Not All "Peanuts" Specials Were Classics...In 1984, Charlie Brown Jumped The Shark?!?

[Brian Damage]

It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown 1984

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Poor Snoopy, how the mighty have fallen. Once he was soaring through the skies fighting the Red Baron and now he's wearing leotards and dancing to disco five years too late. As someone who regularly listens to the Cherry Bomb music from Howard the Duck, I probably shouldn't be getting on a high horse about how fans of this special should untether themselves from their 1980s nostalgia and realize what a steaming pile this truly is. I'm totally going to though. What makes the best Peanuts specials so enduring is how timeless they are, whereas It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown was dated within a year of its original broadcast. Maybe I'm just too uptight about these sorts of matters, but it seems to me that by pandering to then-current trends -- the Jane Fonda Workout mentality, break dancing, etc -- this special devalues the uniqueness of the characters and the Peanuts brand as a whole.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/10/the_5_best_and_5_worst_peanuts_specials.php?page=2

[born2late]

The best are the Christmas and Halloween ones. I watched them when I was a kid, and I still watch them to this day. I will sometimes watch the Thanksgiving one, but it's not on par with the others. :)

[Marvo301]

The biggest mistake the producers of the Peanuts specials ever made is when they decided to stop using Vince Guaraldi's jazz music as the musical backdrop for the specials.

[MrCleveland]

I enjoyed "Flashbeagle", but yes...this Special wasn't the best one.

"It was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown" was as good as the Camp Food that they (Charlie Brown and his Friends) were served! (Not all Charlie Brown Specials were THAT Epic, even before "Flashbeagle").

[Steve Carras]

It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown 1984

zBaLzmBfHgA&feature

Poor Snoopy, how the mighty have fallen. Once he was soaring through the skies fighting the Red Baron and now he's wearing leotards and dancing to disco five years too late. As someone who regularly listens to the Cherry Bomb music from Howard the Duck, I probably shouldn't be getting on a high horse about how fans of this special should untether themselves from their 1980s nostalgia and realize what a steaming pile this truly is. I'm totally going to though. What makes the best Peanuts specials so enduring is how timeless they are, whereas It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown was dated within a year of its original broadcast. Maybe I'm just too uptight about these sorts of matters, but it seems to me that by pandering to then-current trends -- the Jane Fonda Workout mentality, break dancing, etc -- this special devalues the uniqueness of the characters and the Peanuts brand as a whole.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/10/the_5_best_and_5_worst_peanuts_specials.php?page=2


No, you're not the only one. I also couldn't stand it, in addition to being dated, it made Snoopy too modern----like too many characters [Daffy Duck's two starring movies, "Fantasy Island" and "Ghostbusters" spoofs,too.]

[old grouch]

I grew up watching the Peanuts holiday specials, and to me they still hold up today. I never caught 'Flash Beagle' because I was too old and too cool to watch something like that when it came out. I caught the Saturday morning Peanuts cartoons that came out in the late 80's a couple of times and thought they were terrible.

[Dr. Thong]

I think the worst one was a late eighties special where a voice over actor spoke the dialogue in Snoopy's head. While the "thought balloon" device where we could see what was on Snoopy's mind worked in the comic strips wonderfully, not so on the animated version.

I always loved the the crazy laughter-nonsense noises that came from the cartoon Snoopy's mouth when he was trying to get a point across.

They must have realized their mistake, because this wasn't repeated in later specials.

[McGillicuddy]

The best are the Christmas and Halloween ones. I watched them when I was a kid, and I still watch them to this day. I will sometimes watch the Thanksgiving one, but it's not on par with the others. :)

In addition to A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, the other '60's specials--Charlie Brown's All Stars, You're In Love Charlie Brown, He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown and It was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, we're the best.

[Schmoopie]

I have to admit that I love them all; including "Flashbeagle", but I do agree that the earlier ones were the true classics. The newer ones just aren't the same but it's nice that the Schulz family has decided to keep them coming (ie; new specials, etc) for future generations. It would be sad if they stopped making them forever.

[Snoopygirl_68]

I love the Peanuts specials, but I agree there were a couple that weren't too great. The 60's and 70's were the best, in my opinion. I think they lost some of their magic when Vince Guaraldi passed away. It wasn't the same after he left. I never saw the one where Snoopy actually talked, I think I'll leave that one be. Snoopy was hilarious without even talking.

[McGillicuddy]

I love the Peanuts specials, but I agree there were a couple that weren't too great. The 60's and 70's were the best, in my opinion. I think they lost some of their magic when Vince Guaraldi passed away. It wasn't the same after he left. I never saw the one where Snoopy actually talked, I think I'll leave that one be. Snoopy was hilarious without even talking.

I think at one point, they showed adults and they were talking normally, instead of Waah, waah, waah...Waahwaahwaahwaah!:eek:

[Torgo]

I think at one point, they showed adults and they were talking normally, instead of Waah, waah, waah...Waahwaahwaahwaah!:eek:

Waaah?!?

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...was inspired by a 1983 daily strip of Snoopy wearing a sweatband, torn shirt and leg warmers, and making some fancy dance moves, declaring in the last panel, "Flashbeagle!". Yes, it was adorable and funny, but what do you do when you're Charles Schulz, and have to expand that idea into a half-hour TV special? He couldn't fall back on any of his previous strips to fashion a story, so he decided it would be a "showcase" for various dance moves by Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the "gang". Vince Guaraldi died in early 1976, and was succeeded by other composers who didn't have the gift he had in scoring the specials. In "Flashbeagle", it was Ed Bogas and Desiree Goyette who provided the music. The special is good, but I consider it an artifact of its time....

:tv:

[steevo]

I think at one point, they showed adults and they were talking normally, instead of Waah, waah, waah...Waahwaahwaahwaah!:eek:

This is precisely why I didn't like This is America, Charlie Brown despite the history lesson. It just was out of place having talking adults. :rolleyes:

[McGillicuddy]

This is precisely why I didn't like This is America, Charlie Brown despite the history lesson. It just was out of place having talking adults. :rolleyes:

Thanks! I knew they showed the adults at some point. I think they show adults in the movie Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown, also. They just shouldn't have done that!!

[angiefan]

It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown 1984

zBaLzmBfHgA&feature

Poor Snoopy, how the mighty have fallen. Once he was soaring through the skies fighting the Red Baron and now he's wearing leotards and dancing to disco five years too late. As someone who regularly listens to the Cherry Bomb music from Howard the Duck, I probably shouldn't be getting on a high horse about how fans of this special should untether themselves from their 1980s nostalgia and realize what a steaming pile this truly is. I'm totally going to though. What makes the best Peanuts specials so enduring is how timeless they are, whereas It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown was dated within a year of its original broadcast. Maybe I'm just too uptight about these sorts of matters, but it seems to me that by pandering to then-current trends -- the Jane Fonda Workout mentality, break dancing, etc -- this special devalues the uniqueness of the characters and the Peanuts brand as a whole.

http://www.toplessrobot.com/2011/10/the_5_best_and_5_worst_peanuts_specials.php?page=2
flshbeagle is my favorite! why, charlie brown why is when they jumped the shark!

[Yeldarb]

This is precisely why I didn't like This is America, Charlie Brown despite the history lesson. It just was out of place having talking adults. :rolleyes:

That mini-series bored the hell out of me. Even as a kid, they were among my least favorite Peanuts specials.

In some ways, the four movies also mirror the creative journey Peanuts' animated adventures have taken. The first two, A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home enhances the integrity of the comic strip, and exhibit more fun and boldness than many non-Disney/Pixar animated features. The last two, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown don't enhance the comic strips in any way, and are actually quite boring.

No doubt, the loss of Vince Guarldi was a major factor in the creative change of pace, but it might've also been a choice of either Charles Schulz or Bill Melendez to reach for certain demographics thru certain formats that may/may not have best suited the Peanuts universe. There was a brief attempt to bring Charlie Brown and Snoopy into Saturday morning television in the mid 1980's thru a series a segments directly based from the strip, but with noticably inferior animation. Newer animated specials had increasingly inconsistent storytelling (Snoopy's Reunion) that not only retconned both the comic strip and previous specials, but also chipped away at the basic stricture of the Peanuts universe. The on-screen adults and the loss of philosophical storytelling led to a subtle fatigue in the Peanuts brand.

I won't dispute the topic's title, though I have always enjoyed Flashbeagle, just for nostalgia's sake (the theme music was very catchy). But one special I really hated was the New Year's special. Charlie Brown has always had incredible bad luck, but it seemed in this case to be less believable than usual. He was the ONLY student who had homework during the holidays; a heavy reading assignment in a ridiculously short timespan. And Peppermint Patty seemed repeatedly oblivious to both his homework and his interest in the Little Red Haired Girl to the point where she seemed stupid. Both of these factors made this holiday special somewhat meaningless, nowhere near the brilliance of Peanuts' previous holiday specials.

[ShamelessFanGirl]

I never heard of FlashBeagle because it was released the year that I was born but I have seen some of the older feature length movies such as "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" and "Snoopy, Come Home" I haven't seen them in years but fortunately they were on today so I happened to catch some of it but not all of it. Anyway, I grew up watching the old classic Halloween and Christmas specials that they had on every year. Unfortunately, it seems that for the past couple of years at least these movies have been replaced by newer holiday specials of the Peanuts which I do not like, because I don't think the voices sound anything like the older voices at all. It was like the those in charge didn't even try to make them sound like the previous child actors. Maybe they did it out of respect, I don't know but for those reasons I will not watch them and wish they would bring back the older specials. Anyone else agree?

[Schmoopie]

I never heard of FlashBeagle because it was released the year that I was born but I have seen some of the older feature length movies such as "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" and "Snoopy, Come Home" I haven't seen them in years but fortunately they were on today so I happened to catch some of it but not all of it. Anyway, I grew up watching the old classic Halloween and Christmas specials that they had on every year. Unfortunately, it seems that for the past couple of years at least these movies have been replaced by newer holiday specials of the Peanuts which I do not like, because I don't think the voices sound anything like the older voices at all. It was like the those in charge didn't even try to make them sound like the previous child actors. Maybe they did it out of respect, I don't know but for those reasons I will not watch them and wish they would bring back the older specials. Anyone else agree?

I love both of those movies and I agree that the older ones are much better. My husband and I watched "Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown" on Thanksgiving and although it had some cute and funny moments, it didn't do much for me. The newer ones just aren't as cute as the older ones.

[MrCleveland]

"You're a Good Skate, Charlie Brown" had the teacher talk to Peppermint Patty...she called her 'Patricia'!

PS-Fergie of The Black-Eyed Peas did the voice of Sally for "Flashbeagle".