On the pod, Mike and I talked about the relative lack of info about specific Peanuts specials aside from a few big holiday ones. While Solomon does not provide a guide to all of the programs, he does offer interesting tidbits about many of them. I hoped for info on each of them and was disappointed that nothing was said about It's an Adventure, Charlie Brown. Yet let's talk about what the book is and not what it is not.
First of all, there is a lot of great art--animation cels, production sheets, and more. You see a lot of work from Dean Spille, and you might think, hey, his characters look kind of funny. Well, he was a vital figure in Peanuts animation, providing production design for much of the original run of specials. Even in the Kindle version, it's cool to see a lot of the vintage artwork, but I imagine it's great in the print edition.
What really gets me is the text. Solomon does have info about a sampling of particular specials, but I think it's more an afterthought; that is, he threw those in when they didn't really fit in with the main text. What he does is produce an excellent look at how the specials were made. He draws on interviews with the creators (Not just Charles M. Schulz, but producer Lee Mendelson and director Bill Melendez) and also cartoonists and others to get an array of insights.
I like that this book delves into some details of how they created the TV programs. There is discussion of the animation itself and how things had to be altered from the strip to the screen so they would look right. There is material on how the stories were adapted and developed. Voice direction is covered, too. There seems to be at least a bit about almost every big aspect of production.
Mendelson talks about how one of the reasons working on the specials was a joy was that CBS left them alone. Another interesting tidbit: It's a Nightmare, Charlie Brown, one of the specials Mike and I thought didn't work, was one of the favorites of those who worked on it, partly because of the freedom that came from not adapting a storyline from the strip.
He also addresses the unpleasantness of Charlie Brown being blamed for missing kicks in It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown despite Lucy pulling the ball away. Mike and I didn't like that, either, and Mendelson says many others didn't, to the point that in a rerun they edited out dialogue about Charlie "goofing up."
If like us you crave more info on the specials (and the early movies), check out this informative book. Solomon includes a lot of intriguing details along with the art in this one.
