You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown

You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown
Created by	Charles M. Schulz
Written by	Charles M. Schulz
Directed by	Bill Melendez
Starring	Chad Webber Hilary Momberger Stephen Shea Robin Kohn Todd Barbee Linda Ercoli Brian Kazajian Lynda Mendelson Bill Melendez
Theme music composer	Vince Guaraldi
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Bill Melendez Lee Mendelson
Editor(s)	Robert T. Gillis Charles McCann Rudy Zamora, Jr.
Running time	25 mins
Production company(s)	United Features Syndicate
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	October 29, 1972
Chronology
Preceded by	Play It Again, Charlie Brown
Followed by	There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown

You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown is the eighth prime-time animated TV special produced based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz, and the 10th one to air. It originally aired on CBS on October 29, 1972, before the 1972 election.

Plot

Sally Brown comes home and tells Charlie Brown that she is never going to school again out of frustration with opening her locker ("I can't get my stupid locker open!") The next day Charlie promises he will help with her locker. He tells her that some lockers are a little difficult and touchy, and she needs to make sure the numbers are just right. But Sally tells him that is not the problem, the problem is she cannot reach it to open it. He does not know what to say so Sally brings him into her classroom for something else: to use him as her show-and-tell presentation, much to his embarrassment. After this, Charlie sees a poster that says "Student Body President Election". Linus van Pelt thinks that would be a good job for Charlie, but Lucy van Pelt thinks Linus would be the better candidate. Also running is a student named Russell Anderson. Linus runs for the office with a vigorous and enthusiastic campaign, taking an early lead in the polls.

Unfortunately, he suffers a setback when, during his last address to the student body, he decides to ad lib a mention of The Great Pumpkin. Nonetheless he wins the election by one vote–84 to 83–the deciding vote cast from Russell, who has decided that Linus is, in fact, better for the job. Following his victory, Linus goes to the principal with the intention of keeping his campaign promises and laying down the law, only to be taken aback with the realization that he is still strictly subordinate to the faculty and in fact, like most student government positions, has no real power. After he reveals this to Sally then walks away sheepishly, Sally has a fit and accuses him of selling out like all other politicians. She then kicks the bottom of a locker and walks away, just to have it open and be Charlie Brown's.

Voice cast

• Chad Webber - Charlie Brown
• Stephen Shea - Linus van Pelt
• Robin Kohn - Lucy van Pelt
• Hilary Momberger - Sally Brown
• Todd Barbee - Russell Anderson
• Linda Ercoli - Violet
• Brian Kazanjian - Schroeder
• Bill Melendez - Snoopy/Woodstock

This special marks the debut television appearance of Woodstock, whose feature film debut was in Snoopy, Come Home, also released in 1972. Snoopy scenes are accompanied by a "Joe Cool" theme song — written, played, and sung by Peanuts musical score composer Vince Guaraldi.

Origins

The plot from You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown was taken from a story that ran in the comic strip in October 1964, in which Linus runs for school president with Charlie Brown as his running mate. In the original storyline, Linus blows the election (and Charlie's bid for Vice President) after bringing up The Great Pumpkin in his final speech and being laughed off stage–again after leading in the polls at the time. Unlike the television special, Linus' opponent is never seen or mentioned. This special first aired under the title You're Elected Charlie Brown. It was subsequently changed because Charles Schulz realized that not only is Charlie Brown not elected, he does not even run. This explains why there is a caret between the words "You're" and "Elected" on the chalkboard.

ABC edits

Starting in October 2006, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown began airing the following of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on ABC. In order to fit both specials in a one-hour time slot, the following edits were made to You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown:

• The opening scene where Sally comes home from school and announces she will not be going back, then takes her brother for show-and-tell, (except for Snoopy preparing breakfast for himself and lunch for Charlie Brown and Sally) was removed entirely.
• The part when Lucy told Charlie Brown that he will never be elected the second time was cut.
• Woodstock walking up and down to get paint was shortened.
• Linus and Lucy's talk show was shortened.
• The part where Linus tells the audience during his speech about "across the board wages for custodians, teachers, and all administrative personnel" was removed.
• The theme song for this special, "You're Elected, Charlie Brown", was replaced by "Linus and Lucy" in the title sequence.
• In the ending segment, Sally kicked the locker and forced it open. In the ABC version, the locker stayed closed and the ABC credits rolled.
• Vince Guaraldi stock music cues were added to scenes (including Charlie Brown being "elected" and a Beethoven speech) without music.

Home video release

The special was first released on home video in the 1980s by Hi-Tops Video. On June 25, 1994, it accompanied It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown on a Snoopy Double Feature release from Paramount Home Entertainment. It has been released on DVD twice, first as a "bonus feature" on the September 12, 2000 It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown DVD^[1] then on its own as part of Warner Home Video's "Remastered Deluxe Edition" line of Peanuts specials on October 7, 2008.^[2]

Warner Bros. remake

In 2008, iTunes released a quasi-remake of You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown from Warner Bros. as the first of the Peanuts Motion Comics series. The two-part webisode, entitled "Linus for President/The Election," followed the original comic strip segments rather than the TV special. It was released under the permission of Charles Schulz's wife Jeannie. Rather than the traditional Peanuts special animation, Warner Bros. used the original comic segments and used the latest technology to move the characters body parts.

References

External links

• You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown at the Internet Movie Database
• You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown at TV.com