Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown

Premiered October 30, 1981.
Charlie Brown:I've fallen in love!
Linus:The trouble with you Charlie Brown is that you fall in love all the time.  Every week you fall in love!
Charlie Brown:Not this time, this is different.  There won't be another time like this time ever.  I can't go through life knowing that somewhere there's a girl meant for me and that I never got to meet her.

Charlie Brown (Grant Wehr) and Linus (Rocky Reilly) are watching a football game on television.  The TV camera pans the crowd in the stadium and and a girl appears on the screen in a "honey shot."  Chuck sees her and immediately tells Linus he's fallen in love with the girl.

He decides he will do anything to meet her and begins searching the next day.  Linus agrees to help him, Snoopy (Bill Melendez) and Woodstock (Melendez) accompany the boys on their search.

Their first stop is the stadium, since Charlie Brown remembers the section where the girl was sitting. The stadium staff doesn't know who sat there, so they direct the boys to the season ticket office.

That leads them to a house where the ticket holders live.  Chuck is too shy to go to the door and asks Linus to do it.  A girl (Nicole Eggert) answers the door and she's interested when Linus tells her Charlie Brown has a crush on her.  Chuck signals to Linus that this is the wrong girl.  The boys learn that this girl was not at the game, but a relative used her family's tickets.

They visit the relative's house.  For the second time, Charlie Brown gets Linus to do the talking.  Once again, they find a girl, but not the right girl.  This girl (Melissa Strawmeyer) is a teenager, much older than the girl Chuck saw on TV.  This girl is also interested when she hears someone is in love with her, but she tells them to take off when she sees Charlie Brown is a "little kid."

Before they depart, the teen girl gives them another lead.  She says they should visit Happy Valley Farm, which is out in the country.  Charlie Brown is ready to give up, but Linus talks him into continuing the quest.

When Chuck and friends arrive at Happy Valley, They encounter a rather fierce bobcat!

Linus eventually knocks on the door and a girl (Jennifer Gaffin) answers.  Charlie Brown recognizes her from the game and tries to signal to Linus.  But Linus is too distracted when he realizes this girl also has a security blanket!

We learn her name is Mary Jo and they hit it off immediately.  Chuck signals that this is the girl he saw on television, but Linus is oblivious and is invited into Mary Jo's home.  Charlie Brown waits outside, hoping Linus is telling Mary Jo about him.

Will Linus tell Mary Jo how Charlie Brown feels about her?  Will Charlie Brown summon up the courage to tell her himself?

Review:
I'll just cut to the chase and say this is the weakest Charlie Brown special I've seen since I started this blog.  Charlie Brown comes off as borderline creepy and obsessed in Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown.

Is it believable that someone could fall "in love" with someone they saw for a few seconds and hadn't even met?  Yes, but it would have been a good time for Linus (usually the most introspective member of the Peanuts cast) to explain the difference between love and infatuation.  Linus briefly mentions that Chuck falls "in love every week," but that's the only nod to sanity here.

It's also somewhat disturbing to hear Charlie Brown use the phrase "honey shot."  If you've never heard of that before, a honey shot is a term used in sports broadcasting for closeups of attractive women in the crowd.  This first came to prominence in football games in the 1970s, most notably on Monday Night Football.

Making matters worse, the only regular Peanuts cast members featured are Charlie Brown, Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock.   I love those characters, but part of the fun of these specials is watching them interact with other characters.  We don't get to see Sally, no Peppermint Patty, No Lucy, no Schroeder, etc.

Around the time this special first aired, I remember several Charlie Brown specials that featured appearances by adults.  Someday You'll Find Her gives us this scene:

The inclusion of adults adds nothing but distraction.  Charles Schulz once told an interviewer that having adults show up would "bring everything back to reality."  Once the adults were seen onscreen, it made me wonder how Charlie Brown's parents would feel about the boys going way out in the country by themselves?  Would they be worried?  Linus and Chuck also encounter a teenager, who also seems out of place in the Peanuts universe.

There's a bit of a plot hole in Someday You'll Find Her.  When the boys arrive at Happy Valley Farm, Snoopy and Woodstock are already there.  Charlie Brown is surprised and wonders what they're doing out in the country.  How did they get there?  How did they learn the girl from the game lived at Happy Valley?

But it's not all bad.  The animation is excellent in this special, very vibrant for a special that was produced three decades ago.  Snoopy's fight with the bobcat gives us some great action scenes.

And the beagle also has some funny scenes where he attempts to navigate a cattle guard.

Near the end of the special, Charlie Brown walks home alone heartbroken in a dreamlike state.  The animation switches to a beautiful watercolor style.

Snoopy and Woodstock have some funny scenes together at the football stadium, playing football and "working out" in the weight room.

  
Music:
Ed Bogas and Judy Munsen composed the music heard in this special.  The soundtrack for Someday You'll Find Her features various genres of music.  The scenes at the football stadium are accompanied by a tune that sounds like a college fight song.  The bobcat attacks feature electric guitar music.  This soundtrack won't make you forget about Vince Guaraldi, but it's pretty good, with one exception.  Near the end of the special, when a dejected Chuck is walking home, the scene is accompanied by a sappy "easy listening" ballad.

Availability:
This special has been released twice on dvd.  It's a bonus feature on A Charlie Brown Valentine and has been recently released on a set called The Peanuts Emmy Honored Collection.  It's also available for streaming on iTunes and Amazon.

Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown gives us a Charlie Brown who isn't very sympathetic and a limited cast that isn't a lot of fun to watch.  The watercolor animation and the Snoopy/Woodstock scenes save it from a lower rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

2 Sparkys

It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown

Released on home video January, 1996, first TV broadcast February 23, 1998.

Linus:Well, how does the old team look this year, manager?

Charlie Brown:It's hard to say, but I try to be optimistic

Linus:Optimism is admirable in a manager, isn't it?  What other traits do you have?

Charlie Brown:Stupidity!

Spring has arrived, and with it comes the beginning of a new baseball season.

Charlie Brown (Justin Shenkarow) has gathered his team together for Spring Training.  No one is hitting or fielding very well.  Nevertheless, ol' Chuck is optimistic as usual.

Lucy (Marnette Patterson) takes a fly ball off her noggin.

A little boy named Leland (Gregory Grudt) arrives and tells Charlie Brown he wants to try out for the "Big Leagues."  Charlie Brown is reluctant, initially telling Leland he's too little for the team.  But Charlie Brown is impressed by Leland's persistence and gives him a spot on the roster.

Before their first game, Charlie Brown, Linus (John Christian Graas) and Snoopy (Bill Melendez) visit Hennesy's Hardware.  The store's owner, Mr. Hennessy says he will buy new uniforms for Chuck's team.  But there's a catch:They have to win their first
game.

Snoopy, Linus & Chuck outside Hennessy's Hardware.

  
Will Charlie Brown's team finally win a game and get new uniforms?

J.A. Morris says:

This was a special I'd never seen until recently.  It was produced in 1992, but never aired on tv prior to its straight-to-video release in 1996.  I'm not sure why, because it's an enjoyable special.  Not great, but good.

Charlie Brown shows Leland his signal for a bunt.

It's always fun to watch the Peanuts kids play baseball.  I especially appreciated Charlie Brown's attempt to get the team together while the baseball diamond was covered with snow.  We've had a long Winter this year, so I could identify with this.

The shortstop arrives via ski lift on the first day of "Spring" Training.

Leland (who first appeared in late-70s comic strips) is cute and amusing here.  I liked his interactions with Charlie Brown, who maybe sees a bit of himself in Leland.  Chuck is nice to his fellow underdog and gives him a chance to make the team.

Leland is too short to bat, the pitch goes over his head. 

Snoopy fans will appreciate his trip to the hardware store.  The beagle winds up on the business end of a wrench, a paint shaker and a leaf blower!

Usually, Charlie Brown is the victim of Lucy's taunts.  But in this special, he shows he can give as good as he gets, calling her "the worst outfielder in the history of baseball".  Not the nicest thing to say, but it's somewhat refreshing to see Charlie Brown not being the perpetual victim.

But several things keep this from being a great special.

Charlie Brown wears his cap to bed the night before the first game...

...and Snoopy wears his too.

The plot (new uniforms from Mr. Henessey) is sort of a repeat from Charlie Brown's All Stars, produced 26 years earlier.    

There's a scene where the gang visits Hennessey's Hardware and Mr. Hennessy makes a brief appearance.  I'm sorry, but adults appearing onscreen in Charlie Brown specials just feels...wrong.  I can make exceptions to this "rule", but Hennessey's appearance adds nothing and feels intrusive.

An adult in a Charlie Brown special?

The music, credited to Judy Munsen, is a mixed bag.  Some of it is built around synthesizers and seems a bit out of date even for a special produced in the 1990s.  Some other music, credited to (a person? or group called) D'Cuckoo sounds like it was influenced by 90s hip-hop.  It reminded me of the theme from The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air and provides nice background music for the baseball scenes.

Schroeder (Travis Boles) tags out an opposing player.

Speaking of hip-hop, It's Spring Training contains the first appearance (to my knowledge) of rap music in a Charlie Brown special.  Franklin (Jessica Nwafor) performs a hip-hop version of "The Hokey Pokey" called "That's What It's All About".  My favorite part of the rap was these lyrics:

It’s time you started worryin’
Your strategy’s in a muddle
If you’re a little airplane
We’re the space shuttle!

Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus & Leland dance the Hokey Pokey.

Some Peanuts fans might think that's a sacrilege, but I liked it.  It was a nice way of acknowledging that times change, even in Charlie Brown's world.

Franklin raps & dances

One note of trivia about the voice actors in this special.  There's an unnamed girl with red hair and an orange shirt on Charlie Brown's team, pictured below next to Lucy:

IMDB refers to her as "girl player", she's voiced by Elisabeth Moss, best known for her roll as Mad Men's Peggy Olsen.

Availability:
This special can found on a dvd called Happiness Is Peanuts:Team Snoopy.  It's also available for streaming on Amazon Instant Video.

 It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown, is a decent special.  It's worth watching at least once, but the reasons listed above place it a few notches below the classic specials.  The presence of an adult costs it about half a Sparky.

J.A. Morris' rating:

 .5


2 and a half Sparkys.

It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown

Premiered October 24, 1977.
Linus:"It's a tradition Charlie Brown.  You escort Heather to the center of the ballroom.  And before the first dance, you have to give the Queen a kiss!"
Charlie Brown:*Faints*.

Charlie Brown (Arrin Skelly) has been asked to escort the Homecoming Queen at the annual Homecoming dance, but he's not sure what that means.  Linus (Daniel Anderson) explains that Chuck will accompany her on to the dance floor and kiss her.

Charlie Brown gets very nervous and lovestruck when he learns that the Queen is Heather, the fabled "Little Red-Haired Girl" he's had a crush on for years!

Before the dance, Chuck and the other kids play in the Homecoming football game.  Peppermint Patty (Laura Planting) their team's player-coach, is busy drawing up plays before the kickoff.

Peppermint Patty draws up plays on the blackboard...

...prompting Franklin to ask "are we the Xs or the 0s"?

It doesn't get off to a good start when Charlie Brown delivers the opening kickoff...only to have Lucy (Michelle Muller) pull the ball away from him.

This results in an easy scoring opportunity for the opposing team, who punches it in for an easy touchdown.

Peppermint Patty runs for a touchdown, which brings their team within a single point. But when Chuck comes in to kick the Point After Touchdown (PAT), Lucy pulls the ball away once more.  Lucy does the same thing on the next kickoff.  When Chuck returns to the bench, Linus tells him "You did it again Charlie Brown, you blew the kickoff!"

Later, Charlie Brown is called in to punt on 4th down.  But the other team blocks the punt and knocks Chuck out in the process.  The blocked kick is run in for a touchdown.

When the first half ends, Charlie Brown's team trails by two touchdowns.

Peppermint Patty celebrates a touchdown!

In the 2nd half, the team rallies for two scores.  Peppermint Patty runs for a TD and passes to Pigpen for another.

Pigpen hauls in a touchdown reception.

With seconds remaining in the game, Peppermint Patty calls a timeout on the other team's 5-yard line.  She calls for Charlie Brown to kick a field goal, which will win the game.  But Lucy pulls the ball away one last time.  They lose the game, 21-20.

Cheerleaders put Snoopy on top of the "pyramid".

Charlie Brown is dejected and feels like he let the team down.  Making matters worse, the Little Red-Haired Girl was in the stands when he "missed" the field goal.  Chuck is convinced she won't want to be seen with him at the dance.

That night, it's time for the Homecoming Dance.  Charlie Brown is extremely nervous about meeting finally meeting the Little Red-Haired Girl, he's shaking and blushing.  Lucy, Peppermint Patty and Frieda tell him he has no business being there after blowing
his kicks.

But he's too nervous to feel insulted.  Finally, it's time to escort Heather.  Can Charlie Brown survive the dance and kiss the Queen?   Or will his nerves get the the better of him?

J.A. Morris says:
(SPOILERS below:)
I watched It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown when it first aired.  The abuse heaped upon Charlie Brown when he misses the kicks bothered me then (I clearly remember yelling at the tv!) and still bothers me today.

Charlie Brown ONLY misses the kicks because Lucy pulls the ball out of the way.  They lost because she couldn't put aside her need to humiliate Charlie Brown for the sake of the game.  Yet no one seems to notice this.  Even Chuck's best friend Linus (who is sitting on the bench during the kicks),blames Charlie Brown for missing the kicks.

 Peppermint Patty is known to be very competitive when it comes to sports.  But when she joins Lucy at the dance to rip Chuck after the game, it seems out of character for her.  The abuse was even worse in the original broadcast.  Some of it has been "scrambled" on the dvd release to lessen the cruelty inflicted on Charlie Brown, as you'll see in this video:

It also seems like Charles Schulz (who's credited as the writer here) was a bit uneducated about football.  At one point, the score is 21-13 in favor of the other team.  Pigpen scores a touchdown and the score changes from 21-20.  There's no way that can happen unless they kicked a Point After Touchdown.  Did Charlie Brown make one of his kicks offscreen?  Or is this an error?  I'm guessing it's the latter.

But there are some good things about this special.

In the end, Charlie Brown comes out on top because he gets to kiss and dance with his "dream girl" and impresses Linus with his dance moves.  

We get some funny cut-aways to Snoopy (Bill Melendez).  His wrestling match with his referee's whistle is a fun moment.  And he acts as a helicopter for Woodstock, who is the aerial "camera bird" for the game.

Peppermint Patty wears sandals that have football cleats on the bottom, which is a nice touch.

I liked the "formal wear" worn by Charlie Brown and other boys at the dance too.

Franklin, Linus, Chuck, Pigpen an Schroeder prepare to escort the Queen & Princesses.

But what interested me the most was the presence of 70s pop culture references and music.  This special premiered in 1977, perhaps the pinnacle of disco.  During the football sequences, we get background music (composed by Ed Bogas and Judy Munsen) that's heavily influenced by 70s disco and funk.

Snoopy gets sucked into a tuba!

It sounds like there's even some "Wah-wah" pedals used.  It's not as memorable (or good) as Vince Guaraldi's music from earlier specials, but it provides a nice audio bed for the football game.

Speaking of disco, Linus mentions that Charlie Brown danced "the Hustle" at the Homecoming dance, another 70s reference.

This special has been released several times on dvd.  It was re-released two weeks ago on a dvd called Touchdown Charlie Brown.   It can also be found on Peanuts 1970s Collection:Vol.2 and it's a bonus feature on Be My Valentine Charlie Brown.  It's also available for streaming on itunes and Amazon.

It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown is problematic due to the amount of invective wrongly directed at Charlie Brown.  But if you can make it past the football game, Chuck does sort of "win" in the end, getting to kiss Heather and becoming "the life of the party".  But it would have been nice to see Lucy get her comeuppance and Chuck should have gotten some apologies from the other kids.

My rating:

.5

2 and a half Sparkys.