I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown

2003 television special

Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown (2003)
He's a Bully, Charlie Brown (2006)

I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown is the 43rd prime-time animated television special based upon the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. The special first aired on ABC on December 9, 2003 (A Veteran’s Day Salute).^[1] The special is about Linus and Lucy's younger brother, Rerun, wanting a pet dog for Christmas.^[2]

It was released to DVD and VHS by Paramount on October 26, 2004, and Warner Home Video released it as a remastered deluxe edition on DVD on October 6, 2009, which also included Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! as a bonus feature. This special was re-released as part of the box set Snoopy's Holiday Collection on October 1, 2013. The special continued to air on ABC until 2019. As of 2020, the special will be among the collection of Peanuts productions available only to Apple TV+ subscribers; it was released on that platform on December 2, 2022.^[3]

Plot

After unfair treatment by his older siblings Linus and Lucy and getting in trouble at school, Rerun thinks that having a pet dog will cheer him up. He writes a letter to Santa Claus asking for a dog, but is later discouraged by the expensive costs of owning a pet and his mother's objections. Watching Snoopy dance to Schroeder's music, Rerun asks Charlie Brown if Snoopy has any siblings, and Charlie Brown shows him pictures of Snoopy's brothers and sisters. Rerun asks Charlie Brown if he can play with Snoopy sometime.

Rerun has fun playing with Snoopy, but in the following days, Snoopy is busy and refuses to play. Rerun again searches for a dog, and Lucy argues that Rerun would not know how to take care of a dog if he got one. Rerun learns by watching Snoopy, who gets a letter from his brother Spike, who lives in the desert. Rerun wants Spike as a pet and has Snoopy write him a letter.

After Spike visits, Rerun has fun with him, but his mother does not allow Spike to stay. Charlie Brown tries to get Spike re-adopted, but fails and has to send him back to the desert. Noticing that Rerun is upset over Spike leaving, Lucy signs him up for a Christmas play, in which he forgets his line. Rerun then asks to play with Snoopy, who wants to be pulled on a sled; Rerun comments, "Maybe a dog is too much trouble."

Voice cast

Jimmy Bennett as Rerun van Pelt
Ashley Rose Orr as Lucy van Pelt
Corey Padnos as Linus van Pelt
Adam Taylor Gordon as Charlie Brown
Hannah Leigh Dworkin as Sally Brown
Nick Price as Schroeder
Jake Miner as Franklin, Pig-Pen
Kaitlyn Maggio as Little Pigtailed Girl, Violet
Bill Melendez as Snoopy, Spike, Woodstock

Shermy, Patty and Eudora also appear, but they are silent.^[4]

Production notes

This special is the second time Snoopy's brothers Marbles, Olaf, and Andy appear in a Peanuts special, the first being 1991's Snoopy's Reunion. His sister Belle is also mentioned, but not seen.

The scene in which Lucy fattens Spike up was previously used in the "Snoopy's Brother Spike" episode of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show, with several lines being near-identical to the original episode.

Reception

Anita Gates of The New York Times gave mixed opinions, who wrote that the special "feels like a hodgepodge of four-frame strips strung together in an unsuccessful attempt to create a unified story," understanding that Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson had made a committent to create new specials working from material only from the strip. She wrote that the "one-two-three-punch-line" structure of the strips poorly translated into animation, but otherwise felt the special kept "the bittersweet charm" of Charles Schulz's work.^[5]

Soundtrack

The music score for I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown is a mix of classic Peanuts melodies composed by Vince Guaraldi and new themes composed by David Benoit. All songs composed by Guaraldi (except where noted) and performed and arranged by Benoit.

"Re-Run's Theme / Linus and Lucy" (David Benoit / Vince Guaraldi)
"Re-Run's Theme" (David Benoit)
"Linus and Lucy" (opening)
"Oh, Good Grief" (Vince Guaraldi, Lee Mendelson)
"Pebble Beach"
"Spike's Theme" (slow) (David Benoit)
"Re-Run's Theme" (David Benoit)
"Christmas Time Is Here"
"Skating"
"Re-Run's Theme" (David Benoit)
"Piano Sonata No. 8"
"Christmas Is Coming"
"Red Baron" (alternate)
"Re-Run's Theme" (slow) (David Benoit)
"Re-Run's Theme" (David Benoit)
"Charlie Brown Theme"
"Re-Run's Theme" (slow) (David Benoit)
"Piano Sonata No. 23" Ludwig van Beethoven
"Christmas Time Is Here"
"Re-Run's Theme" (with "Jingle Bells") (David Benoit, James Lord Pierpont)
"Oh, Good Grief" (Vince Guaraldi, Lee Mendelson)
"Red Baron" (alternate)
"Spike's Theme" (David Benoit)
"Piano Sonata No. 18"
"Re-Run's Theme" (David Benoit)
"Spike's Theme" (David Benoit)
"Linus and Lucy"
"Re-Run's Theme" (David Benoit)
"Blue Charlie Brown"
"Spike's Theme" (David Benoit)
"Christmas Time Is Here"
"Re-Run's Theme" (David Benoit)
"Re-Run's Theme" (closing) (David Benoit)

No official soundtrack for I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown was released. However, a version of "Re-Run's Theme" was commercially released by Benoit on Jazz For Peanuts: A Retrospective Of The Charlie Brown Television Themes (2008).^[6]

References

^ Solomon, Charles (2012). The Art and Making of Peanuts Animation: Celebrating Fifty Years of Television Specials. Chronicle Books. pp. 41, 180. ISBN 978-1452110912.
^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. p. 145. ISBN 9781476672939.
^ "'Peanuts' holiday specials to air on Apple TV+ this year". WKBW 7 News Buffalo. 2022-10-17. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
^ Terrace, Vincent (2013). Television Specials: 5,336 Entertainment Programs, 1936-2012 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 91. ISBN 9780786474448.
^ Gates, Anita (December 9, 2003). "TELEVISION REVIEW; Lots of Familiar Punch Lines, Charlie Brown". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
^ Jurek, Thom. Jazz for Peanuts at AllMusic. Retrieved 9 February 2021.