What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown!
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What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown! is one of the primetime animated TV specials based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on Thursday, February 23rd, 1978, at 8:00 P.M. on the Columbia Broadcasting System.
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[edit] Plot
Charlie Brown is indignant that Snoopy is adjusting too well to home life, reminding Snoopy of facts that Arctic dogs are only fed once a day and coming to the conclusion that Snoopy is "an overly civilized, underly 'dogified' dog". After making a large dinner of five pizzas and a large milkshake for Charlie Brown- all of which he eats himself, Snoopy goes to bed on his doghouse and promptly has a nightmare in which he is a sled dog of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska, presumably during the Klondike Gold Rush or the 1925 serum run to Nome.
At first Snoopy is cruelly mistreated by his owner (whom is only seen in silhouette and only speaks in the infamous Peanuts adult "waa-waa-waa" language) and his fellow dogs, being run ragged and then denied any food or water. One scene which breaks the snow scenes is where the sledmaster stops at a honky tonk in Nenana, and a hungry Snoopy sneaks inside to snatch a sandwich sitting near a piano where he starts playing The Washington Post March. He then finds himself on stage with a painted backdrop of Paris and is cheered for his dancing, except when the music changes and Snoopy impersonates a can can dancer, to which the men riot. Snoopy is thrown out of the bar and is back with the sled dogs, where he continues to be mistreated, and denied food and water.
Unable to take anymore, Snoopy breaks down crying one night, then realizes that he must adapt to his "new life" in order to survive, so he transforms himself into a real sled dog, and challenges the lead dog to a fight, which Snoopy wins. Ultimately Snoopy becomes the "Alpha Male" of the sled dog pack and also turns the tables on the rest of the dogs by denying them food and water. Eventually, he leads his owner over an ice-covered lake nearby Nome when the ice cracks and causes all the sled dogs and the owner to be swallowed into the water. Snoopy finds himself being pulled into the hole. As he sinks screaming for his life, Snoopy wakes up and is relieved that he was just having a nightmare.
Snoopy then wakes Charlie Brown and recounts his nightmare in pantomime, to which Charlie Brown allows Snoopy to spend the night inside with him, but not before Snoopy helps himself to a large dish of ice cream, reminding himself his Arctic experience was indeed just a nightmare.
[edit] Voice cast
- Bill Melendez... Snoopy
- Liam Martin... Charlie Brown
[edit] Trivia
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- The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center organized a showing for a reading festival on the subject of Jack London's novel The Call of the Wild, which has a similar storyline.[1]
- This is the only "Peanuts" special to date that features only two main Peanuts characters.
- This is the final "Peanuts" special until It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown to use the famous "Linus and Lucy" theme by Vince Guaraldi, who died two years before this special was aired.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by “It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown” |
Peanuts television specials | Followed by “Happy Birthday, Charlie Brown” |
