Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales (2002)

Starring: Wesley Singerman
Grade: A-

For the record, I did my summary a little bit different for Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales, explaining the entirety of each segment instead of stopping at a certain point. The reason for this is because each segment takes so many different turns that it doesn’t have one overarching plotline that it focuses on, or at least it doesn’t reveal itself until much later. With this in mind, I went about it explaining everything in full. If you’re trying to avoid spoilers, keep this in mind before you read the summary below.

Summary:

This special consists of a series of vignettes. The following is a summary of each one.

Happy Holidays From, Snoopy

Snoopy (Bill Melendez) and Lucy (Serena Berman) are ice skating on a frozen pond, as Lucy brings up how they’re having a Christmas show at their skating club this year. She bets she can be in it if she has someone to skate with, but she needs a partner who is “handsome and graceful”. Snoopy skates around her, but she shoos him away. Schroeder (Christopher Ryan Johnson) skates by in his hockey gear, so she goes to ask him. Unfortunately, he refuses because hockey players wouldn’t be caught dead “in those tippy toe skates”. Snoopy skates around some more and falls into Lucy. She threatens him, but he just licks her face. She angrily tells him to go home after pulling his hat over his head. So, he does. Sally (Megan Harvey) is looking out the window and sees what looks to be a giant stocking cap walking around. Upon getting to his doghouse, Snoopy goes inside to grab his leash. Sally gives it to Charlie Brown (Wesley Singerman), and he’s not too excited to walk him because it’s a little embarrassing, as Snoopy is doing charity work dressed as Santa. With a leash around him for the walk there, it does look kind of ridiculous in Charlie Brown’s defense. Hearing about Santa’s presence, Rerun (Tim Deters) goes to confront “Santa” about Christmas last year and all the presents he didn’t get. Snoopy just starts snarling at him, so Rerun goes home and tells Lucy that Santa was a little busy. Back on the sidewalk, Snoopy tries to attract donations by playing “Oh! Susanna” on an accordion. Lucy and Linus walk by and hear it, and Lucy doesn’t find the song fitting of the holiday. Hearing this, Snoopy switches to “Christmas Time is Here” and Woodstock (Melendez) whistles along. Later, Snoopy wakes up on top of his doghouse covered in snow. He kicks it off, but it hits the neighbor’s cat and he’s started by the noise it makes.

Charlie Brown catches him when he falls. Then, he suggests for Snoopy to smile and show more holiday spirit. If he does, maybe the cat will be nicer, and they could even share a Christmas tree. Snoopy tries it by waving and smiling, but the cat swipes hard at him and cuts out a part of his doghouse in the shape of a Christmas tree.

Yuletide Greetings From, Linus

Linus (Corey Padnos) writes a letter to Santa Claus and stresses how he really won’t mind if he’s given any presents this year. Lucy comes by and reads as he writes. She doesn’t interrupt until Linus triples down and brings up that Santa could skip their house altogether if he feels like it. She grabs the paper to ask what he’s doing, with Linus hoping Santa will find his attitude “peculiarly refreshing”. She crumbles it up and throws it. With this, Linus starts again and asks if the reindeer are well fed and if the sleigh is in good shape. If everything is good, he tells him to head on out. However, he can sense the aggressiveness in his writing and crumbles it up himself. Starting again, he asks about his wife and how he’s not sure what he wants for Christmas this year, suggesting Santa send him his catalogue. Sometime after, Linus and Charlie Brown head to class, and Linus talks about how he likes the new girl (Lauren Schaffel) that sits behind him, but he doesn’t know her name because she keeps changing it. While in class, the girl leans over to Linus and says, “Today, my name is Jezebel”. Linus reminds her that Jezebel was the evil wife of King Ahab in the Old Testament. In Second Kings, her servants threw her out the window and she landed on her head. Hearing this, she changes it to Susan. She goes on about how she can’t decide if she likes Linus or not and brings up his “funny looking hair”, which pisses him off. Later on during class, Linus asks for her home address so he can send a Christmas card to her, but she thinks he’s kind of old for her. Linus flips out, insisting he doesn’t want to marry her, he just wants to send her a card. Unfortunately, this outburst lands him in the principal’s office for some reason.

They must run a tight ship there.

At lunch, the girl gives Linus her address for the card. When he asks about her name, she’s not sure. Today she is Lydia, last week she was Rebecca, but she also likes Rachel. To play it safe, Linus just puts down “her”. At home, Lucy gives Linus a Christmas card that came back to him because the address wasn’t real. Of course, it was that girl. Linus is frustrated as hell. Lucy wonders why he bothers with her, but he admits “She fascinates me”.

Season’s Greetings From, Sally

Charlie Brown is watching TV, and Sally tells him she’s making all of her Christmas gifts this year. They’re all getting paper airplanes. She throws one around and it lands directly on Charlie Brown’s head. She calls him lucky for getting his gift early. Following this, she starts writing a letter to “Samantha Claus”, and Charlie Brown peaks at her writing and is confused. Sally describes her, and it’s just Santa, but she somehow got this mixed up. When Charlie Brown brings up the white beard, Sally assures him this is just a disguise. He doesn’t correct her. After Sally talks about potentially asking her for a bicycle for him, Charlie Brown encourages her. However, she rescinds the idea when he asks if “Samantha Claus” says “Ho! Ho! Ho!” or just smiles daintily. Later, Sally comes home from school yelling at Charlie Brown because he didn’t tell her Samantha Claus was fictional, as the whole class laughed at her when she started talking about her. Sally can’t believe the fool she made of herself but still argues that Santa and Samantha sound alike. She talks about how she has nothing to live for and such and starts to get mad when Charlie Brown ignores her while wrapping a Christmas present. When she demands to know what he’s doing, he explains he’s wrapping her present. Naturally, she changes her tune and is all smiles after that. Sometime after, Sally sits at a table and addresses Christmas cards. Each one has a bunny on it dressed like a shepherd. Charlie Brown stares at her for a moment and just leaves. Following this, Linus tries to explain the story of the Three Wisemen following a star to reach Bethlehem, but the aloof Sally asks who the “star” was.

Sally gets ready to “fall down” a Christmas tree. Charlie Brown tries to correct her, but she doesn’t know how to cut down a tree. Instead, she looks at a tree and hopes for it to fall down. She goes to the edge of some random yard and finds a tree. Immediately, a kid runs up to her and accuses her of wanting to cut down his tree. She insists this isn’t the case but asks what would happen if it fell down. The kid laughs this off and says she can have it if that happens. Right after he says this, the tree falls, and Sally takes it. The kid angrily approaches their house later. Charlie Brown opens the door, and the kid accuses Sally of stealing the tree from their yard. Sally appears and explains what happened was fair and a Christmas miracle. Confused, Charlie Brown goes inside. Sally continues and tells the kid to go home, but he wants his tree. She demands he get off their porch and even threatens to call Snoopy, though we see him happily decorating the tree inside. That night, Sally can’t sleep and wakes up Charlie Brown. She wonders if she should give the tree back to the kid. She doesn’t feel guilty because they agreed to everything, but she admits she does feel guilty once Charlie Brown talks about how Christmas Eve is tomorrow. The next morning, Sally and Snoopy take the tree back to the kid’s house, but the kid is nice this time around and tells her to keep it since they did have a deal. Following this, Charlie Brown and Sally redecorate the tree as Charlie Brown talks about grandma’s stories when she was younger about hanging up her stockings Christmas Eve and receiving apples and oranges on Christmas Day. Sally runs to her room but can only find a small sock, predicting she’ll get three grapes instead. Thankfully, she gets the idea to hang up a whole bunch of socks to make up for it.

Peace on Earth From, Lucy

Lucy approaches Charlie Brown and wants them to put aside all their differences in an effort to be kind for the holiday. Charlie Brown questions why they can’t do this all the time, but she’s bothered by the idea, calls him “some sort of a fanatic”, and leaves. At home, she sits with Linus and thinks she has the Christmas spirit now more than ever this year. Linus asks why, and she just reams him with a “Because I said so! That’s why!”, prompting him to fall out of frame. After this, she’s hanging with the piano-playing Schroeder and gives him a list of things he may want to give her for the holiday. Immediately, he takes the paper and throws it behind him. Lucy goes on about how she doesn’t want him to buy her anything because she knows he hates her, prompting Schroeder to insist he’s never said that. Turning towards him, she yells at him to buy her something then and he flies backward. At home, Lucy dictates her letter to Santa while Linus writes it for her. When she tells Santa she’s been perfect all year, Linus stops her since this is an insane statement, so she punches him. Instead, she writes the rest of the letter herself and really sucks up to Santa in closing. Later on, she approaches Linus while he’s watching TV and wonders if he wants to see her list for Christmas. Right away, he declines because he wants his gift to be a surprise to her. He’s lying through is teeth, as we see the beads of sweat come down when he says it, but she buys it. He’s off the hook. Next, the two argue about if the Bible talks about giving Christmas presents to a sister, as Lucy insists it does. It’s actually a trick, as Lucy just shows him the word “sister” in the Bible to prove him wrong. To her, this means he has to give her a Christmas present.

Merry Christmas From, Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown is sitting at a table with Linus, and he asks Linus for help in making a special Christmas card for the Little Red-Haired Girl. He thinks Charlie Brown should draw a tree with tiny red hearts hanging from it and to write something personal at the bottom. Sally interrupts to flirt with Linus calling him her “Sweet babboo”. After Sally leaves and Linus talks about how stupid the phrase is, Charlie Brown finishes the card and shows him. It says, “Merry Christmas from your sweet babboo”. Linus is pissed, and Charlie Brown is a little embarrassed while he explains it’s a family expression. After this, Charlie Brown remembers they have to leave something under the tree for Santa Claus. Looking in the freezer, Sally suggests frozen broccoli but then realizes a plate of cookies are a much better option, as if this were even a question. She also has a plan to hide to sneak a peek at Santa as well. Later, she thinks she sees him but it’s just Snoopy in the Santa costume grabbing the cookies, though she still thinks its Santa himself. She’s actually surprised he’s so short. In the middle of Christmas Eve, Sally wakes Charlie Brown up because she’s been having visions of sugar plums. The problem is that she doesn’t actually know what sugar plums are. Once he explains they are sort of round pieces of candy, she is relieved and exits his room. On Christmas morning, Sally shouts at Charlie Brown to wake up because Santa came and didn’t leave him anything, but she’s just messing with him. Lucy calls to ask if Snoopy got the Christmas sweater she knitted for him, and he did. He’s wearing it but looks visibly uncomfortable with it on, though Charlie Brown lies and says Snoopy likes it. Charlie Brown then goes over to Sally and admits he ordered a toy bicycle for her doll set but it never came. He has a feeling it got delivered to the wrong address. An annoyed Sally hopes that whoever got it, enjoys it.

To end the show, Woodstock is seen riding the toy bicycle around outside.

My Thoughts:

Utilizing the formula of It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown in terms of tone, content, and style, the quality Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales is another funny and harmless addition to the series of Christmas-related Peanuts specials. You’ll be surprised how eventful and entertaining this 18-minute program is.

Funnily enough, the creation of this special happened out of a series of circumstances unforeseen by the network. Though it may not have to do with my review of the special, I have to give you a little bit of background as to how this came to be, as you may appreciate this program even more after seeing it from this perspective. A Charlie Brown Christmas was designed as a 30-minute special, but after years and years of reruns, it started to hit the 35-minute mark because of commercial breaks and such. To keep it at a half hour, CBS made cuts to the special itself and Peanuts fans were outraged, and that’s saying something because this was before Twitter was a thing. Anyway, ABC acquired the rights to the special and gave it a full hour time slot, so nothing was cut. However, this left 18 minutes of dead space that had to be filled. At first, they had Whoopi Goldberg host a retrospective to fill time but playing that every year wouldn’t have the legs of the special itself. As a response, Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales was created to replace the retrospective. Lucky for us, we got another Peanuts special out of it!

Crazy how life works sometimes.

Now that we got this out of the way, I really enjoyed Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales. There’s not a single dry segment, every section is well-paced, it’s consistently amusing, and the entertainment value is extremely high for a special that is well under 20 minutes. Actually, it’s quite hard to rank the vignettes in order because they’re all well done and close in terms of quality. Though it could change with a few rewatches of the special, I’ll say that it goes Yuletide Greetings From, Linus first, second Happy Holidays From, Snoopy, third Season’s Greetings From, Sally, fourth Merry Christmas From, Charlie Brown, and fifth Peace on Earth From, Lucy. The only reason I put Peace on Earth From, Lucy last is because the ending about the word “sister” being in the Bible being her argument for Linus to get her a present for the holiday didn’t land like they wanted to. It would have worked for a transition, but it fell flat for an ending and forces the audience to think over the joke to understand what she’s trying to say. Season’s Greetings From, Sally gets the edge over Merry Christmas From, Charlie Brown because it has an actual conflict and it’s a great showcase for Sally, who is usually used as supporting character for everyone else. In addition, Charlie Brown’s segment is a great way to end things because it’s harmlessly amusing in a comic strip-like way, but it doesn’t have the depth of Sally’s segment, despite how good it is. Even so, both vignettes are essentially one big one separated into two. You could have easily made it one big segment and changed the final count of the segment into four, and it would have been the same. The focus is slightly geared towards Charlie Brown in the final segment, but he basically plays the same role he does in Sally’s section. This isn’t necessarily a knock either. It’s just to give you an idea on how they compare. Either way, Linus’s and Snoopy’s segments are my favorites out of the bunch.

The scenes with Linus writing to Santa and trying to win him over with his selfless personality was classically Linus, and though the second half of his segment involving this mentally unstable girl may not have been Christmas-like, it was so bizarre for a Peanuts special that it stood out in a highly positive way. We don’t get any backstory as to why she can’t land on a name, we never know her real name, and no one seems to know anything about her. If anything, she’s a frustrating person to be around because of how weird she is, but yet, she’s fascinating and you want to know more about her. No matter how annoying it is for Linus, he can’t help but want to get to know her. The final line of him admitting his fascination with her despite everything he goes through was a chef’s kiss to his segment. Linus also shined in Lucy’s segment as well, especially when he was helping her with her letter to Santa and he suggests opening her message with, “How about, dear chubby?”. That got a laugh out of me. It’s either that or his delivery of “You can’t bluff an old Theologian”. Snoopy’s segment was a lot of fun too. From Charlie Brown having to walk Snoopy to his street corner on his leash while he’s standing on two legs and wearing his Santa costume to trying to attract donations by playing the accordion, this opening vignette is gentle, fun-loving, humorous, and a great way to begin the special. Lastly, the best joke of Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales by far came from Sally to Charlie Brown. After busting into Charlie Brown’s room to tell him Santa didn’t leave him any Christmas presents to wake him up, she messes with him and says, “April Fools!”. The look on Charlie Brown’s face after she says it is priceless.

If you are celebrating the holidays the right way by watching as many Christmas specials as humanly possible, the breezy Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales should be one of the many added to everyone’s list. In just around 18 minutes of content, it’s amusing, cute, warm, and a great addition to yearly holiday season-related entertainment.