Why, Charlie Brown, Why? is the thirty-third special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on CBS on March 16, 1990, making it the first Peanuts TV special of the 1990s. The special began streaming on Apple TV+ on September 9, 2022. It is primarily about Linus and Janice.
In this darkly themed special, the children witness Janice Emmons, a new friend of theirs, as she gets sick with leukemia, and even Linus has a difficult time dealing with his classmate's disease.
Plot
Charlie Brown, Linus, and Sally spend another morning waiting for the schoolbus, joined by Linus' close friend and classmate Janice Emmons. While boarding, Janice accidentally hits her arm on the bus railing, causing it to bruise: she and Linus observe that she has been bruising easily lately. When they arrive at school, they make a stop at the swing set on the playground, but Janice feels too ill to participate with the rest of the group, despite playing on the swing being a favorite activity of hers. When they get to class, Janice finds she cannot concentrate and her head feels warm, so Linus suggests she visit the school nurse. She discovers she has a high fever and goes home with her mother. Three days later, the teacher reveals to the class that Janice is in the hospital.
After school, Linus and Charlie Brown decide to visit Janice in the hospital. Janice reveals she has leukemia, alarming the two. Charlie Brown asks if she is going to die, which upsets Linus, but Janice assures them her doctors told her it is treatable. She explains the various tests used to determine her condition, such as a blood test and a bone marrow test, admitting while some of the tests were painful others were very simple. She then shows them her IV line and explains her chemotherapy. Janice expresses her determination to recover from her illness, vowing to return to school someday and play on the swings again. The news of his friend's illness hits Linus especially hard, and as he and Charlie Brown head home from the hospital, Linus pauses and asks, "Why, Charlie Brown, why?", upset that Janice is being put through this ordeal.
Linus feeling Janice's forehead.
Once at home, Linus tells his sister Lucy about Janice's illness. Lucy at first does not seem to care, but when Linus mentions that he touched Janice's forehead when she felt ill at school, Lucy is immediately worried that Janice's illness might be contagious. Linus explains that leukemia is not contagious, but Lucy refuses to change her ignorant attitude towards Janice's condition. She demands that Linus take back the glass of milk he handed her earlier, fearing that he might be transmitting the illness. Linus gets back at Lucy by refusing to accept the milk, so as not to get her "crabbiness".
Sometime later, Janice comes back to school, wearing a cap to cover her bald head, as she has lost her hair because of the chemotherapy. This attracts the attention of a schoolyard bully, who makes fun of Janice's baldness until an enraged Linus explains that she has leukemia and asks the other boy if he would like to go through what she has gone through. The bully quickly softens and apologizes.
As Christmas approaches, Linus goes to Janice's house to give her a present, but her sisters inform Linus that she is at the hospital again, receiving treatment. One of the sisters complains about the attention Janice has been receiving, but later admits she and her other sister feel excluded due to Janice's illness. Linus gives her the present and leaves. As they place Janice's gift under the tree with the rest of her pile, the other sister points out that presents are a way for people to show Janice they hope she gets well.
Spring arrives, and Janice returns to the bus stop, feeling well enough to come back to school regularly. She and Linus immediately head for the swings, where Janice reveals she has a surprise for him. As Linus pushes her on the swing, she lets her hat fly off, revealing her long blonde hair has grown back, marking the end of her chemotherapy and her apparent recovery and presumed remission from the illness.
VHS cover
Voice cast
- Brandon Stewart – Linus van Pelt
- Olivia Burnette – Janice Emmons
- Kaleb Henley – Charlie Brown
- Jennifer Banko – Lucy van Pelt
- Adrienne Stiefel – Sally Brown
- Dion Zamora – Bully
- Brittany Thornton – Janice's younger sister (who resembles Frieda)
- Lindsay Sloane – Janice's older sister (who resembles Patty)
- Bill Melendez – Snoopy/Woodstock
Peppermint Patty, Schroeder, Marcie, Franklin, Violet and Shermy appear but are silent.
Soundtrack
01. "Why Charlie Brown, Why (Title Theme)"
02. "Riding On School Bus"
03. "Not Feeling Well"
04. "Snoopy Has Lunch"
05. "She Really Did Have A Fever"
06. "World Famous Surgeon"
07. "I Have Cancer"
08. "I'm Going To Get Well"
09. "I Could Use A Snack"
10. "Farther Along" - Becky Reardon
11. "Get Me A Glass Of Milk"
12. "Riding The Bowl In The Snow"
13. "Janice, You're Back"
14. "Kid With The Pink Hat"
15. "Does That Make You Happy"
16. "Christmas Lights"
17. "Spring"
18. "Woodstock Builds A Nest"
19. "I Want To Be Here"
20. "The Swings Are Up"
21. "Why Charlie Brown, Why (End Theme)"
Notes
Cover of the book adaptation
- The book adaptation of this special is entirely illustrated by Charles Schulz himself, something he had not done for an animation adaptation since Charlie Brown's All-Stars.
- This special aired in Canada on CBC the same day as it did in America.
- In the hospital, a non-tromboning adult voice is briefly heard over a PA. The voice says "Dr. Taylor to admitting", "Dr. Melendez to emergency", "Dr. Jaimes to Radiology", "Dr. Brown to pediatrics", and "Dr. McCann to ICU". Four of those names are derived from Warren Taylor, Bill Melendez, Sam Jaimes, and Chuck McCann, respectively.
- This is the only special in the franchise where Linus' security blanket is never seen or mentioned. This is most likely due to the seriousness of this cartoon.
- This is the second special to depict Linus liking a girl who likes him back, following Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown.
- The scene where Linus walks home from the hospital is accompanied by a brief rendition of the American religious hymn "Farther Along", a song that, fittingly with the scene, is about a person who wonders why bad things happen to good people. The rendition of "Farther Along" is sung by Becky Reardon, who also sang "Alone" for Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown.
- Janice's sisters resemble Frieda and Patty (although this does not hold true for Schulz's depiction of them in the book adaptation). The schoolyard bully resembles the character Joe Agate, introduced in the strip five years after the special was aired. Janice herself bears a slight resemblance to Lila.
- The idea for this special came from Sylvia Cook, a California nurse, who wrote a letter to Schulz asking if he could produce a short film in which the Peanuts characters explained the subject of cancer to children. Although Schulz initially expressed doubt, he eventually agreed to the idea, and decided to transform the originally proposed short film into a half-hour special.
- This special holds the distinction of being the first time that an animated series openly addressed the subject of cancer. As a result, it has been used at schools and hospitals to explain the serious subject to children.
- Snoopy the World Famous Surgeon makes a cameo appearance at the hospital.
- This special was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour or Less). It was the last special to receive a nomination in that category, though subsequent specials (which were more documentary-style) would be nominated in the Outstanding Children's Program category.
- Originally planned as a 5-minute educational video to be shown to young cancer patients, Charles M. Schulz suggested that the project be expanded to a full half-hour special. CBS and producer Bill Melendez initially balked at the idea, but went ahead with it, due to Schulz's enthusiasm of the project. Schulz was touched by the idea, as his mother Dena succumbed to cancer on the night he was drafted for WWII. Schulz himself would later succumb to cancer on February 12, 2000, mere hours before his final strip appeared in newspapers worldwide.
- This is Lindsay Sloane's TV debut.
- This is the second Peanuts special to tackle a serious issue, which is cancer. The first was What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?, which discusses war.
- This special marks the first time in the entire Peanuts series that Linus said the word "blockhead". He uses this word on a bully when defending Janice.
- Given their interactions, it's shown that Linus has a pretty obvious crush on Janice, such as:
- He ecstatically greets her when she comes back from chemo and during springtime.
- Him blushing after Janice thanks him for visiting.
- Him and her both hugging afterwards.
- He gives her a present for Christmas.
- Whether or not this is proven true is ambiguous.
Goofs
- When Janice says "I bumped myself last week…", in closed captioning it says, "I found myself last week…".
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Changeable sky.
- When Charlie Brown and Sally are talking about why Sally hates riding on the school bus, the sky changes colors out the window.
- It is extremely unlikely that Janice's hair could regrow as long as it does in such a short time frame. (The special takes place in a period of apparently six months, as it begins in the fall(September) and ends by the start of spring(March).) It would take six years for her hair to grow that long. This was most likely an intentional error.
- When Linus closes the door to his house, the door slam comes late.
- When Charlie Brown and Linus visit Janice in the hospital, she is at first in room 402. After Janice is given a shot and the boys come back to the room, her room number has changed to 404.
- Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and Sally are seen in the same classroom despite the fact that the first two are distinctly older than Linus, who in turn is older than Sally. Peppermint Patty and Franklin are also seen in the classroom, while Marcie can be briefly seen in the school playground at the end of the special, despite it being shown that they go to a different school in the strip and other TV specials. This was allowed because Schulz did not consider material from the TV specials to be canon.
- When Charlie Brown and Linus are in school, Charlie Brown is sitting in front of Peppermint Patty. A few minutes later, Charlie Brown is sitting in front of Linus with Peppermint Patty behind both of them. On a side note, Linus was also seen sitting in front of Janice, next to Charlie Brown, next to the window, and back.
- Sally claims she left her lunch sitting on the curb. However, there is no sign of a lunchbox in the scene beforehand, when the kids get on the bus. It doesn't show up until after the bus pulls away and Snoopy rushes for it.
Gallery
External links
- Why, Charlie Brown, Why? on the Internet Movie Database.
- Why, Charlie Brown, Why? on AllMovie.
- Why Charlie Brown Why on TV Tropes.