It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is the first television special I saw related to the Peanuts series. It got everyone in the mood for Halloween and it started a trend of other television specials that tried to steal some of the success this particular television special created. If you ask anyone around you today what television special gets them in the mood for Halloween I would bet money they would honestly tell you that it’s this one.
So what made this special so good? I’m not quite sure what the formula is with it, but for me it boils down to a few moments:
1. Lucy being cruel to Charlie Brown (but making up for it at the end with Linus).
2. Charlie Brown wearing a ghost costume with multiple holes in it.
3. Charlie Brown receiving dozens of rocks instead of candy during trick or treat (just cruel).
4. Snoopy’s famous, misplaced — but still neat, Red Baron skit.
5. Linus’ undying, unwavering obsession with ‘The Great Pumpkin’.
All of these moments make up what is good about this television special. When my kids watched this they kept coming back to moments two, three, four and five. They couldn’t understand the purpose of the rocks or the holes in the costume, but they thought they were funny anyway. These are the reasons we love it (us old kids) and the fact that young kids see these moments as valuable really speaks volumes on how well the series has survived since its introduction in 1966. Seriously, anyone that can say with a straight face that they don’t have some sort of hope to see ‘The Great Pumpkin’ visit Linus is just lying their arse off.
Anyway, this classic truly does deserve attention year after year and it belongs in your library of movies to pull out during fall.
BUT! Warner Home Video has given you another reason to smile at that notion. This particular release is done on Blu-ray. Seeing this in HD and seeing it cleaned up is nothing short of eye-popping amazing. Folks, this doesn’t look like it was done in 1966; rather it looks like it was done in 1995. It’s clean, it’s sharp and you can actually see the pencil marks on the characters. It’s freakin’ nice!
I’m not quite sure if I can watch the television version now after watching the Blu-ray.
If there is a downside to this it is the audio. While the video has certainly been cleaned and upgraded to Blu-ray quality, I’m not sure that Warner Home Video could have done much to the mono audio. How it was originally recorded is beyond me, but it wasn’t done cleanly. It does come in remastered in DTS-HD 5.1, but it still sounds very dry and mono. The music is good though, as you’ll enjoy Vince Guaraldi’s timeless pieces.
Anyway, it’s really impressive to see so much care given to a classic like It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. It certainly deserves this sort of love an attention, especially if it hopes to keep thriving to the next generation of viewers.
Finally, the special features are actually very impressive. You get an additional story with It’s Magic, Charlie Brown. It’s amusing, but not even close to the entertainment level as the Great Pumpkin. You also get a very interesting featurette that brings this Blu-ray together called We Need a Blockbuster, Charlie Brown! You’ll delve into the rhyme and reason behind the television special’s creation and how well the special did once it was aired. You’ll also get a very neat story about where ‘The Great Pumpkin’ originally came from (as it didn’t come from Charles M. Shulz). Very good stuff for the price you pay.