You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown

Guys, sometime last month, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” aired again, and after that came a special that I had never seen before, “You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown,” released in 1972. Tonight, my brother and I saw that special, so I think I will let everyone know what I thought about it.

I just found that that this was adapted from a past Peanuts comic strip that had a similar story. In the strip, Linus runs for Student Body President with Charlie Brown as his running mate, and he ruins his campaign after he talks about the Great Pumpkin in his speech. Even though this special changes a few things from the strip, it does extend the story into a 25-minute special. It starts out with Charlie Brown, voiced by Chad Webber, finding out about the upcoming Student Body President Election. His friends tell him he should run, but he doesn’t think he has a chance at winning. This is soon proved true, as Lucy, voiced by Robin Kohn, shows him he has a zero chance at getting any votes. Still interested in having one of their friends run, the team convinces Linus, voiced by Stephen Shea, to run for Student Body President. He actually does get a great chance of winning, until it is almost ruined during the final debate, when he talks about the Great Pumpkin in his campaign speech. The funniest part is when Charlie Brown (not his running mate in the special, as none of the candidates have one) and Lucy both have a rare moment of agreeing when they go “AAUGH!” at Linus’s Great Pumpkin Speech.

Warren Mitchell actually noted in his review, “What’s truly interesting about this special is the time period it came out in. The airing of this special coincided with the upcoming 1972 US Presidential Election. Richard Nixon ended up getting elected for a second term, which was publicly plagued by the Watergate scandals. Though there are no actions of illegal taping in the story, there are some moments of political satire that play out cleverly, especially in the end. Overall, it’s a great political-themed special and one of my favorites.”

You know what is strange? Charles Schultz probably didn’t realize that politics would still be the same to this very day. Actually, it has gotten worse, and this special actually does a good portrayal at showing how the human population reacts to politics. We think we got the right person, but it turns out that they end up being a liar, as it is all the time. Politicians look like they will never change this about themselves, sadly.

If you have never seen this special, then see it. I think that you’ll have a great time when watching this, as it is pretty funny. I think you’ll be laughing from first minute to last, seeing how short it is.

Well, thank you for joining in on this review, stay tuned tomorrow for the continuation on “Vietnam War Movie Month.”