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46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Some of your customs I don't quite understand!", March 30, 2006
This review is from: Peanuts - This Is America, Charlie Brown (DVD)
This is a great way to teach your children about American history. This Is America, Charlie Brown was an 8 part miniseries in 1988-89. In it, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Peppermint Patty, Sally, Lucy, Linus, Marcie and others travelled back in time to witness events like the dreary Mayflower voyage, the signing of the Constitution, Ben Franklin discovering electricity, the Depression of the 1930's, the building of the Transcontinental Railroad and the Wright brothers' 1st flight. In addition, the Peanuts gang took a trip in outer space, travelled to the Smithsonian Institution, paid tribute to many American musicians like Scott Joplin and Stephen Foster and got to meet George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Ford, Squanto, Alexander Graham Bell and others. Some "purists" may object to the showing of adults in an animated special but the caricatures of some of the famous historical figures look like something Charles Schulz would've drawn. This features music from Dave Brubeck, George Winston, the Winans, Lou Rawls, Ed Bogas, Wynton Marsalis, David Grusin and David Benoit (and of course, lots of standards from the late Vince Guaraldi). Enjoy the history lesson and try to be patient until July, when this video collection is released!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Look at American History, the Charlie Brown Way!, June 21, 2006
This review is from: Peanuts - This Is America, Charlie Brown (DVD)
Charlie Brown and Snoopy and the rest take viewers on an eight episode tour of highlights in America's history (well, seven, and one look to the future, at Nasa's then current plans of a manned space station, which here becomes a fun adventure for the Peanuts kids.) The best of these episodes put Charlie Brown and the rest into entertaining retellings of events in history, such as The Birth of the Constitution and The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, or have the kids talking to historical figures like Alexander Graham Bell and Abraham Lincoln. Some of the episodes try to cover perhaps a bit too much material through narration by Charlie Brown and the others, which takes a bit away from episodes like The Mayflower Voyagers and The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad. The mini-series ends with a look at The Music and Heroes of America, in a co-production by Schroeder and Lucy (which was certainly NOT Schroeder's idea!) This was certainly a departure for Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez's long line of TV specials based on Schulz's famous comic strip, but for the most part they turned out well. In a few of these episodes, the drawing is a little sloppy, but not totally unwatchable. There are a lot of good character moments in these shows as well as all those facts...Snoopy and woodstock trying on powdered wigs in the Constitution episode, Charlie Brown loaning Ben Franklin a kite, Lucy pulling her old football gag on Charlie Brown in the Nasa Space Station and a lot more...One of my favorite parts is seeing just who drove the golden spike that connected the railroads (according to Schulz, anyway) I won't spoil it here, watch it yourself!
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Miss Othmar would be proud., September 13, 2006
This review is from: Peanuts - This Is America, Charlie Brown (DVD)
Let's face it, Peanuts has been slow getting onto DVD. Fortunately the holiday specials are out (and on the DVDs include extra shows). I'm still waiting for The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show from 1983 to hit DVD. Some viewers didn't like it, but I did because even when it missed (and it often hit) it had the same pacing as the comic (as did Garfield and Friends which began in 1988) which is so distinctive of the best Peanuts specials.
These eight specials ran on Nick under the umbrella title "You're on Nickelodeon, Charlie Brown" and made it out on VHS. This double DVD set saves more than $60 off the cost of the VHS videos. Pardon the 'e' word, but it's very educational. The shows are very different one from another. I very much liked the NASA space station show, which is sort of like a Peanuts take on the History Channel. But this set costs less than two of the VHS tapes, so it's like you get six shows free.
Of the 75 half hour Peanuts specials, some of the best had an educational bent, such as "What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?" about D-Day, which won a Peabody Award. The four best known specials are the feature length ones: "A Boy Named Charlie Brown", "Snoopy Come Home", "Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown" and "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown". Then there was the live action Broadway musical, "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," which I saw recently in its current revival. Charles Schultz didn't originally like the name "Peanuts" which was foisted on him by the syndicate. But like that addictive snack food, at least some of us can't get enough of his comic creations. Here's hoping more of them make it to DVD soon.
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