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gokinsmen wrote:Other than A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home, none of the feature-length Peanuts cartoons especially worth rewatching, let alone purchasing.

Lies! Bon Voyage is my favorite of the bunch! Filled with suspense and terror! The Chateau of the Bad Neighbor was a house of horrors!

Jeff wrote:Here is the trailer for volume one of the upcoming 1970s collection. It looks like they are sticking with strict chronological order, which is nice. There will be six cartoons on volume one, which would leave eight for volume two. There will probably be two volumes for the 80s (14 cartoons), one volume for the 90s (6 cartoons), and one volume for the 00s (6 cartoons). There were also several documentaries and retrospectives that will hopefully turn up as bonus features.

I am glad they are putting them out in a sane, chronological manner. Of course, I now feel like a schmuck for wasting money on the stand-alone holiday releases that Warner wisely released first, but what the hey? I can wait until the appropriate holiday and move them on eBay for decent money. Yeah, I'll lose the bonus docs, which were informative and decent, but I'll live. Plus, it will free up a heck of a lot of space on my already overcrowded shelf.

I watched "It Was a Short Summer...." this weekend from the 60's set. Great looking clean picture. I was very pleased. Soon I'll be able to dispense all my Peanuts homemade DVD-Rs....well, aside from the two MIA features, of course. Damn you, Paramount!

domino harvey wrote:Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown is finally coming to DVD in February

Our long national nightmare is almost over. Whither Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown? If it's not coming with this promotion, it probably never will. I'm assuming there's a problem with either the master or rights.

We had the SelectaVision disc and I wore it out with how often I watched it as a kid (probably didn't help it was one of the few animated titles we had until my parents started picking up Disney and Looney Tune stuff.) The only gag I remember, though, is when Lucy explains why rock climbers chain themselves together: "so that if one falls they all fall!"

I haven't seen it since so am very excited by this. I recall the disc was released by Paramount and see that Paramount is still doing this one. Was there a rights issue of some sort holding it back?

Jeff wrote:Whither Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown? If it's not coming with this promotion, it probably never will. I'm assuming there's a problem with either the master or rights.

TVShowsonDVD has word that this one will be out in October 2015, closer to when the new CGI movie is released.

A Little Love: The Art of Bill Melendez, about his work and later influence on Wes Anderson.

Jeff wrote:

domino harvey wrote:Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown is finally coming to DVD in February

Our long national nightmare is almost over. Whither Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown? If it's not coming with this promotion, it probably never will. I'm assuming there's a problem with either the master or rights.

Man, they're digging deep for Peanuts releases. I recall only one single broadcast (possibly a UHF re-run) when I was in kindergarten, and I watched it on some ancient TV with old-fashioned "bunny ear" antennas that constantly needed adjustment. Wasn't particularly a fan but I can still remember the theme song ("Free as running water, fresh as morning dew….") It's just like Linklater's been saying in so many Boyhood interviews, there's just a lot of random stuff you remember from childhood - for whatever reason, they just stick.

Not that it really matters to those who have a DVD or Blu-ray copy, but the version of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS that aired last night on ABC was missing about six-and-a-half minutes of footage. Gone was Schroeder transitioning from playing Beethoven to a one-finger rendition of "Jingle Bells" at Lucy's request, the scene where the kids try to catch snowflakes on their tongues, Sally dictating a letter to Santa, Snoopy decorating his doghouse and the entire scene where Charlie Brown purchases the sad little Christmas tree.

I hadn't seen the special in years, but had no idea so much material was being edited out to make room for more commercials. Good grief, indeed.

Jesus, that's a lot of material, not to mention one of my favorite gags and some key exposition. Further reason not to bother with network TV anymore.

Roger Ryan wrote:Not that it really matters to those who have a DVD or Blu-ray copy, but the version of A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS that aired last night on ABC was missing about six-and-a-half minutes of footage. Gone was Schroeder transitioning from playing Beethoven to a one-finger rendition of "Jingle Bells" at Lucy's request, the scene where the kids try to catch snowflakes on their tongues, Sally dictating a letter to Santa, Snoopy decorating his doghouse and the entire scene where Charlie Brown purchases the sad little Christmas tree.

I hadn't seen the special in years, but had no idea so much material was being edited out to make room for more commercials. Good grief, indeed.

ABC has done this for the past several years. They show a shortened version of the special in early December and then show the uncut special later on in the month. The latter shows on December 16 this year.

I am pretty fanatical about the strips (own all The Complete Peanuts volumes released so far), but over the past couple of years have found the three big holiday specials increasingly boring. So much of what I like about Peanuts as a strip has to do with gag-timing and the specificity of how Schulz draws expressions, both of which are lost in the translation to animation. At best, the holiday specials are watchable for the story skeletons and Guaraldi's iconic jazz-pop. This might not be the right place to ask it, but does anyone have other examples of Peanuts animation that might be more satisfying along the lines I'm talking about?

domino harvey wrote:Bon Voyage Charlie Brown coming October 6th

The sun shines a bit brighter today. I had missed the earlier news about it being released to tie in to The Peanuts Movie. Even if this new thing is awful (which I fear it must be without Schulz or Melendez), at least it gave Paramount an excuse to release this beloved relic of my childhood. In truth, I haven't watched Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!) in years -- maybe decades, but as with many HBO staples of the mid-eighties, it feels like part of my DNA (see also: Midnight Madness). I'm thrilled to finally be able to own it and share it with a new generation of young people who will tell me that it is stupid and boring.

For whatever reason, I think this and Race For Your Life were the only Peanuts movies I ever saw growing up-- they probably aired on HBO or something and my mom taped them. So it makes me chuckle that I'm seeing commenters on articles about this bemoan these two as the bottom of the barrel, because they're the tops to my kid eyes! Plus, if I remember correctly, isn't Bon Voyage kinda sad? Depressing Peanuts = Real Peanuts

I also don't understand the negative responses since these two pretty much defined what a Peanuts movie/special should be. I was afraid to watch the DVD of Race for Your Life thinking it wouldn't hold up but I thought it did. Was a joy to see again since it's probably been well over 25 years. It's amazing how my childhood viewings are still ingrained in my memories as I still remembered where our old disc would start skipping (it would skip minutes at a time in some cases) and having those skips not happen at certain scenes shocked me each time. Almost shed a tear.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Come Home arriving on Blu-ray September 6, 2016.

domino harvey wrote:For whatever reason, I think this and Race For Your Life were the only Peanuts movies I ever saw growing up-- they probably aired on HBO or something and my mom taped them. So it makes me chuckle that I'm seeing commenters on articles about this bemoan these two as the bottom of the barrel, because they're the tops to my kid eyes! Plus, if I remember correctly, isn't Bon Voyage kinda sad? Depressing Peanuts = Real Peanuts

Wow, me too. These were the only two I had growing up. I probably watched each over 100 times in the 80s and haven't seen them since. Would love to see them again.

I realize this thread is for the TV specials, but I thought last year's Peanuts Movie was quite well done. It kind of amalgamates lots from many of the tv specials into one large accessible package. I thought it would make a pretty good introduction to a new young generation who didn't grow up with and aren't familiar with the old tv specials. I gave my copy to a friend with a 2 year old. And just today bought another copy to give to another friend with a 6 year old. And I plan to give it another viewing before I gift it off. Not sure why the movie came and went with barely a whisper when it really is a quality effort and respects all of the tv specials which came before it (perhaps even too much).

Yes, it's actually a pretty good one, which I expected more to be less spot-on emotion-wise. It unfolds smoothly but remains a bit flat however in what happens, the events, etc.

I liked it too. I have some nibbling reservations about the music, but in the larger scheme of what kind of crap the studios usually put out as far as animated fare, this is a gift to those trying to find movies with deeper meaning that kids can find as opposed to just being eye candy. Which this pulls off just as well too, with also being faithful to the original style.

This documentary on Charles Schulz is worth a look

Still hoping WB releases all the '80s specials in 2 volumes (as they did with the '70s ones) at some point.