Snoopy Presents: Lucy's School is the Back to School special and the forty-ninth Peanuts TV special based on the comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. It began streaming on Apple TV+ on August 12, 2022. It mainly focuses on Lucy.
Plot summary
The special starts off on the last day of school, with the kids waiting patiently for the bell to ring. Once it does, everyone runs out of school, doing their summer activities (with Snoopy tagging along of course), like riding bikes around the neighborhood, running around the sprinkler, catching fire flies, swimming in a lake, watching fireworks, eating ice cream, playing on the beach, and playing baseball. However the latter was cut off when the kids saw a Billboard for a Back to School sale. Charlie Brown says "Back to school already? Good grief."
The last week of summer is here, as the gang hangs out in the public pool, discussing about the new school they're gonna be moving to next week, and that thinks will be different.
As the kids walks home from the pool, they walk past the new school. And it looks bigger than their old one. The kids said that at the new school there'll be new classrooms, new subjects, and new teachers. They all worry that they might get lost in the halls, and since they're all getting lockers, one worries if they forgot their combination, there will be bigger kids at the new school, one worries they might not be able to reach the water fountain, and one heard that the school lunches tastes terrible, and one thinks that they will all be in separate classes. This worries Lucy but she doesn't want to admit it. Linus tells her that they're all going downtown to get new school supplies. Lucy said that she'll catch up. She walks around the neighborhood, thinking about the things the other kids said about the new school. Lucy visits the old school, looking at past pictures on the sign. Lucy doesn't want to go to the new school and wants to find a way out of it. Then she comes across a sign saying "Have a question? We have the answers!" at the library. That clicked her, thinking that something at the library might solve her problem.
At the store, the gang are getting new school supplies, then comes Lucy, feeling confident for some reason. Linus gather both their school supplies, but she declines cause she stated that she won't be attending at the new school after a recent discovery at the library. There's a special test, and if she passes, they can give her her diploma early, and she'll never have to return to school again, which shocks the rest of the kids. And since Lucy thinks that she knows everything from school, she's confident that she'll pass the test, and have an endless summer forever. As she leaves the store, the rest of the gang follow her, thinking that an endless summer would be a miracle for them, and asks Lucy that she could teach them everything so they can pass the test too. Lucy accepts their requests. Linus on the other hand is suspicious about what's happening and surprised to see Marcie and Franklin going along with this. Marcie does doubt about Lucy teaching, but if they do get their diplomas early, she can get a head start on her college applications. And for Franklin, morbid curiosity. Lucy even lets Snoopy to be in her class. Linus tries talking out to Lucy out of the whole teacher business, because he knows that she can't teach what she doesn't know. Lucy ignores Linus and announces to the gang that the test is in a few days, and her class starts tomorrow morning. Linus says to himself "This isn't going to end well."
At the Van Pelt backyard the next morning, everyone questions about Lucy's "classroom" as it's missing desks and chalkboards, Lucy states that all she needs to teach is in her head. Linus tries talking everyone out on this "endless summer" nonsense, but some of the kids chews him out, telling him to not ruin it for all of them. Feeling annoyed, Linus sits down. The first topic Lucy teaches is science, as she introduces the students to her favorite invention, the television.
This makes Linus, Franklin, and Marcie question about this since Lucy isn't really teaching well. The next subject Lucy teach is math, and she does it in the game of BINGO. This shocks Linus, Franklin, and Marcie. Marcie tries stating that the test won't cover this, but Lucy interrupts her to stop interrupting. Snoopy eventually wins at BINGO.
Next subject is geography, where Lucy is teaching at a mini-putt. Lucy makes stuff up about the history of England and the famous clock Big Ben. Somehow the kids bought it, except for the three. At the Atlantic Ocean, Lucy actually taught something that's actually true, as she probably read it on a pedestal as pointed out by Franklin. The other kids were playing mini-putt, and as Lucy tries to tell them to cut it out, the kids knocks a whole bucket of golf balls and makes Lucy and her classmates exit the mini-putt.
Lucy calls it a day, and says that as long as she teaches them everything, there's no problem passing the test. As the kids and Lucy leaves, Franklin questions what kind of school was that. Linus states that Lucy must be stopped because no one will pass the test with what she's teaching them. Then he asks himself "What would Miss Othmar do..." Then he has an idea and rushes home without telling Marcie or Franklin what he thought.
Linus eventually got a copy of the practice test, uses the house phone to dial Miss Othmar and hides in the closet so Lucy wouldn't notice. But Lucy noticed the phone missing, hangs up and finds Linus, about to clobber him for going behind her back to their previous teacher. Linus shows Lucy the practice test, and she doesn't understand any of the questions and hasn't be teaching any of it. Linus explains that that's why they go to school to learn all of those topics. This worried Lucy even more, she's not going to pass and will have to the new school, but still doesn't want to admit it. Linus tries talking out of her about the absurd dream of an endless summer will not be happening, but Lucy is not going to give up as she made everyone a promise. She will learn about everything that will be on the test and teach it to her students too.
Lucy goes into her garage to turn it into a proper classroom as she cleans it out. Afterwards she goes to the store to get more classroom supplies, which costed her all the the nickels she gotten from her psychiatry business. After she set up the supplies, she rushes to the library to borrow books about the topics before it closes. She spends the whole night reading everything on the subjects and eventually feels exhausted.
The next morning, the class arrives and notice that there's are desks and books in the room, this got Marcie and Franklin more intrigued and thinking that whatever Linus did it worked, though Linus isn't sure. Lucy tries getting her class attention but it's difficult from all the chatting, until she yells at them to be quiet. Lucy says to her class that they have a lot to cover for the test in a few days. She tries teaching them Algebra, but she gets confused, even with the notes she wrote last night. This questions a few students. Lucy then switches the subject to Science, and explains the Periodic Table of Elements, but pronounces some variables wrong as pointed out by both Marcie and Franklin. Lucy then switches to History instead, and she sighs for relief about the Mayflower, she only knows the rhyme about it and not the chapter. Schroeder tells her that it's not what's in the book. Lucy states that she was just testing them and decides to let Schroeder read the chapter to the class. Schroeder reads that in 1620, the Mayflower set sail from England, looking for freedom in the New World. The trip across the sea was difficult. Poor planning and miscalculations soon revealed to them that they didn't know as much as they thought they did. If the crew had been less experienced, the voyage would have ended in failure. As he reads, it puts Lucy into pressure as other students whispers about Lucy's lack of knowledge. This makes Lucy snap and tells all of them to stop. She gives in and says she can't do it anymore and admits that she's not a real teacher, she doesn't know it all. She states that they're never gonna pass the test and they won't have an endless summer, apologies for letting them all down, and dismissed the class. This pretty much saddens the class. Charlie Brown asks if he'll still get an A on his permanent record. Lucy just stays silent, Charlie Brown just walks away.
Linus is proud of Lucy, of how it takes courage to admit when you're over your head, but questions why she's trying to get out of going to school. Lucy admits that she's afraid of going to the new school, which shocks Linus. He even admits that he's scared too, but he said to Lucy that on the first day of school, when they get off that bus, he'll be right by her side. This makes Lucy feel a little better.
On the first day of school, everyone wakes up to get ready for school, except for Charlie Brown, who slept in. Thankfully he made it to the bus stop all dressed, but Patty stated to Charlie Brown that his shirt is on backwards. During the bus ride, everyone seems confident about the new school all of a sudden due to some interesting things they've been hearing about. Lucy is still nervous, until Peppermint Patty talks to her, that she researched about Amelia Earhart, saying that when she was a child and said that she could do anything a boy could do, and she did. Earhart is the kind of person Peppermint Patty wants to be, and she reminds her of the kind of person Lucy is, Fearless. Never wanting to give up from a challenge, Peppermint Patty can't wait to know more and states that this year, she's definitely staying awake.
As the bus arrives at the new school, everyone gets off, and Lucy finds Linus still on the bus, saying that he said he be right by her side. And so they walk into the new school together.
As Lucy reads an essay on what she did on her summer vacation, she states that she learns just how special teachers are. While she reads, montage of clips play as Lucy explores the new school, helps out Charlie Brown with his locker, climbs on a rope to ring the bell at the gym, sits by a new kid at lunch and invites her friends to join along, and finds her classroom. Then cuts to Lucy finishing up reading her essay with the class (which the whole Peanuts kids are in the class together), as Peppermint Patty ironically falls asleep, until she woke up. Lucy sits back down to her desk, as she sees Snoopy and Woodstock outside by the window, sadly waiting for class to start. Lucy helps them out by opening the window and tells them the book's page number. Snoopy opens the book as he and Woodstock listens to the chapter from the class window as the special concludes.
Voice cast
- Etienne Kellici as Charlie Brown
- Hattie Kragten as Sally Brown
- Isabella Leo as Lucy van Pelt
- Wyatt White as Linus van Pelt
- Terry McGurrin as Snoopy
- Rob Tinkler as Woodstock
- Lexi Perri as Peppermint Patty
- Holly Gorski as Marcie C. Johnson
- Caleb Bellavance as Franklin Armstrong
- Natasha Nathan as Patty Swanson
- Charlie Boyle as Violet Gray
- Jacob Soley as "Pig-Pen"
- Matthew Mucci as Schroeder
- Jacob Mazeral as José Peterson
- Jackson Reid as Thibault
Frieda, Shermy, Lila, Loretta, Lydia, Milo, 3 and 4, 5, Harold Angel, Larry, Tapioca Pudding, Cormac, Floyd, Ethan, Shirley, Sophie, Roy, Naomi, Joe Richkid, and Eudora all appear but are silent.
Trivia
- This is the third Peanuts TV special not to have Charlie Brown or Snoopy's name in the title. The first and second being Snoopy Presents: For Auld Lang Syne and Snoopy Presents: To Mom (and Dad), With Love.
- It is implied that this Peanuts special takes place in the 1960s, such as when Lucy turns the TV, she says "Oh! That's Mr. Spock!" Spock was a major character in the 1960s TV show Star Trek. It might also be a reference to the pediatrician Benjamin Spock, whose name appeared in a lot of the older strips. Another implication is the mention of The Beatles, although the "Beatlemania" in the 1960's is mentioned as if it were in the past.
- At the end of this special, the Peanuts gang have a new teacher named Miss Halverson. This is a reference to the March 1969 series of strips where Miss Othmar is fired and replaced with a teacher named Miss Halverson, who herself is a reference to either Dena Halverson, Schulz's mother, or Joyce Halverson, Schulz's first wife.
- This special was nominated for Best Animation Program for the 2023 Leo Awards and was won.
- This special was nominated for Outstanding Animated Special for the Children's & Family Emmys 2023. It lost out to Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur: “Moon Girl Landing”.
Gallery
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