I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown

Thirty-eight years after the legendary A Charlie Brown Christmas first hit the airwaves (and three years past the death of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz), Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelsohn hit the strips once again and concocted another gleaming holiday treat, one poking out over the stocking with a running time of 41 minutes, a veritable epic length for this canon.

AIRDATE: 12/9/03

STORY: Rerun Van Pelt is the typical youngest child. His little life is filled with subservience (to the whims of his bike-riding mother), sarcasm (both to and from his older siblings), punishment (via the school principal) and seemingly-mysterious rejection (the mom again). His rebellion consists of the quick wit of youth combined with a hunger for time spent unbridled. Rerun's face is never more flush with juvenile joviality than when he is at school cutting and pasting with all the passion of a rogue pirate or warning big sister Lucy of his potential for wrath.

The only thing that could make the smallest Van Pelt happier would be to own a dog. He is enthralled by Snoopy (who isn't?), begging Charlie Brown for temporary access to the magnific beagle. Knowing he can't expect to just "borrow" Snoopy at whim, Rerun's entreaties to his mother intensify. Her only response is "Wah wah wah". Rerun is unable to argue with the logic. An offer to purchase the World Famous Beagle is shot down when Charlie Brown recites an asking price of 10 million dollars. Snoopy may or may not have been insulted by the figure.

When a Christmas letter from his emaciated, desert-dwelling brother Spike arrives, Snoopy is sent into a wild fit of dancing and bleating. Rerun is almost as giddy to learn that Spike will be visiting his sibling; instead of having to spend any money, he can just adopt the behatted nomad.

As with most relationships however, be they between a boy and his girl or a boy and his dog, what starts out as idyllic romping ends just as suddenly (if in this case amicably). Spike goes back to Needles to renovate his cactus, and Rerun makes do with occasional quality time with Snoopy. 10

MUSIC: The soundtrack blends in fantastically, putting the emphasis on the action on screen. 9

ANIMATION: The lines and colors are crisp without being generic; after a few preceding programs where odd white borders were given to Lucy's hair and Snoopy's ears, there is nothing jarring here. The end result is a "new traditional" look, unbeholden to trends of modern animation, while smartly tweaking tried-and-mostly-true designs. 9

VOICES: Corey Padnos and Hannah Leigh Dworkin reprise their roles as Linus and Sally from Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales. Given a full-length to exercise their vocal skills, both are notably improved this go-round. 8 and 9, respectively.

Ashley Rose Orr does a wonderful job as Lucy, hitting all the right notes. The best Lucy voicing since Charlie Brown's All-Stars, for sure. Her expressions of annoyance, wonderment, concern and--yes--crabbiness are pitch-perfect. 10. Adam Taylor Gordon is a solid Charlie Brown, not quite the peak of "blah" that made Peter Robbins truly awe-inspiring, but just possessed of enough grand blandness for an 8. Shame about the three first name things, kid.

Schroeder, Franklin, Pigpen, Violet, and an unnamed schoolmate of Rerun all make brief appearances, none particularly noteworthy. Which is as much a good thing as bad, really.

Last and so far from least that the light from least would take 97,000 years to reach the Earth is Jimmy Bennett as Rerun. Many casual observers (may or not be fans, mind) looked at the decision to base a Peanuts special around Rerun with bemusement. "Who?" they wondered, heads all cocked like thoughtful puppies, until the inevitable "What's Happening?" joke, which not even they thought was funny coming out of their own mouths. Finally they decided that "they must be really desperate for ideas over there."

Actually, a TV special revolving around Rerun was not surprising to any faithful readers of the strip--in fact, many of them embraced it much like they learned to adore the free-spirited scamp himself as he came to grace many of the best Peanuts panels produced in the last 10 years of its run, transformed from a mere "rerun" of his big brother into a character drawn more uniquely within the thought bubble than outside of it.

With no true precedent to live up to, Jimmy Bennett gives a top 5 voice-acting performance by a child of all-time. In the great tradition of Peanuts on television, he sounds just like a real kid, regardless of whether or not all of the words he speaks are ones he fully understands. Far from being daunted by the inimitable Schulzian word play, his delivery is so assured and his inflections so evocative, it seems Jimmy is treating this high-pressure assignment like mid-May recess. Infectious and electrifying, an undeniable 10. If you didn't like the character in the strips before, Rerun as presented here may cause you to go back and reevaluate.

COMING UP, "DOMINICK THE DONKEY"

The only times that "making it rain" is acceptable...




Rerun, in the throes of play with Snoopy, lets out a "Happiness is a warm puppy."

Rerun's letter to Santa Claus inspires rare concern from Lucy. You can hear the moral dilemma raging inside of her as she creaks out, "I think there's something I should tell you...." But Rerun remains insistent that he can undercut parental tyranny with a well-worded plea to Annual Gift Man. Lucy uses evasive questioning in lieu of flat-out ending her little brother's childhood: "Do you really think Santa Claus will bring you something Mom doesn't want you to have?" Rerun's immediate response: "Oooh! Supreme Court stuff!" So brilliant; who wrote like this for children? Charles Schulz. Who needs to sell a t-shirt bearing those four words? Gawker.com. Oh yes.


Snoopy siblings flashback! I think Olaf was actually eating some broken table leg near the end there.


Thurston Moore wrote "The Ineffable Me" for Kim Gordon to sing as Snoopy. Truth in every letter of the preceding sentence!

AND AFTER THAT, "THE CHRISTMAS SHOES"

Spike's arrival at the Van Pelt home means not only does Rerun have a buddy, but Lucy has a project. Since the desert dog is "thin as a promise", she dedicates herself to fattening him up. Her first order of business is to put him in bed and bring him milkshakes. Linus protests when he notices Spike's "hospital gown" is in fact his security blanket. Lucy sternly informs Linus that this is a health issue, and concern over personal property must take a backseat. This sequence is fine, but it makes me wince at the thought of what could have been.

In the original strip, Lucy is bringing Spike a milkshake and Linus raises a fuss over his blanket. Just like in this show. But Lucy's response is far different, and far truer to the character: "Shut up, stupid! I'm nursing him back to health!"

Classic Lucy. And these lines, unchanged, would have had me in hysterics had they been animated. But I understand the decision to leave them out, even as I find it an unfortunate compromise. The tone of this special is not brusque or crabby; it is lighthearted throughout. Lucy's admonishment would have left a gray cloud in its wake for the more sensitive children watching at home. Peanuts on 21st century television is smoother than in the decades previous, treated with anti-irritant cream before it can appear for the approval of uninspired, overanalytical, small-minded networks. And even then it manages to be better than anything on Nickelodeon since that channel ruined Ren and Stimpy lo those many years ago. Go figure.

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I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown is a fantastic special that ABC has aired every year since 2003, indicating a welcome push by the network to make this a standard. Despite some bits that drag (thinking Snoopy as Santa here, also the animation of Spike's fateful bike ride with Rerun's mom), you could do so much worse than to give three-quarters of an hour over to this surprisingly vital effort.

Woof.

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