I grew up on the Peanuts creations of Charles M. Schulz. Most of us have, in some way or another. His newspaper comic strip is one of the longest running and most successful strips of all time. The work has been translated into every language currently spoken on the planet. The images of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and the rest of the Peanuts gang have appeared on just about any kind of product imaginable. Our pop culture contains too many references to the strip to mention briefly. For me, it was the television specials starting in the mid 1960’s that brought the gang into my life. The classics are running annually, still after nearly 50 years. A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown are the most mentioned and certainly beloved by generations of children and adults. I thought I never missed an airing.
He’s Your Dog, Charlie Brown: Snoopy’s driving the neighborhood crazy, and they want Charlie Brown to do something about it. That means back to The Daisy Hill Puppy Farm for everyone’s favorite flying-ace beagle, and obedience school. But along the way to the farm Charlie Brown discovers just how much he loves Snoopy, just the way that he is.
Video
The special is presented in its originally intended full frame broadcast format. The picture looks pretty much as it did on television. It’s a more recent special, so there isn’t the print damage that these shows often have. Colors aren’t exactly bright, but they do translate well enough here. There isn’t any compression trouble, and black levels are fair.
Audio
The Dolby Digital Mono track does exactly what it was originally intended to do. It delivers dialog and some mid-range music. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to distract. I think you’ll be somewhat disappointed here, as the music often carries with it some unpleasant distortion.
Special Features
Life Is A Circus, Charlie Brown: (1980) Snoopy visits the circus and falls for a lovely poodle there. So Snoopy leaves Charlie Brown and joins the circus only to find out that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Snoopy’s Home Ice: The story of the Redwood Empire Ice Arena
Final Thoughts:
This one can be found in the 60’s collection, so I’m not sure I can recommend this as a stand-alone release. You’ll get some true classics in that set. It’s worth the price to just grab it there, I’d say. “Let’s stop for a hot fudge sundae first.”
