BURBANK, CA (October 14, 2011) – Tis’ the season for great family entertainment with Warner Home Video’s (WHV) classic holiday titles on Blu-ray™ Disc. Available to consumers this fall is a lineup of legendary animated television specials including the dearly loved ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, which makes its debut on Blu-ray™ Disc for the first time October 4, 2011. Other popular seasonal titles available on Blu-ray™ Disc October 4, include such classics as A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, among others.
New to Blu-ray™:
In the newly re-mastered, deluxe edition of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas BD, for some unexplained reason, letters to Santa Claus are being returned to the children of Junctionville. It seems some resident has angered St. Nick, calling Christmas “a fraudulent myth!” Skeptical Albert Mouse has to be brought to his senses “and let up a little on the wonder why.” How Albert is persuaded to change his tune paves the way for Santa’s jolly return to town – and the joyous finale of the animated fable inspired by Clement Moore’s poem and produced by the merrymaking conjurers of Rankin/Bass Studios. The voice talents of Joel Grey, Tammy Grimes, John McGiver and George Gobel make this festive fable even more fun.
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas BD Bonus Feature Includes:
Christmas: A Global Holiday – An animated comic book that explores Yuletide traditions around the world.
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Deluxe Edition BD will be available in stores in a Blu-ray™ + DVD Pack which includes a Blu-ray™ and DVD in a standard definition edition on October 4, 2011 and will retail for $24.98 SRP.
Holiday Classics on Blu-ray™:
A Charlie Brown Christmas BD – In this Emmy® (for Outstanding Children’s Program in 1966) and Peabody Award winning classic, Charlie Brown is upset by how commercial the Christmas holiday has become. To coax him out of his holiday blues, Lucy suggests he direct the school’s Christmas pageant and decorate a glorious tree. Charlie Brown concedes. The tree he finds however, is puny, prompting everyone to ridicule him.
Bonus Features:
A Christmas Miracle: The Making of A Charlie Brown Christmas – An in-depth look at how the producers brought a newspaper comic strip to animated life in a new medium. Under intense pressure and with many doubters, the show creators were able to create the Peanuts in a new medium and make the show a smash success.
A Charlie Brown Christmas will be available in stores on Blu-ray™ in October, 2011 and will retail for $24.98 SRP.
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown BD – This Emmy® Award-nominated (in 1967) special, finds the Peanuts gang outfitted in costumes, ready for trick or treating and crashing Violet’s Halloween party. Charlie Brown is in a ghost costume (with more eyeholes cut out than needed), Lucy dressed as a witch and Snoopy in a World War I flying ace costume. Linus decides to steadfastly hold vigil in the pumpkin patch as he awaits the Great Pumpkin.
Bonus Features:
We Need a Blockbuster, Charlie Brown – Documentary featurette focusing on the myth and tradition of the Halloween staple Television program, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Revealed along the way through original interviews with the Schulz family and producers are the pressures and challenges of following up an underdog hit with a bigger and better TV special.
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown BD is available in stores on Blu-ray™ now and retails for $24.98 SRP.
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving BD – In this Emmy® Award-winning (for Outstanding Individual Achievement in 1974) special, Peppermint Patty invites herself to Charlie Brown’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. Marcie and Franklin are soon added as dinner guests. Charlie Brown admits that his culinary skills are limited to “cold cereal and maybe toast.” Snoopy and Woodstock transform the ping-pong table in the backyard into a dinner table. As the guests arrive, they are each served two slices of buttered toast, some pretzel sticks, popcorn and jelly beans. Patty is outraged at the meal and berates Charlie Brown until embarrassed and dejected, he leaves the table and goes back into the house.
Bonus Features:
The Making of a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving – A look at the final installment of the Peanuts holiday trilogy and what it meant to its creators and the public.
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving BD will be available in stores in a Blu-ray™ and will retail for $24.98 SRP.
The Year Without a Santa Claus BD is the beloved 1974 Rankin/Bass stop motion animation television special that tells the story of the year Santa Claus (voiced by Mickey Rooney) decides to skip gift-giving and take a holiday, because he feels the children of the world have forgotten about him. Eager to help, Mrs. Claus (voiced by Shirley Booth) sends two spunky little elves, Jingle and Jangle, to search the world and find people who still believe in old St. Nick. She also enlists memorable characters, Heat Miser and his half brother Snow Miser, to help her bring Santa back to his jolly mood while she convinces them that Christmas is not just about presents. Jingle and Jangle in the meantime get themselves into quite a bit of trouble when their baby reindeer Vixen is mistaken for a dog and sent to the pound. Santa attempts to rescue Vixen and along the way learns that some people still believe in him. But it’s not until after he receives a letter from a little girl, who writes to him about having a blue Christmas, that Santa jumps back into action and makes his traditional delivery run on Christmas Eve.
The Year Without a Santa Claus BD Bonus Features Include:
Rudolph’s Shiny New Year – When the baby New Year named Happy goes missing, Father Time (voiced by Red Skelton) asks Rudolph to find him before midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Nestor the Long-eared Christmas Donkey – Back in the days of the Roman Empire, a small donkey named Nestor who is teased mercilessly about his abnormally long ears, becomes a hero when he is chosen by Mary and Joseph to take them to Bethlehem where Mary gives birth to baby Jesus.
We are Santa’s Elves – A documentary focusing on the legacy of Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass of Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. the production company known for creating several, memorable seasonal television specials.
School of Stop Motion – Presents the Chiodo Brothers, modern day masters of stop motion animation as they introduce viewers to their studio and also to their craft via a by-step demonstration aimed at young people.
The Year Without a Santa Claus BD will be available in stores on Blu-ray and will retail for $24.98 SRP.
Peanuts Holiday Collection BD features a set of three of the most popular and memorable Peanuts seasonal classics and loads of bonus episodes. The specials will come in a Blu-ray + DVD Pack which includes both the Blu-ray and DVD editions of the specials.
Peanuts Holiday Collection BD Featured Specials:
* A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving – In this Emmy® Award-winning (for Outstanding Individual Achievement in 1974) special, Peppermint Patty invites herself to Charlie Brown’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. Marcie and Franklin are soon added as dinner guests. Charlie Brown admits that his culinary skills are limited to “cold cereal and maybe toast.” Snoopy and Woodstock transform the ping-pong table in the backyard into a dinner table. As the guests arrive, they are each served two slices of buttered toast, some pretzel sticks, popcorn and jelly beans. Patty is outraged at the meal and berates Charlie Brown until embarrassed and dejected, he leaves the table and goes back into the house.
* It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown – This Emmy® Award-nominated (in 1967) special, finds the Peanuts gang outfitted in costumes, ready for trick or treating and crashing Violet’s Halloween party. Charlie Brown is in a ghost costume (with more eyeholes cut out than needed), Lucy dressed as a witch and Snoopy in a World War I flying ace costume. Linus decides to steadfastly hold vigil in the pumpkin patch as he awaits the Great Pumpkin.
* A Charlie Brown Christmas – In this Emmy® (for Outstanding Children’s Program in 1966) and Peabody Award winning classic, Charlie Brown is upset by how commercial the Christmas holiday has become. To coax him out of his holiday blues, Lucy suggests he direct the school’s Christmas pageant and decorate a glorious tree. Charlie Brown concedes. The tree he finds however, is puny, prompting everyone to ridicule him.
Peanuts Holiday Collection BD Bonus Episodes:
* The Mayflower Voyagers – In this bonus episode from the This is America, Charlie Brown series, the Peanuts kids become pilgrims sailing to the New World aboard the Mayflower and endure the first hard winter on Plymouth Plantation.
* It’s Magic, Charlie Brown – This bonus episode finds Snoopy putting on a show after he checks out a book on magic tricks from the library. With Marcie and Sally as his assistants, he performs many tricks (some that work and some that don’t) before an audience. The grand finale features the biggest trick of all, making Charlie Brown disappear. To everyone’s amazement, Snoopy makes him invisible but doesn’t know how to bring Charlie Brown back. Will Snoopy find a way to reverse the trick?
* It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown – This bonus episode is the second Christmas-themed Peanuts episode since A Charlie Brown Christmas. Holiday preparations include Charlie Brown selling wreaths door-to-door to make extra money, Peppermint Patty sweating out an important book report and the entire crew appearing in a Christmas pageant.
Peanuts Holiday Collection BD will be available in stores on Blu-ray™ and will retail for $39.98 SRP.
