I am a big fan of the "Peanuts" specials, especially the first 15 of them. Strangely, the first 15 are the ones that feature those great Vince Guaraldi scores. Guaraldi passed away at the young age of 46 in 1976.
Even more bizarrely, the quality of the specials seemed to go way down after Guaraldi's death, and not because of the music. "Peanuts" in general after the mid-70s started to take a downward turn from being somewhat biting and sophisticated to becoming too cutesy-poo and childish. They also ran out of good holidays to promote...Arbor Day, sheesh!
The TV specials and even the theatrical movies all followed suit.
Fortunately, all of the good "Peanuts" TV specials are available on three collections ("The 60s", "The 70s, Vol. 1" and "The 70s, Vol. 2")
Here are the good ones in my opinion:
1. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
2. Charlie Brown's All-Stars (1966)
3. It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
4. You're in Love, Charlie Brown (1967)
5. He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968)
6. It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown (1969)
7. Play it Again, Charlie Brown (1971)
8. You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown (1972)
9. There's No Time For Love, Charlie Brown (1973)
10. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
11. It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown (1974)
12. It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (1974)
13. Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (1975)
14. You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown (1975)
15. It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (1976)
2 comments:
Mark,
Check my recent review of the second PEANUTS 1970s DVD for my thoughts on some of these. I agree that it simply wasn't the same starting with IT'S YOUR FIRST KISS CB. I do, however, like the Arbor Day special, perhaps because it wasn't primarily CONCERNED with pro-trees propaganda, but rather, that old PEANUTS stand-by: baseball.
Chris
I liked the Arbor Day one as well, despite my comments of them running out of holidays.
Post a Comment