Yeah, I can see why they did it in the musical (although maybe they could have come up with a workaround). Having Snoopy not talk but still be able to communicate is charming.
Adults also were present and spoke in the absolutely terrible "This is America, Charlie Brown" TV miniseries that ran in 1988. On paper it must've been a good idea--get the Peanuts gang to do an infotainment journey from Plymouth Rock through the space age, but in reality it was just... bad. This was the era of a slew of Peanuts direct-to-video shorts and Schulz was clearly past his prime at this point.
One can get away with a talking Snoopy in a live stage production, but other than that, there are problems. I remember as a kid being disturbed by the live-action broadcast of "You're a Good Man" back in 1973: https://youtu.be/ko33ihjklKQ?si=-lhXrbVzTFI6uAon
80s Peanuts become hit or miss. It seems like a given that they would have had a successful TV series during this era. The direction they took though was not hit TV material.
The Saturday morning "Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show" is largely forgotten but ran for two seasons in the 80s. Relying on stories adapted from the daily strips, it compared favorably to the specials from the 70s despite some obvious budget shortcuts. I didn't watch it at the time but found VHS copies for my kids.
I think the animus toward 'talking' Snoopy by people older than me is a little weird, reminiscent of how everyone older than me seems to hate Scrappy Doo. It's not like it's some kind of big character betrayal; if anything, it's closer to the strips. Whatever.
I had a talking Snoopy toy from Worlds of Wonder, that worked like Teddy Ruxpin, with the cassete tapes in the back. His voice was the Ninja Turtles actor. I really loved some of the tapes, especially the US history songs. Thankfully someone uploaded them to Youtube so I could share them with my kids.
Love Scrappy Doo. Like anything it's about what you grew up with or were first exposed to. I find a non-talking Snoopy in the cartoons very charming but as Melendez said, it didn't make sense. He has words in the comics, why shouldn't he have some voice, even if it's internal.
I wonder if Schulz was concerned c about getting the voice wrong or just couldn't hear it. Whatever the case, I like that he pushed back against it. That it became a "rule" and one that will immediately be broken.
I wonder if Schulz's response had something to do with a certain segment of the Peanuts fans who hated Snoopy, thinking he had taken over the comics. We tend to think that this is an Internet-age phenomenon, but as the comic book letters pages show, people were not shy about snail-mailing their complaints about the creators artistic decisions.
This was wonderful! I enjoyed reading this post. The thought of Snoopy with a human voice is disturbing! The beauty of all the Charlie Brown specials was having “no adult” voices at all! Using the trombone for the teachers voice was brilliant! I’m a lover of early Charlie Brown and I don’t care for change!!! Loved this post😊
A talking Snoopy sounds weird. It works in the stage musical, but it was never necessary in the cartoon.
Yeah, I can see why they did it in the musical (although maybe they could have come up with a workaround). Having Snoopy not talk but still be able to communicate is charming.
Adults also were present and spoke in the absolutely terrible "This is America, Charlie Brown" TV miniseries that ran in 1988. On paper it must've been a good idea--get the Peanuts gang to do an infotainment journey from Plymouth Rock through the space age, but in reality it was just... bad. This was the era of a slew of Peanuts direct-to-video shorts and Schulz was clearly past his prime at this point.
One can get away with a talking Snoopy in a live stage production, but other than that, there are problems. I remember as a kid being disturbed by the live-action broadcast of "You're a Good Man" back in 1973: https://youtu.be/ko33ihjklKQ?si=-lhXrbVzTFI6uAon
80s Peanuts become hit or miss. It seems like a given that they would have had a successful TV series during this era. The direction they took though was not hit TV material.
The Saturday morning "Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show" is largely forgotten but ran for two seasons in the 80s. Relying on stories adapted from the daily strips, it compared favorably to the specials from the 70s despite some obvious budget shortcuts. I didn't watch it at the time but found VHS copies for my kids.
I think the animus toward 'talking' Snoopy by people older than me is a little weird, reminiscent of how everyone older than me seems to hate Scrappy Doo. It's not like it's some kind of big character betrayal; if anything, it's closer to the strips. Whatever.
I had a talking Snoopy toy from Worlds of Wonder, that worked like Teddy Ruxpin, with the cassete tapes in the back. His voice was the Ninja Turtles actor. I really loved some of the tapes, especially the US history songs. Thankfully someone uploaded them to Youtube so I could share them with my kids.
Love Scrappy Doo. Like anything it's about what you grew up with or were first exposed to. I find a non-talking Snoopy in the cartoons very charming but as Melendez said, it didn't make sense. He has words in the comics, why shouldn't he have some voice, even if it's internal.
I wonder if Schulz was concerned c about getting the voice wrong or just couldn't hear it. Whatever the case, I like that he pushed back against it. That it became a "rule" and one that will immediately be broken.
I wonder if Schulz's response had something to do with a certain segment of the Peanuts fans who hated Snoopy, thinking he had taken over the comics. We tend to think that this is an Internet-age phenomenon, but as the comic book letters pages show, people were not shy about snail-mailing their complaints about the creators artistic decisions.
This was wonderful! I enjoyed reading this post. The thought of Snoopy with a human voice is disturbing! The beauty of all the Charlie Brown specials was having “no adult” voices at all! Using the trombone for the teachers voice was brilliant! I’m a lover of early Charlie Brown and I don’t care for change!!! Loved this post😊
I prefer to not remember that the "rules" have been broken many times. The creative decisions to focus on this magical kids world is so charming.
I write about dogs that can talk but I created plausible reasons for it. Whereas Snoopy doing it is rather odd.
It seems so "right" that he doesn't speak. Funny that it could have gone either way at one point. Glad Schulz pushed back.
I remember having an argument with another boy as a child on whether Snoopy talked or not. I was convinced he did because of the speech bubbles lol