It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown

It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown
VHS cover
Genre	Animation
Format	Cartoon
Created by	Charles M. Schulz
Written by	Charles M. Schulz
Directed by	Bill Melendez
Voices of	Brett Johnson Stacy Ferguson Jeremy Schoenberg Heather Stoneman Gini Holtzman Keri Houlihan Gary Goren David T. Wagner Kevin Brando Jessica Lee Smith Joseph Chemay Desiree Goyette Joey Scarbury Bill Melendez
Opening theme	Flashbeagle
Ending theme	Flashbeagle
Composer(s)	Ed Bogas Desiree Goyette
Country of origin	USA
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	1
Production
Executive producer(s)	Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates
Running time	28 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original airing	April 16, 1984
Chronology
Preceded by	What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?
Followed by	Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown

It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown is the 27th prime-time animated television special based upon the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. The show is presented as an original musical which features parodies of the early 1980s breakdancing craze, the movies Saturday Night Fever and Flashdance, and a number of popular top 40 hit songs of the early 1980s. It has been released to DVD by Warner Home Video as a bonus feature to Snoopy's Reunion.

Plot

The story begins at a big football game where Snoopy wins a game from Peppermint Patty's team. That night, Snoopy gets out a radio and becomes Flashbeagle.

That next day, Peppermint Patty gets in a lot of mix-ups in class, including getting her hair caught in her binder (with her report trapped inside). When Patty falls asleep, Marcie drags her up to the front of the room to serve as a visual aid in the class's study of the human head. Later, during gym class, Patty leads the other kids in a workout routine to her song "I'm In Shape." The song contains references to the cheerleader chants in the 1982 Toni Basil hit song "Mickey"; Patty spontaneously breaks into a chant to inspire a visibly exhausted Charlie Brown to keep up the pace: "Hey Chuck, you know how, get in shape and do it now, hey Chuck!"

Charlie Brown and his sister Sally host a party for all the neighborhood kids at the Brown household that night. The kids play a game of Simon Says, which soon turns into "Lucy Says" ("Lucy's the Boss, so listen to Lucy, and here's what Lucy says"). Snoopy wins the final round. Sally is fixated on getting Linus, her "Sweet Babboo", to dance with her, but Linus (as usual) resists.

Meanwhile, Snoopy helps serve fruit punch to the guests, but Charlie Brown discovers to his horror that Snoopy (as well as Woodstock) has been randomly sipping some of the punch glasses through their straws. To make matters worse, Lucy comes by for a drink and takes one of the cups that contain Snoopy's Dog Germs. Lucy, who is totally unsuspecting of what Snoopy did to her drink, reprimands a grossed-out Charlie Brown for making such strange faces, until finally Charlie Brown can't take it any more and walks away. Finally, Pig-Pen leads the kids in the square dance-like "Pig Pen Hoedown".

The next day, Charlie Brown reprimands Snoopy, calling him useless and lazy and informing him that there are other dogs who do a lot more than he does, like herd sheep. That evening, Snoopy dresses up in an outfit inspired by Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" look: headband, sweats, and so on; for the big moment, the dance hall performance. After strutting around the neighborhood, he and Franklin go into the dance hall and find a group of people dancing and dances for them to wild applause, accompanied by the title song "Flashbeagle".

Three days later, Sally takes Snoopy to one of her "Show and Tell" sessions at school. Inside the classroom, everything is fine until 555 95472 turns on a boom box and "Flashbeagle" begins to play, and the classroom becomes an impromptu disco. Sally is mortified at first, but eventually joins in the fun. After school, Charlie Brown insists he should change Snoopy's behavior but Sally says, "You just leave him alone. That's the first time I've ever got an A in Show and Tell."

Production

Bill Melendez explained that the dancing Snoopy in the club scene was done by a process called rotoscoping where the character is drawn over live action pictures. The dancing model Marine Jahan was chosen to do scenes were Snoopy was dancing in the special. The animators rotoscoped live action pictures of Jahan to Snoopy in order to make these scenes. It wasn't the first time Jahan had substituted for another performer as a dancer—she doubled for Jennifer Beals in Flashdance as well.

Charles Schulz's 12-year old daughter Jill was said to have inspired the "She's In Shape" sequence when Schulz drew images.

Voice credits

• Brett Johnson as Charlie Brown, 5, and The Light Brown Haired Boy
• Stacy Ferguson as Sally Brown
• Jeremy Schoenberg as Linus Van Pelt
• Heather Stoneman as Lucy Van Pelt
• Gary Goren as Schroeder and Tommy
• Gini Holtzman as Peppermint Patty
• Keri Houlihan as Marcie
• Bill Melendez as Snoopy and Woodstock

Vocalists

• Kevin Brando as Charlie Brown, 5, and The Light Brown Haired Boy for vocal solos and as Schroeder for group vocals
• Brad Kesten as Charlie Brown for group vocals
• David T. Wagner as Linus Van Pelt (credited as David Wagner)
• Jessica Lee Smith as Lucy Van Pelt (credited as Jessie Lee Smith)
• Joeseph Chemay as Additional vocalist
• Desirée Goyette as duet vocalist in "Snoopy" and "Flashbeagle"
• Joey Scarbury as duet vocalist in "Snoopy" and "Flashbeagle"

Soundtrack

A soundtrack was issued on Disneyland Records under the "Charlie Brown Records" banner (just like the earlier "Read-Along" records Disney issued for Peanuts) featuring songs from this special. Half of the other songs later appeared on the TV documentary called It's Your 20th Television Anniversary, Charlie Brown which aired in 1985. Songs were written by Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette; Goyette also sings on the album, along with Joey Scarbury of "Believe It or Not" fame. It was produced by Bogas, Goyette, the special's producer Lee Mendelson, and Jymn Magon. Track list is as follows:

Side One:

1. Flashbeagle*
2. Pigpen Hoedown*
3. Don't Give Up, Charlie Brown**
4. Peppermint Patty's P.E. Program (I'm In Shape)*
5. Snoopy*

Side Two:

1. Someday, Charlie Brown**
2. Let's Have A Party^
3. Lucy Says*
4. Woodstock**
5. Snoopy's Big Debut**

• (*-From It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown)
• (**-From It's Your 20th Television Anniversary, Charlie Brown)
• (^-Theme from The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show; this version was later used for the second season in 1985)

External links

• It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown at the Internet Movie Database