A thread for Sparky here , Happiness Is A Warm Blanket is now out on dvd , the fantastic Fantagraphics series is over halfway through the half century of beloved Charlie Brown strips . http://peanuts.com/
Warner is sure taking their time getting the "Complete 80's Collection" DVD to us. I've been holding off buying any of the standalone DVDs since I prefer the chronological sets. I've heard good things about the new Warm Blanket movie and am interested in seeing it. There was a long stretch of specials that I felt were subpar, but I thought the last one, "He's A Bully, Charlie Brown" was really top notch. I hope they can continue to produce specials of this quality, even without the direct input of the creator. My local paper only runs Peanuts on Sunday. I guess I can understand. Give space to new up and coming strips who deserve a shot. My mother gives me a boxed Peanuts hardcover set each Christmas (well, I order it from Amazon and have it sent to her house and tell her it's what I want). I've fallen a bit behind and really need to sit down and get caught up. I think the problem is the books are so handsome I'm afraid to handle them (and as you know I do most of my reading in the can). We need Paramount to cough up "Bon Voyage" and "RAce for your Life" on DVD. "Bon Voyage" is a particular favorite of mine. Loaded with suspense!
I wish there was a new theatrical Peanuts movie. Something wholesome and charming like the old TV specials and movies were.
I was going to start a thread a few days ago about what everyone's favorite era of the Peanuts comic strip was----would the OP mind if instead I just stuck it here? I apologize that I'm not enough of a Peanuts scholar to get dates down exactly, but... I grew up reading the Peanuts paperbacks and treasuries in the 1970's, so I have always been partial to the approx. mid 70's strips----the "Mr. Sack" Charlie Brown camp story, Crybaby Boobie, etc. However, the more I get into the older years, I find I really enjoy the mid 60's strips. Sparky's line/pen work was just phenomenal during this era...I really love this version of Snoopy. (I believe it's this era their trying to invoke in the new "Happiness.." DVD). Most of the major characters had come into their own during this time, and the storylines were fresh and exciting. You can see how different it was to any other strip at the time (with the possible exception of Pogo).
I'd prefer them to end any "new" "Peanuts" material. The strip ended when Schulz died and all other "Peanuts" adventures should've stopped then, too...
Yeah; but there's still a lot of money to be made off the characters, so they keep making the Tv specials.
Charles Schulz was and still is a big hero to me. I was addicted to my little Fawcett-Crest paperbacks when I was 5-6, and was delighted when I went to the library and found out about the more complete Holt-Rhinehart editions and began collecting them immediately. His philosophy, well defined characters, and humor actually helped form my sense of values as a child. Of course, the older I get, the more those strips resonate with me. Schulz was on a roll in the early 70s with absurd story lines like Mr. Sack series when Charlie Brown wakes up to find his obsession with baseball has manifested itself in a a rash on his head that resembles baseball stitching, then goes to camp with a sack on his head and becomes very popular for once. I also like the Joe Shlabotnik testimonial dinner where Charlie Brown gets tickets to honor Joe, his favorite (re: mediocre) ball player, who gets lost on the way and doesn't make his own dinner! What are some of your favorite story lines? I could go on and on obviously but I will stop for now!