It's been more than 40 years since a droopy little tree and a recitation
from the Gospel of Luke first charmed television audiences in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Since then, it has become a cherished tradition. I don't think any
Peanuts special since has quite captured the majesty of that first one,
but whenever one of them is aired on television, I look forward to
sitting down and watching it. Because Christmas is such a popular
subject, it's not too surprising that the Peanuts gang starred in more
than one Christmas special.
Several years ago I watched It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown,
a fun but rather scattered special involving, among other things,
Sally's determination to remember her big line in the upcoming play and
her insistence that Harold Angel was going to be singing in the program.
More recently, I watched I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown,
a Peanuts special produced after the death of Charles Schulz but taken
from his strips, many of which can be found in the book It's a Dog's Life, Snoopy.
While It's Christmastime Again is largely a series of vignettes, I Want a Dog for Christmas
has a pretty strong plot thread. Its main focus is Rerun (Jimmy
Bennett), Linus's (Corey Patnos) little look-alike brother, who is
always showing up on Charlie Brown's (Adam Taylor Gordon) doorstep
asking if Snoopy (Bill Melendez) can come out and play. Usually his idea
of playing involves Snoopy catching a ball and bringing it back or
Snoopy puling Rerun on a sled - strenuous activities requiring a very
tolerant pooch. Snoopy is only occasionally accommodating; more often,
he's sitting inside laughing hysterically at the audacity of this
pipsqueak.
Naturally, Rerun wouldn't have to be constantly
trying to borrow Charlie Brown's dog if the Van Pelt residence had a dog
as well. So Rerun, undeterred by older sister Lucy's (Ashley Rose)
protests that their mother will never let him keep a dog, sets out to
ask Santa for his heart's desire. Eventually, though, it's Snoopy who
provides what seems like the perfect opportunity; it seems his
desert-dwelling brother Spike has been lonesome of late and might just
be amenable to a new living arrangement...
While Linus has
always been my favorite of the Van Pelts - and probably my favorite
human character in the strip - Rerun is pretty fun to observe. He's a
very quirky kid who's not at all afraid to speak his mind. His
conversations with a kindergarten classmate (Kaitlyn Maggio) are
illuminating, and his lack of tact as he complains, in the presence of
Linus and Lucy, about his family situation reminds me of my own little
brother. It's not always easy being the youngest - though as the
(hopefully less crabby) Lucy of my family, I contend that the youngest
sometimes don't know how easy they have it!
Though Spike has a
fairly minor role in the special, it's always fun to see Snoopy's
relatives, and Spike's bland personality seems well suited to a lad who
wants a dog he can control; Snoopy is much too independent for that. The
first time I watched this, I had my doubts about it, since I hadn't
been particularly impressed with Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown,
a special which was released earlier that same year. I was pleased to
find the story engaging and humorous, with plenty of Snoopy to keep
things fun. I also appreciated that the characters all sounded fairly
similar to those in A Charlie Brown Christmas; there have been specials in which the voices have sounded decidedly off to me. Compared to that classic, I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown
feels like a bit of a lightweight, but standing on its own it is a
perfectly solid special, and one of the better Peanuts adventures I've
seen.
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