A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

It's only fitting. We did Halloween and Christmas, and really Thanksgiving is the only other one I celebrate.

While there are many Peanuts specials, this one occured about 7 years after The Great Pumpkin so we're fully into the 70s here and the quality in my opinion hasn't diminished. The animation style is just as classic and still carries that exquisite fall atmosphere, the cast while different still does very fine work and we actually get to see a lot more of Peppermint Pattie and Marcie who are underrated characters to me, the music is still good ol' Vince but a lot more funky and shockingly we even hear him sing in this one which is awesome, it's just a simple but still entertaining special. Charlie Brown is feeling a bit depressed and overwhelmed after several of his friends invite themselves over for Thanksgiving dinner leading to a bit of a mad rush to make sure everyone is happy and fed, but instead of a usual menu of food they come up with stuff like jelly beans, pretzel sticks, popcorn, and toast. Sign me up, that sounds great! And once again the stand out moment goes to Linus with a very heartfelt grace before they eat, and it's happy endings for all. I know this isn't one that gets brought up a lot, but a Charlie Brown special is always going to be a bit of fun and since they're short, it's quick and easy entertainment for kiddos when they come over to visit and eat. Very simple, but very good. 4 stars, 7.5/10 from me! I'm gonna watch some Mystery Science Theater and no doubt fall asleep from the itis. See you next month everybody!

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

It's high time I did this.

For the longest time I never watched Peanuts. I would occasionaly read the comic strips but I never actually watched it until very recently in my life, and I can fully say it was a mistake. The Great Pumpkin upon first viewing a year or two ago made it an absolute necessity to watch it every October near Halloween. It's a first rate, gold standard example of Halloween TV specials! But what's it all about? Well Linus is determined to sit in a pumpkin patch on Halloween night and await the arrival of the Halloween equivalent of Santa Claus, though I doubt it's Krampus. And that's pretty much it, it's very akin to the Christmas special, it focuses more on the customs and the holiday itself more than a story. If you ever wondered what all you need to do to celebrate Halloween, this short tells you all. It has everything, carving a pumpkin, jumping in a pile of leaves, making costumes, going trick or treating, attending a Halloween party and a few things you can do there, visiting a pumpkin patch, and spending time with friends or maybe just by yourself. I'm pretty certain I've said this before but Halloween is the best and most nostalgic holiday of all, and why that is is because you can do whatever you want with it. You celebrate it how you want, whether you go out for tricks or treats, stay home to watch some scary or not so scary movies, got to a Halloween party with friends, or just go for a quiet autumn walk by yourself. There's no real solid tradition that applies to everyone. You don't have to go to a family get together, you don't need to exchange gifts, or eat until you are sleepy. You celebrate the holiday by doing what you wish, you can do anything you want and it works brilliantly. Like Linus who wants to sit in a pumpkin patch to await a figure that he believes is real. Halloween spirit is in the heart, wherever I go it is with me. And there is so much more to love with this special, the music is outstanding to the point where I don't fully consider it Halloween time if I don't hear The Great Pumpkin Waltz, it is a perfect song for the season and it doesn't stop there. The animation is simple but atmospheric and captures that exquisite fall feeling with warm colors and moody skies. There's a fun side trip with Snoopy which is always fun, the humor is present perhaps even more so than the Christmas special, it's a wonderful time for all. Sometimes we can get swept up in the horrific and scary elements, but it's important to do the simple things that even kids can enjoy, and above all just enjoy the holiday. The Great Pumpkin is a tradition to me, and I feel so bad about not watching it when I was younger, so I hope I'm making up for it by expressing my love of the special and the best holiday in the world.

And we got one more before the end, join me tomorrow for Trick r' Treat.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Yeah, you knew we had to do this one sooner or later.

Can you believe I've never seen this until just recently? I've heard so much about it, and was really taking it at face value, and I really did enjoy watching it. For a 25 minute short it's a very complete story, with simple yet endearing animation, absolutely lovely music (I'm a sucker for jazz anyday.), very well done voice acting since it was all done by kids, and a central message that somehow means more now than it did back in 1965. Charlie Brown is feeling depressed around Christmas time feeling the spirit of the holiday is lost and only commercialism reigns, Lucy tells him he should help with the Christmas play where Linus tells all the kids exactly what Christmas is about, and then the special just kind of ends on a very pleasant and heartfelt note. Many people have analyzed the special for what it is, and the best example is to me, a simple editorial asking the question, is it overrated? I won't get into much detail of the editorial, but just merely leave a link at the end. I'd tell you to see it, but chances are you most likely will on television, lots of people will. Well now that we've talked about a Christmas special nearly everyone has seen, tomorrow we will look at a movie that nearly everyone has never even heard of, and trust me when I say it is a fantastic Christmas movie!

Is A Charlie Brown Christmas Overrated?-- https://youtu.be/Qtk0DQA6woM