First Things First…
This is an absolute classic Halloween special. I grew up loving Peanuts, and this was a staple of my childhood every October, along with Garfield’s Halloween Adventure.
4 Things I Like
4. Savage Schroeder
“Yeah, Lucy, you should be good at this. You have the perfect mouth for it.”
Schroeder
Schroeder absolutely destroys Lucy with this line. I still can’t believe this made it into the special!
And then, he’s proven right…
Just a classic scene.
3. Big Sistering
“Not again! Writing a letter to a stupid pumpkin… you make me the laughingstock of the neighborhood! All they talk about is my little brother who always writes to the Great Pumpkin. You better cut it out right now or I’ll pound you!”
Lucy
Lucy is a horrendous person most of the time. But she proves herself as a big sister here.
I mean, sure, she refuses to help Linus mail his letter to the Great Pumpkin. (Luckily, a little ingenuity and a good snapping wrist with his blanket get the job done.)
And yeah, she mocks him for his stupidity in missing out on trick-or-treating and the Halloween party.
But she also asks for extra candy for him from the people whose houses they trick or treat at…
What’s more… she gets out of bed at 4am… bundles up… and walks out to that pumpkin patch because she knows her little brother’s dumb ass is still out there, freezing, shivering…
And she walks him back inside, takes his shoes off for him, helps him fall into bed, and pulls his blanket up over him.
That’s admirable big sistering.
2. Halloween Fails
“I don’t understand it. I went trick-or-treating, and all I got was a bag full of rocks.”
Charlie Brown
Charlie Brown can never catch a break.
Forget the getting-the-football-pulled-away-at-the-last-second bit from Lucy. That’s to be expected.
But man… he’s told his invitation to the Halloween party is a mistake… he butchers his ghost costume… he’s asked to model for some of the girls, only to discover that they want to draw a jack-o-lantern’s face on the back of his very round head…
… and he gets a sack full of rocks instead of candy.
It’s like the entire neighborhood knows exactly who’s under that many-holed sheet, and they all think he’s a loser.
Yet, as always, he soldiers on. Sad sack or not, he’s still there at that little brick wall, offering words of comfort and wisdom to Linus, on November 1.
You have to respect his resilience.
1. Linus’ Unshakeable Belief in the Great Pumpkin
“Each year the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He’s gotta pick this one! He’s got to! I don’t see how a pumpkin patch could be more sincere than this one. You can look all around, and there’s not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.”
Linus
Linus takes shit from everyone, but he never gives up on his belief that the Great Pumpkin is coming.
Charlie Brown, Lucy, and some of the other girls tell him how stupid he is, and that he’s going to miss all the fun on Halloween. But still, he believes.
In his letter, he tells the Great Pumpkin how much better he is than Santa Claus, and that he probably has to work harder because Santa gets more publicity.
Even after the debacle with Snoopy in the pumpkin patch, which turns Sally against him, he still believes.
And he believes that his belief is what matters. I think that’s what the “sincerity” of the pumpkin patch is all about.
That’s why it should surprise no one that he’s already thinking about finding an even more sincere pumpkin patch next year. He gets pissed at Charlie Brown for even implying that waiting for the Great Pumpkin was stupid.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. World War I Flying Ace
I love Snoopy, and these scenes are cute, but I’ve always felt they drag this special down just a little. They kill the momentum, and they just don’t feel like part of a Halloween special.
Especially the scene dancing along to Schroeder’s piano, laughing or crying depending on if the song is happy or sad—that goes on for a solid two minutes and pulls you out of the Halloween festivities.
Tim Matassa
