Peanuts: 1960's Collection (A Charlie Brown Christmas / Charlie Brown's All-Stars / It's the Great Pumpkin / You're in Love / He's Your Dog / It Was a Short Summer)
Starring: Peter Robbins, Sally Dryer, Christopher Shea, Ann Altieri, Gail DeFariaDirector: Bill Melendez
Studio: Warner Home Video
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Format: Animated, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Original recording remastered, NTSC
Audio: Dolby Digital 1.0
Running Time: 150 minutes
DVD Release: July 7th 2009
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DVD Review
All the Peanuts episodes from the 1960s remastered all in one set. Timed to release around anniversary of Woodstock Festival where Woodstock will be the mascot.
User Reviews
*Double-Dipping* But You Get 4 Other Shows... - Rating: 5/5
Even though I have the Peanuts Holiday Collection (It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown / A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving / A Charlie Brown Christmas) (Deluxe Edition), I decided to buy the PEANUTS 1960'S COLLECTION 2-DVD SET for the other four episodes.
I've never seen "Charlie Brown's All-Stars," "You're In Love, CB," "He's Your Dog, CB," and "It Was A Short Summer, CB," and this set was cheap enough that I figured why not?
Of course the two main holiday specials from the 60s, "A CB Christmas" and "It's The Great Pumpkin, CB," are also included in this set but does NOT have the special features from the deluxe holiday release.
Since I grew up on Peanuts specials this was a must have for me. I enjoyed the other cartoons just as much as the holiday specials and this adds to my collection.
Other reviewers have already listed an episode guide so I won't do that. I'll just say that if you're trying to decide if this set is worth it, especially if you already have the deluxe holiday set like me, I'd say it is if you love Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang. Peppermint Patty is featured in two episodes and the story revolves around Snoopy on "He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown," so you get a good mix.
=================== SPECIAL FEATURES =========================
**36:55-minute FEATURETTE "THE MAESTRO OF MENLO PARK"
Lee Mendelson (Exec. Prod for "Peanuts"), Seward McCain (Bassist w/Guaraldi), David Guaraldi (Vince's son), and others discuss jazz maestro Vince Guaraldi--showing old photographs and playing samples of songs like "Linus & Lucy," "Christmas Time Is Here," "Joe Cool's Blues," and "Little Birdie"--explaining how he was chosen to supply the music for Peanuts and how iconic the music would become.
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There's something very special about Charlie Brown and Peanuts. Perhaps it's the touching story lines, simple drawings, and jazz music that create that magic. Or maybe it's because we all have a little Charlie Brown in us and that's why we still find these cartoons endearing. Whatever the reason, I suggest buying this set, even though you'll be double dipping if you already have the holiday set, because it will bring a smile to your face and you get the other four episodes plus the Guaraldi special.
The set comes in a clamshell case that holds the two DVDs but there's a mistake on the episode listing (all least on my set): the "You're In Love, CB" is listed on the cover sheet as being episode number 4 on DVD 1, but it starts off DVD 2.
Don't judge me - Rating: 3/5
Don't hate me for saying this but it has to be said. I love Peanuts a lot and I also think the TV shows are great too but I don't really care for the ones in the 1960s. Let me explain. First in A Charlie Brown Christmas the first special that they did, it was OK but I do feel bad for Charlie Brown. Also I have it on DVD so I don't want to get it again. Then in Charlie Brown All Stars it was OK but again I feel bad for Charlie Brown. Then there's It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, I do like it but I already have it on DVD. Then there's You're in Love, Charlie Brown, it was OK but again I feel bad for Charlie Brown. In He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown, Snoopy was not that nice to Peppermint Patty and later she's mean to him. At first I think he deserves it. but than I feel sorry for him. Lastly in It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, I was upset that it did not have a good ending. Also in the show we can see Violet, Patty, Fredia, and Shermy when they were pretty much out of the comic strip at that time. I do think that the 1970s specials were much better. But I would still say for Peanuts fans if you don't mind all this stuff then get the DVD.
The first six PEANUTS specials - Rating: 5/5
I know that Warner HV has already released several of the 1960s PEANUTS specials under separate cover -- and I have both A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in my collection -- but I couldn't pass up this reasonably-priced compilation of all six PEANUTS specials released in that decade. These are the bumpy, lumpy, crude, yet utterly winning half-hours that made the reputation of the Bill Melendez Studios and ensured a long, happy life on the small screen (and, later, the big screen) for Charlie Brown and the gang.
Along with the evergreen specials mentioned above -- which are still regularly run on TV to this day -- the set includes Charlie Brown's All-Stars, You're In Love, Charlie Brown, He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown, and It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown. The last-named of these was produced during the ramp-up to the first full-length feature film starring the PEANUTS characters, so we get a clear picture of how Melendez' "graphic blandishment facilitators" polished their skills in preparation for that step up in class. The Disney Studio's progression from Steamboat Willie to Snow White it ain't, but the animation and draftsmanship in Short Summer is a considerable improvement over that of CB Christmas, while preserving many of the quirky facial expressions and other oddities that make these early efforts so charming.
It's important to remember how "cutting-edge" these cartoons were at the time they were made. Conventional wisdom held that professionally trained adults were needed to voice children, but Schulz and Melendez insisted on using real kids. (Peter Robbins as Charlie Brown, Chris Shea as Linus, Gai DeFaria as Peppermint Patty -- and, needless to say, Melendez as Snoopy, who, it's amazing to think now, some folks wanted to have an actual voice, rather than the howls, snickers, and hoots we're all familiar with -- still rank, in my mind, as the canonical voices for their respective characters.) The jazz tracks of Vince Guaraldi sounded nothing like any other contemporary "cartoon music," yet they've become synonymous with the specials and have birthed several best-selling records, to boot. Needless to say, the decision to climax CB Christmas with Linus' simple recital of the Nativity Story from Luke's Gospel flew in the face of the "trend towards cultural homogenization" favored in the era of the "Big Three" networks. In the 1970s and beyond, the PEANUTS specials certainly looked slicker than these efforts, but they were a little hollow and formulaic at times, a little too quick to hop on trends (It's Flashbeagle, anyone? Anyone?...), and lacked such memorable moments as, for example, the wrist-wrestling match between Snoopy and Lucy in Short Summer, the World War I Flying Ace dogfight in Great Pumpkin (which Melendez reused in He's Your Dog and A Boy Named Charlie Brown), and Charlie's agonized efforts to meet the Little Red-Haired Girl in You're In Love -- to say nothing of Linus' Gospel reading. Schulz gradually unbent himself a bit on the issue of "selling out" -- allowing Charlie Brown to kiss the Red-Haired Girl in 1977's It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown, permitting adult voices and characters to appear in the This is America mini-series and elsewhere -- but here we get the animated PEANUTS in its purest, most authentic form.
The "remastered" cartoons look reasonably good, though I did notice some streakiness in scenes with dark, full-color backgrounds (e.g. the scene in CB Christmas where Charlie Brown is looking up at the blue, star-spangled night sky). The only extra is a lengthy and intermittently interesting documentary about Vince Guaraldi that occasionally strays a bit too far into "jazz insider" territory. The previous releases of CB Christmas and Great Pumpkin had mini-docs that detailed the stories of the cartoons' creation, but they are not included here for some reason. Perhaps Warners thought that those purchasing this set would probably also have the earlier releases, but the omission still strikes me as a bit strange... and why not have a commentary or two with surviving animators as an alternative voice track to several of these? Irritatingly, You're in Love is specified as being on Disc 1 on the DVD cover, but is on Disc 2 inside. Not even the notoriously desultory Disney DVD would have made that big of a mistake, I think.
Hopefully, Warners will follow this up with a 1970s collection. Beyond that, I think I'll stick to YouTube. Something went out of the cartoons for me when Guaraldi passed and Melendez et al. started playing havoc with "canon." These cartoons, however, are definite keepers for anyone with an interest in the PEANUTS phenomenon or 1960s pop culture in general.
A wonderful remastered collection of the classic TV specials from the 1960s - Rating: 5/5
Some things, though they become dated and quaint, still remain classic and timeless. Charles Schultz's Peanuts TV specials are no exception to this. Every year I look forward to one of the major television networks airing the Peanuts holiday specials, especially A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Recently, Warner Brothers has released a remastered collection of the 1960's specials on a two-disc set. This set contains six half-hour specials, each disc containing three (although the box erroneously indicates that there are four on the first disc and two on the second disc). Also included in this set is a featurette profiling the composer of the Peanuts music, including the famed "Linus and Lucy" track, Vince Guaraldi.
The specials are included in chronological order, and the last two have never before been released on DVD. Here are the specials included:
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
The classic, beloved story of the Peanuts gang's Christmas pageant and Charlie Brown's quest to rediscover the true meaning of Christmas.
Charlie Brown's All-Stars (1966)
Charlie Brown and his hapless baseball team can't catch a break on the diamond. Ever the shrewd manager, Charlie Brown believes new uniforms and entry into a real league will provide the inspiration his team needs to get over the hump. However, there's a catch: he must get rid of the girls on the team, as well as Snoopy. How will he handle such a conundrum?
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
Another beloved Peanuts holiday special. This time it's Halloween and time for the gang to go trick-or-treating. The dumb luck of Charlie Brown, however, will bring him more tricks than treats. Meanwhile, Linus patiently awaits the arrival of the Great Pumpkin, a lesser-known holiday gift-bringer.
You're in Love, Charlie Brown (1967)
It's the end of the school year and Charlie Brown is distressed about not being able to have fun like the rest of his friends. After complaining and venting to Linus, Charlie Brown realizes that his frustrations are due to his as-yet unrequited affections for The Little Red-Haired Girl, and it becomes his quest to talk to her (interesting sidenote, this is the first Peanuts special to feature the "trombone voice" of the schoolteacher).
He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968)
The gang has become frustrated with Snoopy and his disobedient way, so Charlie Brown decides to send him back to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm for obedience training. With Snoopy, however, nothing ever goes as planned.
It was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown (1969)
The Peanuts kids all go to summer camp, but the boys have a rough time. Unfavorable conditions and repeated losses to the girls in sports get them down, but everything could change based on the outcome of the wrist-wrestling match between Lucy and Snoopy "The Masked Marvel."
Since the 1960's there have been dozens of additional Peanuts TV specials, but there's something about these first few that keep us coming back to them time and time again. This is an excellent, inexpensive collection of these timeless treasures.
What PEANUTS Is All About, Charlie Brown!! - Rating: 5/5
At last, here is the compilation I've been waiting for ever since the specials were first being issued on VHS tape nearly two decades ago! This is a collection of specials that brings back memories of reading those softbound volumes of the weekly newspaper comic strips containing the humor now included as animation herein. I thoroughly enjoyed the documentary of Vince Guaraldi and how he got involved in scoring the PEANUTS specials and ultimately helping to identify them for generations, and I can only hope that this is the first volume in a series and that, on a future set, we get some special features that tell the story from the point of view of the creator, himself, Charles M. Schultz. Bravo to Warner Brothers for making all this possible!
