It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown

Directed by:	Bill Melendez
Written by:	Charles M. Schulz
Release date:	November 27, 1992
Running time:	28 minutes
Preceded by:	It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown
Followed by:	You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown
Availability:	A Charlie Brown Christmas (bonus episode) iTunes, A Charlie Brown Christmas (bonus episode) DVD, A Charlie Brown Christmas Deluxe Edition (bonus episode) DVD

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown is an animated television special based on the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. The special, the first Christmas-themed Peanuts special since the inaugural A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965, is composed of various Christmas-related storylines from the strip itself. After an initial airing on CBS on November 23, 1992, the program was released on video twice.

Plot

Original VHS cover art from Shell.

1996 VHS cover art from Paramount.

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown is composed of several Christmas-themed storylines, some of which are taken directly from the Peanuts comic strip, and some of which are combined with similar storylines. All the storylines are self-contained, and there is no overarching plot in this Christmas special.

• Linus van Pelt attempts to ride down a snowy hill in a box, only to crash repeatedly.

• Charlie Brown tries to sell wreaths door-to-door, with little success. Sally Brown offers her help, but doesn't have more any more success than her brother. Finally, she comes up with a better way to show off the wreaths by having Snoopy pose with them on his nose.

• Linus passes a snowman that appears to be playing a flute. It turns out that Woodstock is under the hat, providing the music that's being heard.

• Peppermint Patty worries about her Christmas book report. First, she calls Charlie Brown, asking for suggestions on how to get out of it. Then she watches A Tale of Two Cities on TV so she won't have to read the book, but she was confused by the parts about the shampoo, the soap, and the coffee, which were commercials. She then tries to make an excuse for not reading the book by claiming her grandfather said "if you read too many books, your head would fall off." So Marcie offers to help by holding onto Peppermint Patty's head. Then Peppermint Patty goes outside to build a snowman, claiming that it's her duty to give him life. Lastly, she calls Marcie to ask her what book they were supposed to read during Thanksgiving Vacation, only for Marcie to remind her that it's Christmas Vacation, and that Easter is coming.

• Peppermint Patty and Marcie attend a performance of George Frideric Handel's Messiah. Marcie's attempt to stand during the Hallelujah Chorus result in her getting stuck in her chair. The next day, Peppermint Patty is writing a report about the experience, but since neither she nor Marcie knows Handel's first name, she says it was written by "Joe Handel."

• Snoopy is playing the role of a corner Santa, except instead of ringing a bell, he uses a horn.

• Linus passes another musical snowman, and this time finds Woodstock and his bird friends as a string quartet underneath the hat.

• Sally Brown is writing an English Theme about "The True Meaning of Christmas," but believes the true meaning is "getting all you can get while the getting is good" and ignores Charlie Brown's insistence that Christmas is the joy of giving. She is then writing her Christmas List, but has to ask Charlie Brown how to spell his name, much to his chagrin ("I'm your brother, and you don't even know how to spell my name?!"). She ultimately puts his name down as "Sam," since she knows how to spell that. Finally, while writing a letter to Santa Claus, she's inspired to write instead to his wife, "Mary Christmas," and congratulates her on deciding to keep her own name.

• Sally Brown discovers all the candy canes are missing from the Christmas tree. Charlie Brown suggests she looks outside, because it turns out Snoopy and his bird friends had taken the canes in order to perform a dance number.

• Linus tries to explain the true meaning of Christmas to Sally Brown, quoting the same passage that he used in A Charlie Brown Christmas. However, Sally pays no attention to him, instead worrying more about her Christmas shopping, frustrating Linus. He then attempts to explain what a "calling bird" is referring to in the Twelve Days of Christmas, referring to David's usage of the term in the Bible. However, Sally just complains that she'll just get more crazy if she gets socks again for Christmas, frustrating Linus further. He then shares about how Albert Schweitzer dreaded the thought of getting Christmas gifts, because he hated having to write thank-you notes. Once again, however, Sally misses the point, because she has no idea who Albert Schweitzer is.

• Charlie Brown wants to buy Peggy Jean a nice pair of gloves, but they cost $25. After agonizing over whether or not to buy them for her, he attempts to sell an autographed Joe Garigiola baseball, only to find no takers. He then sells his entire comic book collection to get the money. However, Peggy Jean had already been bought a new pair of gloves by her mother, so Charlie Brown didn't give her the gloves ("Why give her something she already has?"). He does manage to salvage the situation by giving the gloves to Snoopy, so they didn't go to waste.

• The children participate in a Christmas play, where Marcie plays The Virgin Mary, Franklin gets the role of Gabriel, Peppermint Patty reluctantly plays a sheep (though she forgets her line, and ad-libs other animal sounds, much to the laughter of the audience), and Sally plays an angel, who has to say the line "Hark!", but inadvertently says "Hockey stick!" Later, a boy named Harold Angel drops by Charlie Brown's house, looking for Sally.

• When Lucy tries to force Linus out of a beanbag chair, he reminds her that on Christmas Day, she said "Why do we have to be nice to each other only on Christmas? Why can't we be nice to each other every day?" Lucy gets angry and storms off, leaving Linus free to settle back into the beanbag after saying "Joy to the World."

Notes

• The original VHS release for the special mistakenly identified Peggy Jean as "the little red-haired girl" in the description. Further adding to the confusion, the special depicts Peggy Jean as a redhead when she is actually a brunette in the strip.
• This is the first of two specials animated overseas at Wang Film Productions and Cuckoo's Nest Studios.
• The storyline where Linus sleds down a hill in a cardboard box comes from the December 13 and December 14, 1991 strips, and the strip from January 26, 1992.
• A storyline in which Charlie Brown wants to buy gloves for Peggy Jean started on November 29, 1990  and ended on December 13, 1990. Later, the same series of strips reappeared from December 3, 1997 to December 13, 1997.
• A storyline in which Peppermint Patty talks to Charlie Brown about avoiding reading her Christmas book report ran from December 20 to December 23, 1976.
• A storyline in which Peppermint Patty and Marcie go to see George Frideric Handel's Messiah ran from December 18 to December 20, 1985.
• A storyline in which Peppermint Patty has to play a sheep in the Christmas play ran from December 17 to December 22, 1984 and December 23 to December 25, 1988.
• A storyline in which Sally Brown plays an angel in the Christmas play ran from December 15 to December 24, 1983.
• A storyline in which Charlie Brown is trying to sell Christmas wreaths with Sally Brown offering her help ran from December 14 to December 24,1982.
• A storyline in which Snoopy plays a street corner Santa with a horn ran from December 5 to December 7, 1991. Material from an additional strip from December 23, 1989 was added to the scene as well.
• Most of the comic strips were previously adapted from Sally's Sweet Babboo of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show episode titled "The Play".
• This is the first special with music by David Benoit and the first time music by Vince Guaraldi was used since It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown.

Soundtrack

1. "Linus and Lucy"
2. "Charlie Brown Theme"
3. "Classical Horns"
4. "Christmas Time Is Here" (instrumental)
5. "Blue Charlie Brown"
6. "Hallelujah" (traditional, arranged by Benoit)
7. "Blue Charlie Brown"
8. "Classical Violins"
9. "Charlie Brown Theme"
10. "Oh, Tannenbaum" (traditional, arranged by Benoit)
11. "Christmas Time Is Here" (instrumental)
12. "Blue Charlie Brown"
13. "Skating"
14. "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" (traditional, arranged by Benoit)
15. "Blue Charlie Brown"
16. "Oh, Tannenbaum" (traditional, arranged by Benoit)
17. "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" (traditional, arranged by Benoit)
18. "Linus and Lucy"
19. "Linus and Lucy"

Voice cast

• Jamie E. Smith – Charlie Brown
• John Christian Graas – Linus van Pelt
• Marnette Patterson – Lucy van Pelt
• Mindy Ann Martin – Sally Brown
• Phillip Lucier – Peppermint Patty
• Lindsay Benesh – Marcie
• Sean Mendelson – Franklin
• Deanna Tello – Peggy Jean/Violet
• Matthew Slowik – Harold Angel
• Bill Melendez – Snoopy/Woodstock

External links

• It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown on Christmas Specials Wiki.
• It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown on the Internet Movie Database.
• It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown on the Big Cartoon Database.
• Quotations from It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown on Wikiquote.