoopy learns to better appreciate his life and not take it for granted… at least by laying off his WWI fantasy and instead resorting to usual mischief like trying to take Linus’ blanket or getting into kissing fights with Lucy.  I think the reason I enjoy this special as much as the most popular of Peanuts specials is because it just packs in so much enjoyment from the characters, Snoopy especially.  His lively, off the wall persona bounces off Charlie Brown and the rest of the cast very well and it’s all part of a fun story with something for him and the gang back home to learn and is aided through simple, yet cool visuals and some of Vince Guaraldi’s best music composed for these specials .  There’s nothing left to say about this except it’s quintessential Peanuts entertainment.

Highly Recommended

Ranking

1)      A Charlie Brown Christmas

2)      It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

3)      He’s Your Dog Charlie Brown

4)      You’re in Love Charlie Brown

5)      Charlie Brown’s All-Stars

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the last Peanuts special of the 1960s, "It Was a Short Summer Charlie Brown.

 

'Toon Reviews 3: Peanuts 1960s Specials Part 4

You’re in Love Charlie Brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Usually, I don’t find stories that revolve around a character falling for someone based on appearance very interesting since it makes their love feel cheap and somewhat unnatural.  However, I do find it more accepting if the character developing these feelings is just a kid, because in my eyes, kids seem to be easily impressionable when it comes to things like cute appearances.  This is why I get a lot of enjoyment out of this special which is the first animated depiction of the trope involving Charlie Brown falling for a character simply known as The Little Red-Haired Girl but being too timid to talk to her.  The fact that The Little Red-Haired Girl is never actually shown allows us to greatly connect with Charlie Brown and his nervous feelings he gets in regards to actually going up to talk to her and share a scene together.  It’s a clever way of depicting the unrequited love concept that you can really only experience here and in the comic strips since future specials, as well as the recent computer-animated Peanuts movie, give her a visual form whenever she's spotted.  Anyway, the special mostly consists of little scenes of Charlie Brown’s attempts to do something about his crush and actually befriend The Little Red-Haired Girl with the added challenge of there being only a few days left of the school year, meaning that if he doesn’t meet her now, he’ll have to wait until September.  Since it’s established that things very rarely go right for Charlie Brown, coupled with how nervous he is to just simply go up and talk to the girl, he ends up with a lot of failure.  His attempts mostly result in him embarrassing himself in class as well as getting put down by Lucy who’s dealing with her own romance problems with Schroeder.  My personal favorite attempt to meet The Little Red-Haired Girl involves the animated debut of who would become one of the most principal members of the Peanuts gang, Peppermint Patty.  It demonstrates her great appeal as a character of being willing to help Charlie Brown, or in her case “Chuck”, with his problem, but also her humorous side of being too absent-minded to successfully pull it off as her plan only leads to Charlie Brown meeting up with Lucy.  Now, that’s a pairing I’m sure many a Peanuts fan would find hard to fathom.  Anyway, all of Charlie Brown’s failed attempts are fairly entertaining and even get some laughs, but I’m still able to feel for him and wish for him to succeed.  Ultimately, we end up with a respectable payoff at the end of the special, where even though Charlie Brown doesn’t get to talk to The Little Red-Haired Girl before school is out for summer, he gets a note from her saying that she likes him.  The scene of Charlie Brown happy and full of hope because of this that plays through the end credits is just as satisfying as it needs to be.  This special is a very good outing for Charlie Brown; what he goes through can greatly resonate with anyone who’s had a crush on someone when they were young and even at an older age and they can see something worthwhile through the entertainment and the sympathy in all of Charlie Brown's attempts to talk to The Little Red-Haired Girl.  Even if you’re not really into love in general, I’d say that, at least for the Peanuts-style charm, it’s really worth your time.

Highly Recommended

 

Ranking

1)      A Charlie Brown Christmas

2)      It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

3)      You’re in Love Charlie Brown

4)      Charlie Brown’s All-Stars

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next Peanuts special of this decade, "He's Your Dog Charlie Brown."

'Toon Reviews 3: Peanuts 1960s Specials Part 3

It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

Well, since the crew behind these specials successfully pulled off a Christmas special, it’s only fitting that they go on to tackle Halloween shortly afterward. As it turns out, this special is just as charming.  Immersed in the simply, yet nicely designed atmosphere that captures the spirit of the holiday, this special really specializes in what makes Peanuts as a whole so appealing.  It takes simple aspects of childhood and utilizes them to make them feel like something special that will never leave your mind no matter how old you get. 

When it comes to Halloween, there’s a lot to it that provides a lot of childhood moments to work off of.  There's trick-or-treating, dropping in on Halloween parties, or in Linus’ case, worshiping a figure known as the Great Pumpkin.  These moments are shown in three different subplots with a lot of memorable moments from the characters. 
One features Charlie Brown getting a rare moment of happiness by being invited to a Halloween party. He still gets struck with bad luck as usual.  He cuts too many holes in his ghost costume, is humiliated by the girls who use his round head as a jack-o-lantern model, and or course, getting rocks while trick-or-treating.  The “I got a rock” part of this subplot is easily the funniest part mostly due to the way Charlie Brown reacts to getting them. Nevertheless, I’m sure that for all the 50 years this special has been airing, people have been wondering what kind of people would even consider giving rocks as a Halloween treat. 
Another subplot features Snoopy get up to a highly memorable fantasy as the WWI flying ace facing against the Red Baron, and later seeking shelter after being shot down.  It’s a great demonstration of how wild Snoopy’s imagination is.  There are some honestly awesome action sequences and even some suspense through visuals that depict him in WWI-era France.  It’s an interesting look that can be attributed to someone getting into the spirit of the Halloween costume they’re wearing.  Plus, what Snoopy gets up to greatly blends into the other events of the special without feeling out of place.  His fantasy leads him to crash the Halloween party where we get two memorable comedic scenes. One being a classic “dog germs” gag with Lucy, and another involving him reacting to the WWI-era songs Schroeder plays on piano. 
Then, there’s the subplot to give the special its name about Linus’ mission to meet the Great Pumpkin.  Everyone constantly calls him out for believing in something that isn’t real, but despite the animosity, Linus keeps true to his beliefs, and you can really feel his determination.  He goes through with writing his letter, and sets himself up in a pumpkin patch and gets Sally to join him.  We’ve all had our childhood fantasies we wanted to prove were real. What Linus goes through here is not just really relatable to that, but also shows what happens when you go to such extremes to do that.  All he manages to see out in the pumpkin patch is Snoopy who makes his way out there from the party. This results in another comedic highlight in the form of Sally ranting about how she missed out on all the Halloween fun because of Linus’ beliefs.  Even after that, Linus begins to obsessively hold to his beliefs by staying in the pumpkin patch late into the night.  As a nice turn of events, this leads to a strong rarely-seen moment of caring from Lucy. She goes through the trouble of going out to bring her cold, tired, and unsuccessful brother home.  It’s an impactful albeit depressing message about the consequences of obsessing over one’s childhood fantasy, but still a very honest one.  For Linus’ sake though, it’s a good thing the following decade would feature a special that would show that there’s a positive side of childhood fantasies. 
It’s once again easy to see why so many people hold this special in high regard.  It features many characters getting up to relatable childhood moments and allowing them to shine with strong comedy, creative visuals, and honest impactful messages.  Truly you don’t need to celebrate Halloween to get caught up in this great display of Peanuts entertainment.

Highly Recommended

Ranking

1)      A Charlie Brown Christmas

2)      It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

3)      Charlie Brown’s All-Stars

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next Peanuts special, "You're in Love Charlie Brown."

'Toon Reviews 3: Peanuts 1960s Specials Part 2

Charlie Brown’s All-Stars

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first of the four lesser-known Peanuts specials of the decade, but it’s also one that presents what would become one of the biggest conventions of the specials.  We all know that Charlie Brown’s shtick is that he can never find victory in certain activities of life, and most of the failures come from his attempts to win a baseball game.  This special really hammers this in with mentions of his team’s notorious streak of 999 straight losses and a big collection of big fails that come from the team during the first game of the season.  Those scenes of failed pitches, dropped balls, and clueless players make for some really funny gags but at the same time, it’s easy to feel the frustration that no one on Charlie Brown’s team seems capable of winning.  You might think that the reason the team can’t win is because Charlie Brown sucks, but the fact is, through watching the game scenes in this special, all the kids suck.  They don’t seem to pay attention to the game, spend their time commentating on the pitcher and expect Charlie Brown to catch all the fly balls.  With that in mind, it kind of leads you to wonder if it’s really appropriate that the kids direct all the blame on Charlie Brown.  Now, the meanness of the kids, especially of Lucy and the other girls of the team, does help give these specials some edge and it makes sense considering how much of an outsider Charlie Brown is to them since he fails a lot, but sometimes they go a little too far with their treatment of him.  It’s fine and tolerable at the start of the special when everyone is so frustrated with their constant losses that they end up quitting the team, even if they only acknowledge Charlie Brown’s faults and not their own, but I will say that their meanness does start to go too far when they bully him and ignore him even when they’re not playing baseball.  That said, this special does demonstrate the great appeal of Charlie Brown’s character.  Even with all the animosity he faces, he still considers all the members of the team to be his friends, so much so that he greatly accepts an offer that will get his team in a real league and a set of team uniforms to boot, and only turns the offer down when he learns that playing in a league means he has to get rid of the girls and Snoopy.  It also shows how determined he is to make things go his way despite always facing failure by being hard-pressed to keep his team together and win a game so that they’ll forget about being in a league and never find out he turned the offer down.  At first, the game he has the team play serves as quite a high point for the special, featuring all the kids actually playing their best.  Heck, even Charlie Brown himself gets a hit.  However, there’s shown to be a downside to Charlie Brown’s determination as his trying to be a hero causes the team to lose the game.  He ends up facing some more meanness from the team, but it’s far more acceptable here than earlier because if he just waited at third base for another hit, the team most likely wouldn’t have lost.  What follows though is a good-hearted moment that somewhat makes up for what we witnessed from the team.  The girls and Snoopy learn that Charlie Brown turned down the league deal to keep them on the team, and even get told off by Linus and Schroeder for being such jerks.  It’s just so rewarding to see characters actually get called out for their mean behavior every so often, especially when it leads to the girls making Charlie Brown his own uniform to show that despite what they say to him, he really is their friend.  This special really shows off the appeal of the baseball-focused stories of Peanuts.  There’s a lot of humor in the ways Charlie Brown’s team end up losing, examples of how strong of a character Charlie Brown is despite his failings, and fun interactions between characters which also make for some nice moments.  This particular special can get a little too mean at times, but it’s easy to look past it and get in on some big league entertainment from this little league team.

 

Recommended

Ranking

1)      A Charlie Brown Christmas

2)      Charlie Brown’s All-Stars

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of another popular Peanuts special of the 1960s, "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown."