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It’s been a while since I talked about a Peanuts special, and
that can be seen as problematic since I have a long ways to go in covering
them. I guess I’ve just lost sight of
viewing them through devoting time to many other shows. Thankfully, there are specials
appropriate for certain times of the year to look into. This includes Christmastime. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is a very popular
special, especially since it’s the one that put Peanuts on the TV animation map. However, that is not the only Peanuts
Christmas special. There are a few other
specials devoted to that holiday despite none of them being nearly as iconic. At this time of year, I’m now motivated to
look into one of those other Peanuts Christmas special. For this Shorty:
It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie
Brown
(November 27, 1992)
Going into the special, you might think that it’s a normal
standalone story. However, that
expectation is sure to catch you off guard.
The special isn’t one story; it’s several vignettes of different Peanuts
characters doing something Christmas-related.
I can see a possible meaning for its direction. For the longest time, the Peanuts specials appeared
to stray away a bit from the simple childlike tone that gave them a special
identity. Some ideas were either too
ridiculous or too intense and heavy particularly through how they were
approached. Moreover, the childlike
perspective was more or less compromised by showing adults and allowing them to
talk in audible English. That just
robbed the franchise of its uniqueness in my opinion. The most noticeable thing that caused many
Peanuts specials at the time to not feel like Peanuts was the complete change
in music. With the death of Vince
Guaraldi in 1976, new composers were brought in. While their music was certainly not bad, it
mostly felt a little too hip or too dramatic for what Peanuts was meant to
stand for. With all these factors,
specials of the mid-90s going into the 2000s can be seen as ways to get back to
Peanuts’ roots. The vignette-driven
setup and the simplicity of the stories bring to mind the original Charles
Schultz comic strips. They even us a
jazzier soundtrack to make the specials feel as wholesome as the older
specials. It’s not the same as hearing
something performed by Vince Guaraldi himself, but David Benoit puts a pretty
good spin on his covers of the old compositions. When you look at “It’s Christmastime Again”
that way, you can easily like it for what it is.
Even if there is merit to this setup, it’s still not the best
route to take with an actual TV special.
I can picture a bunch of little stories working fine in a compilation of
Peanuts Christmas comic strips. Heck, it
can even work as an episode of The
Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show whose segments were direct adaptations of the
original strips. The fact is this
special doesn’t have the same structure that made those mediums work. It just jumps from one Christmas activity to
another without proper transitions as if to say we’re supposed to look at this
as one cohesive story. However, each
segment is so different it’s impossible to view the special as that. We could start with characters playing in the
snow and then suddenly shift to segments about selling wreaths, writing to
Santa Claus, buying gifts, and a Christmas play. One segment near the beginning even covers
all of Christmas vacation, ending with the kids back in school in the New Year
after the holiday. Some could argue
Peanuts specials have always had random moments haphazardly spread throughout
the runtime. In actuality, from my
experience, while the moments were random, all standalone specials had one
specific plot point for all of them to revolve around. True there were times when certain moments
went nowhere, but since every special’s story left an impact in some way, they
hardly mattered. For “It’s Christmastime
Again,” there is no central plot point.
Each segment exists as its own thing and no attempt is made to make them
come together as a cohesive special.
Maybe if there was a framing device or title cards signaling each
different part it would work better, but it’s sadly not the case. On another note, remember how the message of
“A Charlie Brown Christmas” was to spread love and goodness through simple
means instead of overt commercialism?
Well, that message seems to be contradicted with a special of nothing
but Peanuts characters in scenes the general public associates with
Christmas. It’s like the special is
going the commercial route instead of telling a wholesome story. This wouldn’t be such an issue if the push
for love and simplicity wasn’t vital to not just an earlier special in this
franchise but one of the most iconic Christmas specials ever. For these reasons, I’m sorry to say this, but
it makes too much sense that “It’s Christmastime Again” isn’t as valued as what
came before it.
With all this said, are the segments themselves weak? Well, for the most part, they’re not weak at
all. They still feature the same iconic
Peanuts characters known the world over. Their approaches to what Christmas
has to offer are interesting, entertaining, or both. Most of the entertainment comes from certain
antics in certain activities. Some of
them come in short gag scenes of Linus trying to sled down a hill in a box or
Snoopy snagging candy canes off a tree and getting attention as a salvation
Santa.
Other segments have a lot of fun
interactions between characters. We have
moments like Sally writing a report on Christmas and a letter to Santa and his
wife “Mary Christmas” with humorous results despite Charlie Brown’s
assistance.
They also have distinctive
approaches to selling Christmas wreaths with Charlie Brown being honest and
upfront and Sally spouting wild claims with every sale. Working in antics from Snoopy is a plus too
as uses a more active sales approach.
Peppermint Patty and Marcie work off each other well in a segment
involving approaches to their Christmas vacation book report. If you know they’re dynamic, you shouldn’t be
surprised that Peppermint Patty constantly trying to work around it is
funnier.
The last segment is also a
strong one to go out on with many antics occurring during a Christmas
play. There’s hilarious banter of
Peppermint Patty complaining about Marcie playing Mary instead of her while in
a silly-looking sheep costume. It builds
to a grand finale where she flubs her one line of “baa” with any random sound
or line on her mind. Sally also has a
humorous bit of making a note to say her one line, “Hark” as effectively as
possible. This also has a grand
punchline where she instead says something completely unprecedented, “hockey
stick.” Despite her embarrassment, the
payoff doesn’t stop there when her claims of someone called Harold Angel
appearing leads to something. After the
play, he shows up at her doorstep much to the shock of Charlie Brown as well as
the audience who should be used to Sally constantly getting facts mixed up. This whole segment comes out the strongest
for its use of characters and many of their special approaches to the Christmas
play. It’s a great one to save for
last.
Now, not all segments are as strong as others. The wreath sales, while featuring a fun
dynamic does get repetitive with Charlie Brown getting the same response to his
sales with every house he tries. It gets
to the point where you question why he’s even selling wreaths if it’s not even
Thanksgiving. There’s also a
particularly long segment of Charlie Brown trying to raise enough money to buy
gloves as a gift to a girl he met at camp.
It’s fine on its own, but nothing really stands out about it, and it
doesn’t even feel like it needs to be a Christmas story. Also, what about his interest in the
Little Red-Haired Girl? Still they’re
not bad. Other segments just leave a
better impression as Peanuts Christmas tales.
As long as the majority is good, that’s what matters.
This special doesn’t have the best setup to be a highly
regarded Christmas work, and that’s disappointing since this franchise has
brought one of the best ones ever. However,
if you’re in the right mood and want to really see a Peanuts comic strip come
to life, this special will turn out enjoyable.
They still star the iconic Peanuts characters and you still get a lot of
what make them so fun to watch. It may
not be one worth making a tradition of watching, but it’s solid Peanuts
entertainment to see if you’re interested.
That’s it for this ‘Toon
Reviews Shorty. Until the next one:
Stay Animated Folks,
And Merry CHRISTMAS!
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