Anybody watch The Great Pumpkin last night ?

[saildog]

there's no snot or farting in the classics... somebody thinks kids need that

Having just watched tonight's airing on ABC, I realized that these little gems required a parent to explain that, "well, that is a reference to a quote commonly attributed to William Shakespeare, but more accurately, it was penned by a man named William Congreve in his play The Mourning Bride.".

Today's specials require a parent to state, "That is a phrase that should only be uttered by Satan.....and only if he is on the toilet!!!!".

[DocDrako]

You are so right about the logo.

To me it was part of the program

YouTube - CBS Special Presentation Ident - 1973

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I haven't seen that in years. Thanks for the memories!

My son is 3 and he has already watched the 'Great Pumpkin' DVD 4 times. I introduced him to it this year and he loves it. I'm glad. I love the Charlie Brown specials. He really likes the part where Linus tries to stop the rolling pumpkin and ends up tumbling along the sidewalk. He laughs and it makes me smile. When it came on TV, he watched it again.

[Mikey]

I like the part where Snoopy has been shot down and he's creeping behind enemy lines -- the background music to that is kind of creepy

[ctc]

>old cartoons were so noncondescending and mature back then.

....er.... maybe prime time ones; but Saturday Morning has always been a dumping ground for hackneyed crud. I think a lot of the primetime specials of yesteryear: such as THIS one, weren't written just for kids. Since it was going to be shown to a primetime audience they wrote primetime features. And I DON'T mean "it's for kids with stuff adults will find funny;" I mean it was actually written for a GENERAL audience. It's more evident in the Christmas special, since the decrying of crass consumerism is a concept more meaningful to an adult than a kid.

But something happened.... during the early 80's I think.... where cartoons became EXCLUSIVELY the realm of kids; which meant a changing of attitudes all around. Not only did they have to be sanitized (so you probably wouldn't have got Snoopy behind the lines) but they had to be simplified. It was seen that more grownup themes wouldn't sell to kids, so they were removed. Which of course leads to self-fulfilling prophecy, which results in increasingly vapid material, which continues the slide....

Don C.

[YoungOnce]

I like the part where Snoopy has been shot down and he's creeping behind enemy lines -- the background music to that is kind of creepy

You're right... it is creepy.

I have always been taken by how this simple cartoon seems to evoke so many of those melancholy feelings of fall and Halloween as seen through the eyes of a child.

I used to think that the Snoopy segment didn't belong in this "Halloween" special, but after watching it again (snoopy as the flying ace) over the past few years... listening to the music and seeing the colors of the autumn sky at dusk... it really captures a mood of foreboding that fits.

Watch it again and see if you don't agree.