Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown + It’s The
Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown – Remastered Deluxe Editions (Warner Home
Video)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C Extras: B-/B Main Programs: B-
The
Peanuts Gang continues to be one of the all-time comic strip classics and their
best selling catalog of animated TV classics has now switched rights to Warner
Bros. and is now being reissued in upgraded DVD editions. The first titles chosen are Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown and It’s The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. There are actually five specials over two
discs, but in the case of the Valentine
show, the main show is not the best.
You’re In Love, Charlie Brown was made in 1967, has the best
dialogue, story, use of color and the original voice cast (all of whom remain
the most charming) and It’s Your First
Kiss, Charlie Brown ten years later.
The main program was from 1975, but does not have the smooth energy and
approach of the ’67 show, plus it lost some of its original voices. All are good, yet as they made more, the
shows became more typical and less special.
Fortunately for the Easter
disc, that 1974 special is a one of the kind, It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (1976) is the only bonus show and one
of the most underrated of all the specials and has some howler moments rarely
matched.
It is odd
it has particularly been lost in some “strange shuffle” since the 1980s, but is
nice to see it back here looking decent.
Can’t wait for the Blu-rays.
The 1.33
X 1 image on all programs has improved color, less aliasing and slightly more
depth and detail than the older Paramount-issued DVDs, yet the Dolby Digital
1.0 Mono is not as good as the Dolby 2.0 Mono on the older Paramounts, so there
is improvement at a price. Too bad
Warner and the Schultz estate did not try simple stereo upgrades on these
classic shows. The only extras besides
the extra shows noted above are featurettes about each main special. Unlucky
At Love: An Unrequited Love Story is about the real life love that Schultz
had that inspired the Valentine story,
while In Full Bloom: Peanuts At Easter
is as entertaining.
Hope the
next reissues are at least as good.
- Nicholas Sheffo
