A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! What a glorious holiday it is, the time of the year where you can have a turkey dinner. I know for a fact that I can’t wait until tonight so I can have a piece of that turkey. Until then, I think it would be appropriate to look at a Thanksgiving-themed movie. You want to know what I will look at: the classic Peanuts special, “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.”

Ah yes, Peanuts. I remember growing up watching those specials on a VHS that we had. My brother was a huge fan of the Peanuts growing up, and I can’t thank him enough for actually getting the rest of us into them. I even remember looking at the Peanuts comic strips in the Sunday paper, and boy were they a treat. For those of you who do not know about the Peanuts, here is a little history:

Cartoonist Charles M. Schultz debuted his “Peanuts” comic strip back in 1950, and by 1965 it had gotten to the popularity point that it had its own long series of TV specials, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” and in 1967, the musical stage play, “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” was made. Schultz passed away in 2000, but an edict was made that the comic strip would not be discontinued after he died, and the final original strip that Schultz made appeared in the paper the day he passed.

Even though no new strips have been made in about a decade, we still get “Peanuts” TV and video specials, and the characters are so memorable, that we see them in our commercials, most famously in MetLife. You could call this an American phenomenon, since it has been kept alive with the TV specials that have maintained the same simple animation that you can see in the comic strips. It also is a big help that Schultz wrote the scripts for most of the TV specials.

But enough of that, let’s get on with the review: “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” was released in 1973, and you may think that the creators were trying to copy the earlier, successful specials, like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.” If you think that it’s not up to par like the other two, it wasn’t because writer Charles Schultz or directors Bill Melendez and Phil Roman weren’t trying.

The special begins with the famous running gag of Charlie Brown, voiced by Todd Barbee, getting tricked by Lucy, voiced by Robin Kohn, to kick the football to start the annual Thanksgiving football game, but she pulls it away, making Charlie Brown fly into the air and fall flat on his back. This begs the question: if he knows that she will do that, why is he so gullible to try it every single time she asks him?

Next up in the story, Charlie Brown and his little sister Sally, voiced by Hilary Momberger, are invited over to their grandmother’s for Thanksgiving dinner. Then disaster strikes when Peppermint Patty, voiced by Christopher DeFaria, calls and invites herself over to Charlie Brown’s house for Thanksgiving. Again, the usual gag where Peppermint Patty doesn’t let Charlie Brown tell her that he’s going to his grandmother’s. To add more to this tension, Peppermint Patty tells Charlie Brown that Marcie (Jimmy Ahrens) and Franklin (Robin Reed) are also coming.

Now Charlie Brown is in a jam that he can’t get out off, until Lucy’s little sister, Linus, voiced by Stephen Shea, comes in and helps. Turns out the Thanksgiving dinner Charlie Brown, Linus, and Charlie Brown’s dog, Snoopy, voiced by Bill Melendez, make are cereal, toast, popcorn, jellybeans, and pretzels.

Watch the rest of this lovable special if you want to know the rest. These are pretty much the problems you will see in a “Peanuts” special. On top of that, we get the usual sweet ending and a moral to the story that you should explain to your children. Also, Peppermint Patty is always after Charlie Brown, like she has some sort of a crush on him. I love the “Peanuts,” and the more I watch any of the specials, the more I think that they will never be dated. You will definitely love this special, whether or not you know who the “Peanuts” are.

Don’t think that the special will be over when you see the credits roll. Fast forward to after the credits to when they show the 1988 TV special, “Mayflower Voyages.” This is a twenty five minute history lesson for kids, and I think that they at least did a decent job trying to teach kids about the history of the Pilgrims coming to America. I know that this special is more geared towards kids, and if you have children of your own, than you should have them watch it. Personally, when I saw this, I thought that it was a good lesson that they were trying to teach, and they did a fairly well job.

“Mayflower Voyages” begins in 1620, when 102 men, women, and children leave the port of Plymouth, England, for the East Coast of America. The “Peanuts” gang is part of the children, as you would expect. Sixty-five days after they arrive and after a month or two of their exploration they discover a new Plymouth in what is called today, Massachusetts. The story tells the hardships and ultimate good fortune of the Pilgrims and their unexpected interaction with the Native Americans, resulting in their first Thanksgiving dinner.

Final verdict: make it a tradition to watch this special every year on Thanksgiving. Instead of watching the football game while eating, put this special on. You will love watching it with the family, and if you have small children around, they will get a good history lesson and life lesson about the meaning of Thanksgiving.

Anyways, enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner tonight. Stay tuned tomorrow when I conclude “Die Hard Month.”