He's a Bully, Charlie Brown

He's a Bully, Charlie Brown is the 44th prime-time animated TV special based on the popular comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on the ABC network on November 20, 2006. It is the second most recent Peanuts television special and is primarily based on a story from the Peanuts comic strips originally appearing in April 1995. He's a Bully was an idea Schulz had pitched, and worked on before his death on February 12, 2000. Schulz's working title for the special was It's Only Marbles, Charlie Brown. Animation was produced by Toon-Us-In.

It is the last special to be produced by and feature Bill Melendez as the voice of Snoopy and Woodstock, as he died on September 2, 2008.^[1] It was also the last new special to air on ABC as the next special Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown aired on FOX. This is also the last Peanuts special from the 2000s, and the last special to be in standard definition.

Plot

At home, Rerun van Pelt finds some old marbles his grandfather Felix—a marble master in his day—kept in the attic. Charlie Brown goes to summer camp with Marcie while Peppermint Patty is stuck in summer school. He and Snoopy get ready for camp. They ride the bus and Peppermint Patty is there saying goodbye. Charlie Brown realizes that most of his friends are going to summer camp with him. Linus is eating a lollipop and Rerun wants one and goes until he sees Joe Agate play marbles. He then decides at summer camp that he wants to be a marbles champ. Joe Agate (played by Taylor Lautner), the bully, decides to play against Rerun on the false pretense of teaching him the game—and quickly cheats him out of his marbles. A devastated Rerun complains to Charlie Brown. Disgusted, Charlie Brown takes responsibility and isolates himself in the boathouse, where Snoopy (in his Joe Cool persona) instructs him on the game until he becomes skilled enough to win back the marbles from Joe.

Meanwhile, back home, Peppermint Patty suspects that Charlie Brown is Marcie's love interest. Her temper flares when Marcie and Charlie Brown go off to camp together while she is stuck in town attending summer school as a result of her poor grades. Marcie and Charlie Brown's teasing Patty over the telephone about it makes Patty even more jealous. Patty, overcome with envy, hatches a plan to leave town and interrupt Marcie's supposed romance, but when she arrives at camp she learns that nobody has seen Charlie Brown in days.

On the last day of camp, everyone tensely watches as Joe and Charlie Brown compete. There, Charlie Brown reveals Joe's unfair ways of playing: he only plays beginners, saying he's playing for fun until he wins and then claims it's for keeps. This shocks and angers Joe. Initially Joe wins and takes all of Charlie's marbles, but fortunately, Snoopy has two spares. Joe complains, but Charlie Brown claims "my dog, therefore, my marbles", which Joe can't refute. Joe gets one, but then attempts a trick shot and misses. Charlie Brown shoots and wins the last marble, along with Joe's shooter (the marble that the player uses to knock other marbles out of the circle). Charlie Brown makes another bet, if Joe wants his shooter back, they'll play for all the marbles. Joe asks why he should agree to such a lopsided deal, because Charlie Brown only has three marbles and Joe has hundreds. Charlie Brown says that if he misses a single shot, no matter how much he's won, Joe gets all the marbles. Joe, feeling unbeatable at that bet, agrees. Charlie Brown wins all the marbles in a single turn, crushing Joe, who is forced to give all the marbles back. Triumphant, Charlie Brown returns home and enjoys seeing Lucy's irritation and astonishment learning that he had been a hero.

In the last scene, Peppermint Patty, is still angry about Marcie and Charlie Brown together but during the Moonlight Walks it was revealed that they just got started when Charlie Brown walks into a tree.

While the credits roll, Snoopy's and Woodstock's siblings sleep while Woodstock roasts marshmallows and sings.

The storyline was an amalgamation of several different series of Peanuts strips; the "Joe Agate" storyline originally appeared in the strip in 1995, and the story involving Peppermint Patty sneaking away from summer school to see Charlie Brown at camp was an adaptation of a series of strips from 1989.

Home media release

The special released on DVD as a bonus special in the remastered deluxe edition of You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown on October 7, 2008 by Warner Home Video. On October 6, 2015, Warner Home Video released the special on its own DVD with It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown and an episode from The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show as bonus specials.

Reception

This special aired on ABC on 20 November 2006, following a repeat broadcast of 1973's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The late November airing of Bully seemed a little out of place, considering its summertime setting, but ABC felt the new special would do better in the ratings if it aired right after Thanksgiving. The decision paid off, as the two shows won their time slot with 9.4 million viewers, beating out, among other things, a Madonna special on NBC.^[2]

Cast

• Spencer Robert Scott - Charlie Brown
• Stephanie Patton - Lucy van Pelt
• Taylor Lautner - Joe Agate, the bully
• Rory Thost - Peppermint Patty
• Jessica Gordon - Marcie
• Jimmy Bennett - Rerun van Pelt
• Benjamin Bryan - Linus van Pelt
• Bill Melendez - Snoopy, Woodstock
• Katie Fischer/Sierra Marcoux - Sally Brown
• Jolean Wejbe - Violet/Patty/Frieda
• Paul Butcher, Jr. - Roy, Kid

References

External links

• He's a Bully, Charlie Brown being shown at the Schulz Museum on 28 October 2006
• He's a Bully, Charlie Brown on IMDb