Review of It`s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown

Introduction

I have been a fan of many things, be they movies, television music or books. I tend to fall in love with a story and squeeze as much enjoyment out of it as possible. I`m admittedly a sci-fi nut, and a significant portion of my money has gone towards Star Trek, Star Wars, X Files and the like. This kind of obsessive behaviour has to have a cause, and the more I think about it the more I realise that the defining moment was when I was three or four years old, and learning to read. My father brought home a Peanuts book, and it was like the first hit of a new drug. I was fascinated. It wasn`t immediate of course, and the book was initially used for only the desired purpose. But I soon became captivated with how Charles M. Schulz was able to evoke such emotion and magic, merely with a few well-placed lines and dots of India ink. As I grew, so Peanuts grew with me. Where I was initially interested in the inspiring and magical adventures of Snoopy and his sidekick Woodstock, I was gradually introduced to a wealth of other characters from the fervent imagination of Schulz, the eternal optimist and eternal loser Charlie Brown, the blanket toting philosopher Linus, his fussbudget sister Lucy, the toy piano virtuoso Schroeder and the brash tomboy Peppermint Patty. In his daily strip, Schulz managed to evoke such tender feelings and moments of pathos, often merely in the space of four black and white squares that he was as profound if not more so than many a verbose novelist. When Schulz passed away in 2000, he left behind the legacy of the most popular comic strip ever drawn, and I still treasure the close to 100 books I have collected.

It didn`t take long for Peanuts to become the phenomenon that it is, and the leap from comic strip to animation seems inevitable in hindsight. The first special, A Charlie Brown Christmas was released in 1965, and it`s now as much a part of Christmas as It`s A Wonderful Life. Animated specials have been made ever since telling a variety of 20-minute stories. There have been longer shows and the occasional theatrical feature as well as a regular TV series, The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show that showcased some of the original strips in animated form.

This disc from Firefly has two of the specials on it; It`s The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, and Life`s A Circus, Charlie Brown. You can see the synopses above.

Video

The picture is the regular 4:3 format. The image is clear and sharp with bright vibrant colours. There is a little film shake on Life`s A Circus, but I have never seen these cartoons looking finer.

Audio

Again the sound is a regular DD 2.0 track. The dialogue is as clear as a bell, and Vince Guaraldi`s incomparable jazz score comes across well on It`s The Easter Beagle. Ed Bogas and Judy Munsen supply the music for Life`s A Circus though. Unfortunately there are no subtitles.

Features

You can choose to play the episodes individually or both together. There is also a web address for Snoopy`s website.

Conclusion

I`ve always felt that in making the transition from comic strip to animation, Peanuts lost a little something. Much of the character of Snoopy is expressed in thought bubbles, however his wry comments, his wit and imagination all cannot be expressed in animation, although the medium does allow for his more obvious visual character traits to be explored. Still while my preference is for the comic strips, I do enjoy the cartoons, especially the earlier ones, which focused more on character. The Peanuts animations started on a high with A Charlie Brown Christmas and maintained a high standard for 15 or so years. These usually focused on the `round-headed kid` and were wry gentle observations of life that rivalled the power of the comic strips. I still remember Be My Valentine Charlie Brown, as he waited optimistically for that Valentine that would never arrive, that depiction of unrequited love is still moving. Snoopy`s early adventures were also exciting as various aspects of his personality were portrayed, be they The World War One Flying Ace or Joe Cool. Most of this period can be recognised as the cartoons had the brilliant music of Vince Guaraldi as accompaniment. Guaraldi died in 1976 and the subsequent cartoons had different music. There also was a tendency for the story to be weak, with the flair in animation to be neglected. Later shows were more often than not a collection of strips loosely connected by a story. I tell you all this as both examples are on this disc.

It`s The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown was made in 1974, and while it isn`t the best example of animated Peanuts, it`s still an enjoyable watch. It still has that subtle commentary on commercialism of holidays, and the characters are all given a chance to shine. Patty and Marcie are trying to paint eggs, Lucy is gearing up for the gift-getting season and Woodstock is in the market for a new pad. With all the holiday frenzy, Linus stands alone in insisting on a little faith, as the Easter Beagle will supply all the gifts. This isn`t reassuring coming from someone who professes a belief in The Great Pumpkin. The music is great, the characterisation smart and the story enjoyable, with some great animation gags thrown in.

Life`s A Circus Charlie Brown was made in 1980, and in my opinion is one of the worst of the specials (Not counting Flashbeagle) Snoopy visits the circus and falls in love with a poodle, then gets dog-napped and roped into a circus act as Hugo the Great. Charlie Brown is left missing his dog. Were it not for the characters, the story would be unrecognisable as a Peanuts cartoon. The characterisation is poor and none of the cleverness in animation of the previous show is visible here. Most of Snoopy`s flights of fancy are only enjoyable in how they impact on the regular characters, but here he is away from the group and the sense of familiarity isn`t there. It would be entertaining for younger kids, but Peanuts fans may find it disappointing.

For a RRP of £5.99, 40 minutes of entertainment isn`t that bad value, but it does seem like a waste of disc space. I hope this idea of bundling one classic with one not so classic episode doesn`t continue. I`d much rather pay £20 for one disc with eight or nine specials on, if nothing else it would save on shelf space.