![]() Scene 8: The guests arrive, and despite the fact that he never wanted them there to begin with, Charlie Brown puts on a happy face (and even shows how cool he is by giving Franklin a high five). After a protracted bit of senseless tussling, Snoopy and Woodstock make it to the house the scene ends with Woodstock accidentally setting off Snoopy’s cork gun, leaving dog and bird in a heap on the floor. Scene 7: Snoopy shows his mad skillz with napkin-folding and then gets on his pilgrim costume, which for some reason really peeves Woodstock, who does his “angry bird” chirping. (Curious, though: by my count, the kids are employing at least sixteen toasters for this project. Only instead of preparing traditional Thanksgiving grub, they make toast and popcorn. Scene 6: Cue me up some good ol’ Vince Guaraldi jazz piano! Snoopy, bedecked in a chef’s hat, leads Linus, Charlie Brown, and Woodstock in a cook-a-palooza. Best line is when Marcie asks about what they should wear, and Peppermint Patty says, “Chuck… always wears that striped shirt of his.” (Sort of speaking of which, what’s up with Franklin’s striped pants?) Why all three children are available to go to someone else’s house on Thanksgiving is never adequately explained. Scene 5: Throw-away scene between Peppermint Patty, Marcie, and Franklin. Man, Wikipedia can be such a downer some times.) He was only 47 at the time, and the day he died, he had just finished recording the music for It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. (Vince, it turns out, died suddenly of heart failure not three years after the debut of this show. All to the mellow tones of “Little Birdy”-which, incidentally, was composed and sung by Vince Guaraldi, the same guy who wrote the famed “Linus and Lucy” song. Hilarity ensues: Snoopy gets crushed in a ping-pong table, Woodstock gets flattened by a basketball, and Snoopy inexplicably gets into fight with an anthropomorphic lounge chair. Scene 4: Snoopy, charged with helping to set up for the impromptu dinner, enlists the aid of his friend Woodstock. (Man, that Linus can solve anything! Why isn’t he in charge of our health care system? Oh, Charlie Brown, you lovable goof! Just when all seems lost, Linus comes up with a solution: have two dinners! One for his friends, and one for his family. ![]() Charlie Brown, ever hapless, tries to tell her he’s not going to be home-his family is going to his grandmother’s-but he never gets a chance. Peppermint Patty calls up Charlie Brown and invites herself, her minion Marcie, and her friend Franklin over for Thanksgiving dinner. ![]() Linus enters the scene and does what he does best: spinning security-blanket wisdom (this time, about the importance of giving thanks) and putting people in their places. Scene 2: Charlie Brown and his sister Sally are bemoaning the impending Thanksgiving holiday: Sally is upset that she has to write an essay on “Stanley Miles” (she means Myles Standish, of course) and Charlie Brown is glum because… well, because he’s Charlie Brown. (Ol’ Charlie does get his revenge against Lucy, though: she doesn’t appear for the rest of the episode.) “Isn’t it peculiar, Charlie Brown, how some traditions just slowly fade away?” asks Lucy-an ironic observation, indeed, especially considering that some newspapers are still running Peanuts cartoons, even though Charles Schulz died twelve years ago. ![]() Scene 1/ Opening: Lucy, spouting off about tradition and honor, once again tricks Charlie Brown into trying to kick the football naturally, she pulls it away at the last second. But in case you missed it any time over those 40 years, I thought we could give a scene-by-scene run-down of the show. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving debuted in 1973, which makes this year its 40 th anniversary. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |