Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin (2024)

Starring: Caleb Bellavance and Etienne Kellici
Grade: B-

Franklin should not have touched that pizza slice Pig-Pen gave him. Was he out of his mind?

Summary

All of the Peanuts gang are hot in the middle of a soapbox derby race. Franklin Armstrong (Bellavance) and Charlie Brown (Kellici) are partners in one car, and they are in the lead. Unfortunately, a maneuver leads to them hitting a ramp and flying off the track about to crash. Mid-air, Franklin speaks directly to the camera to introduce himself to the viewer. Calling back to the classic “You’re wondering how I got here” trope, he takes us back to where it all started.

Going back to before he moved into town, there is a sequence showing Franklin packing up and moving. His father serves in the military, so it always keeps his family on the move. Packing his suitcase, he pulls out a notebook from his grandpa. It is inscribed “Franklin, I hope this notebook helps you on your travels”. Franklin mentions something his grandpa used to say, “Don’t try to fight change because change is undefeated”. Franklin has lived in a lot of different places all over the world, but he doesn’t consider any of them his home. The hardest part is saying goodbye to all his friends. As he says this, we see him putting his suitcase in the trunk of the car, and his friends coming by. He assumes they are there to say bye, but they didn’t even know he was leaving. Even so, the one kid just bypasses this to remind Franklin that he still has his basketball. Remembering, Franklin finds it in the trunk and hands it over, apologizing. The kid grabs it and goes to play with the other kids that came with him and just tells Franklin, “See ya!”. He watches them play from the back of the station wagon while his family drives off. Following this, we see him on a road trip all over the country. Eventually, he wakes up one morning, and they arrive in their new town. It’s the one where all the Peanuts kids live. Looking around at all the kids, he notes the lack of variety. Following this, Franklin gets into his new house and bedroom. He opens his suitcase, but he notes one thing about being a part of a family that never lives in one place too long. You never want to completely unpack your suitcase. Looking out the window to see two friends talking and agreeing to meet up tomorrow, Franklin notes how some people think making friends is hard. Nevertheless, he thinks it’s easy because of the notebook his grandpa gave him. It contains all his favorite tips on how to break the ice. Since he’s done it so many times, he thinks this will be no different.

The next day, Franklin heads out for school and takes a look into his notebook for his first tip to follow. It says that you can never go wrong if you start with a good joke. Furthermore, don’t forget to dial up the personality. Putting a big smile on his face, Franklin heads out.

He finds Linus (Wyatt White) in his pumpkin patch frantically cleaning his pumpkins. Franklin introduces himself and aggressively shakes his hand. Linus is a bit confused but goes along with it. Franklin tries to break the ice with a joke asking, “How does the ocean say hello?”. The punchline? It waves. Franklin fake laughs and asks if he gets it. Linus comments “Wordplay. Funny.”, though he’s not laughing and Franklin can see he’s losing him. Changing the subject, he asks Linus if he’s out here because he’s going to make a pumpkin pie, but Linus would never. Linus stresses how he’s tending to his pumpkin patch because it needs to be more “sincere” than ever this year. Since Franklin has gardening experience, he offers to help and Linus accepts happily. Linus leads him through the patch as he talks about how fall is just around the corner and how these pumpkins are going to need lots of work to get ready for the Great Pumpkin. Naturally, Franklin hasn’t heard of the Great Pumpkin, so Linus goes on about how it rises out of the most sincere pumpkin patch and brings gifts to all the good little children. Linus thinks this is the year that the Great Pumpkin will pick his patch. As he asks Franklin if he can feel the sincerity in his patch, Franklin pulls a pumpkin out from its vine because he thinks that one specifically is sincere. Linus loses it because Franklin wasn’t supposed to pick it off the vine. Wrapping it in his blanket, Linus realizes the Great Pumpkin will never choose him after this. While Linus runs off, Franklin is apologetic and says, “Tell the Big Pumpkin I’m sorry!”. Moving on, Franklin is on page 14 of his notebook. It reminds him to not forget to smile when making friends. Furthermore, a well-placed compliment can go a long way. Lucy is sitting outside at her psychiatric help stand and has a glass a lemonade sitting there while she reads the newspaper. Franklin sees her, stops, puts five cents in the jar, and drinks her lemonade because he thinks it’s a lemonade stand.

He compliments it and asks Lucy how much it is for a refill, prompting her to flip out on him because it took a very long time to squeeze all the lemons for it. Franklin is confused because he assumes this is part of the job, so Lucy tells him to read the sign. Franklin didn’t realize it was a psychiatry stand. Remembering to smile and compliment, he asks her a bunch of questions like if she has a lot of clients and what she talks about with them. Lucy snaps at him about doctor-patient confidentiality. Franklin tries to counter with his ocean joke, but Lucy tells him the punchline because it’s an old joke she’s already heard. Moving along, Lucy tells him to take a number if he needs professional help because she dabbles in it all. This includes anxiety, phobias, lack of confidence, and everything else. She then has him leave because her 11 o’clock appointment is here, a “germophile”. Of course, she’s describing Pig-Pen. She invites Pig-Pen over to have a seat, and Franklin coughs over his dust cloud. Following this, Franklin walks and talks to himself. He says it’s never been this hard to make friends before. His notebook normally tells him all the right things to say but not with this crowd. He notes how he just dealt with “a delusional pseudo doctor, a devotee of someone called the Great Pumpkin, and a kid whose parents named them Pig-Pen?”. While walking on the sidewalk, he stops after coming face to face with Snoopy (Terry McGurrin). He feels at ease and pets him, commenting how dogs make the world a better place. It finally feels normal around here. Just then, Woodstock (Robert Tinkler) flies by to get Snoopy’s attention, and they go into Snoopy’s doghouse. Snoopy comes out excitedly with his swim trunks on and a surfboard and the two head out. Franklin goes back to thinking the town is crazy once again, and you can’t really blame him. At the beach, Snoopy and Woodstock are surfing and ride one wave all the way back to the sand, landing in-between Peppermint Patty (Lexi Perri) and Marcie (Arianna McDonald).

The beach is packed with all the kids, but Franklin walks on the sand by himself reading his notebook. He puts it away, stands on a log, and sits in front of it, saddened.

Soon after, a beach ball hits the water in front of him. He goes into the water to grab it. Charlie Brown runs over frantically as he’s been chasing it all over the place. Charlie Brown thanks him for catching it. They introduce themselves, but Charlie Brown just walks back to whatever he was doing as he thanks him again. Then, he stops and asks Franklin if he wants to see his sandcastle, which makes Franklin smile. The two walk along the beach, with Charlie Brown asking if he’s here with his family on vacation. Franklin explains how they just moved here, as his dad is in the military and just got reassigned. Charlie Brown reveals that his dad was in the service too, though he’s a barber now. Franklin sees this as smart because you can never run out of hair to cut. They get to Charlie Brown’s sandcastle, and it looks terrible. Just as he asks Franklin what he thinks, the water from the shore destroys it. Charlie Brown is disappointed. Even so, he tries to change the subject by telling Franklin the ocean joke he was using earlier, and Franklin excitedly responds with the punchline, leading both of them to laugh. Things are cut short though because Charlie Brown’s mom calls for him, so he heads out. While he jogs away, Franklin tries to shout towards him about plans tomorrow if he’s free, but Charlie Brown isn’t listening. He just ran off. The next day, Franklin says goodbye for the day to his mom, and he agrees with her that today will be better. Somewhere in town, Franklin walks and reads another note from his grandpa about how to meet new friends, he should find out where they meet. Quickly after, he sees all the kids at a local pizza place. Snoopy is even in there cooking and drops some dough on Woodstock. Unfortunately, Franklin also sees Lucy talking shit about him drinking all her lemonade without greeting her. Hearing her from the window, Franklin realizes he can’t go in there. As he stands there wondering what to say, a soapbox car driven by Shermy (Will Bhaneja) and his friend crashes near Franklin.

All the kids from the pizza place go to check out all the commotion. The kids are fine, but the soapbox got messed up. Pig-Pen asks what it is, so Shermy explains to the whole crew that they were just doing a trial run with their soapbox derby car. The kids don’t know what he’s talking about, so Shermy pulls out a flyer detailing how the big soapbox derby race is coming to town. The winning team gets a trophy and free pizza for a whole year.

Hearing this, all the kids want to enter the race now and they start partnering up on the spot. Franklin reads in his notebook that a surefire way to make friends is to show them you’re a winner. Everybody likes a winner. All he needs now is to find a partner, but everyone is already being snatched up. Charlie Brown is having trouble finding a partner too. Pig-Pen picks Linus, Peppermint Patty picks Marcie, Frieda flat-out ignores Franklin, Lucy forces the issue on Schroeder (Cash Allen-Martin), and Woodstock drops a helmet on Snoopy to claim him just as Charlie Brown asks him. Because Snoopy’s kind of a prick, he leaves with Woodstock. Peppermint Patty comments “You snooze, you lose, Chuck” while she walks by Charlie Brown. Violet (Charlie Boyle) walks with Patty (Natasha Nathan) and jokingly says in earshot of Charlie Brown to imagine him being the wheel and how he can’t even mow the lawn straight. Everyone leaves, and there are only two kids left. Of course, it’s Charlie Brown and Franklin. Franklin reminds him of their meeting on the beach, and Charlie Brown assures him he hasn’t forgot. With this, they agree to be partners for the race. Next, all the kids rush in and out of the hardware store to get their equipment to make their soapbox derby cars. This includes Snoopy, Woodstock, and all the Woodstock lookalikes. Also in the store, Franklin and Lucy grab the same steering wheel, and they have a standoff of sorts. Lucy isn’t too happy to see him, but Franklin happily remembers her as the “lemonade girl”. Bypassing this, she says how she needs the steering wheel for her soapbox derby car and tries to pull it away from him on account of “ladies first”. He refuses because his partner said he specifically wanted this one. When he reveals that his partner is Charlie Brown, she laughs it off and tells him that he will be in for a treat. She asks if he’s somewhere throwing in the towel, but Franklin explains how Charlie Brown is out in the scrapyard picking up supplies for their car. Lucy sarcastically wishes Franklin good luck, adding that he will need a lot more than that steering wheel to win with Charlie Brown as his partner.

Franklin tells her to save it because they don’t need any luck to which Lucy replies, “That’s true. You need a miracle”. She lets Franklin have the steering wheel and gives him her card because she assumes he will need someone to talk to after the race. Sometime after, Franklin cleans the garage and gets tools from his dad to work on the soapbox derby car. Charlie Brown arrives in the driveway with the rest of the supplies in his wagon. Franklin questions why he brought some plumping pipes, so Charlie Brown explains how he was looking at pictures of old hot rods. All of them had pipes like them coming out the sides. Franklin thinks its clever. It won’t help them go faster, but it will psych out the competition. However, he’s not a fan of the wheels Charlie Brown got, as they are from an office chair. He does like the idea of using the wheels on the wagon Charlie Brown brought over though. Charlie Brown isn’t sure because it’s his sister Sally’s (Hattie Kragten) wagon, but Franklin points out that technically, he’s only borrowing the wheels for a few days. Plus, they really need them. Franklin tells him they will replace them after the race and Sally’s wagon will be as good as new. With this, Charlie Brown is down and they get to building in the garage. In the middle of the process, Franklin reads in his notebook that a great way to build a friendship is to find common interests. They talk about their love for baseball, which Frankin relates to how his great uncle Eugene Benson played in the Negro Leagues. Charlie Brown never heard of the Negro Leagues because he’s apparently never read a history book, so Franklin explains how black baseball players formed their own league during the timeframe in which they weren’t allowed to play in the MLB. Charlie Brown appreciates the knowledge drop and tells Franklin that a kid can really learn a lot hanging with him. Franklin smiles. Charlie Brown tells him how he manages his own baseball team. When Franklin asks if they’re any good, Charlie Brown tells him his motto:

“You don’t need to win to finish first”.

Franklin hasn’t heard of this one before and neither have we. Regardless, Franklin comments how his grandpa used to say to him how it’s better to build stuff than to buy stuff. Charlie Brown reveals his grandpa says this too, though it’s mostly around Christmas and birthdays. Continuing with their building of the car, they discuss music, with Franklin noting his favorites as Stevie Wonder, Little Richard, and James Brown. He asks if Charlie Brown is related and he stands there dumbfounded (“I don’t believe so”). Showing Charlie Brown what he’s been into lately, Franklin puts on a John Coltrane record. He tells Charlie Brown to listen closely, detailing how jazz has harmonies that stay consistent but there are always other parts being improvised. Charlie Brown likes it, and the two start dancing to the music in the garage. After some time, they make a lot of headway on the car and have a drink during a break period. Charlie Brown asks if he’s thought about what he wants to be when he grows up. Franklin does like outer space, so he thinks about finding a way out there some day like Neil Armstrong. Charlie Brown jokes if there is any relation, and Franklin chuckles. Franklin turns the question on him, and Charlie Brown talks about wanting to be a pro baseball player. He happily talks about going to new cities all the time and how you’re always on the move. The idea of having a life like that sounds awesome to him. However, Franklin has lived this and explains how life on the road isn’t as great as it sounds. Changing the subject, Franklin thinks they need a secret handshake. They try to do one, but it just ends up turning into a high-five and they laugh. Later, the two finish their car but cover it in greenery so none of the neighborhood kids can’t see their design while they’re doing their test run. They walk it past Shermy. At the same time, Marcie talks about how important physics are to their car, but Peppermint Patty wants something big like a monster truck. As Charlie Brown and Franklin walk by Linus and Pig-Pen raising a mast on their car, Franklin asks Charlie Brown what Linus’s deal with his pumpkin patch is.

Charlie Brown just passes it off as Linus having quirks. Defending him, Charlie Brown states that there is no one better when you get to know him. He considers Linus one of his best friends and comments that Franklin must miss his own best friend. However, Franklin doesn’t really have one mentioning, “Who can really say what a best friend is anyway?”. In Charlie Brown’s opinion, a best friend is special and different. It’s someone that you can totally trust, that always has your back. In some ways, your best friend knows you better than you know yourself. After this, they roll by Snoopy’s doghouse, and Snoopy is directing Woodstock and the other birds on putting what might be an engine in the car, though the operation is concealed by a sheet. The animals stop and stare at Charlie Brown and Franklin as they go by, and they aren’t happy. Franklin just tells Charlie Brown what a strange dog he has, and he agrees. The animals get right back to work as soon they are out of sight. Charlie Brown and Franklin get to the forest where they will finally do their first test of their car, Unstoppable. Franklin gets in the driver’s seat, and Charlie Brown sits behind him to work the brake. They go downhill and are going fast. It doesn’t take long for Charlie Brown to try and brake, but Franklin tells him to stop because he wants to see what the car can do. Plus, they can’t win with all that braking. Franklin has to tell Charlie Brown to lay off the brakes twice more and is starting to get agitated. Franklin hits a rock and gets out of control, prompting Charlie Brown to hit the brakes hard. They spin off the track, down a different hill, through a puddle, and they come to a complete stop once Unstoppable is totally dismantled. Franklin gets out of the car, throws his helmet, and blames Charlie Brown for everything because he told him to stay off the brakes. Charlie Brown can’t believe this because he was trying to prevent them from crashing and questions why Franklin didn’t listen to him. Franklin just responds that Lucy was right about him.

Charlie Brown questions what he means by this, but Franklin just says to forget it. With the two at a crossroads, Charlie Brown heads home and Franklin doesn’t stop him. Even though the race is happening tomorrow, it remains to be seen if the two new friends can pull it together in time to still enter the race while coming to a personal understanding.

My Thoughts:

As a Peanuts fan, the fact that Apple TV owns the rights to such a beloved franchise that should be available to all is bothersome and nothing will change that. Furthermore, getting rid of Charlie Brown’s name from each title to now make it Snoopy Presents makes my blood boil, as you could easily have made it Charlie Brown Presents. The Rodney Dangerfield level of respect the star gets in the comic strip to the outside world has turned the loser perception the character has been written with into a reality, and it’s becoming audacious. With this being said, there has always been room for improvement and development regarding the other characters in the Peanuts universe. Though we haven’t seen all of them just yet, the streaming service has actually done a great job with their Peanuts specials so far. Following the success of the Lucy-centric For Auld Lang Syne special, Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin gives the underutilized fan favorite supporting character a special of his own to reintroduce him to Peanuts fans and new viewers alike, and it’s handled with a lot of love and care, yielding enjoyable results.

For the first time in the series, the Franklin character feels integral to the Peanuts neighborhood instead of a one-note kid that we see from time to time. In fact, the screenplay work in Welcome Home, Franklin gives the character more depth and a deeper characterization than series creator Charles M. Schulz ever did. To be fair, this isn’t an indictment on Schulz. He does deserve credit for creating the character in the first place and giving him a role, and he shouldn’t be faulted for not making him more important because it’s purely up to Schulz as the creator with what he wanted to do with his rather large cast of characters. It’s just that this team getting time to give Franklin a starring role, giving him a personality and background, and having it be engaging as it is should be credited. They didn’t remake the wheel or anything with Franklin, as they essentially gave him the spot that Linus would play in a Charlie Brown-focused special if this were to happen 20 or 30 years ago, but it’s a loving portrayal of the character, nonetheless. Truth be told, there’s a lot of room to grow with a character like Franklin. There hasn’t been that much established about him previously, so it allows for this special to take things in different directions to add depth and personality traits previously unseen. Furthermore, it becomes easy for the audience and longtime fans to go along with it too since there really wasn’t that much to go off from the Charles M. Schulz years. So even though this could have easily been a Linus-centered special with Charlie Brown in tow, which is something we have seen plenty of times before, the decision to throw Franklin a bone by giving this character a whole life beforehand to show how things got started when he first moved into town was a well-intentioned, intriguing premise worth uncapping. In the midst of it all, we also find out that Franklin isn’t too far off from series star Charlie Brown, as Franklin too deals with his own insecurities while trying to connect with others.

Since he’s never lived in a place long enough, all of his friendships have been surface level, so he attempts surface level tactics once again when he moves into town. However, it doesn’t work this time. It’s not only because of the eccentricities of some of the other characters, but the additional stress with how well everyone knows each other and grew up together up until this point. It makes Franklin feel like the odd man out in more ways than one. Because of this, it makes sense that he would make friends with Charlie Brown first, as he’s always searching for companionship of any form. He also struggles with fitting in because of how judgmental everyone is of him or take every chance they get to take a shot at him. The chance encounter they have on the beach was meant to be, with Charlie Brown extending the olive branch of offering to show him a sandcastle. It’s a testament to Charlie Brown’s heart wanting to see the good in everyone he meets and giving everyone the benefit of the doubt (even if humanity notoriously disappoints him in these specials) but also having the sense that someone is lonely without the other person having to say it out loud. It was just meant to be. It was a moment where he was placed there to help Franklin get acclimated to his new life. It’s not because he’s the franchise star trying to give the rub to someone else, even if that was the screenwriters’ intention. In Welcome Home, Franklin, it truly felt like it was just good old Charlie Brown seeing someone who might need a friend and extending a hand. It’s that friendly, warmhearted spirit that the series lives on, and it’s sweet seeing the tradition being carried on in these early interactions. The fact that Charlie Brown still made sure Franklin got all the praise for knocking the ice cream cart out of the way just shows you what type of man he is and how much he enjoys Franklin’s heart. Linus better watch out because Charlie Brown might have a new best friend on his hands.

As much as I hate to give Apple credit, I like where this is going. Giving Marcie a special with Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie or the Peppermint Patty-led To Mom (and Dad), With Love, and these creative heads using this IP to strengthen people outside of Charlie Brown to make it a bigger deal when they do show up in a Charlie Brown-centric special moving forward is a really cool idea to expand the property. In a way, it’s like Disney+ using its platform to try and spotlight lesser-known Marvel properties like Wonder Man or Moon Knight instead of gambling on a big budget movie, seeing if things go well first before they potentially use them in a bigger capacity. In the future, a Schroeder-focused story exploring his love for music and art has the potential for an intellectual TV special like never before in the Peanuts franchise. An origin story on Pig-Pen would be equally as important in satisfying the other crowd. Does the kid live like Kenny from South Park? I don’t know, but this is just one of the thousands of questions I have for Pig-Pen.

An unexpected turn of events is soapbox derby racing playing such a major role in the plot. There’s a good chance a lot of viewers are unaware of the sport’s existence, but it has a surprisingly rich history that has gone unnoticed by the mainstream public. I’m not saying Welcome Home, Franklin will begin a resurgence for the sport, but it spotlighted it enough to where it had me researching it, so that’s something. The idea of a blue-collar, middle-class neighborhood of children partnering up, using tools and their own wit to create a workable soapbox car is a fun idea and a great way to show how Franklin and Charlie Brown’s friendship gets tested but also strengthens moving forward after going through the ups and downs of doing such a difficult task. The time it takes to make something like that, the conversations had during it, the time spent together, the initial failures, and the ability to overcome the adversity to create something all comes together to show how a bond can be forged, as well as seeing how their crossing of paths was meant to be. Had their initial setback led to a fallout, it would have been all for naught. However, the fact that both boys got up in the middle of the night on their own to pick up the scraps made them realize they were both too hasty and they should still work together with the time they have. It’s a tale as old as time. Experiencing failure leads a true winner to come back stronger. If they don’t, they will perish. Charlie Brown and Franklin pull off the former in a spiritual sense. Though their car didn’t look as good as it did in the first test run, the aesthetic didn’t matter. Plus, there’s a good chance it wouldn’t have survived anyway. The test made them realize what worked and what didn’t, from the building of the car to their skills as driver and brake guy respectively. Besides this, soapbox derby racing just looked like a lot of fun, and having the characters personalize their vehicles to fit their personalities was expected but desired. Knowing Apple, it’s crazy that they didn’t try to turn this into a racing video game for the iPhone because all the pieces are there to make a Mario Kart-styled Peanuts game.

Regardless, Snoopy having this amazing rocket ship car that backfires Wile E. Coyote style, Linus using his blanket as a mast and his partner Pig-Pen telling Snoopy “Eat my dust”, which makes you wonder why he hasn’t used this layup of a catchphrase years before, Lucy catching another break (rolls eyes), and Sally being annoyingly careless (“Whoopsie”) were all entirely on brand with who they are.

Going on that note, I’m glad the tires on Sally’s wagon got fucked. She earned it.

At first, Franklin talking to Charlie Brown about his musical tastes being that of old musicians like James Brown and John Coltrane felt unbelievable for a child his age because there’s no way the younger generation of children watching this special would have a single clue who Coltrane was. On a second thought however, there’s a lot of reasons why its passable, believability be damned. First of all, Franklin is established as a world traveler early on. He has been exposed to different cultures, religions, music, and public figures throughout all walks of life at a very early age. Him being a fan of bubblegum pop or a basic rock band would be an underwhelming trait for a relatively intelligent kid who has experienced so much as a young kid. With the wealth of knowledge and culture he’s had, him getting into John Coltrane and jazz actually works. It’s a trait of educated, higher class people to namedrop Coltrane or Count Basie or a retro artist like that, so Franklin finding interest in it fits the new backstory of the character. Second of all, Franklin mentioning artists of today like Charli XCX or Nicki Minaj or something wouldn’t feel right at all. It would make this special feel like any other animated program that desperately wants to feel relevant with the topics of what’s famous currently, which leads to the third point. Any other musicians named wouldn’t fit the mold of Peanuts. The jazzy score and the emotional, bluesy type of tone that the series tends to dip into, and the early scores of Vince Guaraldi are staples of Peanuts. It’s part of what makes it different from all other animated productions. Its refusal to compromise one of the series’ trademarks, despite joining up with the empire of Apple, is respectful as hell. It means that the teams they hired behind these new specials had a love for the foundation made previously and wanted to add to the legacy, rather than change everything about it to make it “new” and “fresh”. This team saw the value in Peanuts and understood why these characters, the topics touched on, and messages they explore are everlasting for a reason.

Basically, if it’s not broke, why fix it?

Certain things like the animation can be updated for a modern audience, but if you truly understand the meaning and care Charles M. Schulz put into these stories over so many years, you will say how and why they continue to live on. For the final point, name dropping Coltrane, Little Richard, and Stevie Wonder reminds people who they are. There are so many younger kids who don’t know the original artists who contributed to the profession, and its development that led to the music we have today. Peanuts has a history of doing its due diligence in throwing out some history lessons when it fits the story, so this persisting in Welcome Home, Franklin is yet another continuance of the legacy that can be appreciated by fans. It comes back up in the epilogue, with Snoopy wearing his “Joe Cool” outfit and picking Coltrane on the jukebox and Franklin giving him the seal of approval, and it worked in two additional ways. It was another reference to hammer the point home of reminding the viewer of the genius musicians they may have missed out on, but to also show how Franklin’s influence on the culture of the Peanuts neighborhood has spread, solidifying his own personal legacy among the beloved characters. Throwing in Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” during the early parts of the race or Billy Preston’s “Nothing from Nothing” during the moving sequence just added to the neighborhood feel, friendliness, wonderment, and the kind-hearted exploration found in early childhood adventure that Welcome Home, Franklin does a nice job emulating. Hopefully, kids will search up those songs and give those artists some well-deserved streams too.

Also, little interludes of Snoopy using his ear to cover one of the birds from the rain so they can go back to sleep was cute, and Franklin holding up the sign of his car that said “Unstoppable” and it just saying “Stoppable” after it broke in half was a nice detail.

Still, it’s not as eventful as we’d expect, nor it as smooth or as consistent as we’d like. For instance, Charlie Brown makes it a point to say he’s not quitter. The history of his character doesn’t necessarily agree with this. Though there have been moments of Charlie Brown seeing hope by the end of a special, it’s an arguable line regarding his character, considering his penchant for wallowing over his general existence in the early years. Besides this, the theme of friendship is good, but they search so hard for a final definitive line on the topic that it’s a middling conclusion. Everything Charlie Brown says about a best friend is wishful thinking at best, is far from accurate, and a Hollywood-like look at the topic to give a false sense of expectations for kids trying to make friends in real life. Charlie Brown and Franklin don’t really apologize to each other after their blow-up either. They just come to an understanding after seeing each other at the spot of the crash site in the middle of the night. Franklin asks if he’d still be willing to be his partner, and he just says, “Of course!”. Franklin’s conclusion of friendships not being perfect but “We can get through the rough spots together as friends” was a much more accurate look at the topic of friendship, but the epilogue made us forget the effectiveness of this well-written line. Speaking of which, as nice as it was to see Charlie Brown helping Franklin unpack officially, and Franklin adding his own words of advice to his grandfather’s notebook in that you have found your home when you’re surrounded by good friends, the whole scene felt like overkill after the definitive pizza scene where everyone expressed their happiness in knowing Franklin was staying and all wanted to include him in their activities. Moreover, the fact that they acknowledged the infamous moment from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving where Franklin is seen sitting on one side of the table by himself and they make up for it by Linus telling him they have a seat saved for Franklin in-between him and Charlie Brown is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, especially if you’re familiar with the lore.

They didn’t need to address it, but the fact that they did so with such class, made it a crucial plot point, and used it to empower the Franklin character all in one fell swoop is just a sign that these Peanuts specials coming out of the 2020s are in good hands. Why they decided to basically do the same thing over again in the scene after just so Franklin can try to send another line home in the finish that was considerably less impactful is beyond me. Is this really about friendship to that degree, trying to fit in, or both? When things were at its peak emotionally, Franklin lets Charlie Brown know that the race did mean everything to him because he wanted to fit in, hoping that winning would help him make friends with the crew. Then, he goes on about how his altruism costed them both, but how it relates to the main idea wasn’t as seamless as it was intended. Do I believe this was the best thing to happen to Charlie Brown all year? Do I think they won without finishing first? Yes, and yes, but at this point, the message about fitting in came off as the actual focus of the special. Friendship is just a small branch coming off it, despite it being treated as the point for a majority of the half hour plus. It bonded decently well with its “fitting in” ideal, but the third act wasn’t as strong as it should have been because they couldn’t commit to both themes evenly. This uneasy blending of themes greatly affected the emotional impact of the second half of the special.

Shoutout to Linus for being smart enough to direct everyone’s attention to the selflessness of Franklin’s decision though. Also, it’s kind of funny how they crashed in such a cataclysmic way, and Pig-Pen is the only one to ask if they should check on them during the celebration. It’s like, yeah! Send someone out there! Lastly, Charlie Brown and Franklin farmer walking the car to get to the finish line is an insane workout. That might have been just as difficult as the race itself.

Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin isn’t as strong as it could have been, but it’s entertaining enough to make Franklin’s first special another solid one coming out of Apple TV’s acquisition of the franchise. It’s amusing, heartwarming, and it’s one of the more unique Peanuts specials there is due to its use of an often-forgotten character, saving him from obscurity, making him interesting, and making him feel like he really is part of the gang.

So far so good, Apple. Let’s see what else you got.