In honor of Halloween and because I couldn't find another 'I', I am writing about the best Halloween themed television show ever! 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!' was the third animated T.V. movie based on the Peanuts comics strip. It has been shown at Halloween every year since it was first broadcast in 1966!I've lived in the U.K. for 10 Halloweens now and even though it's getting more and more popular here, they haven't gotten on to showing this classic movie.
Linus is writing his annual letter to the Great Pumpkin and everyone is mocking him. He even says in the letter that "more people believe in Santa Claus than in you". As everyone else goes trick-or-treating Linus waits in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin. Sally waits with him but becomes mad because she wasted her night. Charlie Brown doesn't have a good night either, as usual, when everyone else gets candy, he gets rocks. Snoopy dressed as a World War I flying ace loses and air battle with the Red Baron. He crashes into the pumpkin patch and as he rises out of it Linus thinks it's the Great Pumpkin and faints.
All of the Peanuts specials were and still are a tradition for American families. There's an innocence and yet they can be quite cruel at the same time. We either were the kid that believed in something that no one else did or we knew a kid like that. All of us at some point felt like Linus or Charlie Brown. Also all of the girls in the Peanuts are quite strong willed characters. And last but not least, the music by
Vince Guaraldi are jazz classics that soundtrack our holidays and childhoods.
For anyone's who's not experienced the joy of 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.' here's a couple clips...
