Just to be clear, there have been a good number of post-Vince
Guaraldi Peanuts specials that are very good despite some less-than-pleasing
entries like the last two specials we covered, and the last Peanuts special
released in this decade is one of the good ones. It’s another sports-themed special which breaks the mold by having Charlie Brown compete in the different sport
of track and field as opposed to the usual baseball or football. Specifically, he’s signed up for the only
available event in the Junior Olympics, the decathlon, where he has to
compete in 10 different events. The best
part about this scenario is that even though training for the decathlon is a
lot of work, Charlie Brown is determined to do what he has to for the sake of
the team. It’s this trait that brings a
lot of appeal as we watch his growth as a track star. At first, during the training scenes, he
doesn’t seem to have the makings of a big decathlon winner, struggling to give
a decent performance in exercises and event performances. In fact, he seems so unlikely to win that
they actually have to bring in a backup athlete in case Charlie Brown really
can’t do it, and that backup is Marcie.
Admittedly, the idea of Marcie being entered in the decathlon doesn’t
seem like a good fit. Marcie has been
established to not have a good grasp on sports and is more of an academic type,
yet this special seems to forget that and have her not only be eligible for a
backup, but also do a good job in the actual decathlon. It brings up the point that if Marcie’s so
good at decathlon work, why wasn’t she chosen from the start? For that matter, why is it never considered
that Peppermint Patty should compete as opposed to just being Charlie Brown’s
coach? These are considerable holes in
the plot, but not enough to ruin what’s good about the special. Speaking of which, while Charlie Brown starts
off without much victory potential, as he continues competing, he gets a better
hand at the events and slowly rises to the top, which is especially great to
see given his status as a perpetual loser.
It means a whole lot more since he goes on to outshine competitors like
Snoopy posing as the Masked Marvel again and an opposing athlete called Freddie
Fabulous, who’s a shallow one-dimensional bully who thankfully isn’t focused on
that much. Now, since this is Charlie
Brown we’re talking about, he does go on to blow the whole decathlon where he’s
just one event win away from being number one, and he runs off the racetrack
with his eyes closed. Honestly, this
fail is pretty funny for how out-of-the-box it is. What’s more, unlike “It’s Your First Kiss,”
where the loss there was never his fault to begin with, it doesn’t result in
Charlie Brown getting chastised, with everyone knowing that he did his best, so
the good stuff in the special remains good.
That’s not even counting the many cute interactions between him and
Marcie all throughout the special. If
there’s one thing that makes this special as good as it is, it’s the satisfying
arc and treatment that Charlie Brown gets.
It doesn’t stand out as well as the all-time great specials and some
plot points aren’t well thought out, but it’s still one of the hits in what is
essentially a hit-or-miss era, and a good end to the line of specials produced
during the 1970s.
Recommended
The Ranking
- There’s No Time for Love Charlie Brown
- It’s the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown
- You’re Not Elected Charlie Brown
- You’re a Good Sport Charlie Brown
- A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
- Be My Valentine Charlie Brown
- Play it Again Charlie Brown
- You’re the Greatest Charlie Brown
- It’s a Mystery Charlie Brown
- It’s Arbor Day Charlie Brown
- What a Nightmare Charlie Brown
- It's Your First Kiss Charlie Brown
Final Thoughts
The 1970s features part of both the best era of the Peanuts
specials and the weaker era. The best
specials of the decade are among the absolute best for a start. They successfully continue Peanuts’ trend of
making simple events of life feel like big challenges to get through which is
especially apparent through the kids seen going through them. By covering different topics such as staying true to your tastes , running for president, finding love, or
tackling new sports, each special stands out in a different way. This is really a great way of showing how
life is full of different moments and different things to explore and that it’s
not uncommon to feel like a kid through it all.
Aiding in this feel is how many specials give a fair amount of time
dedicated to certain characters. Most of
them have several characters in a lot of memorable moments that add to the tone
of the respective story and they hardly ever feel out of place. Some of the characters brought to animation
for the first time in this decade even help bring out other sides of certain
characters they’re teamed with. The ones
that come to mind in this case are Woodstock, whose tendency to struggle
through life as a little bird bring out a friendlier side to Snoopy, and Marcie
whose need for guidance in certain activities brings out a fun dynamic between
her and Peppermint Patty who’s at her most helpful and open to listen around
her. The animation style from Bill
Melendez continues to fit the simple childlike feel with its simply drawn
characters and background objects and solid colors. Plus, it seems to have evolved from the
previous decade with the movements flowing smoother and everything being drawn
in a less rigid way. Basically, the
animation has improved with the new decade, but still stays true to its unique
feel which really demonstrates the respect for these iconic specials. Of course, the biggest highlight of the
specials is the music of Vince Guaraldi with each composition coming off as
memorable and securing him as one of the best TV animation musicians. The standout music work to me is best found
in “You’re Not Elected,” “There’s No Time for Love,” “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving,”
and “Be My Valentine.” This isn’t even
counting the working of classical pieces of famous composers like Beethoven or
Bach in specials like “Play it Again,” and “It’s the Easter Beagle.” Just as before, the great music styles bring
every aspect of the specials together and sells their appeal better than
anything else. This is at least true for
the specials produced while Vince was alive…
This leads me to talk about the specials released in the
second half of the decade. The specials
of the first half of the decade were consistently great showing off everything
great about the 1960s specials and capturing the feel of Peanuts
perfectly. However, the great
consistency slowly came to a stop as the 1970s went on. From my observation, it seemed to stop with
the unbelievable and slightly unfocused writing of “It’s Arbor Day” and the
specials seemed to turn for the worse from there. We got Charlie Brown’s mistreatment going way
too far with him being blamed for something that wasn’t his fault in “It’s Your First Kiss,” a scenario featuring a character who didn’t fit with “What a Nightmare,” and as good as “You’re the Greatest” is, it doesn’t stand out as
well as what came before it. As for the
music, with Vince Guaraldi gone, the music used for these specials, while good
in its own right, didn’t feel as good a fit for the specials with the big
bombastic band music not exactly being the best match for the material’s simple
tone. Basically, this is where the
specials started varying in quality with many weak entries, and the strong ones
we do get rarely coming off as highly recommended continuing into the decades
to come. It’s disappointing that the
quality would become so hit-or-miss given the care and respect the specials
started out with. It’s debatable if I’ll
cover the specials of the following decades since it’s hard to find them all
and there’s other seasons of other shows I’d rather cover, but I’d be open to
the idea someday since what’s to come is still mostly good and certainly far
from the worst things ever.
As for the Peanuts specials of the 1970s, even if one part of
the decade is way stronger than the other, we still have a great set of
specials to explore here for Peanuts fans and animation fans alike. If you’re one, the other, or both, be sure to
consider finding them on DVD.
First
Half:
Highly Recommended
Second
Half:
Recommended
With that, we've reached the end at our look at the Peanuts 1970's specials. The next set of reviews will be on the first season of the popular Disney XD series, Star vs. The Forces of Evil. Until then:
Stay Animated Folks!
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