This is a list of adaptations in film and television, based on characters from the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz.
Charles Schulz's classic comic strip Peanuts started in 1950. Fifteen years later, A Charlie Brown Christmas debuted. When The Little Christmas Special that Could proved to be an unexpected success, the stage was set for successive television specials. To date, over forty have been made. The Charlie Brown specials focus on one round-headed kid, his goofy but intelligent beagle, and their vast array of friends. Each has distinctive qualities: Lucy, the crabby, self-proclaimed psychiatrist; Linus, the blanket-toting theologian; Schroeder, the Beethoven worshiper whose black piano keys are only painted on; Peppermint Patty, the tomboy whose affections toward "Chuck" are only outweighed by her sports abilities; and so on. The wit, the charm, the pleasantness of these specials make them appropriate not just for children, but for the whole family.
The Peanuts are celebrating the start of the winter season by ice skating on a frozen pond and singing "Christmas Time Is Here." Leaning against a nearby fence, Charlie Brown tells Linus van Pelt that despite all the traditions of Christmas presents, Christmas cards and decorations, he still winds up depressed, but is not sure why. Linus dismisses Charlie Brown's attitude as typical, quoting Lucy: "Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest."
After Charlie Brown's team loses their first game of the season (123-0), his team throw down their caps in disgust and quit. Frustrated and depressed, Charlie Brown wanders around aimlessly until Linus meets him with good news: Mr. Hennessey, operator of a local hardware store, is offering to sponsor Charlie Brown's team, place them in an organized league, and even buy them new uniforms. While Linus is inflating a pool, Charlie Brown's sister, Sally, appears in her bikini bathing suit.
It is late spring and school is about to let out for summer vacation, but Charlie Brown is upset about everything, mostly due to feeling disliked and ostracized by his schoolmates. On the way to school, he meets Linus van Pelt and tells him he is frustrated that he cannot enjoy himself like all the other kids at school. But when he notices the Little Red-Haired Girl sitting on a passing bus, Linus immediately realizes that Charlie Brown is in love. Sally Brown does appear and is in love with Linus as usual.
Snoopy is beginning to get into constant mischief, angering the other children in Charlie Brown's neighborhood. They demand that Charlie Brown do something about it "Because he's your dog, Charlie Brown!" Charlie Brown then writes a letter to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm, asking them to take Snoopy back and teach him some manners. Snoopy tries pulling sick looks to get out of his punishment, but Charlie Brown tells him it is for his own good. Charlie Brown decides to call Peppermint Patty to ask if she will house Snoopy for a day, as the trip to the farm is too long to take in a single day. Peppermint Patty agrees.
School is out for the summer and Charlie, Linus, Schroeder, and Pig Pen are planning to spend it reading every comic book, watching television, playing baseball, and playing classical music. However, Lucy tells them that she signed them up for camp. The girls are eager to go, but the boys hate the idea. (Charlie adds that it's like finding out that he was Conscription in the United States.) The boys shove each other to get on the bus, while the girls line up in order. At camp, Charlie is chosen as captain of the boys' camp. The boys and girls have a swim race which the girls win easily. Then they have a softball game, which the boys lose with only one run. Other competitions are just as lopsided.
When Charlie Brown's baseball team loses the first Little League game of the season, he becomes convinced that he will never win anything. Linus van Pelt encourages him to maintain a positive attitude and suggests that people learn more from losing. When Charlie Brown remains morose ("That makes me the smartest person in the world," he says), Linus assures him that he will eventually win at something...but then promptly makes a liar of himself by beating Charlie at a game of tic-tac-toe. That night, Snoopy has a nightmare where he is a World War I flying ace, and is shot down while fighting an aerial battle with an unshown enemy (presumably the Manfred von Richthofen), and he takes over Charlie Brown's bed. When Charlie Brown stops at Lucy van Pelt's psychiatric help booth, she prepares slides to show him all of his faults; the experience only leaves him more depressed. On the way to school the next day, Lucy jokingly suggests that Charlie Brown enter the school spelling bee. Linus, however, considers it a good idea and encourages him despite the jeers of Lucy, Violet (Peanuts), and Patty (Peanuts) ("Failure Face").
This special focuses on Lucy van Pelt's infatuation with Schroeder (Peanuts), and her willingness to do anything to win his affections away from his unshakable devotion to classical music, particularly Ludwig Van Beethoven.
Snoopy and the rest of the ''Peanuts'' gang go to the beach for the day. Once there, Snoopy promises to go back to the beach the next day to meet up with Peppermint Patty. After Charlie Brown has gone home to play ''Monopoly (game)'' with the others, he notices Snoopy is late and remarks he is tired of Snoopy being late. The next day, Snoopy is thrown off the beach due to a new "No Dogs Allowed on this beach" rule (thus setting a running gag in the film). Then Snoopy gets thrown out of a library due to his disruptive behavior and another "No Dogs Allowed in library" rule. He then gets into a fight with Linus van Pelt over his blanket, and later beats Lucy van Pelt in a boxing match.
Sally Brown comes home and tells Charlie Brown that she is never going to school again out of frustration with opening her locker ("I can't get my stupid locker open!") The next day, Charlie Brown promises he will help with her locker. He tells her that some lockers are a little difficult and touchy, and she needs to make sure the numbers are just right. But Sally tells him that is not the problem, the problem is she cannot reach it to open it. He does not know what to say so Sally brings him into her classroom for something else: to use him as her show-and-tell presentation, much to his embarrassment. After this, Charlie sees a poster that says "Student Body President Election". Linus van Pelt thinks that would be a good job for Charlie, but Lucy van Pelt thinks Linus would be the better candidate. Also running is a student named Russell Anderson. Linus runs for the office with a vigorous and enthusiastic campaign, taking an early lead in the Opinion poll.
Most of the Peanuts gang is having trouble at school, but none more than Charlie Brown. In fact, he is told that he needs an "A" on a field trip report on an art museum or he will fail his grade. Unfortunately, Peppermint Patty, over-tired by Marcie waking her up at 4:00 in the morning, inadvertently distracts Charlie Brown and his sister from their group and they all mistake a neighboring supermarket for the art museum. Even as they try to understand why all the displays are for sale so cheaply, Patty's weariness and her own ambivalent feelings about Chuck causes her to blurt out some hurtful comments about him. Now, Charlie Brown is going to have to realize his basic mistake in his report, while Marcie and Peppermint Patty search for a way of making amends to the boy they both secretly like in their own way.
Peppermint Patty invites herself and her friends over to Charlie Brown's for Thanksgiving, and with Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock, he attempts to throw together a Thanksgiving dinner.
When Woodstock's fancy new nest disappears one afternoon, he turns to Snoopy for help. Adopting the guise of Sherlock Holmes (complete with cloak, deerstalker cap and bubble pipe), Snoopy and Woodstock go on the hunt for the missing nest.
Linus van Pelt is fond of his teacher, Miss Othmar. To prove his point, he buys her a huge heart-shaped box of chocolates. However, Violet (Peanuts) warns him it is probably not smart to fall in love with a teacher. But Linus says that he is fond of the ground she walks on. When he leaves Sally Brown believes that Linus bought the candy for her, and decides to make him a valentine in return. Later, Lucy van Pelt goes to a puppet show held by Snoopy. At the concession stand, Lucy asks for popcorn. However, because Snoopy cannot understand Lucy he gives her candy, then soda, and finally (as having been requesting all along) popcorn. With Charlie Brown narrating the show, Snoopy tells a story about true lovers that is a little too interactive for Lucy's taste.
The cartoon begins with Snoopy playing tennis against Woodstock while Linus and Sally are unable to play due to the courts being occupied. (Sally tries to intimidate those playing by stating "her boyfriend" was going to clobber them, causing Linus to flee.) After failing to beat Woodstock, Snoopy destroys his racket in frustration.
Linus van Pelt repairs his Mother's bike with Charlie Brown watching. Linus's Mother leaves with Rerun van Pelt on the back seat. Rerun goes through all the places they are set to visit, including the Arbor Day meeting. After Sally Brown is humiliated in class for misunderstanding the purpose of Arbor Day, she is told that she has to write a full report on Arbor day, and Linus goes with her to the library to help her with the report. Linus leaves the library after Sally's repeated attempts to make him fall in love with her. The scene cuts to Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty talking under a tree. Patty askes Charlie Brown to explain love to her, before she cuts him out several times. She switches the topic to baseball, going over the time her team plays his team, confident that she will win over him every time. Sally, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy and Woodstock (Peanuts) decides to plant a lush garden—in Charlie Brown's baseball field, despite Linus's protests. Lucy then calls in the whole team to help with the planting. Charlie Brown is unaware on what is actually going on, and stays at home to work on his team's strategy. The gang informs Charlie Brown that they will name the field Charlie Brown field, to his happiness. He is shocked to find what has happened to the field when they show him. Charlie Brown tries to make the best of the situation by placing baseball gloves and Baseball cap on the trees. The trees catch so many fly outs, neither team is able to score. Schroeder (Peanuts) tells Lucy van Pelt that he will kiss her if she hits a home run. To Schroeder's surprise and Charlie Brown's delight, Lucy hits the home run and scores the first Run (baseball) of the game. Moments later, Charlie Brown's joy turns to anguish as the game is rained out in a huge storm. His team wins so rarely, he accepts the Rainout (sports) as a ''de facto'' victory.
It's homecoming at Charlie Brown's school, and he and Linus van Pelt are among the escorts for the Homecoming Queen and her court. During the Homecoming Parade, Linus tells Charlie Brown that he (Charlie Brown) will be the escort for the Queen, but he is shocked when he sees she is none other than the Little Red-Haired Girl herself (whose name is said to be Heather, though neither her name nor appearance were chosen by Schulz). He is even more shocked when Linus tells him about the Homecoming tradition—that he has to escort Heather and give her a kiss before the first dance. Upon hearing this, he hyperventilates and falls off the float.
The ''Peanuts'' gang heads off to Camp Remote somewhere in the mountains. Charlie Brown is accidentally left behind by the bus while at a desolate rest stop. He is then forced to hitch a harrowing ride on Snoopy's motorcycle in order to make the rest of the journey to the camp, accompanied by rock guitar type riffs while he is shouting in fear at Snoopy's wild driving.
One winter day, Charlie Brown is trying to pretend to be a musher with Snoopy, but the dog has other ideas and gets Charlie Brown to pull while he has fun riding in the sled. When night comes and they are comfortably indoors, Charlie Brown is indignant that Snoopy is adjusting too well to home life, reminding Snoopy of facts that Arctic dogs are only fed once a day, their meals largely consisting of cold meat and raw fish (to which Snoopy blanches and gives a look of "it's too bad to be them") and coming to the conclusion that Snoopy is "an overly civilized, underly 'dogified' dog". Snoopy makes a sumptuous dinner of five pizzas and a milkshake, to which Charlie Brown retorts he hopes Snoopy can digest all that food. Snoopy then falls asleep atop his doghouse, but when he wakes up he finds himself in a polar region, to which he is made a sled dog of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska, presumably during the Klondike Gold Rush or the 1925 serum run to Nome.
Charlie Brown enters the Junior Olympics decathlon - and one of his rivals is a certain masked beagle!
Peppermint Patty is practicing figure skating with her coach Snoopy (in a role modeled on real-life skating coach Carlo Fassi) for an upcoming competition, but the many days of getting up to practice at 4:30 A.M. are starting to take their toll, and she falls asleep constantly in class. One of her practices is halted briefly when a group of ten hockey players threatens her if she does not leave the ice so they can play. Patty and Snoopy take care of the situation by shoving the lead hockey players on each squad, causing both teams of hockey players to fall on top of each other like dominoes and be swept off the ice by Snoopy.
Snoopy is lying on top of his doghouse when he hears music. He follows the music and finds a circus unloading. Among other animals, he sees three poodles, and immediately latches onto the white one (whom the audience later learns is named ''Fifi''). He follows her to the entrance of the big top with his tongue hanging out and his pupils shaped like hearts, then stops. Polly, the dog's trainer, sees Snoopy and pulls him inside.
Charlie Brown and his friends travel to Europe as exchange students.
A large stuffed Snoopy toy goes astray at an airport baggage area, and gets involved with various travelers.
Charlie Brown is watching a football game on television when he spots a girl from a honey shot in the stands that just made his heart melt. He is then crushed when the game ends and he feels he may never see her again. Not determined to lose what he feels is his true love, he enlists Linus to help him find her.
Charlie Brown is having hallucinations as a result of a rash on the back of his head resembling the stitchings of a baseball, most notably seeing the rising sun as a baseball. He goes to camp to take his mind off of baseball with a paper sack on his head to cover up said rash and is suddenly elected camp president as the other kids find his appearance cool. But then he removes his sack the next morning and becomes uncool again. He watches the sun rise, fearing that it will appear as a rising baseball. Instead, the sun is replaced with MAD Magazine mascot Alfred E. Neuman.
The special opens with Charlie Brown back home, assembling a photo album of pictures taken from the trip. His younger sister, Sally, approaches and asks him how it went. From there, it is shown in a flashback:
Charlie Brown, his dog Snoopy, and the whole Peanuts gang enter the television world in their very own television series shown weekly, followed by comic strips drawn and written by creator, Charles M. Schulz. With the help of Bill and Lee Melendez, these wonderful comic characters have very different and strange personalities that make each scene very humorous and unique. Character Guide Charlie Brown - Charlie Brown is a boy who has a dull life, and is constantly worrying about everything. He loves playing baseball, but his team never wins a game. There are some strange things happening in his life such as the attitude and actions of his dog, Snoopy and a kite-devouring tree that swallows all of the kites that he tries to fly. He is referred to a "blockhead" or "wishy-washy" and always puts himself down. Whenever he tries to kick a football that Lucy is holding down, she pulls it away, and Charlie goes flying in the air. She also helps Charlie Brown for five cents at her Ps
While all the kids are happy that they get time off for Christmas vacation, (somehow only) Charlie Brown is made to write a book report on ''War and Peace'' by Leo Tolstoy. There is one major distraction on his mind, the big new year's party all of his friends are attending, with Peppermint Patty continuously convincing him to attend. Charlie tries inviting the object of his desires, the Little Red-Haired Girl, but gets his hand caught in the mail slot. With the party on his mind, he attempts to try to find another way to write the report, even going to a bookstore to find an audiobook and computer game of it, all to no avail. While at the party, he tries to finish the book on the front porch of the house, but falls asleep and misses the clock's striking of midnight but is more devastated to find out that Linus ended up dancing with the Little Red-Haired Girl, who showed up after all. In the end of the special, Charlie hands his book report to the teacher, and gets a D minus. Despite the poor grade, Charlie Brown is proud that he made an honest effort and avoided an outright failure. However, the teacher announces that the entire class will be made to read and report on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's ''Crime and Punishment'', and Charlie Brown is back to his usual "Good grief!" mode.
Charlie Brown and Snoopy receive a letter from Snoopy's desert dwelling brother, Spike recounting his relationship with a live-action woman.
"This Is America, Charlie Brown" sets the familiar "Peanuts" characters into scenes of American history: on the Mayflower, at the signing of the Constitution, at Kitty Hawk with the Wright Brothers, on the NASA space station, etc.
Janice Emmons is a new friend and classmate of Charlie Brown and Linus van Pelt, who loves to play on the Swing (seat). The special begins with Charlie Brown, Sally, Linus, and Janice waiting for the school bus. As Janice boards the bus, she hits her arm on a railing, causing it to bruise; Linus notices that Janice has been bruising easily lately. When they arrive at school, Janice starts feeling ill. She tells Linus that she is feeling tired and has a fever, so she is sent to the school nurse and is later picked up by her mother. Three days later, the class is told that Janice is in the hospital.
''It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown'' is composed of several Christmas-themed story lines, all taken directly from the ''Peanuts'' comic strip:
The special begins with Snoopy, as the world-famous Coach, getting his football team, The Birds, ready. It consists entirely of Woodstock (Peanuts) and his tiny friends. The announcer says, this game will decide the Eastern Champ for the "AFL" (Animal Football League). They are playing the team "The Cats" a ferocious group of cats. The Birds crush The Cats, 38–0, making them the Eastern champs. The team celebrates by Gatorade Shower (Chirpade is a parody of Gatorade).
Based on the legend of the Pied Piper, it stars Snoopy as the title character, who tries to rid the Peanuts' gang's hometown of mice by playing his concertina, in return for a year's supply of dog food.
The special consists of a series of vignettes, each one starring a different member of the ''Peanuts'' gang in various Christmastime situations, largely inspired by original ''Peanuts'' comic strips. The installments are as follows:
It's the beginning of baseball season, and Charlie Brown is looking forward to the new season with a mixture of joy and apprehension. The apprehension is mainly due to Lucy Van Pelt, who is constantly bothering him with idiotic questions, sarcastic remarks and non-sequiturs, to the point where poor Charlie literally becomes physically ill on the pitcher's mound.
Having seen the relationship between Snoopy and Charlie Brown, Rerun van Pelt is desperate for a dog of his own for Christmas. He asks Santa Claus for a dog. Unfortunately, his mother and older sister Lucy Van Pelt do not believe that he is old enough to care for a dog. Frustrated, Rerun asks Charlie Brown if he can play with Snoopy. While initially cooperative, Snoopy quickly tires of Rerun's idea of fun and games; after a while Snoopy begins to snub Rerun.
Twenty animated shorts bundled into ten episodes based on the art and writings of Charles Schulz. Each episode is taken from actual comic strips that Schulz created in the year 1964. Episodes range from stories about Christmas and Halloween, to school elections, baseball games in the summer, and Valentine Day crushes.
Snoopy embarks upon his greatest mission as he and his team take to the skies to pursue their archnemesis, while his best pal Charlie Brown begins his own epic quest back home to win the love of his life.
Blast off with Snoopy as he fulfills his dream to become a NASA astronaut. Joined by Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang, Snoopy takes command of the International Space Station and explores the moon and beyond.
Ron Howard and Jeff Goldblum discuss the 1969 NASA Apollo 10 mission that featured a lunar module named "Snoopy" skimming around the moon's surface in preparation for the Apollo 11 moon-landing.
Join the Peanuts gang to take care of yourself, each other, and the Earth! Take Care with Peanuts reminds us to press pause and appreciate ourselves, those around us, and this place we call home.
After finding out her grandmother won't be visiting for Christmas, Lucy decides to cheer herself up by throwing the ultimate New Year's Eve party. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown tries to fulfill one of his resolutions before the clock strikes midnight.
In celebration of Earth Day, “It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown” follows Sally’s bond with a special little flower on the baseball field that may spell disaster for the big game. For Charlie Brown and the team, it’s just the inspiration they need to make a positive impact on their environment.
Mother’s Day is almost here, and the gang is excited, except Peppermint Patty. For her, it’s a reminder that she didn’t grow up with a mom. But good pal Marcie helps Peppermint Patty see that families come in all shapes and sizes.
The Peanuts gang is anxious about starting at a new school in the fall, inspiring Lucy to start her own school instead. She soon learns that teaching isn't as easy as it sounds and that change can be a good thing.
One-of-a-Kind Marcie is the fiftieth Peanuts TV special based on the comic strip by Charles M. Schulz.
The origin story for one of Peanuts' most beloved characters, Franklin, follows how he approaches making new friends.
A television special celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Peanuts comic strip and the 15th anniversary of animated Peanuts specials on CBS.
