Okay. I'm not all that familiar with American educational traditions, but surely elementary school-kids don't have homecoming dances? From what I understand, it's more of a high school thing ... and the Peanuts gang are always supposed to be kids in elementary school. So right from the start, I'm jolted out of my enjoyment of this special by that.
Then we start adding other sources of incredulity. Charlie Brown has, for some reason, been picked to be the escort for the Homecoming Queen (the Little Red-Haired Girl.) Yahbuhwha? How did that happen? Was he wearing the sack again when the pick was made? And the peanuts gang are playing football -- against much bigger kids, I might add -- while wearing helmets over their usual clothes. Including Lucy in her blue dress.
Ah, yes, Lucy. Everyone knows that Lucy is going to pull the football out of the way when Charlie Brown goes to kick it. Everyone! She's famous for it! So who in their right mind would choose either of them as a place kicker and place kick holder? And then they blame Charlie Brown for screwing up? Doesn't anyone see Lucy holding the ball? Come on! Finally, we have the cheerleaders -- cheerleaders! -- doing a Snoopy cheer. While Snoopy is, in our world, a big time celebrity, in the milieu of Peanuts, he's just Charlie Brown's dog (and to a degree a neighborhood mascot.) While I can suspend disbelief enough to have him driving the kids in "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown", and being treated as human by most of the kids, the idea that he'd be the subject of cheers from people who probably don't know who he is strain my suspension to its breaking point.
There's one good moment in this special, that being of course the raptures that Charlie Brown flies into after he gives the Little Red-Haired Girl a kiss on the cheek. It's sweet but not cloying, but not enough to save this show, sad to say.
Then we start adding other sources of incredulity. Charlie Brown has, for some reason, been picked to be the escort for the Homecoming Queen (the Little Red-Haired Girl.) Yahbuhwha? How did that happen? Was he wearing the sack again when the pick was made? And the peanuts gang are playing football -- against much bigger kids, I might add -- while wearing helmets over their usual clothes. Including Lucy in her blue dress.
Ah, yes, Lucy. Everyone knows that Lucy is going to pull the football out of the way when Charlie Brown goes to kick it. Everyone! She's famous for it! So who in their right mind would choose either of them as a place kicker and place kick holder? And then they blame Charlie Brown for screwing up? Doesn't anyone see Lucy holding the ball? Come on! Finally, we have the cheerleaders -- cheerleaders! -- doing a Snoopy cheer. While Snoopy is, in our world, a big time celebrity, in the milieu of Peanuts, he's just Charlie Brown's dog (and to a degree a neighborhood mascot.) While I can suspend disbelief enough to have him driving the kids in "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown", and being treated as human by most of the kids, the idea that he'd be the subject of cheers from people who probably don't know who he is strain my suspension to its breaking point.
There's one good moment in this special, that being of course the raptures that Charlie Brown flies into after he gives the Little Red-Haired Girl a kiss on the cheek. It's sweet but not cloying, but not enough to save this show, sad to say.