It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (1992)

Starring: Jamie E. Smith
Grade: A+

Respect goes to Peppermint Patty comparing herself to Laurence Olivier after forgetting her lines as a sheep in the Christmas play. You got to love it.

Summary

In the snow, Linus (John Christian Graas) and Sally (Mindy Ann Martin) go up a hill with a box as big as them. Once they get to the top and jump in the box, Sally starts to have second thoughts because of the steepness of the hill. Linus isn’t worried and just tells her to lean forward and jiggle her feet. Right when he’s about to go, she changes her mind and steps out, forcing the box to tip forwards to where Linus lands on his face just a foot away from her. Seeing that he didn’t go far, she tells him she would’ve stayed had she known that was as far as he was going to go. After she leaves, Linus jumps in the box and perches himself on top of the hill to try again. Unfortunately, he goes backwards down the hill this time and he ends up upside down with the box on top of him. He tries it again. Finally, he’s able to go down the right way, but the ride ends up bumpier than anticipated. He pops up in the air a few times before flying off and crashing. The box ends up on top of a tree, and Linus is on the ground. Lucy (Marnette Patterson) and Sally observe the scene, with Lucy talking about how the tree looks better when it has a star or an angel on top of it. Charlie Brown (Jamie E. Smith) goes door-to-door trying to sell Christmas wreaths. Violet (Deanna Tello) declines because it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. Additionally, by the time Christmas rolls around, all the needles will be falling off of it. After Charlie Brown tells her not to hang it near the turkey, she shuts the door in his face. Next, he goes to Patty (Tello), but she brings up how it’s not Thanksgiving yet too. Pivoting, he asks if she wants to buy a Thanksgiving wreath, but she declines. When he offers it to Franklin (Sean Mendelson), he blames Charlie Brown for adding to the over commercialization of Christmas, but he responds with, “Not ’til I sell one!”.

Following this, he presents the wreath to Frieda, but she snatches it out of his hand and closes the door, thinking it was a free sample.

After getting another door slammed into his face to the point where he falls off the front porch and into the snow, he goes home to collect more. Sally offers to help, so she joins in on his door-to-door sales pitch. The two go to one house, and Sally starts talking about how the wreath was made from the famous forests of Lebanon. If they buy two, they’ll get an autographed photo of King Solomon. They don’t make the sale. On the way to the next house, Charlie Brown argues with her for lying, so when they go to the next house, Sally gets petty and talks about how the wreath is made from “some junky old branches my brother found in a Christmas tree lot”. She piles on and practically joins the person’s side about how she wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t buy it. After the door is shut in their face, she tells Charlie Brown that his way doesn’t work either. While standing next to Snoopy (Bill Melendez) at home, Sally thinks they need better packaging or a better way to show off their product. With this in mind, Sally is at the next house with a wreath directly over Snoopy’s nose. Elsewhere, Linus walks by a snowman exuding classical music. It even has a clarinet stemming from its mouth. Once he leaves, Woodstock (Melendez) pops out of the snowman’s top hat whistling because he was making the music all along.

Peppermint Patty (Phillip Lucier) calls Charlie Brown and talks about how their teacher wants them to read a book over Christmas vacation and she wants suggestions on how to get out of it. Later, she’s watching A Tale of Two Cities on TV and thinks this equates to reading the book once Marcie (Lindsay Benesh) walks over to her living room. Peppermint Patty is confident about it too. The only parts she didn’t understand were about the “shampoo, the soap, and the coffee”, so Marcie has to explain to her that those were commercials. Sometime after, Peppermint Patty tells Marcie she wanted to read the book, but she’s afraid because her grandfather said, “If you read too many books, your head would fall off”. Even so, Marcie encourages her to start the first chapter, and she will hold onto her head as she does. Later, Peppermint Patty is making a snowman, with sandals mind you, and Marcie asks why she isn’t reading her book. According to Peppermint Patty, it’s too nice out to stay inside and read. Plus, she sees it as her duty to create this snowman and give him life. Otherwise, no one else will and he won’t exist. She argues that this snowman has a right to live, and Marcie is baffled. Hearing these wild statements, Marcie just calls her weird. Following this, Peppermint Patty is on her bed, and she calls Marcie to ask what book they were supposed to read during Thanksgiving vacation. Marcie reminds her that this is Christmas vacation, prompting Peppermint Patty to freak out because how could she do the one for Christmas if she hasn’t even done the previous one. Marcie adds on stating, “Duck sir. Easter is coming”. After this, the two girls go to see a performance of George Handel’s Messiah. Marcie explains to her that the exciting part is when they get to the “Hallelujah” chorus part and everyone stands. Eventually, the time comes to stand. Marcie stands in her seat with all the other kids, but she falls in-between the seat and gets stuck.

In school, Peppermint Patty writes an essay on seeing Messiah but doesn’t know Handel’s first name. Since Marcie doesn’t know either, Peppermint Patty guesses and writes “Joe Handel” on the paper. Meanwhile, Lucy and Violet walk into town and Lucy is bothered by the fact that they have to hear Snoopy ring a bell for charity donations while dressed as Santa Claus. Once Violet complains about his bell ringing too, Snoopy switches it to a bike horn. Lucy walks back in Snoopy’s direction, but she’s with Linus this time and tells him to ignore Snoopy because there’s nothing he can do. Of course, this prompts Snoopy to squeeze the horn in their faces and they fall. Lucy gets in his face to tell him she doesn’t believe he’s the real Santa Claus, so he responds by putting the horn on her nose and squeezing it in her face again. Sally isn’t convinced he’s the real Santa either and asks where his helpers are at. Just then, Woodstock and his bird twins stroll by with signs that say, “Help”. Sally has no problem in telling him that this is the dumbest thing she’s ever seen. Elsewhere, Linus finds the musical snowman from earlier and lifts the top hat to find all of Woodstock and his buddies playing their classical music on full-fledged miniature instruments. Seeing this, he puts the hat back and down and walks away. At home, Sally works on her English essay centered on the meaning of Christmas. To her, the joy of Christmas is “getting”, and she writes it down. Charlie Brown reads this part and tries to correct her because he thinks she means “giving”. She has no idea what he’s talking about and doubles down on her initial point within the essay. Later on, she is writing down her Christmas list and asks Charlie Brown how he spells his name, which is fucking baffling. He can’t believe it either. Instead of figuring it out, she decides to write “Sam” because she knows how to spell it. Early into her letter to Santa, she asks Charlie Brown what Santa Claus’s name is again, if he has a middle initial, and his wife’s name.

Charlie Brown isn’t entirely sure on the latter, but he has heard some people refer to her as “Mary Christmas”, which I’ve never heard. Sally decides to write to her instead and congratulates her on keeping her own name.

Snoopy takes off all the candy canes from the Christmas tree, but neither Sally nor Charlie Brown knows. Charlie Brown has her look outside, so she peeps through the window to see Snoopy with a few birds using the candy canes as walking canes. They’re all wearing top hats as well (with Snoopy wearing a bowtie), and they are dancing as if they’re in a technicolor musical. Following this, Sally is sitting with Linus and asks what the fuss is all about regarding Christmas and how it started. Besides the part about getting lots of presents, she doesn’t really get why it’s a big deal. With his Bible already in hand, he goes to the second chapter of Luke, though Sally goes on about how she hates shopping. He tries to read aloud, but she interrupts to say she hasn’t gotten Charlie Brown anything for Christmas yet, how everything costs so much, and how she doesn’t want to spend a lot, leading her to realize she doesn’t want to spend any money at all. As she wonders aloud if she can get him something for free, Linus just falls back into the chair, as he was trying to read the whole time she was talking. Seeing him on his back, Sally asks if this was the entire Christmas story because she thought it was longer than that. Later, the two are still sitting on the chair and Linus is reading to himself. The famous “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is heard on the radio, so Sally turns it off because it drives her crazy. She complains to Linus about not understanding what a calling bird is, so he explains it’s a kind of partridge and it’s a play on words from the Bible. He talks about how David was on a mountain calling, and he compared himself to a partridge being hunted. He thinks it’s fascinating, but Sally ignores him and talks about how she will go even more crazy if she gets socks again for Christmas. Trying to relate, he talks about reading somewhere that Albert Schweitzer dreaded the thought of receiving Christmas gifts because he hated having to write “Thank you” notes.

When he asks Sally what she thinks, she just asks who the hell Albert Schweitzer is.

At a department store, Charlie Brown talks to an employee about wanting to buy a pair of gloves for a girl he likes, Peggy Jean (Deanna Tello). When she tells him it’s $25 for a pair, he asks if he can just buy the thumb instead. He goes home to explain the situation to Sally, but she calls him a cheapskate. He insists he’s not. He just can’t afford it and doesn’t have a credit card. Now, Charlie Brown has to figure out a new plan of action to get enough money to purchase those gloves for Peggy Jean.

My Thoughts:

Returning to the Christmas theme almost thirty years after the one that started it all, Peanuts comes back to add to its holiday legacy with It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown and it’s a lot different in tone, content, and style. Though it still has heart, the focus is more whimsical and fun, a far cry from the somewhat somber A Charlie Brown Christmas. For some, this difference in philosophies could be a criticism of It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown because it doesn’t go as deep, but it was absolutely the right way to go. It was going to be compared to the classic special no matter what they did. To combat this while still making a return to the holiday a worthy endeavor, they needed to go in a different direction. Making this a lighter, tighter, quicker-paced, and humor-focused Christmas special was the correct decision, as it turned out to be a great standalone sequel of sorts that creator Charles M. Schulz should be proud of. Again, It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown keeps the story moving at a much faster pace than A Charlie Brown Christmas with a series of different storylines that keep the viewer consistently interested in what’s going on with ALL the characters, not just our star. Everyone contributes to making this program worthwhile. It’s just like what Marcie says to Peppermint Patty in that, “No part in the play is small sir, if it brings joy to the audience”. This seems to be the mantra for this special in particular, and this objective is followed to the last minute, finising with a harmless interaction between Linus and Lucy when they could have easily went back to our protagonist’s thoughts on the events that unfolded.

I liked it. It’s different.

In a lot of critiques of Peanuts specials, especially the older ones, it has been said that their slow style or focus on dialogue can be seen as a detriment because young kids may not appreciate or pay attention to the writing. Though I can see this argument in some cases, I still argue that this is what separates Peanuts from the lot of other children’s programming, even to this very day. Regardless, It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown could actually be looked at as one of the rare specials geared towards the younger viewing audience that may land in the camp of finding the other Charlie Brown features to be “boring” or slow or whatnot. With each new scene comes a new storyline, a good gag, a well-written joke, and payoff to it all while making it all connect in some way to fit under the umbrella of the special. Obviously, it won’t have the legacy of A Charlie Brown Christmas, but this is because that special has contributed in more ways than just being a meaningful 25-minute holiday program. With Its Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown, the expectations are much lower, and they should be. The goal wasn’t to try and match what they already did for the 90s. The goal was to continue the Peanuts-related Christmas lore, and they did an exceptional job in doing so. Actually, in a lot of ways, it’s just as entertaining as A Charlie Brown Christmas, albeit in a vastly different way. It may not have the staying power or the aura the original had, but the pace is a welcomed change and it’s funnier. It’s not the funniest of the all the Christmas specials from Peanuts, as this distinction goes to I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown, but this one is a solid number two.

Charlie Brown’s journey is funnier than usual, as they give him a little bit more of an attitude this time around. It’s not mean or anything, but there is a noticeable (but still subtle) lack of giving a fuck that is actually really funny in his responses to others like him messing with a hockey stick and half-heartedly paying attention to Sally when she asks him for help with her one line for the play or taking a phone call from Peppermint Patty who is complaining about her role as a sheep instead of Mary and him asking loudly why he can never just be a wrong number. Just look at his expression when Sally says the “Hark!” line without the paper, and Charlie Brown deadpans, “You got it”. The lack of expression makes it so much funnier because you know he doesn’t give a fuck. He’s focused on his own goal of getting money to buy this Peggy Jean girl gloves, and he throws everything to the side to pull it off. Even though his whole problem in the original Christmas special was the commercialism of the holiday ruining the meaning of it, he changes his tune because of a girl he likes. You could argue this as being disrespectful to the point of the original, but let’s be honest with ourselves. As strong as our beliefs can be on anything, a good woman can change all that. Love can blind us, and Charlie Brown’s authenticity still shines through as nothing else matters in pursuit of buying this girl a gift. I get it. So, though Franklin ends up being the guy to point out how Charlie Brown is contributing to the commercialization of the holiday, his response of “Not ’til I sell one!” is pretty damn funny considering how contradictory it is to what he previously believed in. Again, a girl will do that to a man, so I like that they’re okay with evolving the character to compliment the story and making something new and modern as a result.

It’s also funny that after our protagonist fails relatively early, he kind of just meanders through the rest of the special to support everyone else because his storyline essentially stops in its tracks after Peggy Jean’s mother buys her gloves after he already made the purchase, screwing himself in the most Charlie Brown way possible. It’s amusing, light-hearted, and keeps the special moving as a background to everything. At the same time, he doesn’t lose sight on who he is as a character, despite his focus on getting the girl. He’s still hopeless and our beloved hopeless romantic that finds a way to fall flat on his face and get back up again. Regardless, it’s all in good fun, though I do feel bad that he had to sell the entirety of his comic book collection to buy those gloves. He must have had some real duds in there. Very rarely will I praise Lucy’s involvement, but Charlie Brown fielding advice from her and Linus and their completely different philosophies on how to approach this situation with Peggy Jean was amusing. Linus knows that if Peggy Jean really likes him, she’ll like whatever Charlie Brown gives her. On the other hand, Lucy tries to confirm his usual fears that if she doesn’t get exactly what she wants, she will hate Charlie Brown for the rest of his life. You know, the usual shtick from King Optimism and Queen Pessimism. Linus may have had the best quip of the special after Charlie Brown talks about how he doesn’t have the $25 to buy the gloves. In a great way to end the scene, Linus earnestly tells him to “Send her a nice card and tell her to keep her hands in her pockets”.

There are a lot of funny moments. The ongoing gag of Sally saying “Hark!” to herself throughout the second half knowing that it’s just one word (and still accidentally saying “Hockey stick”) was funny, and I adored the “B” story of Peppermint Patty and Marcie. It started with the relatively humorous book report stuff, but it really hit its stride going into the play, starting with Marcie casually roasting Peppermint Patty by explaining how she couldn’t be Mary in the scene where the angel Gabriel talks to her with, “Why would Gabriel talk to you? You never listen”. It’s only confirmed when Marcie already tells her she got the part, but Peppermint Patty asks the teacher anyway and ignores her. Of course, her reasoning for her anger stemming from Mary never wearing glasses, which is why Marcie shouldn’t have the role, was just as chuckle-worthy. The payoff being Peppermint Patty having a panic attack and just shouting a bunch of completely different animal noises (“WOOF! MEOW! MOO! WHATEVER!”) and trying to save it with “…and a partridge in a pear tree” was hilarious. This vaudeville way of ending their storyline couldn’t have been written better. I also like that this part was received well by the crowd too because it would have 100% gone that way had a similar incident happened in real life.

I did find the “Hark” references intriguing purely because I think very few children or adults would understand the joke when watching as a family. As we know, Sally is given the job during the Christmas play to state the word aloud once the sheep start dancing. According to her, this is to signal a kid named “Harold Angel” to sing. It’s a joke that works in a couple of ways. The full Christmas carol is “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, playing up Sally’s penchant for mixing stuff up and confusing the “Herald Angels” for a kid named “Harold Angel”. It’s solid writing when you think about it, and the payoff being a shocked Charlie Brown meeting the actual kid with the name who came over to see Sally was actually pretty funny. However, I’d wager that a majority of people watching this special would not understand the layers to such a joke without doing the research. That’s not necessarily a knock on the special either. If anything, it just adds to the Peanuts lore of being a beacon of sophisticated writing in children’s programming. Nevertheless, dedicating so much to a joke that 95% of people won’t get and neither would the intended audience does seem like a strange creative choice. Then again, this is the same special consisting of an Albert Schweitzer joke that fits in the same category, so maybe it’s just Charles M. Schulz not giving a fuck and wanting to challenge his audience to do some research. I can respect that.

A special shoutout goes to Franklin for improvising in character when Peppermint Patty tried to step on his and Marcie’s lines with her sheep noises. Dude is a pro.

It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown is a great addition to Peanuts‘s foray into Christmas specials. It’s not remembered like A Charlie Brown Christmas, but I’d dare to say that modern audiences may like it more just because of how funny it is in comparison and how its style fits the viewing audience of today’s attention span.