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
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SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
Charlie Brown Official Page
Charlie Brown Specials
Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows
Saturday, July 12
Mind Your Business - "Love Child" (Bounce TV, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Alfonso and Aaliyah's world is flipped upside down when their mother's secret love child comes into town, while Mia tries to figure out who is sending her gifts every hour on the hour.
Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of July 7)
Friday, July 11
- Aparna Nancherla (The Great North/Fairview/Corporate) and Whitney Cummings (Whitney) - Aparna and Whitney are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
- Malachi Barton (Stuck in the Middle) and Meg Donnelly (American Housewife) - Malachi and Meg discuss Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires and perform on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am. They will also be on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
- Jean Smart (Hacks/Samantha Who?/Center of the Universe/In-Laws/Style & Substance/Designing Women) - Jean chats with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
- Patton Oswalt (A.P. Bio/The Goldbergs/The King of Queens) - Patton talks about Black Coffee and Ice Water on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Margaret Cho (All-American Girl) and Joel Kim Booster (Loot/Shrill) - CBS News contributor Lisa Ling talks with Margaret and Joel on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
- Krysten Ritter (Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23) - Tamron Hall (repeat) has a DAYTIME EXCLUSIVE sitdown with actress/director/author Krysten Ritter who recently released her new thriller/mystery novel Retreat, so check your local listings.
- Maggie Q (Pivoting) - Maggie Q talks about Prime's Ballard on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
- Tisha Campbell (Act Your Age/Uncoupled/Outmatched/Dr. Ken/Rita Rocks/My Wife and Kids/Martin) and Wendy Raquel Robinson (Poppa's House/The Game/Here We Go Again/The Steve Harvey Show/Minor Adjustments) - Tisha and Wendy chat about their film Operation: Aunties on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings. They will also be on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:30am.
- David Zayas (The Bear/Saint George) - David appears on PIX11 Morning News on WPIX in New York at 9:40am.
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