It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown
| It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Animated TV Special |
| Created by | Charles M. Schulz |
| Directed by | Phil Roman |
| Voices of | Todd Barbee Melanie Kohn Stephen Shea Donna Forman James Ahrens Lynn Mortensen Tom Muller Bill Melendez |
| Composer | Vince Guaraldi |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Lee Mendelson |
| Producer | Bill Melendez |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | CBS |
It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown is the 11th prime-time animated TV specials based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on the CBS network on February 1, 1974. This was the first Charlie Brown television special that Bill Melendez did not direct, but he still served as producer and provided the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock.
This special was released on DVD for the first time, in remastered form as part of the DVD box set, Peanuts 1970's Collection, Volume One.
Summary
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.
Most of the places they check include:
- Charlie Brown's house, where they wake him up and give him the third degree. He naturally denies anything about taking the nest.
- Lucy and Linus' house, using an excessive amount of dust to check for fingerprints. Snoopy eventually finds a broom straw, and believes this is enough evidence to make Lucy a suspect. He tries to handcuff her, but she throws Snoopy out of the house.
- Next is Marcie's house, where Snoopy pulls out his notepad and questions her on the whereabouts of the nest. She is unable to understand Snoopy in his foreign language so she slams the door in his face.
- At Pig-Pen's house, Snoopy immediately dismisses him as a suspect once he answers the door in his usual dusty trademark fashion entrance. As Snoopy takes off Pig-Pen responds by telling Snoopy to come back anytime because he does not get many visitors.
- Finally, the home of Peppermint Patty, who thinks Snoopy is playing Cops and Robbers, so she dons a burglar mask and chases him through her house. Frightened, Snoopy and Woodstock escape.
Upon stopping back at Woodstock's tree Snoopy takes more notice of a set of footprints he had seen before; they lead away from Woodstock's tree, so the two follow them straight to the elementary school. After making their way inside through an open window, they ultimately find Woodstock's nest under glass in a display case. The two grab the nest and run back to Woodstock's tree, whereupon Snoopy re-installs the domicile for his overjoyed and grateful friend.
The next day, Sally complains to Charlie Brown that her science exhibit has been stolen. When she reveals her exhibit was a so-called "prehistoric bird's nest", Charlie Brown puts two and two together and realizes it was Sally who took Woodstock's nest.
Even with Charlie Brown's explanation that the nest was made by Woodstock, Sally is convinced that since she found the nest, it belongs to her. When she encounters Snoopy and Woodstock, she demands that they return her nest. The three are about to come to blows when Charlie Brown suggests they handle the problem in a different way, so they all go to see Lucy in her psychiatric booth, which she temporarily converts to a courtroom enlisting Linus as stenographer, and she tacks two cents on to her normal five-cent fee to cover court cost. The two sides present their case to Judge Lucy: Snoopy (as Woodstock's counsel) with a document containing excessive legal jargon, and Sally with "Finders keepers, losers weepers". But Judge Lucy rules in favor of Woodstock, saying that since he built the nest, he should keep it.
Lucy's ruling leaves Sally without a science class exhibit, but Charlie Brown and Snoopy come up with an idea. Snoopy is willing to volunteer to be her exhibit in a re-creation of Pavlov's salivating dog experiment. Although Sally is against it at first, she decides to go along with it, and ultimately gets an "A" on her science project, and all is once again right with the world. In the end credits, as Woodstock lies on his nest, the bottom falls out sending Woodstock falling out of his tree.
Voice cast
- Todd Barbee - Charlie Brown
- Melanie Kohn - Lucy van Pelt
- Stephen Shea - Linus van Pelt
- Donna Forman - Peppermint Patty
- Jimmy Ahrens - Marcie
- Lynn Mortensen - Sally Brown
- Tom Muller - Pig-Pen
- Bill Melendez - Snoopy/Woodstock