It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown

"It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown" is a prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip "Peanuts," by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on the CBS network in 1976 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074697/] . It was released as a bonus feature with DVD release of "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" on March 4, 2003.

Plot

To celebrate Arbor Day, everybody works together to plant a garden. Unfortunately, the garden is located in Charlie Brown's baseball field, and he has a game with Peppermint Patty's team approaching.

Reception

"It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown" received mixed reviews during the time of the original airing. The Special was considered by many to be a low point in terms of the history of the "Peanuts" animated TV specials. Many critics at the time questioned the purpose of the special, even though Arbor Day is a national holiday. The special is often held up by critics as an example of the downward decline in quality of the "Peanuts" specials, in terms of resorting to obscure holidays for storyline ideas. As such, the special has rarely been aired since its original broadcast, though it was included in the syndication package of Peanuts specials that aired on Nickelodeon in 1997. In its actual content, however, many rank it among the better specials to come after the "early period".

Goodbye, Guaraldi

"It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown" was the last "Peanuts" special to feature original music composed by Vince Guaraldi, who was best known for the Peanuts' signature tune, "Linus and Lucy." 47-year-old Guaraldi died of a sudden heart attack only a few hours after completing the soundtrack for this special.

With the untimely death of Guaraldi, later "Peanuts" animated specials lack the same jazzy musical score as previous entries. As such, "It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown" is seen by some fans as marking the swan song of the "golden era" for Charlie Brown's television run.

Voice actors and their characters

* Dylan Beach: Charlie Brown
* Sarah Beach: Lucy Van Pelt
* Gail M. Davis: Sally Brown
* Stuart Brotman: Peppermint Patty
* Liam Martin: Linus Van Pelt
* Vincent Dow: Pigpen and Rerun
* Bill Melendez: Snoopy and Woodstock

External links

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