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| It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | Animated TV Special |
| Created by | Charles M. Schulz |
| Directed by | Bill Meléndez |
| Voices of | Bill Meléndez (Snoopy) Peter Robbins (Charlie Brown) Sally Dryer (Lucy) Kathy Steinberg (Sally Brown) Christopher Shea (Linus) Gail DeFaria (Pig-Pen) Lisa DeFaria (Patty) Ann Altieri (Frieda) Glenn Mendelson (Schroeder, Shermy) |
| Theme music composer | Vince Guaraldi |
| Composer(s) | Vince Guaraldi |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Lee Mendelson |
| Editor(s) | Robert T. Gillis Steven Melendez |
| Camera setup | Nick Vasu |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CBS (1966-2000), ABC (2001-present) |
| First shown in | October 27, 1966 |
| External links | |
| IMDb profile | |
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is a critically-acclaimed animated television special, based on the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. It is the second of many Peanuts television specials.
It was the third Peanuts special (and first Halloween special) to be produced and animated by Bill Meléndez. Its initial broadcast took place on October 27th, 1966 on the CBS network, preempting My Three Sons; CBS re-aired the special annually through 2000, with ABC picking up the rights beginning in 2001. The program was nominated for an Emmy award. It has been issued on home video several times, including a Remastered Deluxe Edition of the special released by Warner Home Video on September 2, 2008.1
To celebrate its 40th Anniversary, a retrospective book was published in 2006 entitled, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: The Making of a Television Classic with the entire script, never-before-seen photographs, storyboard excerpts, and interviews with the original child actors who provided the voices of the Peanuts gang.
Contents |
Plot
The story opens with Linus and Lucy going out into a nearby pumpkin patch to find a pumpkin to use as a jack-o'-lantern. After rejecting a couple of smaller choices by Linus, Lucy points to the biggest pumpkin in the bunch, which Linus clumsily rolls back home. When they get home, Lucy takes a big knife and slices into the pumpkin to gut it, at which point a horrified Linus says, "Ohhhh, you didn't tell me you were going to kill it!", and starts wailing.
With autumn already in full swing, Charlie Brown is busy raking leaves with Snoopy's help. Linus sees the pile and jumps right in the middle of it, forgetting he had a wet sucker in his possession. Moments later Lucy comes with a football for Charlie Brown to kick, but he initially refuses. Lucy shows him a contract, which she says promises she won't pull the ball away, but when Charlie Brown is about to kick the ball, she does pull it away, which sends him landing flat on his back, like always.
Later, Linus writes a letter to The Great Pumpkin, to Charlie Brown's disbelief, Snoopy's laughter, Patty's assurance that the Great Pumpkin is a fake, and even to Lucy's violent threat to make Linus stop ("You better cut it out right now or I'll pound you!"). Linus laments in the letter that "more people believe in Santa Claus than in [The Great Pumpkin], but let's face it; Santa Claus has had more publicity. But being number two, perhaps you try harder" (a tongue-in-cheek jab at Avis Rent-A-Car's popular slogan of the day).
After Linus mails his letter to the Great Pumpkin (using his blanket to open the mailbox after Lucy refuses to help), Charlie Brown dances when he receives an invitation to go to Violet's Halloween party. His bubble is quickly burst by Lucy who mentions there were two lists, people to invite and people not to invite; Lucy is certain Charlie Brown's name was on wrong list.
On Halloween night, the gang gets their costumes ready. Lucy dresses as a witch, while the other kids dress up as ghosts. Pig-Pen is easily recognized by his trademark cloud of dust, while Charlie Brown has eyeholes cut out all over his sheet, matter-of-factly stating he had a little trouble with the scissors.
Before going trick-or-treating, the gang stops off at the pumpkin patch to make fun of Linus's missing out on all the fun as last year (especially when he asks if they came to sing "pumpkin carols"). But Linus is convinced that the Great Pumpkin will indeed come because he thinks the patch he's in is sincere enough and even convinces Sally to stick around to wait with him. The rest of the gang go off leaving Sally and Linus behind.
During trick-or-treating, everyone else gets assorted candy, gum, apples, cookies, popcorn balls, and even money. But at every house, Charlie Brown gets the same thing — a rock. After tricks-or-treats, and another quick stop at the pumpkin patch to rib Linus and Sally again, the gang all go off to Violet's Halloween party.
Meanwhile, Charlie Brown's dog Snoopy, wearing his World War I flying ace gear, climbs aboard his Sopwith Camel (in reality, his doghouse) to do battle with the Red Baron. After being shot down, Snoopy makes his way across the countryside, before briefly crashing the Halloween party. He then makes his way to the pumpkin patch where Linus and Sally are still waiting for the Great Pumpkin to show up. Linus hears Snoopy's rustling, and believes it's really the Great Pumpkin, and when Snoopy (still hidden in the shadows) rises above the pumpkins, Linus promptly faints. When Sally sees it's only Snoopy, she becomes outraged over missing tricks-or-treats AND the Halloween Party, and threatens to "sue" Linus. She storms out of the pumpkin patch with the other kids, leaving Linus by himself, still convinced the Great Pumpkin will come.
When 4:00 a.m. rolls around on November 1st, Lucy gets up to check on Linus. Seeing his bed empty, she goes out to the pumpkin patch to find him lying on the ground shivering, covered in his security blanket. Lucy grudgingly walks him home and to his room, removing his shoes and he passes out in his own bed as she puts the covers on him before angrily walking out of his room.
Later on that day, Linus and Charlie Brown are at the rock wall talking about last night's events. When Charlie Brown tries to console Linus saying "I've done a lot of stupid things in my life, too", Linus blows a fuse and angrily vows to Charlie Brown that the Great Pumpkin will come next year, his ranting continuing as the end credits roll.
Viewer response
Charlie Brown's repeated line of "I got a rock", caused some stir among many viewers of the show, according to Charles Schulz' in the book and retrospective TV special "Happy Birthday, Charlie Brown". Schulz said that after the program first aired, bags and boxes of candy came in from all of the world..."just for Charlie Brown."
In popular culture
- In the episode "All the Way" of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spike says it is coming on TV.
- In the opening to The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror II", the Peanuts gang, wearing their costumes from the special, runs in front of the Simpsons house.
- At the beginning of A Pinky and the Brain Halloween, three kids are shown comparing what they just got. One kid, wearing Charlie Brown's costume, laments, "I got a bowl of soup."
- At the beginning of the Family Guy episode "E. Peterbus Unum", when Peter's friends brag about what they got with their tax refunds, Charlie Brown appears, in his ghost costume, holding out his bag and saying "I got a rock."
- In the Detention episode "What Did You Séance?", Shelley laments her frustration over having to wait for aliens to land on the school roof with Emmitt by quoting most of Sally's outburst.
- In The Fairly Oddparents episode Channel Chasers, Timmy Turner, Cosmo and Wanda appear in a parody of Peanuts called "Walnuts" and one kid yells to Timmy (called Chuckie Black here) "It's the Great Mennorah!" and passes out. It also parodies the Christmas play dancing scene and makes the characters Jewish.
- In the game AdventureQuest Worlds the Great Pumpkin King rises on October 31st during their special Mogloween event.
- At the beginning of the 2006 Homestar Runner cartoon "Happy Hallow-Day", Strong Bad attempts to scare Marzipan while wearing a witch mask identical to the one Lucy wears in this special. An earlier Halloween cartoon, "The House That Gave Sucky Treats", has the characters trick-or-treating and the player can pick the treats to give. One of the treats the player can give to Strong Mad and The Cheat is a pile of rocks.
- MADtv parodied the special as "It's the Bigass Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", which shows the Peanuts characters as African-Americans in an inner city neighborhood. MAD TV did another parody when Kiss guest starred as themselves and had received trinkets, and one of the members exclaims "I got a rock".
- In the 1997 PC kids' computer software "Mercer Mayer's The Smelly Mystery" (featuring Little Monster), the first page takes place at a sleepover in Yally's bedroom with his guests. Clicking on the door has the lights go out, and the door opens to reveal two trick-or-treaters (a ghost and a witch that resembles Lucy's Halloween costume). They say "Trick-or-treat!" and Yally tosses two items into the bags. The witch says "Wow! I got cinnamon bon-gugus!", but the ghost says (in a deep male voice), "Hey! All I got was a rock."
- In the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy episode "Grim or Gregory", Billy says Charlie Brown's line, "I got a rock."
- The Halloween episode of The Life and Times of Juniper Lee is a titular spoof of the Peanuts special; "It's the Great Pumpkin, Juniper Lee".
- In the Robot Chicken episode Vegetable Funfest, Linus uses dark magic to summon the Great Pumpkin, but it soon kills him. It later kills the rest of the "Peanuts" gang one by one. Charlie Brown, the last remaining survivor, is spared when the Kite-Eating Tree eats the Great Pumpkin.
- In the song "Halloween" by German power metal band Helloween, there is a reference to Charlie Brown's rock scene and Linus' belief about big pumpkin traveling around the world.
- Someone's sitting in a field,
Never giving yield.
Sitting there with gleaming eyes,
Waiting for big pumpkin to arise.
Bad luck if you get a stone,
Like the good old Charlie Brown.
You think Linus could be right
The kids will say it's just a stupid lie
- A small part of the episode "Have Yourself a Joyful Little Animas" in the Cartoon Network series My Gym Partner's a Monkey spoofs the Great Pumpkin in the scene where Horace is in the pumpkin patch with Coach Gills holding a sign that says "Welcome Great Gourd". In another episode, "Law and Odor," one of the hall monitors (the fish) writes Charlie Brown's line "I got a rock," on the fishbowl on his head.
- In a World of Warcraft Halloween audio play, one of the characters (a gnome named Wimpy J. McWiddle) receives a rock every time the group receives gifts from the people they encounter, upon which he says dejectedly, "I got a rock..."
- In the City of Heroes annual Halloween event, where players can click on doors to spawn Tricks (game monsters) or Treats (Inspirations, costume pieces), one Treat is a Rock (a one-shot attack that causes minor damage).
- In the webcomic Sluggy Freelance on October 22, 2007 one of the main characters (Torg) is wearing Charlie Brown's costume.
- In the DC Infinite Halloween Special, one of the stories was called "It's the Pumpkin Sinister, Blue Devil". Two men, named Harley and Lennis, summon a powerful pumpkin demon called the Pumpkin Sinister (a nod to the Robot Chicken sketch). Harley orders the Pumpkin Sinister to kill Daniel Cassidy, a.k.a. Blue Devil, as revenge for him stealing Harley's one love many years ago, the red-headed girl.
- Season 4 Episode 7 of the show Supernatural is called "It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester". The episode aired on October 30, 2008.
- The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror XIX also presented a parody of the Great Pumpkin, this episode aired November 02, 2008.
- During the opening of one issue of Peter David's long run on The Incredible Hulk comic, Rick Jones sits and ticks off the accessories that the Marvel Comics line of action figures from Toy Biz all come with, like Captain America's shield, Spider-Man's web, Silver Surfer's board, Professor X's hoverchair, etc. The Hulk (at this time in the intelligent 'Professor' persona) laments about the lack of thought put into his figure's accessory by repeatedly quoting Charlie Brown : "I Got A Rock."
Trivia
 |
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (September 2008) |
- This is the first time in the specials that has Lucy pulling the ball away from Charlie Brown.
- In the scene where Linus runs by Lucy who is in front of the television, she is holding a copy of TV Guide which features herself on the cover.
- The World War I songs played by Schroeder on his toy piano while Snoopy dances are:
- The "Happy" Songs:
- The "Sad" Songs:
- When Schulz drew the "Great Pumpkin" in the daily comic strip, Charlie Brown, not Sally, was with Linus when Snoopy appears as the "Great Pumpkin". Also, in a 1956 Peanuts comic strip of Halloween, it was Linus who had the over-cut costume, not Charlie Brown.
Edits in ABC telecasts
To make room for their long commercial breaks during modern airings, ABC made cuts to two scenes (in later airings, all scenes went back in honor of the next show, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown):
- Lucy pleads Charlie Brown to kick the football and then Charlie misses and falls on his back.
- Snoopy (as the World War I flying ace) prompts Schroder to play WWI era songs.
External links
- Official site
- It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown at the Internet Movie Database
- ABC Feature Page for "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"
| Preceded by “Charlie Brown's All-Stars” |
Peanuts television specials | Followed by “You're in Love, Charlie Brown” |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 17 November 2008, at 00:08.
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