# Snoopy's great! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 2, 2019, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270 "2019-12-02T13:25:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/61 "2019-12-06T15:15:39Z")
For the same reason, I like the early strip where CB is shaking his fist and shouting, “I walked **two miles** to bring my dog to this park so he could frolic! I walked \*\*two miles \*\* to give my dog a chance to frolic! And when I walk \*\*two miles \*\* so my dog can frolic, he’d better frolic!” Meanwhile, Snoopy is running back and forth, shaking, almost in a spasm. Which reminds me: I finally tracked down a DVD copy of “What a Nightmare”: the special where Snoopy binges on pizza, CB tells him he’d never make it as a sled dog in Alaska, and Snoopy dreams about being on the Iditarod, freezing and being menaced by the other dogs. An indigestion dream; he wakes up when it’s ending badly. Quite a challenge for the writers, because the bulk of it is non-dialogue. (I haven’t watched it yet; it’s a Christmas present for Mr. Rilch.) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/62 "2019-12-06T15:51:30Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > For the same reason, I like the early strip where CB is shaking his fist and shouting, “I walked **two miles** to bring my dog to this park so he could frolic! I walked \*\*two miles \*\* to give my dog a chance to frolic! And when I walk \*\*two miles \*\* so my dog can frolic, he’d better frolic!” Meanwhile, Snoopy is running back and forth, shaking, almost in a spasm. I love that one! Snoopy has an expression like the woman in the Peloton commercial. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/63 "2019-12-06T15:55:10Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I haven’t seen the more recent Peanuts movie, is that any good, really? If it is, I will take a look, but there is something about the Peanuts movies and tv of the past that are special. Nostalgia, I guess. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > The recent Peanuts movie is awesome! It is clever and fun and well made. A purist might not like it because Charlie is not shit on through the whole movie. He actually wins in the end. > > And it’s still worth it if the only thing you see is the World War I flying ace sequences. I’ve not seen it yet, either, but I really like the style. It’s like an animated version of those old View-Master discs! ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/64 "2019-12-06T18:22:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I was going to say that you could separate it into two separate comic strips, one about Snoopy and one about everyone else. But I realized that that’s not exactly true: There’s significant interaction between Snoopy and Lucy (Eww! Dog kisses!) and Snoopy and Linus (fighting over his blanket). The better split might be the ones _focused_ on Snoopy (which includes his war fantasies, his conversations with Woodstock, the hints of his TARDIS doghouse, etc.), and the ones not focused on him (in which he acts, mostly, like a dog). Even that’s not a perfect fit, because you’ve still got the weird interactions with Peppermint Patty, who thinks of him as a “funny big-nosed kid”, but it’s closer. [This strip](https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2014/01/19) never fails to make me laugh (although I remember it being Lucy who was “menaced” by Snoopy. Oh well; still funny. “Unclean! Unclean!” 😃 > [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > The one where Linus was trying to break his security blanket addiction by giving his blanket to Snoopy who had it made into a sport coat. > > Linus screaming at Charlie Brown: Do you know what I just read in a medical journal? A person who gives his blanket to a dog who then has it made into a sport coat cannot possibly survive more than 24 hours!!! > > Charlie Brown: That must be an interesting medical journal. After Snoopy, Linus was my favorite. A bundle of contradictions: intelligent and erudite, and yet unshakable in his faith for a mythical figure who rises out of the pumpkin patch every Halloween. Go figure. > [@GMANCANADA](#): > > I think the whole Peanuts comics is a great indication of how society has changed (probably for the better IMHO) since “we were kids”. > > My wife and I were always big Peanuts fans, (I had Peanuts / Snoopy bedding, towels, apparel, stuffed dolls etc) so a few years ago when our kids were mid & early teens we put on the Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin Halloween special. Both our kids went absolutely bananas and couldn’t watch it. > > “This entire show is condoning bullying and making it look like a fun thing!” > “Look at way Lucy treats people, how can you find this funny?!?!?” > “These people are terrible friends, Charlie Brown gets treated like garbage by everyone.” > “Friends support each other, not tear each other down!” > > My grade 9 daughter even talked about how if Charlie Brown was a friend of her’s she’d be pushing him to get counselling for his obvious mental health issues. My head was spinning! > > After that lecture from our kids, my wife an I had a whole different perspective on Peanuts. I can certainly see their point. It had never really occurred to me that the whole Lucy / Charlie Brown dynamic glorifies the bully and laughs at victim in an abusive relationship. > > BTW - we did try to sell our kids on the charm of Snoopy, but at that point they were way to repulsed by the rest to care. > > We never even attempted the Xmas Special. My late wife had some of these same objections. I’d point out that, yes, Charlie Brown gets treated like garbage a lot. However, most of the time his friends (belatedly) realize that his heart is in the right place and repent. Also, CB himself, while occasionally miserably, has a near-unshakable optimistic outlook on life. Yes, this leads him to try to kick the football and miss time and again, but it also drives Lucy and the other detractors batty when CB exclaims how his dad is always happy to see him at his barber shop, and this makes his day. Also, his excursion to summer camp, which he anticipated would be a hellish experience, turned out a revelation that his level-headedness was a positive trait that many people would appreciate. Besides, Peanuts had cool merch. Nuff Said. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/65 "2019-12-06T18:58:42Z")
I can’t find the strip, but I always liked Linus’s philosophy of “runism”. > [@](#): > > There is no problem so big or complicated that it can’t be run away from. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/66 "2019-12-06T19:05:43Z")
I searched for the above quote and found the date. > **[Peanuts by Charles Schulz for February 27, 1963 | GoComics.com](https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1963/02/27)** > > Charlie Brown walks with Linus. Linus drags his blanket and says, "I don't like to face problems head on." Linus continues, "I think the best way to solve problems is to avoid them." Linus says, "This is a distinct philosophy of mine . . ." ... ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/67 "2019-12-06T21:18:09Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > When the strip started out, it was a bit darker and depression, existential ennui, neurotic behavior etc. were shown, filtered through the ‘little folks’ - out of the mouths of babes! Actually, that’s not true at all. For its first several years, _Peanuts_ was primarily a standard gag strip, with very little of the psychological angle it later became known for. Charlie Brown, for example, used to regularly wisecrack to Lucy, causing her to chase him off-screen in the final panel (with him usually chortling “It’s risky, but I get my laughs!”). Though he was still picked on to an extent, he wasn’t nearly the doormat he later became, and was triumphant just as often as he was beaten down. My favorite, a line I used regularly on my kids when they were growing up — Lucy, with sweat emanating from her brow: “Boy, am I hot!” CB: “Are you hot, Lucy?” Lucy: “I sure am.” CB: “You don’t look so hot to me!” _[Exits on the run with line quoted above.]_ (OK, so it’s a dad joke, but this is from 1952; give me a break!) Schulz later said he wasn’t proud of his early work. But IMHO, it was often very good — in a completely different way from his later approach. Not all strips were great, of course, but there are many that still make me laugh out loud. I’d have to take a closer look to see exactly when the darker themes started rearing their heads, but it definitely took a few years. Back to the thread topic, while I enjoy Snoopy from time to time, some of his more fantasy-fueled exploits get a little tiresome. I tend to enjoy the interactions of the kids more. (And yes, Linus is my favorite.) My wife is an enormous _Peanuts_ fan, and luckily, I have long appreciated the strip too. We are especially agreed on one point: it’s absolutely remarkable what Schulz, who drew every one of the 17,000+ strips himself, could do with the smallest variation of a pen stroke to convey an entire range of emotions — from hilarious to deeply touching. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/68 "2019-12-06T21:57:05Z")
It’s also worth pointing out that, despite what they say, everyone genuinely does seem to like Charlie Brown. I mean, why does everyone let him be the captain, and play on his baseball team? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/69 "2019-12-06T23:05:24Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s also worth pointing out that, despite what they say, everyone genuinely does seem to like Charlie Brown. I mean, why does everyone let him be the captain, and play on his baseball team? Probably because there are exactly seven kids available to play outside of CB. And thus, there is a beagle at short stop. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/70 "2019-12-06T23:15:50Z")
I recall a story arc which had CB trying to bring his team into a better organized league, until they told him that he’d have to get rid of Snoopy and (IIRC) the girls. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2019, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/71 "2019-12-06T23:19:25Z")
Which reminds me: Snoopy was the strip’s allegory for Hank Aaron’s home run chase and Pete Rose’s gambling troubles. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2019, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/72 "2019-12-07T05:03:15Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > I recall a story arc which had CB trying to bring his team into a better organized league, until they told him that he’d have to get rid of Snoopy and (IIRC) the girls. There was also an animated special, _Charlie Brown’s All-Stars_. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie\_Brown's\_All\_Stars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brown%27s_All_Stars)! ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2019, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/73 "2019-12-08T03:50:53Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > You don’t see the massive logical hole in what you just said? > > Okay, then. I don’t think those words mean what you think they mean. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/74 "2019-12-09T14:05:05Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > There was also an animated special, _Charlie Brown’s All-Stars_. > > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie\_Brown's\_All\_Stars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brown%27s_All_Stars)! It needs to be pointed out that in the world of _Peanuts_, only the daily and Sunday comic strips are considered to be “canon.” Anything else, including the beloved TV specials, does not have any direct involvement with Charles Schulz. This is why the notion that Charlie Brown ever actually meets or has any interaction at all with the little red-headed girl is not considered to be genuine, even though this was portrayed on one of the TV specials. It never happened in the strip — indeed, the little red-headed girl was never even seen in the strips — so at least for hard-core _Peanuts_ fanatics, it never actually happened. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/75 "2019-12-09T16:13:01Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > There was also an animated special, _Charlie Brown’s All-Stars_. > > [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie\_Brown's\_All\_Stars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brown%27s_All_Stars)! By the way, like a blockhead I fudged up the Wikipedia link. Here’s the corrected link. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie\_Brown's\_All\_Stars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Brown%27s_All_Stars)! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/76 "2019-12-09T16:35:25Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > It needs to be pointed out that in the world of Peanuts, only the daily and Sunday comic strips are considered to be “canon.” Anything else, including the beloved TV specials, does not have any direct involvement with Charles Schulz. He’s the only credited writer for several of those, primarily stories which originally appeared in the strips, but had no direct involvement? That’s a neat trick. > [@](#): > > indeed, the little red-headed girl was never even seen in the strips [25 May '98.](https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1998/05/25) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/77 "2019-12-09T17:07:37Z")
From [The Week](https://theweek.com/articles/586901/beauty-tragedy-charlie-browns-love-little-redhaired-girl): > [@](#): > > Schulz came to regret allowing the Little Red-Haired girl to appear in _It’s Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown_. “You have to do things that will attract some kind of attention,” he told an interviewer in a conversation transcribed for the 2000 book _Charles M. Schulz: Conversations_. “And it’s no doubt that that was one of these stupid stories we never should have done.” ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/78 "2019-12-09T20:46:20Z")
Come to Santa Rosa, California. Just north of town is the Charles M. Schulz - Sonoma County Airport, aka Snoopy International. Join the hoards of Japanese tourists taking selfies with the brass Snoopy statue at Railroad Square. Visit the Peanuts Museum and ice rink across from Coddingtown Mall. Then, if you dare, roll to Buena Park, down the road from Disneyland, for the Peanuts theme park that devoured Knott’s Berry Farm and Ghost town. Back in the day, kids could ride live alligators at the nearby Reptile Park, now long gone, ratz. The Schultz home was totally destroyed by the 2017 wildfire that torched much of north Santa Rosa, including my old home. Snoopy’s ashes are now spread all over the county, along with much of Schultz’s benevolence. Snoopy lives on with Schultz’s anonymous support of Canine Companions For Independence. No, you won’t find that documented. We saw Schultz thanked at the CCFI campus when we donated, too. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/79 "2019-12-09T22:21:24Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > He’s the only credited writer for several of those, primarily stories which originally appeared in the strips, but had no direct involvement? That’s a neat trick.[25 May '98.](https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1998/05/25) There is no Peanuts comic strip that features a “story” in which Charlie Brown meets the little red-headed girl face-to-face. And as I said, the TV shows are not considered “canon” in the world of Peanuts. Pursuant to your second post, Schulz “allowing” filmmakers to write new scripts that focus on the characters he created is quite a different thing from being “involved” in the TV productions. That level of involvement varied, depending on the show in question. There are loads of authors who have seen their original novels or other works “adapted” for the screen by others with results that, shall we say, did not please them. If Schulz was indeed directly involved in the filmed story in question, that doesn’t change the fact that what was written still didn’t actually happen in “real life,” as defined by the Peanuts comic strip. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2019, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270/80 "2019-12-09T23:54:20Z")
> [@DChord568](#): > > If Schulz was indeed directly involved in the filmed story in question, that doesn’t change the fact that what was written still didn’t actually happen in “real life,” as defined by the Peanuts comic strip. Schulz is the sole credited writer for the animated special in question. Go ahead and dislike the story, Schulz himself did; there’s no need to add the claim that he wasn’t directly involved. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snoopys-great/844270.md?page=5)