The VHS/DVD cover.
"Joy to the world."
— Linus van Pelt
The 36th Peanuts TV Special, It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown originally aired on CBS on November 27, 1992.
The spiritual successor to A Charlie Brown Christmas, this special opts for a vignette format showing what sorts of antics the Peanuts characters get into around the holiday season. There's more of a focus on the secular aspects of Christmas, but some focus is still given to the religious aspects of it. Similarly to other vignette-style Peanuts specials, a majority of the vignettes are directly adapted from the comic strip (the wreath and Nativity play subplots had previously been adapted into the short "Play" in the series finale of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show in 1985).
It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown is notable for being the final Peanuts special to be broadcast on CBS. The next Peanuts special (1994's You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown) aired on NBC, before they released two straight to video, ultimately returning to network TV on ABC in 2000.
It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown contains examples of:
- Art Evolution: A minor example. As this was the second special not to be animated completely in America (here being assisted by Wang Film Productions in Taiwan, who previously animated Snoopy's Reunion), the animation and art are slightly different in this one and shifts between the usual Limited Animation style, and the more bouncy style of Wang.
- Butt-Monkey: Bizarrely enough, it's Linus who suffers the most this special; not Charlie Brown. From being repeatedly cut off by Sally, to being tricked by Woodstock and the Beagle Scouts, to Snoopy dressed as Santa Claus jumpscaring him with a horn, to the three separate mishaps with his box sled.Linus: Here we go! We put it in fast-forward, and here we go! (slides backwards) Fast-reverse...
- Call-Back: Like in A Charlie Brown Christmas, Linus recites Luke 2:8-14 when someone asks him what the True Meaning of Christmas is. This time, however, he gives up because Sally keeps talking over him.
- Cartoonland Time: Peppermint Patty needs a refresher on what book she needs to read during Thanksgiving vacation, but then Marcie reveals that they're already on Christmas vacation.
- Christmas Creep: Charlie Brown attempts to sell Christmas wreaths door-to-door before it's even Thanksgiving, resulting in several potential customers slamming the door in his face once he starts up his sales pitch.
- Comically Missing the Point:
- When Charlie Brown attempts to sell his Joe Garagiola-autographed baseball, one child asks...Customer: Do you have a Billie Jean King?
- Peppermint Patty watches the BBC adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities so she doesn't have to worry about reading the book, but is left confused about the parts with the shampoo, the soap, and the coffee.Marcie: Those were the commercials, sir.
- When Charlie Brown attempts to sell his Joe Garagiola-autographed baseball, one child asks...
- Exact Words: Sally asks Snoopy disguised as Santa where his helpers are. Cue three of the Beagle Scouts walking by holding picket signs that say "HELP".
- Failed a Spot Check: Marcie attempts to join in the standing during the hallelujah chorus of Handel's "Messiah", but she doesn't realize that she's standing on top of her foldable seat, causing her to be flipped backwards.
- The Freelance Shame Squad: Sally accidentally says "hockey stick" instead of "hark" during the pageant, which results in everyone in the theater laughing at her.
- Freudian Slip: Sally, being an angel for the school Christmas pageant, is instructed to say, "hark." When she's on stage, she accidentally says, "hockey stick," and nobody, not even her, knows why she said it. However, right before she left to attend the pageant, she walked by Charlie Brown, who was holding a hockey stick himself.
- In-Universe Factoid Failure: When Peppermint Patty is writing her essay on George Handel's "Messiah", neither her nor Marcie happen to know Handel's first name, leading her to guess that it's Joe.
- Ironic Echo: According to Linus, Lucy said last Christmas, "Why do we have to be nice to each other only on Christmas? Why can't we be nice to each other every day?" When she tries to force Linus to leave his television chair, he reminds her that she said that, causing Lucy to angrily storm off in defeat.
- Lady Mondegreen: In-Universe. Based on the phrase, "Merry Christmas," Sally comes to the conclusion that the name of Santa Claus' wife is "Mary Christmas".
- Never Learned to Read: Sally, writing a letter to Santa Claus, asks Charlie Brown, her own brother, how to spell his name. She gives up, addressing him as Sam, since she knows how to spell that.
- Not Listening to Me, Are You?: After Sally asks about the True Meaning of Christmas, Linus once again attempts to recite Luke 2:8-14, but Sally keeps talking over him about meaningless tangents. Linus eventually decides to just give up.Sally: Is that it? I thought the Christmas story would be longer than that.
- One-Line Anxiety:
- Peppermint Patty is worried that she'll end up flubbing her one line as a sheep, causing her to repeatedly say it out loud during other scenes. Once it comes time for her to actually say it, she indeed flubs the line.Franklin: I am Gabriel, Mary, and I couldn't hear you because of the sheep.
Peppermint Patty: Woof! Meow! MOO! ...Whatever. - Sally practices her one line — "Hark!" — over and over, but when it's her turn, she blurts out "Hockey stick!" instead.
- Peppermint Patty is worried that she'll end up flubbing her one line as a sheep, causing her to repeatedly say it out loud during other scenes. Once it comes time for her to actually say it, she indeed flubs the line.
- Playing a Tree: Peppermint Patty complains about having to play a sheep in the Christmas play.
- Punny Name: Harold Angel is cast in the Christmas pageant as a herald angel.
- Repeated Rehearsal Failure: Sally is constantly practicing her line for the Christmas play, which consists solely of the word "Hark!" Come the actual performance, she suddenly exclaims "Hockey stick!" instead, much to her dismay and humiliation.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Charlie Brown ends up selling his comic book collection in order to purchase a pair of gloves for Peggy Jean. Lo and behold, as he's purchasing the gloves, Peggy Jean spots him, and reveals that she got a pair of gloves for herself while shopping with her mother.
- Vaudeville Hook: After Peppermint Patty completely botches her line in the play, Marcie hauls her friend offstage with her prop cane.Peppermint Patty: And a partridge in a pear tree...
