A Charlie Brown Christmas
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A Charlie Brown Christmas is a 1965 animated Christmas television special based on the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz, who also wrote the special's screenplay. It was directed and produced by animator Bill Melendez (while Lee Mendelson executive produced it) and stars Peter Robbins as the titular title character, Charlie Brown. It released on television on December 9, 1965 and is the first installment to an installment of Peanuts specials.
Plot
Christmastime is here. Happiness and cheer. And for Peanuts fans everywhere, it just wouldn't be Christmas without this classic holiday delight. Christmas lights may be twinkling red and green, but Charlie Brown has the Yuletide blues. To get in the holiday spirit, he takes Lucy's advice and directs the Christmas play. And what's a Christmas play without a Christmas tree? But everyone makes fun of the short, spindly nevergreen Charlie Brown brings back - until the real meaning of Christmas works its magic once again.
Why Christmastime Is Always Here In This Special
- Simplistic and sweet-natured story.
- Thanks to animator Bill Melendez, it stays 100% faithful to the original comic strips, with the characters coming back and having their true personalities, even with their creator Charles M. Schulz working on the special.
- Very great and smooth animation, especially for 1960s television standards.
- Funny characters such as Charlie Brown and his pet beagle, Snoopy.
- Beautiful music composed by Vince Guaraldi. Mostly notably, Christmastime is Here.
- Funny and hilarious moments.
- The scene where Linus explains the true meaning of Christmas is pretty heartwarming and memorable.
- The tree in the movie became a symbol of minimalist Christmas decorating.
- The ending was pretty heartwarming.
- It has one of those rare times where Charlie Brown actually gets a happy ending.
- Kicked off the start of the Peanuts specials, which the sequels started with Charlie Brown's All Stars!.
- It brought us this iconic little dancing bit, which is still remembered to this day.
The Only Naughty Qualities
- A handful of animation and audio errors occurred when the special made its premiere broadcast. Luckily, they were later fixed in future airings though a few still can be seen.
- The Coca-Cola sponsor tags were removed for future airings, resulting in the last piece of animation removed and the audio track fading away at the end of the closing credits.
- Some scenes were abruptly cut, even in the very first original reel.
Reception
A Charlie Brown Christmas was released on December 9, 1965. It was met with worldwide critical acclaim, with people calling it "one of the best Christmas specials of all time." The people involved with the special (including director and producer Bill Melendez and his animation crew) had thought it would be a disaster. Fortunately, it went into the Grammy Hall of Fame all the way back in 2007. Richard Burghiem of Time watched the special and gave it an generally positive review.
Trivia
The original 1965 version was rushed to completion (they were only given six months), resulting in oddities about. As a result it was edited with the new version airing in 1966. full comparison can be found here.