He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968)

Like It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown and It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, I first saw this as part of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show on Disney Channel back in the mid-90's and, despite seeing it only that one time, I vividly remembered both the title and plot when I picked up that Peanuts 1960's DVD set many years later. I particularly remembered Snoopy being a total dickhead to the Peanuts gang, his being sent somewhere for discipline, only for him to instead loiter around Peppermint Patty's house, his refusing to come back with Charlie Brown because of the leash he attempted to put on him, and his ultimately coming back home and immediately getting into a fight with Lucy. I can also remember liking it back then and, watching it now, I must say that I think it's one of the most entertaining and nicely-paced of the first six Peanuts specials produced in the 60's. It's also one of the most visually pleasing, with some of the best animation you'd see in the franchise, nice colorization, lovely backgrounds and environments, and nice instances of stylization, which was becoming something to be expected from the specials at that time. On the bad side, though, I think they went a little overboard with Snoopy's prank-pulling and scheming. While he's often been depicted as a mischievous troublemaker, they make him borderline unlikable here, which is not something you should ever be able to say about Snoopy.

Snoopy is completely out of control. Though he's always had an irascible streak about him, he's really been driving the neighborhood kids crazy lately: scaring them, pranking them, and in some instances, just plain assaulting them. Reaching their breaking point, the kids tell Charlie Brown, himself a victim of Snoopy's antics, that they've had enough and, as Snoopy's owner, he needs to do something about his behavior. Thus, Charlie Brown writes a letter to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, telling them he intends to send Snoopy back for some more disciplining and obedience training, much to Snoopy's horror. He then calls Peppermint Patty and asks her to let Snoopy stay at her house overnight during his trip to the farm. After packing a suitcase, Snoopy heads out and, just as they planned, stops at Peppermint Patty's house for the night. However, instead of heading on the next day, Snoopy makes himself at home and does nothing but lounge around and have Peppermint Patty continually bring him refreshments. A week goes by, when Charlie Brown gets a call from the puppy farm, telling him that Snoopy never showed up. On a hunch, he calls up Peppermint Patty and learns how Snoopy has been treating her home like his own private resort. He heads over there with a leash, gets Snoopy, and attempts to bring home, telling him that, because of this little stunt, he's now going to be on a leash whenever he leaves the yard. Not liking that one bit, Snoopy manages to escape Charlie Brown and, after fantasizing about being an escaped prisoner on the run in a poor, war-torn European village, makes his way back to Peppermint Patty's. This time, however, she refuses to let him take advantage of her and forces him to do chores as long as he stays there. Now, he has to decide whether he wants to go back home to Charlie Brown and be disciplined or remain with Peppermint Patty and be forced to work his fingers to the bone.

Looking at the six Peanuts specials of the 60's, I think you can see a progression in the artistry behind them. The first two are fairly simple in terms of animation, design, and presentation, but then, starting with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Bill Melendez and his studio become bolder and more creative, adding instances of really good animation and more stylized visuals. That can certainly be said of the World War I Flying Ace sequence from The Great Pumpkin (animation from which is reused here) and moments in You're in Love, Charlie Brown, which got experimental with certain visuals and audio cues. Things progress further here, with very good animation throughout, more detailed backgrounds and environments, and more stylized moments that get into Snoopy's fantasizing and his thought processes. And by the time you get to the next special, and the final of the decade, It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown, you have some of the most fluid animation ever seen in a Peanuts cartoon, including one scene that Charles Schulz himself felt was the very best, and visuals that are all the more detailed and nice to look at. This curve would sort of taper off when the 70's began but, for a brief moment, there was some interesting experimentation going on with these cartoons.

Because Snoopy's his dog, Charlie Brown (voiced by Peter Robbins) bears the brunt of the other kids' frustration with his antics and is ordered to do something about it. Thus, he decides to send Snoopy back to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm where he first got him for a refresher course in obedience and has him stay overnight at Peppermint Patty's house during the two day trek there. During the week he's gone, Charlie Brown, as well as the other kids, note how quiet it is without Snoopy around, and he also hopes they're not too hard on him at the puppy farm. Little does he know that Snoopy managed to scheme his way into a mini vacation, until the farm calls to inform him that he never showed up. Figuring he might still be at Peppermint Patty's, he calls and finds out that he's not only there but has her waiting on him hand and foot. Determined to straighten Snoopy out, Charlie Brown goes over there with a leash and leads back home on it. But when he tells him that, from now on, he's going to be on it whenever he leaves the yard, Snoopy escapes and eventually makes his way back over to Peppermint Patty's. Later, with Linus and even Lucy missing him, Charlie Brown, again, heads over there and tries to get Snoopy to come home with him. But, while he's initially willing in order to escape the chores she has him doing, Charlie Brown makes the mistake of trying to put him on a leash again, leading to his tearing the leash apart and making him leave. Once he's back with the others, Charlie Brown gets admonished by Lucy for what happened with the leash and they all wish for him to come home. Eventually, he does, much to Charlie Brown's joy, as well as the others', even though not much has changed.

To reiterate what I said in the introduction, while Snoopy (voiced by Bill Melendez) has always been something of a rascal who loves to push the other kids' buttons, especially Linus and Lucy, here, he's more mean-spirited, petty, selfish, and cruel than I think he's ever been. While the two pranks he opens the special with, scaring Linus by suddenly appearing in his swimming pool and blowing Lucy backwards until she falls into a pool with Patty, are pretty mild, he then proceeds to come up behind Schroeder while he's walking and kick him in the rear, freak out Patty and Violet by yelling, "Bang! Bang!", behind them, and then flat-out attacks Charlie Brown and Linus while they're talking, headbutting the former in the gut and kicking the other in the rear. Later, when he escapes the leash Charlie Brown has him on, he randomly attacks Linus again, throwing a rock into the wagon he's dragging behind him, then leaping and yelling at him, causing him to fall to the ground. In short, he's being a flat-out asshole, and it's small wonder why the other kids decide they've had enough of his crap and tell Charlie Brown to do something. Naturally, Snoopy is not thrilled with the idea of being sent back to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm for more obedience training and so, he takes advantage of his staying overnight at Peppermint Patty's house by lounging around there for a week and having her bring him refreshments at the snap of his fingers. But then, Charlie Brown finds out what he's been up to and attempts to bring him back home on a leash, only for Snoopy to run off when he's told he's not going to be allowed off it when he's out of the yard. Evading him and the others he imagines are after him, he finds his way back to Peppermint Patty, but this time, she gives him what he deserves by making him do seemingly endless chores. After only a little bit of this, he's about ready to throw off his apron and walk out, but when he remembers the leash, he decides to stay. He's so against being leashed that, while he's initially ecstatic when Charlie Brown comes to bring him home, his mood sours when he pulls it out. He proceeds to tear it to pieces and sends Charlie Brown away.

A major reason for Snoopy's antics is that his fantasies about being the World War I Flying Ace are in full swing here. After imagining another aerial dogfight with the Red Baron, he then pretends like he's in enemy territory, hiding from and then surprising anybody he comes across. In the same vein, when he's hanging around Peppermint Patty's house, he imagines he's on leave and is spending much of his time at a Paris cafe. And when he gets away from Charlie Brown

and the leash, he acts as though he's an escaped prisoner on the run, imagining that the rock he throws into Linus' wagon is a grenade and that he then takes shelter in a primitive village (in reality, it's Schroeder's house, and Snoopy acts as though he's in some sort of bar and his piano playing is the entertainment). He likely feels that being forced to do chores at Peppermint Patty's house is like being in prison, and when he gets frustrated with washing the dishes and starts breaking them, she basically

puts him in solitary confinement by forcing him to sleep in the garage. While stuck out there, he decides, leashes aside, he'd much rather be back home with Charlie Brown and howls mournfully. When Peppermint Patty comes out to see what's going on, Snoopy takes the opportunity to escape back home, going as far as to put on a fake mustache in order to fool his "pursuers." He's as happy to be back home as Charlie Brown is to have him back, but that doesn't mean he's not going to stop getting into mischief. After dragging Linus

by his blanket, then whirling him around and sending him flying, Snoopy kisses Lucy, enraging her and prompting her to try to fight him. Rather than fight back, he just keeps kissing and licking her until he wears her down and, like everyone else, she admits she's happy he's back. (While you might think I'd be irritated that Snoopy doesn't seem to have learned anything, I'd take this cartoonish tomfoolery over the really mean pranks he was pulling earlier.)

As per usual, Peppermint Patty (voiced by Gail DeFaria) believes Snoopy is Charlie Brown's friend, "the funny-looking kid with the big nose" who never speaks and is the shortstop on the baseball team (she adds that he's the only player on who knows what they're doing). She agrees to let him spend the night while en route to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, and she even feels sorry that he has to go "back to school." When he arrives, she gives him a nice room to stay in and also fixes him some food (cereal), but then, Snoopy begins hanging around day after day. At first, Peppermint Patty doesn't mind it, but when he continues to stay, doing nothing but enjoying himself in the summertime weather, making her wait on him, and eating her and her family out of house and home, she begins to wish he would go. She's relieved when Charlie Brown calls her and comes over to pick Snoopy up, but is surprised when he pulls out the leash. Much to her chagrin, Snoopy shows back up not too long afterward, but Peppermint Patty decides she's not having it and makes him do chores as long as he stays there. Suddenly, she decides it's not such a bad thing having him there, becoming like him in that she now lazes around while he does all the work. And when he rejects Charlie Brown's offer to bring him home because of the leash, Peppermint Patty takes the opportunity to send him off and orders Snoopy to get back to work. Later, he becomes indignant and starts smashing up the dishes while washing them, prompting her to punish him by making him sleep in the garage. This makes him depressed and he begins howling incessantly, and when Peppermint Patty comes out to the garage to check on him, Snoopy takes the opportunity to escape back home. (I didn't mention it in my review of You're in Love, Charlie Brown but I'll say it here: I've never been a fan of Gail DeFaria's performance as Peppermint Patty, as she's too low-key and her voice is very scratchy. It's not surprising they replaced her in the next special.)

The two kids who especially demand that Charlie Brown do something about Snoopy are Linus (voiced by Christopher Shea) and Lucy (voiced by Sally Dryer), as they're especially picked on. Snoopy not only scares Linus in the opening by popping up in his swimming pool while wearing a scuba mask and flippers but also flat out assaults him and Charlie Brown shortly afterward. He also forces Lucy to fall backwards into a pool with Patty by blowing at her like the Big Bad Wolf. But,

a week after Snoopy is sent away and he then eludes Charlie Brown's leash, both of them, Lucy included, decide that, as annoying as he can be, it's not the same without him around (even though Linus got caught up in the craziness of his flight from the leash). They encourage Charlie Brown to go back to Peppermint Patty's house and bring him home, only for him to come back empty-handed. Lucy admonishes him for bringing out the leash, saying he should've used a bone to distract him, then ambushed and tied him up, and dragged home, "To those who appreciate him." She then adds, "If that stupid dog doesn't come home pretty soon... I'm gonna stop missing him." Both she and Linus get their wish, as Snoopy does come home, and proceeds to take Linus on a wild ride by pulling him by his blanket and picks a fight with Lucy, although they're both just glad he's back.

Again, Schroeder (voiced by Glenn Mendelson) is one who gets straight up kicked in the rear by Snoopy while he's just walking around, minding his own business, and that's just before Snoopy scares Violet (voiced by Ann Altieri) and Patty (voiced by Lisa DeFaria) when they walk by his doghouse following his World War I Flying Ace fantasy. While Patty doesn't have anything to say about it, both Schroeder and Violet join Linus and Lucy in telling Charlie Brown that they're sick of

Snoopy's behavior. Like Linus, Schroeder has another encounter with Snoopy when he slips away from Charlie Brown, as he briefly takes refuge in his house and, standing by his piano as he plays, taps his foot, snaps his fingers, and then does a jig to the tune. However, the noise he makes distracts Schroeder, prompting him to stop playing, and Snoopy, in turn, stops his dance and slips out of the house with an embarrassed expression on his face. Violet and Patty, meanwhile, join the other kids in missing him, and when he returns and promptly

gets into a fight with Lucy, they shout about it, getting Charlie Brown's attention. They're joined here by the obscure character known simply as 5 (voiced by Matthew Liftin). Another obscure character, Roy, appears a couple of times at Peppermint Patty's house, where she tells him about Snoopy and how strange she thinks he is. Since I didn't recognize him, and he never speaks, I didn't know if Roy was meant to be her brother or what. Reading up on him, I've learned he was originally meant to be a friend of hers but was fazed out in favor of Marcie.

Though it reuses the well-animated and colorful World War I Flying Ace sequence from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, this special has more than enough instances of great animation all its own, like when Snoopy acts like the Big Bad Wolf and blows Lucy backwards into Patty's swimming pool, him running around and getting into mischief, dancing around to Schroeder's piano playing, getting angry at Charlie Brown over the leash, and later getting irked about having to wash dishes. However, the best animation comes at the

end, when Snoopy angers Lucy and she takes a number of swings at him, which he easily dodges and then counters by kissing and licking her on the face. The animation there is remarkably fluid, coming off as downright stretchy and bouncy, and I like to think of it as a prelude to the very well animated arm-wrestling seen between Snoopy and Lucy in It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown the following year. The special is also very appealing visually, as, even though it premiered on Valentine's Day in 1968, it's set in the summer and

and takes full advantage of it, with bright green grass and blue skies, either with subtle but noticeable cirrus clouds here and there or with no clouds and a bright, yellow sun. And while, at first, the backgrounds and settings are, as usual, fairly simple, once Snoopy makes his way over to Peppermint Patty's house, it becomes much more detailed and like an actual neighborhood. You see more houses in the background, fences, stone walls, fuller trees and more detailed bushes, roads

and sidewalks, and even telephone poles, including what looks like the remains of one that was removed. The inside of Peppermint Patty's house is vividly pink and purple, with bright reds in the bedroom given to Snoopy, oranges and yellows in the kitchen, and whites in the laundry room. You also see that she has a nice deck and umbrella and a swimming pool outside (she actually has a concrete swimming pool, like at a resort, the type of pool I always wanted as a kid, rather than those old blow-up or plastic ones).

As Snoopy spends much of the special fantasizing about being the World War I Flying Ace, you actually see much of what he imagines, like the cafe he pretends to be at while lounging around Peppermint Patty's house, the rundown European village he imagines he takes shelter in while "on the run," and the bar he sees Schroeder's house as. In the latter part of the special, they do some stuff with the nighttime scenes that are very similar to what you saw in The Great Pumpkin. When Peppermint Patty forces Snoopy to sleep in the

garage, they play a bit with light and shadow, showing Snoopy pace back and forth in slight darkness and casting a shadow, signifying just how hard he's fallen by this point. And during the sequence afterward, where he manages to escape, the nighttime exteriors of the neighborhood are very nice to look at, with the background full of dark houses, dark-blue sky with masses of clouds, pinpoint stars, and, in some shots, a big, bright moon. Those images especially remind me of The

Great Pumpkin, specifically the sequence where Snoopy imagines he's been shot down and is sneaking through the countryside. And near the end of the special, when he returns home, you see a little bit of the inside of Snoopy's doghouse, which is very rare and something the Schulz family makes a regulation against for those who wish to create any new Peanuts content.

There are a handful of instances of comic strip-like visuals in the special, such as the title coming up when the kids shout it at Charlie Brown and the classic trope of Charlie Brown writing and the words appearing above his head. In addition, after Charlie Brown has put Snoopy on the leash, he has dark fantasies about it. When he's initially tired of having to do work at Peppermint Patty's house and contemplates quitting, he remembers the leash and imagines Charlie Brown holding it, then turning into a devil with a pitchfork and yanking his neck

with it. He has a similar one when he becomes depressed in the garage, crying and wishing he could go back home, regardless of the leash. That leads into his depressed howling, which you see made into literal, waving streams of onomatopoeic words that travel out of the garage and towards the house, getting Peppermint Patty's attention.

The special opens with Linus enjoying a swim in his pool, when he's startled by the sight of something looking up at him from right under the water. He yells and jumps out, but it turns out to be Snoopy, who walks out wearing a scuba mask, a snorkel, and flippers. Watching him leave, Linus seethes about how much Snoopy drives him crazy. Snoopy then comes across Lucy, who's standing around, reading the Three Little Pigs, when she gets to the part where the Big Bad Wolf blows one

of the pigs' houses down. She comments, "That's ridiculous. No animal could huff and puff that hard," and Snoopy decides to prove her wrong by huffing and puffing at her until she tumbles backwards into Patty's pool. Like her brother, Lucy grumbles about how Snoopy is driving everyone nuts. After that is when he kicks Schroeder in the rear while he's walking and runs off, prompting him to growl about him as he sits on the sidewalk. Snoopy runs back to his doghouse, which is when we get the recycled World War I Flying Ace scene

from The Great Pumpkin, and after he pretends to have been shot down by the Red Baron, he causes more trouble, startling Patty and Violet when they walk by and then running and flat out assaulting Charlie Brown and Linus. After that, he runs and runs, only to stop when he sees all of the kids standing in front of his doghouse, glaring at him. He calmly removes his flight helmet, goggles, and scarf, walks over to his house, and climbs up on its roof, like always. With that, the kids demand that Charlie Brown do something about Snoopy, because, "He's your dog, Charlie Brown!"

Charlie Brown writes to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm about Snoopy, whom he refers to as one of their "less distinguished alumni," and asks them to give him a refresher course in obedience. Looking over his shoulder as he writes, Snoopy isn't thrilled about it at all, and when Charlie Brown further writes that he's going to send him back for a little discipline, he becomes sickly-looking and dizzy. He then follows him out to the mailbox with the letter, continuing to look totally downtrodden.

After Charlie Brown arranges for him to stay overnight with Peppermint Patty, Snoopy packs his suitcase, acting all melodramatic about having to go back to the puppy farm, even hugging Charlie Brown, before heading off, almost forgetting his food bowl in the process. Wearing the bowl on his head like a hat and carrying his suitcase, he heads over to Peppermint Patty's side of the neighborhood, kicking a can at one point until it lands on top of a pole, and then drumming a stick

across a picket fence, before attempting to walk while balancing the stick on his nose. When he reaches Peppermint Patty's house, she's balancing herself on a board on top of a ball. She leads him inside and to his bedroom, before bringing him down to the kitchen for some food. There, her friend Roy comes in and she tells him about Snoopy as she fills up some bowls with cereal, describing him as a strange-looking kid who never speaks but is a really good shortstop. Once she's filled Snoopy's bowl, she tells him to help himself,

and he climbs up in the chair and scarfs it all down instantly. Seeing this only reinforces her opinion that he's the strangest "kid" she's ever seen. That night, Snoopy brushes his teeth (with no toothpaste) and, like with his doghouse, sleeps on top of the headboard. Back with Charlie Brown, he comments on how quiet it's been without Snoopy around, and when he meets up with Linus at the wall, he concurs. Charlie Brown also hopes they're not too tough on him at the puppy farm.

That's when we see that Snoopy is living the life of Reilly at Peppermint Patty's, as he snaps his fingers to motion for her to bring him not one but two glasses of cola in order to replace the two he's already drunk at his table. Peppermint Patty then tells Roy, who shows up again, that Snoopy seems to see himself as a soldier who's on leave while in Paris... which is exactly what he's imagining, as he sits at the table and pretends it's outside a French cafe called "Le Mabillon," as well as that there's

someone else with him. He snaps his fingers again and she brings him more refreshments, saying she's glad he could stay "an extra day." But then, his stay lasts longer and longer, as we see Snoopy sunbathing and enjoying the swimming pool, while continually snapping his fingers for more refreshments. Meanwhile, Peppermint Patty, after wondering just how long he plans to stay, ponders whether or not anyone misses him. Walking into the kitchen and seeing the enormous mass of dishes

that's accumulated in the week Snoopy's been there, she comments, "I suddenly realize why nobody misses him," before she gets to work washing them. This is when Charlie Brown learns Snoopy never showed up at the puppy farm and that he's still at Peppermint Patty's when he calls her on a hunch. Hearing that Snoopy's about to eat them out of house and home, Charlie Brown opts to come and get him, walking over to her house with a leash. When he arrives there, she takes him around the back, where he sees Snoopy sitting at

the table under the umbrella, again dressed like the World War I Flying Ace and snapping his fingers for service. Charlie Brown then jumps him from behind and puts the leash on him, Snoopy holding his hands up as if he's a captured prisoner. Thanking Peppermint Patty for what she did for him, Charlie Brown starts walking Snoopy home. When he's told he's going to have to be on a leash whenever he's out of the yard, Snoopy comes up with a plan to get away. He acts as though the leash is choking him, and when Charlie Brown stops at

seeing this, Snoopy takes his chance. He cracks the leash, causing Charlie Brown to shudder, then rams into him headfirst, knocking him down and tossing his suitcase up in the air. Snoopy grabs his suitcase and runs for it, hiding behind a fence, when he sees Linus coming with his wagon. That's when Snoopy randomly assaults Linus before fleeing. Charlie Brown rushes up to the dazed Linus, asking what happened. He answers, "I think I was attacked by an... by an escape... an escaping prisoner," before passing out.

After hightailing it back through the neighborhood and dropping in on Schroeder, Snoopy arrives back on Peppermint Patty's doorstep. Not at all thrilled to see him again, she tells him that, if he's going to stay there, he's going have to start pulling his weight. We then see Snoopy washing the dishes, sweeping both the inside and outside, and vacuuming the bedroom. Sitting in a chair, reading a book, Peppermint Patty tells him to start on the living room when he's done with the hallway. He's

just about to tear off his apron and quit, when he remembers the leash Charlie Brown put him on, then ties the apron back and resumes vacuuming. After that, he takes out the trash, scrubs the floor (while doing so, Peppermint Patty tells him that her mother said there's going to be no dinner until he finishes the yardwork), and mows the enormous yard. Meanwhile, with both Linus and Lucy now admitting that they miss him, Charlie Brown decides to go and attempt to persuade Snoopy to

come home. He returns to Peppermint Patty's house and asks to speak to him. Snoopy, who's in the middle of mopping the floor, is more than happy to see him and the two of them have a nice little reunion. But that all goes down the drain when he tries to put the leash on him again, as Snoopy dodges it, then grabs it, rips it up, slams the pieces onto the ground, stomps over to the doorway, and points outside. Peppermint Patty notes that Snoopy doesn't seem to want to "play" this "game" involving the leash (or rope, as she calls it) and

suggests Charlie Brown leave. Once he's gone, she orders Snoopy to get back to work, and he goes back to vacuuming, doing the laundry (only he trips into the washing machine himself), sweeping, mopping the kitchen floor, and washing a huge window in one room. Charlie Brown then breaks it to the others that Snoopy refused to come home, and they can do nothing but mournfully wish he would.

While washing the dishes again, Snoopy reaches his breaking point, throwing a plate and smacking at the dishes with a ladle, until they fall on the floor and smash apart. Peppermint Patty comes in just as Snoopy tosses another plate to the floor and, seeing the damage he's done, tells him he'd better chill out or she'll make him leave. She then tells him to clean up the mess, which he promptly does, and after putting on gloves and wiping her finger across the floor to make sure it's squeaky clean, she pushes him towards the door, telling him he's going

to sleep in the garage as a disciplinary measure. Later, in the dark garage, Snoopy becomes depressed and starts crying and mournfully howls, wishing he could be home with Charlie Brown. He gets his chance when Peppermint Patty, hearing his howls, comes out of the house and walks to the garage. When she opens the door, Snoopy jumps at her, creates a cloud of dust as he acts like he's attacking her, then runs inside the house as she lies on the ground in a daze. He goes into his bedroom, packs everything up, and runs off into the night.

Hiding behind a fence, he puts on a fake mustache and makes his way back home. Like when he first journeyed to Peppermint Patty's house, he comes across a can and kicks it down the sidewalk, the loud of sound which wakes up the residents of the houses he passes by. Upon arriving home, and glancing inside his doghouse, Snoopy walks up to the front door and loudly kicks it. This wakes up Charlie Brown and he walks over to the door and opens it. He actually doesn't recognize Snoopy

because of the mustache, but when he removes it, he becomes overjoyed that his dog's back. The two of them have the same type of little reunion they did before, happily dancing about and hugging each other, with Snoopy's tail happily wagging. Charlie Brown allows Snoopy to sleep in his bed, telling him that he really missed him and that the kids will be really happy to see him as well.

The next day, Charlie Brown walks up to Linus, who's sitting on the grass with his blanket, and is about to tell him that Snoopy's back, when Snoopy comes running in, grabs the blanket, and takes Linus on a ride through the fields and nearby forest, before swinging him around and flinging him. He lands right in front of Lucy but, despite how rough he hit the ground, he happily tells Lucy, "He's back." Lucy asks, "Who's back?", when she hears Snoopy clear his throat and turns to see him standing there. Before she knows what happened,

he kisses her on the cheek, she freaks out about "dog germs," and attempts to deck him, only for him to repeatedly dodge her punches while dancing happily, licking her again and again. The other kids yell that Lucy and Snoopy are having a fight, which exasperates Charlie Brown, given how quickly it took for them to get back at it. Lucy tells Snoopy to fight like a man, but he just keeps on dodging her punches and licking her. At one point, he acts like he's going to fight back, but just licks

her some more. Charlie Brown comes in and tells them to quit fighting, but by this point, Snoopy has worn Lucy down and she finally says, "I surrender." Ignoring her, Snoopy basically pins her down on the ground and continues licking, until she finally yells, "I surrender!", loud enough to send both him and Charlie Brown tumbling backwards. Though looking frustrated as she sits there, breathing heavily, Lucy, like Linus, happily says, "He's back." Snoopy skips over to his doghouse and, after affectionately kissing it, climbs up on its roof.

Vince Guaraldi starts off the special's soundtrack with a piece called "Red Baron," which plays during Snoopy's first acts of mischief. It's a typical mellow piece featuring guitar, piano, and some soft drums, and there are two other variations of it that play when Charlie Brown leashes Snoopy and he makes a break for it, and when he heads home from Peppermint Patty's during the night. The main title theme is this very upbeat piece that has elements of the Linus and Lucy theme in it, and plays at various points, such as when Charlie Brown first writes to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, when Snoopy first leaves home, when he and Charlie Brown celebrate when he finally comes home, and it's also used to close out the special. It's also fitting that it sounds like the Linus and Lucy theme, as that plays when Snoopy gets into mischief upon returning home and easily segues into the title theme during the ending. (Speaking of reused themes, Pebble Beach is used a couple of times, both when Snoopy shows back up at Peppermint Patty's house and when Charlie Brown later comes by to pick him up, and the main theme for Charlie Brown's All-Stars! is heard when Charlie Brown first heads over there to leash Snoopy.) Snoopy's initial trek to Peppermint Patty's home is scored with a somewhat melancholic piano and string theme, while Peppermint Patty has a theme all her own, largely done through piano and saxophone, and it really fits with her tomboyish personality. A very romantic, calm piano theme plays during the sequence where Snoopy hangs out at her house for a week, whereas a kind of melancholic piano/drum combo is heard when the kids actually miss Snoopy. When Snoopy drops in Schroeder during his escape, he's playing a smooth piece on his piano that, amazingly, isn't a work by Beethoven and is enough to get Snoopy dancing. And fittingly, when he's forced to sleep in the garage and wishes he were back home, a bluesy mixture of piano and drum cymbals is heard.

He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown is, if nothing else, a lot of fun, as it tells an enjoyable story in a well-paced, effective manner, but it also has the added bonuses of being one of the most well-made Peanuts specials of the 60's, with lots of good animation, nicely detailed and designed art direction and backgrounds, and some memorable instances of comic strip-style visuals, as well as the expected pleasing to the ear music score. The only misstep is that Snoopy is written to be a little too mean and assholish at points, especially during the opening, and runs the risk of becoming downright unlikable, but by the end of the cartoon, they've more or less corrected it. It's yet another Peanuts special that I would recommend to fans of both the franchise and classic cartoons in general.

It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (1976)

This is one of the Peanuts specials I vividly remember seeing as part of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show on Disney Channel back in the early-to-mid 90's and so much of it has stuck in my head since, such as Snoopy's hilarious antics and the third act, where a game is played in Charlie Brown's baseball field after it's been turned into a garden by some of the other kids (I also remember this one because, while watching it, I was being a stupid kid and almost gave my thumb a rug-burn by rubbing it harshly against the floor over and over again). And like a lot of the specials I saw on that show, I didn't realize they weren't originally episodes until I started getting back into them when I was an adult. It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown was on the second volume of the Peanuts 1970's collection, which I bought at a Barnes & Noble some time in the early 2010's, and when I re-watched it for the first time in such a long time, I found myself really enjoying it once again. In fact, among the holiday-centric Peanuts specials, I feel this one is unfairly overlooked, due no doubt to what an obscure holiday Arbor Day is in and of itself. It may not be as profound or iconic as something like A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Great Pumpkin, or even The Easter Beagle, but I will say that I do personally enjoy it more than other specials like A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Happy New Year, Charlie Brown, or all those melancholic and sometimes mean-spirited Valentine's Day ones.

In class, Sally hopes the teacher doesn't call on her, as she didn't get a chance to study her assignment, which was on holidays. Naturally, though, she is called on, and tasked with explaining the meaning of Arbor Day, which she totally botches. As a result, she has to write a full report on the holiday, one which Linus makes the mistake of saying he'll help her with. Though he finds a book that contains useful information, all Sally can think about is how much she adores him and tries to get him to reciprocate. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty go over their baseball schedule for the upcoming season, the latter confident that her team will completely dominate his. Sally, now really taken with the idea of Arbor Day, decides to plant a garden, with the help of Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock. When she learns of it, Lucy not only joins in but takes the whole thing over, and she and Sally decide to plant the garden in, of all places, Charlie Brown's baseball field. Soon, she has some of the other kids, like Schroeder, Violet, Patty, and Frieda, helping with the planting, and she also repeatedly assures Charlie Brown that they're doing a really good job in maintaining the field. Unaware of what they're actually doing, he decides to work on his team's strategy, and come the first game of the season, he's told they're planning to officially christen the field after him. Though overjoyed at this, Charlie Brown's elation proves to be short-lived when he sees what they've done to the field, and predicts nothing but disaster when Peppermint Patty's team shows up.

As with so many of the Peanuts specials produced from the early 70's into the early 80's, Arbor Day was directed by Phil Roman, his fifth project as solo director and his sixth overall. In this particular case, I think he was blessed with both some really good animation (although some of it is recycled from past specials and the movie, Snoopy Come Home) and a particularly entertaining story by Charles Schulz, one that hits the right balance between being genuinely funny and showing unlucky Charlie Brown is, without going too overboard either way. Immediately afterward, Roman and Bill Melendez would co-direct the third Peanuts feature film, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, but, unfortunately, one key figure of the cartoons who'd been involved from the very beginning wouldn't join them, as Arbor Day would end up being his last project.

For much of the story, Charlie Brown (voiced by Dylan Beach) is uninvolved with what's going on, instead worrying about baseball season, which is coming up soon, and the long schedule of games between his team and Peppermint Patty's. After getting a call from her where she tells him that he'd best make sure his field is in good shape for the first game, he's relieved when Lucy assures him that she and the others are working hard to "spruce" the field up. Thus, he spends the time leading up to the first game working on his strategy, and when the day comes, he prepares to meet up with Peppermint Patty's team on the field. All throughout, he looks forward to finally winning a game, or at least playing one where his team doesn't get murdered, but both he and Peppermint Patty suggest he stop fantasizing. His team meets up with him at his doorstep and declare that they've decided to christen the new and "improved" field with his very name. Bowled over by this, Charlie Brown has his head in the clouds as they head to the field, wondering if they should put a sign over it... and then, he lets out his signature, "Augh!" scream and faints when he sees they've turned the place into a garden, with a tree in the middle of his pitcher's mound! He's sure that it's impossible to play ball in such a field, and when Peppermint Patty arrives with her team and sees the state of things, she thinks Charlie Brown has lost his mind. But, much to his and everyone else's shock, the field actually works to the home team's advantage, allowing them the opportunity to actually win. But, just when victory is within their grasp, a rainstorm comes through, forcing them to postpone the game, much to Charlie Brown's anguish. (Even though they had a regular voice actor for Charlie Brown at this time with Duncan Watson, here, for some reason, he's voiced by Dylan Beach, the son of an obscure voice actor named Scott Beach, who was used a lot by George Lucas.)

The person who starts off the special's plot is Sally (voiced by Gail M. Davis), who completely flubs a question by her teacher, describing Arbor Day as, "The day when all the ships come sailing into the 'arbor.'" After getting laughed at by the other kids, Sally is then forced to give a complete report on Arbor Day, although her consternation is relieved when Linus volunteers to help her. Later, at the library, Linus finds a book with info on the holiday, but Sally is only interested in flirting with him. When he reads that Arbor Day is mainly centered around trees, she suggests that the two of them go sit under a tree and socialize, then chases him out of the library, going on about how it could lead to a date. Despite this rocky start, Sally really gets into the spirit of the holiday, spouting off the writings of conservationist and Arbor Day founder, J. Sterling Morton, and getting Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock to help her plant either an orchard or a flower garden. She's the one who initially decides to plant it in Charlie Brown's baseball field, an idea that Lucy takes complete control of and goes all out with. Once the garden has been finished, Sally is so happy with what they've accomplished that, when the rainstorm floods the field, forcing them to call off the game, she rows by her distraught brother on a raft, saying, "At least it's good for the crops." In the end, she does really well on her report, making up for the embarrassment she suffered earlier.

For whatever reason, Linus (voiced by Liam Martin), offers to help Sally with her report on Arbor Day, then regrets doing it when she pays little attention to what he's reading and attempts to flirt with him, leading to him letting out a disgusted yell and running out of the library, with her on his heels. He also regrets getting involved when Sally and Lucy decide to plant their garden in Charlie Brown's baseball field, knowing this is not something he's going to be happy about. He tries to convince Lucy to tell Charlie Brown what's going on, and even tries to tell him himself, but is ignored both times. Lucy also forces him to plant a tree on the pitcher's mound, despite his trying to warn her that Charlie Brown is really not going to appreciate that. When it comes time for the first game of the season, Linus is really nervous about leading Charlie Brown to the field, despite telling him they've decided to name it after him. Upon their arrival, Linus is the only one who isn't smiling about it, and when Charlie Brown faints at the sight of it, he fans his face, trying to wake him. During the game, before things start going their way, Linus' time at bat proves to be a disaster, as his blanket gets wrapped around him when he swings and he's declared out. But then, near the end of the game, when things are looking up for them, he has to go and open his big mouth, saying that the only thing that could stop them from winning is if they got rained out, which is exactly what happens.

After she comes across Sally, Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock on their way to plant a garden, Lucy (voiced by Sarah Beach) decides it's a good idea and goes along with them, taking it over completely and going full-out with planting it in Charlie Brown's baseball field. Naturally, she bosses everybody else around while they do the work, and later gets more of the kids to help. All the while, she reassures Charlie Brown that everything is well taken care of and that he should concentrate on his strategies for the upcoming games. When Charlie Brown finally sees the field and is as horrified as he is, saying it's impossible for them to play in a garden, Lucy comments, "Oh, come on, Charlie Brown. We couldn't play before, anyway, so you haven't lost anything." Ironically, she's the one who gets the team its first home-run of the game, as Schroeder promises to meet her at the home plate and give her a big kiss if she does. But, as excited as she is at the prospect, when she sees how hesitant Schroeder is, she decides it's not worth it if that's the only way she can get him to kiss her. (And yes, Sarah Beach is Dylan Beach's sister, briefly replacing Lucy's regular voice actor at the time, Melanie Kohn, just as her brother did with Duncan Watson.)

Rerun (voiced by Vinnie Dow) makes his first appearance in animation here, with the opening scene focusing on him having to endure riding on the backseat of his mother's bicycle, talking about how he's lost weight out of sheer fear from her peddling and where they're going (one of their stops happens to be an Arbor Day Committee meeting), commenting, "Considering I don't do anything, I lead a very active life." Rerun is seen again later on, when he and his mother happen to be pedaling by the field during the ballgame and he catches a long ball that was hit by Marcie, all while singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

As usual, Peppermint Patty (voiced by Stuart Brotman) does little for Charlie Brown's self-esteem with her putdowns and overbearing personality. The two of them are seen sitting under a tree, when they see Sally chasing Linus down the sidewalk. She asks Charlie Brown to explain love to her but doesn't care for how his explanation involves "a cute, little girl" rather than a girl who "isn't cute, has freckles and a big nose." After biting his head off over that, she runs through the schedule for the upcoming baseball season, describing each game as her team demolishing his in some fashion. She also later calls him up and tells him to be sure to have his baseball field in great shape when the first game comes around (she adds, "Even if your team won't be,"). When the day does come, she calls him again, talking about how she loves the first game of the season and that feeling of first victory, which Charlie Brown says he's looking forward to experiencing; her response is, "Hey, Chuck, you aren't serious, are you? You don't think you have a chance, do you?" She doesn't let him answer that question, adding that she can't go easy on him, saying, "I'll have to fan ya, Chuck." Like Charlie Brown himself, she's aghast when she sees the state of his baseball field, especially when she sees the tree on the pitcher's mound, and asks him if he's nuts. The garden proves to be a real handicap for her team in particular, though, allowing Charlie Brown's team a chance at winning, until the rainstorm comes through. When that happens, Peppermint Patty immediately suggests they call the game off, and while Charlie Brown is upset and discouraged as a result, the last scene has her cheering him up by saying the garden looked really nice and it's not a bad thing to have named after him.

As for the other members of the Peanuts gang, Frieda (voiced by Michelle Muller), Schroeder (voiced by Greg Felton), Violet, and Patty help out with the garden. Frieda and Snoopy put up a backdrop at first base with a creeping vine, which proves to be Snoopy's nemesis, both before and during the game, while Schroeder later tries to encourage Charlie Brown when he freaks out about the tree on the pitcher's mound and also compliments him on the fine job he's doing during 

their winning streak. Later, of course, Schroeder gives Lucy the incentive she needs to hit a home-run by saying he'll give her a big kiss if she does. He's confident he won't have to go through with it, commenting on how she's never once hit the ball out of the in-field, only for her to succeed. Despite being horrified at the idea, Schroeder is more than willing to go through with his promise, meeting at her home-plate with his hands covering his eyes and his lips puckered, but Lucy decides it's not worth it. Among Peppermint Patty's team are Marcie and Franklin, neither of whom speak or doing anything noteworthy except play their respective roles on the team.

Snoopy and Woodstock (voiced by Bill Melendez) really get up to some hilarious mischief here, especially Snoopy. First, the two of them accompany Linus and Sally to the library, where Snoopy finds some books on dog obedience training that strike him as hilarious. He laughs so loud while flipping through them at a table that he gets shushed and decides to make copies of the pages, continuing to laugh as he does so. He's laughing so hard and not paying attention that he accidentally puts Woodstock in the copier, leading the bird to admonish him and Snoopy to laugh harder. They're both promptly thrown out as a result. Later, they help out with the garden, with Snoopy, at one point, sprinkling seeds on the ground while wearing his Joe Cool shades and having Woodstock rake them in. Getting hungry while looking at the seeds, though, Woodstock decides to help himself when Snoopy walks away, only to get drenched when he walks by, watering them. At one point, Snoopy is nailing a creeping vine to some backing, only to whack his thumb with the hammer and then for the vine itself to attack him when he hits it in frustration. Woodstock also makes the mistake of sitting on the head of a water sprinkler when it's activated, leading to him walking away while periodically spinning around and spitting water out of his mouth. And during the ballgame, that creeping vine continues to hassle Snoopy, causing him to miss hitting a home-run, although he does manage to do better in the game once the tables turn.

From a visual standpoint, Arbor Day seems to cycle through the tail end of winter and the beginning of spring, as the opening with Charlie Brown, Linus, and Rerun comes off as a little chilly, with the gray, overcast sky in the background and Rerun being quite bundled up, with a little toboggan atop his head (of course, he's also dressed like that when he and his mother ride past the baseball field during the game). But, as the cartoon goes on and the first game gets closer and closer, the sky becomes clearer and bluer, and the

environments become much greener and more vibrant. As the story mostly takes place outdoors, said scenes are also a bit more detailed than the indoor ones, although the latter do have a fair amount to them as well (save for the first scene with Sally in the classroom, which is just her and some other desks in front of a blank, tan-gray background), especially the library early on, with the shelves and shelves of books in the background. (Speaking of which, while it's not that big of a deal, I'm kind of struck by the presence of

a high-tech copy machine, as the most modern piece of technology you typically see in these Peanuts cartoons is a television set. Similarly, it doesn't exactly pinpoint the time period the story is taking place in, but it does give you a more general idea of it.) The most notable setting is Charlie Brown's baseball field, which starts out as a typical sandlot but, by the time Sally, Lucy, and the other kids get through with it, it's an enormous garden, one that's beautiful to look at but is hardly a

practical location for a baseball game. Among other things, there's a tree right in the middle of the pitcher's mound, a scarecrow in the middle of center-field, a vine-covered backdrop for home-base, and thick flowers, foliage, and vines on the ground that make it hard to find the bases, as well as any lost balls. And by the end of the special, the place is almost totally flooded by the rainstorm, with the pitcher's mound being one of the few dry spots.

The animation quality is up to the usual high standards, with some standouts being Peppermint Patty becoming enraged when she sees the ridiculous condition of the field, Snoopy freaking out and yelling when he whacks his thumb with the hammer, his battles with the creeping vine, Lucy happily skipping across the bases after she's hit a home-run, Schroeder's horror at the idea of having to kiss her, and the rain clouds building up in the sky. Though, you have to keep in mind that some of this material is recycled from other specials, like

You're A Good Sport, Charlie Brown and There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown, and the movie, Snoopy Come Home. Also, while the cartoon never gets all that stylized, when Sally gives her initial very misinformed report of what Arbor Day is about, the background turns red and is filled with a bunch of shaking "HAs," accompanied by the sound of the kids laughing, an effect that's been used in other specials when someone, usually Charlie Brown, is embarrassed.

The film's opening scene has Linus repairing one of his mother's bicycle wheels and then putting little Rerun on the backseat and strapping him in, while Charlie Brown watches from in front of the garage. Linus tells him about how his mother has lost three pounds from biking, while Rerun notes that he's lost five pounds himself due to fear of his mother's biking skills, or lack thereof. As Mrs. Van Pelt rides off, Charlie Brown and Linus note how well she handles the bike, the latter saying it's

improved and Rerun adding, "Yesterday, we only hit four parked cars." Charlie Brown then comments that he finds it surprising that Rerun doesn't get bored from riding and Linus says he probably finds different ways to pass the time; cue Rerun singing, "89 bottles of beer on the wall, 89 bottles of beer..." He notes, "Today, it's the Welfare League and a church breakfast. Then, there's the League of Women Voters, followed by a visit to a library. From here on, we go to the hairdresser's,

and then to the supermarket. Then, a rousing meeting of the PTA. And, last but not least, the Arbor Day Committee meeting." Following the opening credits, Sally, after humiliating herself in the classroom, heads to the library with Linus in order to read up on Arbor Day for her report. Snoopy and Woodstock go with them, the former finding some books on dog obedience training that he finds to be very funny. After being shushed for laughing too loud, he makes copies, still laughing and wiping tears from his eyes as he does. After

unknowingly putting Woodstock in the copier, Snoopy looks through his pages, and if you pause and look at them, you'll be shocked by some rather dark humor. One says, "HOW TO MAKE A DOG 'OBEY' IN TWENTY-FOUR LESSONS!", and while most of it is just intelligible scribbles, there are words in all caps that stand out, such as, "YELL A LOT," "PAIN," "HIS DUTY," "YOUR WILL," and, "PUNISH," accompanied by a photo of a dog getting a finger wagged at him. The second one, "HOW TO MAKE A DOG 'HEEL!'

IN SIXTEEN EASY LESSONS," involves words like, "SHOUT," "BE FIRM," "MASTER," and, "SLAVE" (and it's underlined like that in the text)! And the third, "HOW TO MAKE YOUR DOG 'BEHAVE' IN THIRTY-SEVEN LESSONS," has, "THREATEN," "WARN," "PAIN," and, "COAX." Finally, Snoopy sees the xerox of a smooshed Woodstock and opens the flap off the copy. Woodstock chastises him for what he did, while Snoopy laughs, when they're both thrown out of the building.

When she sees Sally chasing after Linus as she sits under a tree with Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty asks him to explain love to her. Though he says he can't, she urges him to try, and they have this conversation: "Well, say I happen to see this cute little girl walk by and I..." "Why does she have to be cute, Chuck?! Huh?! Can't someone fall in love with a girl who isn't cute, and has freckles and a big nose?! Explain that, Chuck!" "Well, maybe you're right. Let's just say that I happen to see this

girl walk by who has a great, big nose and..." "I DIDN'T SAY A GREAT BIG NOSE, CHUCK!" That outburst sends Charlie Brown flying through the air and onto his back. He then comments, "You not only can't explain love, actually, you can't even talk about it." With that, Peppermint Patty decides to go through the schedule of their baseball games for the season, and after she all but demoralizes him, saying her team is going to, "Slaughter you twice in April, smash you three times in May, ruin you twice in June, murder you three times in July,

annihilate you four times in August, and destroy you altogether in September," (and now that I've wrote that out, I realize that, while Peppermint Patty says they're going to play against each other twelve times if you add it all up, it's fifteen times!), she has him shake her hand for good luck. And, when they do, she gives him her usual, "You touched my hand, Chuck, you sly dog," remark, adding, "I think you know more about love than you let on."

Sally, Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock run into Lucy while they're carrying a bunch of garden tools, with Sally explaining to her what they're up to. She's now so caught up in the spirit of Arbor Day that, when Lucy doesn't know who J. Sterling Morton was, she shouts, "Mr. Morton was an early voice for conservation," while Linus lets out an embarrassed, "Good grief!" She then shouts, "Every child should plant an orchard! A flower garden! Let us onto the field, and cultivate a few

forest trees!" The group moves on and Lucy, liking the idea, decides to join them. Shortly, they come upon Charlie Brown's baseball field, which both Sally and Lucy believe is the perfect place to plant, despite Linus' objections. Lucy orders Sally and Snoopy to start the planting, while she and Linus go get some more stuff they need. On their way back to the field, they run into Charlie Brown, who was planning to see to it that the field was taken care off after talking with Peppermint Patty on the

phone. Lucy assures him they're maintaining the field very nicely and keeps Linus from telling him exactly what they're doing. Back on the field, after the gag where Snoopy accidentally drenches Woodstock while he eats the seeds he's supposed to be planting, Lucy has Linus help her in planting a tree. She picks a spot, which Linus isn't so sure about, but she tells him to just shut up and dig, which he does. After he's dug for just a little bit, Lucy decides it's good enough, as the camera pulls back to reveal they're planting the tree right on the

pitcher's mound. She sticks it in and pushes the dirt over the hole, saying the tree will give Charlie Brown some shade on really hot days. Lucy also decides they need more plants and more help, suggesting that they get the entire team to pitch in. Again, while doing so, she, Linus, and the others run into Charlie Brown, with Lucy assuring him that they're still doing a good job and that he needn't worry about anything but coming up with baseball strategies.

In the next scene, other kids like Schroeder, Violet, and Patty help with the garden, all while Lucy barks orders. This is when they've erected a backdrop at home base and Frieda has Snoopy nail a creeping vine to it, only for him to mash his thumb with his hammer. Enraged, he smacks the vine with his hammer and laughs, only for it to suddenly grab him. He fights with it but ends up suspended upside down by it, much to Frieda's consternation. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown is

coming up with his strategies, initially planning on walking Peppermint Patty each time she comes up to bat... but then figures she might get mad if he does. Instead, he fills the bases up with his best players, then thinks about himself hitting a home-run, only to groan, "There I go, daydreaming again." Back at the field, Lucy puts down a sprinkler head attached to a hose and goes to turn the water on. That's when Woodstock makes the mistake of sitting on it when the water turns on, spinning him around and leading to him walking

away, occasionally spinning and blowing water out of his mouth. The day of the first game comes and Charlie Brown, after talking with Peppermint Patty on the phone about it, hears his doorbell ring and finds his team outside at his doorstep, waiting for him. That's when they tell him of their plan to name the field after him, which he's really touched and excited by. But then, of course, they get to the field, he lets out a horrified yell when he sees what they've done, and promptly faints.

Linus fans him with a towel, trying to wake him up, and when he does awaken, he jumps to his feet, dumbfounded at what's happened to his field. He declares they can't play baseball there, especially with a tree right in the middle of the pitcher's mound. Schroeder tries to encourage him, saying, "Beethoven never gave up," but Charlie Brown comments, "Beethoven never had a tree on his piano." He's further confounded by the sight of a scarecrow in center-field, with baseball gloves for

hands, a yellow shirt, and a cap where its head should be, and as if that weren't enough, Frieda tells him they used the bats as stakes for the tomato plants. Terrified of what Peppermint Patty will say when she sees this, Charlie Brown then has to face her when she arrives with her team. When she sees the state of the field, she comments, "You startin' a victory garden, Chuck? You've got everything here but sheep and cattle, Charlie Brown!" (At that last comment, Snoopy actually moos.) Charlie Brown tries to explain it was because of Arbor Day, but

Peppermint Patty asks him if he's crazy, especially when she walks onto the pitcher's mound and bonks into the tree. Calling him the dumbest manager who ever lived, she yells, "How can I pitch from this crazy mound with a tree on it?!", throwing her glove on the mound in frustration. But, with no other choice, she decides to just make it work, declaring that her team will still come out on top.

Charlie Brown's team is up to bat first, with Snoopy leading them off. Things get off to bad a start, though, as Snoopy accidentally whacks his foot with his bat and hops around in place, holding it as it throbs red. Despite that, he regains his composure and prepares to bat, when he notices the creeping vine on the ground near him. He just shakes his head and tries to concentrate on Peppermint Patty's pitch. She, however, has her own problems, as the tree on the pitcher's mound keeps getting in the way when she tries to throw.

First, her arm gets snagged around it, and then, when she tries for another throw, her foot is snagged on it, prompting her to let out an angry yell. She then gets downwind of the tree and prepares for the throw, while Snoopy realizes the creeping vine is, indeed, creeping towards him. Ignoring it, he manages to hit the ball when Peppermint Patty pitches and takes off running, only for the vine to grab his feet, causing him to fall and be declared out. Patty next pitches to Linus, who gets wrapped up in his blanket like a

mummy when he swings, leading to another out. Charlie Brown is now desperate for them to hit a home-run, which is when Schroeder promises to meet Lucy at home plate and give her a big kiss if she manages to pull it off. Incentivized, she walks up to the plate, with Charlie Brown suggesting that they'll all give her a kiss if she makes the run. Hearing that, she looks at Snoopy, who grins at her from ear to ear, and she lets out a "blech!" She then, predictably, hits the home-run, but decides it's

not worth it if that's the only way she can get Schroeder to kiss her. Instead, she sits back on the bench and declares, "Another victory for Women's Lib." After that, Charlie Brown is now pitching, having to go up against Peppermint Patty's best batters. First up is Franklin, who hits the ball, only for it to land in one of the scarecrow's mitts. Marcie hits the next pitch, which is caught by Rerun when he and his mother pass by the field. Peppermint Patty herself is up to bat next, and

when Charlie Brown pitches, Patty hits the ball and, as often happens, it whizzes back by him with enough force to knock him out of his clothes. He hopes that one of his catchers can get it, but said catchers, Lucy and Frieda, are too busy admiring a sunflower in the garden to notice the ball hit the ground between them. Not that it matters; because of the thick foliage and vines on the ground, Patty is unable to find the bases and is declared out.

The game goes on for another six innings and Charlie Brown's team continues to do good, with someone catching a ball from the top of the tree and Snoopy managing to catch another while hiding in the scarecrow's shirt. It looks as if they're going to win, when Linus comments that their being rained out would be the only way they could lose now. Charlie Brown assures him there's not a cloud in the sky, when a bunch of storm clouds form overhead and thunder crashes. Before they can continue with the game, it starts raining, but,

regardless, Charlie Brown insists they're not stopping anything, telling Lucy to get back out in center-field when she comes up to ask if he's going to call the game. Unfortunately for him, the others don't share his zeal, as they run for it, leaving him stranded on the pitcher's mound, which is now a little island in the middle of the lake that was once his baseball field. He desperately yells for everyone to come back, insisting the rain will let up, and calls them all quitters. Realizing no one's

around to care, he sighs sadly, as Snoopy swims by and Sally floats by on a raft, noting how the rain is good for the plants (she calls her own brother "Charlie Brown" in this instance, which comes off as weird). All he can do is futilely yell that his team was winning. The special then ends with Sally doing well on her report on Arbor Day, ending it by quoting the last lines of J. Sterling Morton's 1894 Arbor Day address in Washington, while Peppermint Patty cheers Charlie Brown up from his despondence over the game being rained out, holding his hand and telling him, "Happy Arbor Day, Charlie Brown."

It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown has the sad legacy of being the last project Vince Guaraldi worked on, as he died of a sudden heart attack just hours after he finished recording the score; he was only 47. His music for the special provides exactly what would you come to expect from him: smooth, mellow, gentle jazz pieces, including a waltz-like theme that incorporates elements of Christmas Time Is Here, and another piece that's a variation on Guaraldi's "Joe Cool" leitmotif for when Snoopy is wearing the glasses. It gets a little more energetic during the third act and the baseball game, especially when Snoopy is up to bat and Lucy hits her home-run, but never loses that feeling of tranquility you'd come to expect from Guaraldi's work. All in all, while it's sad he died so young, this score isn't a bad one for Guaraldi to have gone out on.

It may never achieve the iconic status of A Charlie Brown Christmas or It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, but for my money, It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown is one of the more underrated holiday-centered Peanuts specials. I think it's a lot of fun, with some really entertaining and amusing moments, particularly Snoopy's antics and the baseball game played in the middle of a garden, and is also well-designed and animated, offers one last taste of the lovely jazz music from Vince Guaraldi, and successfully gives some exposure to a very overlooked holiday. Again, it may never be considered a classic, but that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable to watch. So, this Arbor Day, give it a whirl, preferably with your whole family.