Saturday, January 30, 2010
Blog DVD Review: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown - Remastered Deluxe Edition
You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown - Remastered Deluxe Edition (Warner, $19.98) brings us the 1985 TV special on DVD for the very first time! This is an animated version of the stage musical. The story focuses on of course Charlie Brown, the kid for whom life is a constant source of frustration. The gallery of familiar Peanuts characters, including Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, and Snoopy, express their obsessions and insecurities in ten songs retained from the original musical. Clark Gesner's songs are featured.
Let's now move on to the packaging. We have a thin case that is movie style. The cover art is light blue in color, and has a shot of Charlie Brown with a crown with the gang carrying him up. The title of the special is above that, with a mention that the special is a remastered deluxe edition all the way on the top with a Snoopy Peanuts logo! To the back we go, we get a nice shot of most of the cast, as Snoopy and Linus are sitting on top of Snoopy's dog house. The back also has a list of special features. When we open the case, we see the disc on the right panel. There is no artwork on the panels, as it is just plain black. Disc artwork is also in light blue color with a shot of Snoopy, Charlie Brown and Woodstock.
The menu screen has options of Features, Special Features, and Languages. We get that light blue background again, with the theme song playing in the background. We also have the same artwork as the cover art on the main menu. We get auto-trailers before the main menu for items like Be My Valentine Charlie Brown, It's the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown and Peanuts '70s Collection Vol. 1. For Languages, we can have either have English, Portuguese or Japanese. For subtitles we have those three options again and also Chinese and Thai! The Features section has the special listed and it's the only option. Finally, Special Features lists the featurette and a trailer for Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins.
The video and audio is tremendous once again and on par from what we have seen on past sets. These specials have all looked so good ever since they stated the Remastered Collection sets. They have never looked better and the audio is also superb. I am very impressed yet again; what more can I continue to say about these digitally remastered sets? Warner continues to do a great job on this remastering of all these classic specials. This special has 7 chapter stops and it runs 48:04. So, yes of course it is unedited! These sets are must buys for the video quality alone!
As for special features, these sets always have something and here we get a nice featurette like usual! It is titled "Animating a Charlie Brown Musical" and runs 14:41. We find out the 20-year history of the Clark Gesner album that evolved into an Off-Broadway hit before this special was even created. Interviewed are Lee Mendelson (executive producer), Nat Gertler (Peanuts Historian), Dean Stolber (original Broadway Charlie Brown), and Jeannie Schulz (Charles' wife. There is also a clip from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson from Feb. 7, 1973 with Charles Schulz! How cool!
I once again highly do recommend this set for any Charlie Brown-Peanuts fan and classic animation in general. Continue your collection, because we get another classic special we never had on DVD before and also remastered for the first time on DVD. This is totally worth it! Warner continues to do a wonderful job with the remastering and the behind the scenes extras for each set. Let's hope they continue to release more Peanuts specials and eventually we get them all remastered in our personal libraries! We still need volume two of the '70s collection of Peanuts, so hopefully that is out by the summer at least. So start singing Happiness because you'll be very happy after you watch this classic special!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(4/5 stars)
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Charlie Brown Official Page
Charlie Brown Specials
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Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of March 18)
Tuesday, March 19
- Tracy Morgan (The Last O.G./30 Rock/The Tracy Morgan Show) - Catch Tracy on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Leslie Bibb (Palm Royale/God's Favorite Idiot/American Housewife/The Odd Couple/About a Boy) - Leslie appears on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
- Brendan Hunt (Ted Lasso), Marc Maron (GLOW/Maron) and Zainab Johnson (Upload) - Brendan, Marc and Zainab are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Hilary Swank (Camp Wilder) - NBC's Today catches up with Hilary in the 10am hour.
- The cast of Girls5eva) - Busy Philipps, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Paula Pell and Sara Bareilles are guests on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family/The Class) - Jesse talks about his podcast Dinner's On Me on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Annie Potts (Young Sheldon/Over the Top/Love & War/Designing Women/Goodtime Girls) - Annie talks about her legendary career and new film, Ghostbuster: Frozen Empire, on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Joe Manganiello (How I Met Your Mother) - Joe stops by Tamron hall to chat about hosting the new Deal or No Deal Island, so check your local listings.
New on DVD/Blu-ray (November-March)
11/07 - South Park - The Complete Twenty-Sixth Season (Blu-ray) (DVD)
11/14 - Leave it to Beaver - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/05 - Father Knows Best - The Complete Series
12/05 - The Odd Couple - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
12/12 - The Dick Van Dyke Show - The Complete Series
12/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 2 (Blu-ray)
12/12 - That Girl - The Complete Series
12/15 - Letterkenny - Season 11
12/19 - The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet - The Official Restored Complete Series
12/22 - Three's Company - The Official 40th Anniversary Collection (includes The Ropers and Three's a Crowd)
01/09 - South Park - Seasons 11-15 (Blu-ray)
01/16 - Ghosts (UK) - Season Five
02/13 - Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/27 - The Really Loud House - Season One
03/12 - Ghosts (UK) - The Complete Series
03/12 - Looney Tunes Collector's Choice - Volume 3 (Blu-ray)
03/12 - Rick and Morty - Season 7 (Blu-ray Steelbook) (Blu-ray) (DVD)
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