Specials & DVD Details Writer/Creator: Charles M. Schulz Directors: Phil Roman, Bill Melendez, Sam Jaimes / Producers: Lee Mendelson, Bill Melendez Features: You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown (1979), She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown (1980), It's Magic, Charlie Brown (1981), Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown (1981), Is This Goodbye, Charlie Brown? (1981), Life is a Circus, Charlie Brown (1980), What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown? (1983), It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984), Snoopy's Getting Married (1985), Why, Charlie Brown, Why? (1990), You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown (1975) Running Time: 268 Minutes / Rating: Not Rated 1.33:1 Fullscreen (Original Broadcast Aspect Ratio) Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Dolby Surround 2.0 (Thai), Dolby Mono 1.0 (Japanese, Portuguese) Subtitles: English for Hearing Impaired, Chinese, Japanese, Thai Not Closed Captioned DVD Release Date: September 15, 2015 / Suggested Retail Price: $26.99 Two single-sided, dual-layered discs (DVD-9s) / Black Eco-Friendly Keepcase in Cardboard Slipcover

Buy DVD from Amazon.com

Since acquiring home video rights to the complete Peanuts animated television library from Paramount Home Entertainment in late 2007, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has done much with the beloved, decorated canon of more than fifty television specials and two TV series. Holiday favorites like A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown were swiftly remastered and given newly-produced bonus features. The shows that had either never been released or were long out of print resurfaced in complete series sets. Warner courted diehard fans with a trio of chronological collections compiling the half-hour specials in the order they aired. The most popular cartoons even made the leap to high definition with Blu-ray editions and combo packs. Physical media sales continue to slide, but that doesn't mean Warner, long the #1 studio by output volume, is giving up on the Peanuts specials that have still yet to see the light of day on DVD. Rather than continuing with additional sets in the fashion of the '60s and two '70s collections, Warner's next release of the franchise comes in a DVD titled Peanuts Emmy Honored Collection. This two-disc set sort of picks up where the decade collections left off back in 2010 (with a tiny bit of overlap). Among the eleven specials -- two of them winners of the Outstanding Children's Special Emmy for which the other nine were nominated -- are a number of early-to-mid 1980s cartoons that were next in line for the chronological treatment. They are generally not the specials that spring to mind when discussing all things Charlie Brown and none of them observe a holiday like the most famous Peanuts 'toons do. But although somewhat obscure and previously relegated to B-side status, they're an appealing lot that endear on the childish concerns and grown-up neuroses of Charles Schulz's lovable young characters. Disc 1 1. You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown (24:28) (First aired March 19, 1979) Wanting to participate in the Junior Olympics, Charlie Brown signs up for the only open event: the decathlon. It's the only part of the Olympics we see, as Charlie competes against Marcie, the Masked Marvel (Snoopy), and braggart Freddie Fabulous in the ten traditional events. The results are anything but predictable! 2. She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown (24:22) (First aired February 25, 1980) Peppermint Patty struggles to stay awake in school, because she's been getting up early in the morning to train for an ice skating event with Snoopy as her coach. Her biggest concern: looking her best. 3. It's Magic, Charlie Brown (24:23) (First aired April 28, 1981) Using Charlie Brown's library card, Snoopy checks out a book on magic. He then puts on a show as The Great Houndini and after some difficulties, he gets a few tricks right. Alas, rain cuts the show short, leaving Charlie Brown invisible and willing to explore the possibilities. 4. Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown (24:20) (First aired October 30, 1981) With "help" from Linus, Charlie Brown tries to find a pretty girl he saw on TV in the crowd at a local football game. 5. Is This Goodbye, Charlie Brown? (24:20) (First aired February 23, 1983) Linus and Lucy's father gets transferred at his work, requiring the Van Pelts to move away. Following a farewell party unappetizingly catered by Joe Cool, Charlie Brown and a supposedly stood-up Sally deal with their loss, while Peppermint Patty gets Charlie Brown to profess feelings for her, or something like that. 6. Life is a Circus, Charlie Brown (24:17) (First aired October 24, 1980) The circus comes to town to the excitement of the entire gang and, to the dismay of Charlie Brown, the involvement of Snoopy, as a poodle show performer named Hugo the Great. Disc 2 7. What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown? (23:59) (First aired May 30, 1983) Charlie Brown recalls his and his friends' recent vacation to France. Snoopy drives the gang around in a borrowed car, as they check out the sights and remember the Allies' D-Day landing at Omaha Beach. Subtitled "A Tribute", this Memorial Day premiere is certainly one of the franchise's most somber and serious specials. 8. It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (24:20) (First aired April 16, 1984) This memorable special unfolds with an array of loosely related original songs. Peppermint Patty celebrates her physical fitness in a gym class number. Lucy commands the others in a game of "Lucy Says." Pigpen leads the "Pigpen Hoedown." Meanwhile, Snoopy, whom Sally brings to school for Show and Tell, gets ready for a night of headbanded, leg-warmered dancing as Flashbeagle. 9. Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown (24:22) (First aired March 20, 1985) Snoopy is asked to guard Peppermint Patty's home at night while her father is out of town. The easily startled beagle soon shuns his watchdog duties, only to fall in love and plan his wedding to a poodle. Picked as best beagle, Snoopy's desert-dwelling brother Spike makes the long trip from Needles, California for the bachelor party and other festivities. 10. Why, Charlie Brown, Why? (23:44) (First aired March 16, 1990) The most recent and most instantly depressing of the lot, this special sees Charlie Brown and Linus concerned by the ill health of their classmate Janice, who is hospitalized with leukemia. While Janice fights cancer, the gang tackles the ignorance and insensitivity of their peers. Heartfelt and well-intentioned, this could be mandatory viewing for children who need to be introduced to this disease. 11. You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown (25:17) (First aired October 28, 1975) While Snoopy plays tennis and Charlie Brown practices his place kicking, Peppermint Patty informs all of the popular sport motocross. Linus and Charlie Brown pool their money to buy a bike for a major motocross race. With Charlie riding and Linus acting as pit crew, they compete against Patty and a masked beagle in hopes of winning Pro Bowl tickets. Announcer Marcie provides colorful commentary. VIDEO and AUDIO These DVDs boast the high quality picture one expects of a Warner Peanuts release. The simple 1.33:1 visuals feature vibrant colors and a minimum of noise and imperfections. Though they are all encoded in Dolby Digital 5.1, don't expect the soundtracks to betray the basic monaural sound mixes with which they first took to the airwaves. A bit of effort goes into separating music and effects and sending them to the rear channels while the dialogue stays up front. A few dubs and subtitles up the set's international value. BONUS FEATURES, MENUS, PACKAGING and DESIGN This Emmy Honored Collection doesn't really get any bonus features. That's a little disappointing given the high quality of the featurettes that Warner has produced for the DVDs holding 2 or 3 specials. There is also clearly room for one other special given the studio's self-imposed three hours-per-disc limit, which fans would have appreciated, be it Emmy-nominated or not. Nonetheless, the set is pretty full of content as is and, acknowledging the probably modest number of units this release will sell, we can cut Warner some slack for not doing more, when they've already done so much for this franchise. Disc One opens with an ad for the Remastered Deluxe Editions of Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown and It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. The same disc's Trailers menu does not provide access to that, but to promos for Peanuts 1960's Collection and Tom and Jerry: Spy Quest. Disc Two opens with a trailer for Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run that is not accessible by menu. The static main menu adapts the cover art while an excerpt of the iconic "Linus and Lucy" theme is played. The two silver discs share a black Eco-Box keepcase topped by a cardboard slipcover featuring the same cover artwork. CLOSING THOUGHTS If you buy only a single Peanuts DVD release, Emmy Honored Collection is not the one to get. However, if you've got the holiday classics and the decade compilations and would like to pick up a bunch more quality specials, this two-disc set would be a fine addition to your library. These 25-to-40-year-old cartoons look terrific and hold up to this day as charming all-ages diversions. Buy DVD from Amazon.com