Charlie Brown's All Stars!

Charlie Brown's All Stars!
Genre Animated TV Special
Created by Charles M. Schulz
Directed by Bill Melendez
Voices of Peter Robbins
Sally Dryer
Christopher Shea
Ann Altieri
Glenn Mendelson
Kathy Steinberg
Geoffrey Ornstein
Lynn Vanderlip
Karen Mendelson
Gail DeFaria
Bill Melendez
Theme music composer Vince Guaraldi
Country of origin USA
Production
Executive producer(s) Lee Mendelson
Producer(s) Bill Melendez
Editor(s) Robert T. Gillis
Steven Melendez
Camera setup Nick Vasu
Running time 30 minutes (with commercials)
Release
Original network CBS
Original release June 8, 1966
Chronology
Preceded by A Charlie Brown Christmas
Followed by It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown's All Stars! is the second prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It was the second such TV special (following A Charlie Brown Christmas) to be produced by Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez (who also directed), and originally aired on the CBS network on June 8, 1966. It ceased to be aired annually by 1971, and was last shown on CBS on April 3, 1982 (although the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon did re-air the special in the 1990s). ABC returned the special to television on April 7, 2009, as a companion to It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown.

On March 2, 2004, it was released to DVD as a bonus special, along with It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown! and Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown. On July 7, 2009, it was released in remastered form as part of the DVD box set, "Peanuts 1960's Collection." On October 4th, 2016, the special released on its own DVD celebrating in 50 years by Warner Home Video

Plot

After Charlie Brown's team loses their first game of the season (123-0), his team throw down their caps in disgust and quit. Frustrated and depressed, Charlie Brown wanders around aimlessly until Linus meets him with good news: Mr. Hennessey, operator of a local hardware store, is offering to sponsor Charlie Brown's team, place them in an organized league, and even buy them new uniforms. While Linus is inflating a pool, Charlie Brown's sister, Sally, appears in her bikini bathing suit.

The excitement gets the better of Charlie Brown, and he eagerly tells the team the good news. Lucy is apprehensive, but states that if Charlie Brown can really get the team uniforms, they will give him another chance and return to the team. Later at home, Charlie Brown gets a phone call from Mr. Hennessey, and is told that the league does not allow girls or dogs. Charlie Brown tries to reason with Mr. Hennessey, but Mr. Hennessey replies that they are the league's rules, not his. Unwilling to sacrifice his friends, Charlie Brown has no choice but to turn down Mr. Hennessey's offer.

Moments later, Charlie Brown relays the news to Linus, who tells him that Lucy and the team will most likely be angry with his decision. However, Charlie hits on an idea: he will not tell them until after the next game, figuring their lifted spirits will drive them to a great win. Linus says this may not be a good idea, but Charlie Brown feels it will work. The game starts off slowly, but as it picks up, the team begins to play spectacularly. Inspired by Snoopy successfully stealing second, third, and home, Charlie Brown attempts the same thing in the bottom of the ninth inning, successfully stealing second and third. However, he tries to win the game by stealing home, only to be thrown out at the plate, ending the game.

Lucy and several others tell Charlie Brown that if it were not for the uniforms and the league deal, they would quit. Charlie Brown then tells the team (leaving out the reasons why) that he told Mr. Hennessey that the deal was off. This causes the team to yell in anger and storm off. As the girls (Lucy, Patty, Violet and Frieda) complain about their misfortune and Snoopy is shown sharing their disgust, Linus speaks up telling them the real reason why Charlie Brown turned the offer down. Both Linus and Schroeder berate the girls and Snoopy for their selfishness; pointing out that Charlie Brown was not willing to sacrifice them just to get the uniforms. This causes the girls and Snoopy to feel terrible for being so hard on Charlie Brown. They are uncertain what to do, until Lucy comes up with an idea to make up for the insults: make a special uniform for Charlie Brown. And they do just that, making it out of the only material available to them: Linus's blanket.

The girls and Snoopy present the newly made uniform (complete with the words "Our Manager" on the front) to Charlie Brown, who is very pleased with it. He is determined that his team will win the next day, but the next day, it rains, so there is no ball game. Charlie Brown just stands in the rain on the pitcher's mound, where Linus finds him and tells him that nobody will come to the field. He then looks nervously at Charlie Brown, and when Charlie Brown questions him for it, he then wails to him that his uniform was made from his blanket. So Charlie Brown lets Linus hold the shirt-tail against his cheek and suck his thumb, while the two of them stand together in the pouring rain during the closing credits.

Voice cast

Additional voices

5 also appears, but is silent.

Book vs. Show

A book about the show came out around the time show premiered. In the book, Charlie Brown, just goes up to the team, and said the whole simple "we don't need them" line, turns and walks away as the whole team heaps abuse after abuse on him, until Linus steps in to stand up for him, but without telling them why. In the book, Schroeder is not shown berating the girls and Snoopy along with Linus, although he does in the television show. It is Schroeder who says: "Those uniforms meant just as much to Charlie Brown, as they did to you. Probably more!". Also, at the end, Linus just comes up to Charlie on the pitchers mound, and without a word spoken, as if he knew, Charlie lets him use his shirt tail to hold up against his cheek like at the end of the show.

Notes

Reception

The special was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program in 1967, along with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. However both lost out to Hanna-Barbera's Jack and the Beanstalk, starring Gene Kelly.

External links

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