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It's the Girl in the Red Truck VHS

The cover to the VHS release by Paramount Home Video.

It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown is the thirty-second television special based on the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on CBS on September 27, 1988. It is an unusual Peanuts special because it features a mixture of animation and live action and the main character is Snoopy's brother, Spike. There are brief appearances by Charlie Brown and Snoopy at the beginning of the special but no other characters from the Peanuts comic strip appear. The other main characters in the program are human adults.

The show is very much a Schulz family production. The script was co-written by Charles M. Schulz and his son, Monte. The title role of the young woman who drives a red truck was played by Schulz's daughter, Jill. Universal Pictures sound studio was used for dubbing.

Plot[]

A brief animated introduction shows Charlie Brown finding a letter for Snoopy in the mailbox. He tells him that it is from his brother, Spike, and proceeds to read it to him.

Spike describes his daily life in the desert, going for walks and learning French from his cassette. One day he sees a young woman driving a red truck. He waves at her. He thinks that she waves back but he is not sure. He waits in the same spot all day for her to return. When she does in the evening he waves again and this time he is certain that she waves back. This makes him very happy.

The next day, Spike waits in the same place to wave at the young woman. Her truck breaks down. She asks him if he can help and notices his cassette player. When she gets her truck started again she takes him with her.

It is revealed that the woman's name is Jenny. She works as an aerobics instructor but dreams of being a professional jazz dancer. She takes Spike to a diner, where the owner, Molly, already knows him because he often comes in for root beer, before taking him home.

Girl in the Red Truck TV Guide ad

TV Guide advertisement for the special.

Jenny's boyfriend Jeff, who works in the recording industry in Los Angeles, arrives at her house. Both he and Spike appear to be somewhat jealous of each other. He announces to her that he has arranged for an audition for her. She is not happy about it because it clashes with the aerobics class she is teaching and he has organized it without consulting her first.

Spike, Jenny, Jeff, and Molly go to a roller rink together. Jenny skates with Spike but accidentally throws him out the back door. Finding himself locked out, he heads back into the desert and finds himself dodging gunshots from some men hunting coyotes.

Jenny and Jeff drive into the desert looking for Spike. They hear gunfire and manage to rescue him from the coyote hunters. They ask him to come home with them but he prefers to stay in the desert instead.

Jeff agrees that he was wrong to arrange an audition for Jenny without telling her about it beforehand and decides he will let her pursue her career in her own way.

Critical reaction[]

The show was not well received, largely because it was unfavorably compared to the recently released Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which also mixed animation with live action. Schulz was worried that people would think he had copied the idea from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He asked his daughter, Jill, to stress during publicity for the show that he had come up with the idea long before Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released.

A review by John J. O'Connor from the New York Times on September 27 1988, the day the special was first shown, says that the comparison to Who Framed Roger Rabbit is superficial because; "the interaction between the actors and the characters is not terribly convincing, and the superimposing of the cartoon figures on real settings is generally clumsy." Of the show's plot, O'Connor says, "The problem with 'Red Truck' is that the story goes nowhere."

Cast[]

Snoopy appears in the animated introduction but is silent.

Trivia[]

External links[]

Peanuts Animated Features
TV Specials Released 1960s A Charlie Brown ChristmasCharlie Brown's All-StarsIt's the Great Pumpkin...You're in Love...He's Your Dog...It Was a Short Summer...
1970s Play It Again...You're Not Elected...There's No Time for Love...A Charlie Brown ThanksgivingIt's a Mystery...It's the Easter Beagle...Be My Valentine...You're a Good Sport...It's Arbor Day...It's Your First Kiss...What a Nightmare...You're the Greatest...
1980s She's a Good Skate...Life Is a Circus...It's Magic...Someday You'll Find Her...A Charlie Brown CelebrationIs This Goodbye...?It's an Adventure...What Have We Learned...?It's Flashbeagle...Snoopy's Getting Married...You're a Good Man...Happy New Year...!Snoopy!!! The MusicalIt's the Girl in the Red Truck...
1990s Why, Charlie Brown, Why?Snoopy's ReunionIt's Spring Training...It's Christmastime Again...You're in the Super Bowl...It Was My Best Birthday Ever...
2000s It's the Pied Piper...A Charlie Brown ValentineCharlie Brown's Christmas TalesLucy Must Be Traded...I Want a Dog for Christmas...He's a Bully...
2010s Happiness Is a Warm Blanket...
2020s For Auld Lang SyneIt's The Small Things...To Mom (and Dad), With LoveLucy's SchoolOne-of-a-Kind MarcieWelcome Home, Franklin
Movies A Boy Named Charlie BrownSnoopy, Come HomeRace for Your Life, Charlie BrownBon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!)The Peanuts Movie
The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show Season 1 "Snoopy's Cat Fight" • "Snoopy: Team Manager" • "Linus and Lucy" • "Lucy vs. the World" • "Linus' Security Blanket" • "Snoopy: Man's Best Friend" • "Snoopy the Psychiatrist" • "You Can't Win, Charlie Brown" • "The Lost Ballpark" • "Snoopy's Football Career" • "Chaos in the Classroom" • "It's That Team Spirit, Charlie Brown" • "Lucy Loves Schroeder"
Season 2 "Snoopy and the Giant" • "Snoopy's Brother Spike" • "Snoopy's Robot" • "Peppermint Patty's School Days" • "Sally's Sweet Babboo"
This Is America, Charlie Brown "The Mayflower Voyagers" • "The Birth of the Constitution" • "The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk" • "The NASA Space Station" • "The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad" • "The Great Inventors" • "The Smithsonian and the Presidency" • "The Music and Heroes of America"
Snoopy in Space "The Application" • "Training" • "The Graduation" • "Welcome to the ISS" • "I Never Promised You a Space Garden" • "Space Sleepwalking" • "The Journey on Orion" • "Crater Crash" • "Searching for Moon Rocks" • "You're a Good Moon, Charlie Brown" • "The Next Mission" • "Mars or Bust"
Others Peanuts (2014 TV series) • Peanuts Motion ComicsThe Snoopy Show
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