Top Five Peanuts Specials

Inspired by the airing of Happy New Year, Charlie Brown last month, I began to reflect upon some of my favorite Peanuts specials. A staggering number of specials have aired on television or debuted on video since 1965. Looking down the list, there are a few that I remember like Snoopy’s Reunion (I think I even had the children’s book adaptation), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown and It’s Spring Training, Charlie Brown. I’m sure by way of school and video rentals and TV airings, I’ve seen most of the Peanuts output from the late ’70s into the early ’90s but most of these specials are a blur.

Here are the five specials that are special to me. You may find the absence of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown to be shocking but, despite my obsession with Halloween, I never found that to be a very compelling special.

Which specials do you look fondly on most?

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

A Peanut special that needs no introduction and it is certainly an undisputed holiday classic that would rank at or near the top of anyone’s Christmas specials list, let alone a Peanuts specials list. You really can’t go wrong with Christmas. It was the very first Peanuts special to air (but not the first to be produced) and it set the tone for heart & humor the franchise is known for.

Buy A Charlie Brown Christmas (Deluxe Edition) on DVD at Amazon.com

2. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)

Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go! Man, just thinking about that feast the gang had is making me hungry right now! Truly a Thanksgiving feast for the ages! Another classic special that everyone should be aware of  by now.

Buy A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (Deluxe Edition) on DVD at Amazon.com

3. It’s Magic, Charlie Brown (1981)

I really, really loved this special as a kid. I’m not sure if this is considered “classic” material amongst Peanuts aficionados, but it certainly is a classic to me as my family had this one recorded onto a VHS tape and I watched it about a hundred times during the ’80s.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with it, here’s a brief description of what’s going on: Snoopy has learned a few magic tricks and ends up turning Charlie Brown invisible and Snoopy tries to get him to back to being visible. There’s some really funny moments with Snoopy’s various magic tricks her performs during his magic show and in the ways Snoopy comes up with as a temporary fix to make Chuck visible again. Oh yeah, there is a really awesome scene featuring Chuck and Lucy that vindicates Chuck after years of a playing the fool… if only temporarily.

I haven’t seen this since the and ’80s and to my delight, this special is available as a bonus feature on 2008 edition of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Buy It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (Deluxe Edition) on DVD at Amazon.com

4. Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1986)

Already discussed this one in a previous post. Fun stuff featuring Charlie Brown being Charlie Brown and unintentionally screwing himself over while trying to do what he thought was the best thing to do.

Girls > school work. Always remember that, kids.

This one is available on DVD as a bonus feature too, on the release of I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown.

Buy I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (Deluxe Edition) on DVD at Amazon.com

5. Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (1975)

Another special where we viewers take perverse pleasure and humor in seeing just how sad and pathetic Charlie Brown is. In short… a classic! There’s two stories going on in this one: Linus has fallen in love with one of his teachers and Charlie Brown frets over no one giving him a Valentine’s Day card.

Buy Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (Deluxe Edition) on DVD at Amazon.com

Pop Secret Pop Qwiz

Looking back, Pop Secret’s Pop Qwiz colored popcorn is a really strange idea, but it was the early ’90s and tacky neon colors were all the rage so of course I had to have some of this.

I don’t know why, but I was half expecting the colors to be flavored. Red could’ve been cinnamon, blue could’ve been… blueberry? I don’t know, it just sounded “right” to not only have your popcorn colored but flavored as well.

A Review of the Ruby-Spears Superman DVD set!

Ruby-Spears Superman (2009, Warner Home Video)
Originally Aired: September 1988-December 1988, CBS

Disc One
- Destroy The Defendroids/ The Adoption
- Fugitive From Space/ The Supermarket
- By The Skin of the Dragon’s Teeth/At The Babysitter’s
- Cybron Strikes/ The First Day of School
- The Big Scoop/ Overnight with the Scouts
- Triple-Play/ The Circus
- The Hunter/ Little Runaway

Disc Two
- Superman and Wonder Woman vs. The Sorcerer of Time/ The Birthday Party
- Bonechill/ The Driver’s License
- The Beast Beneath These Streets/ First Date
- Wildshark/ To Play or Not to Play
- Night of the Living Shadows/ Graduation
- The Last Time I Saw Earth/ It’s Superman

Special Feature:
Corruption of the Corrupt: The Rise of LexCorp

So I’m finally getting around to reviewing this DVD. Some of you may be familiar with Tommy’s review over at Saturday Morning Central, but so what? I need some new material to post so here’s my take on it.

Not a lot of people are even aware this show existed but that’s not surprising because the show only lasted two months on CBS’ Saturday morning line-up. Despite this, it always stayed with me in my memory bank. I never had any particular episode that I was able to recall, I just remembered that the show existed and I liked it and was excited to watch it. I also remember being really disappointed one Saturday when it didn’t come on. There are 13 episodes in all and each episodes closes with a “Superman’s Family Album” segment focusing on his days as Clark Kent in Smallville.

Anyway, it has been commented that this show isn’t really very good and that is only good for nostalgia purposes. Obviously, most people who bother to buy a DVD of cartoon that only lasted for two months back in the ’80s is doing this for nostalgia, but that doesn’t have anything to do with the quality.

Something fishy going on at Wendy’s…

I’m not a fish fan. Yes, I’ve had it before, but I wasn’t impressed by it. In fact, I can only remember one time eating it and it was when I was probably 6 years old. That memory has always stuck me because since then I’ve always considered it disgusting to eat anything from the ocean, so I’m not sure why I willingly ate it them. It looks gross and it smells.

That said, if the finest prepared fish from the finest chef in the world seems nasty… it looks 100 times as bad coming from a fast food joint.

Wendy’s fish fillet sandwich? No thanks. I’m pretty sure this sandwich was off the menu for over a decade, but just a few years ago they brought it back for a limited time and called it a “premium fish fillet sandwich”.

Super Mario Bros. 2 – The Unsung Hero

Though the U.S. version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is considered a fine game by many, I don’t think it gets the full credit it deserves. Often times whenever I see it mentioned in a video game magazine or site, it is a one-off line about it being weird, “not really a Mario game” or not being able to compare to the original game or Super Mario Bros. 3. WRONG!!!

Look, everyone knows the story behind SMB2. For those that don’t, here’s a recap:

In 1986, the original version of Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in Japan and it was very similar to the first Super Mario Bros. game known the world over. Nintendo of America was uncomfortable with the difficulty of the game, thinking that Americans were just too stupid and they also deemed it as being too similar to the first game. They ended up taking a Japanese game called Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic (translation -”Dream Factory: Heart Pounding Panic”) and giving it a redesign and plugged Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Toad into the four starring roles (my favorites to use were Peach and Toad).

This alternate version of Super Mario Bros. 2 hits American shores in 1988 just in time for Christmas and it was the top priority for my sister and I. I think technically it was her game (I think I got Castlevania that year), but it didn’t matter — I basically reigned supreme over the NES in our house. Once I got over the initial shock of such a drastically different Mario game, I ended up having a lot of great memories playing this game, the most vivid memory I have is playing it during the following summer while having our babysitter around. In the 1980s, what better way could you spend your summer vacation than playing Super Mario Bros. 2 nonstop for three months?