I'm Reviewing All Your Specials, Charlie Brown: He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968)

 Even though Snoopy was one of the first four characters introduced when Peanuts began in 1950, it took some time for Snoopy to become, well, Snoopy.  It wasn't until the late 50s that he began to walk upright, or for him to even be established as Charlie Brown's dog.  But by the time the strip reached the height of its popularity in the 1960s, Snoopy was well-established with his defining traits in the strip.  He had played prominent, if supporting roles, in the first four Peanuts specials, but he finally gets to take center stage in He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown.  However, the special seems to go out of its way to establish Snoopy as a rather bad dog.

To be sure, the comic strip version of Snoopy is no saint, but he's generally not that mischievous, with his bad behavior mostly limited to licking dog germ-averse Lucy, stealing Linus's blanket (usually with Linus still attached), and ignoring Charlie Brown for his own rich fantasy life.  He's Your Dog, on the other hand, establishes Snoopy as a neighborhood bully, deliberately antagonizing the other kids just for his own amusement.  This convinces Charlie Brown that Snoopy needs to be sent back to the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm for some additional training.  Since its a two-day walk for Snoopy, he arranges for him to spend the night at Peppermint Patty's, who still thinks Snoopy is an unusual-looking human child rather than a dog.

Snoopy, deep in his WWI fantasy, ends up treating Peppermint Patty's place as a vacation resort instead of a one-night stopover, as he ends up spending a week there (with Charlie Brown being none the wiser), treating Patty like a servant, snapping his fingers to summon her with another root beer or two.  When Charlie Brown finally figures out what's going on and arrives to take Snoopy back home, the dog promptly runs back to Peppermint Patty's, but this time, she demands he pull his weight around there and basically turns him into a servant himself.

After her quick appearance in You're in Love, Charlie Brown, this is Peppermint Patty's first major role in a special, and she doesn't come across much better than Snoopy, spending the first half of her scenes being a total pushover, and the second being a harsh taskmaster, including forcing Snoopy to sleep in the garage one night (remember, she thinks he's a human child).  As Marcie had yet to make her debut in the strip, Patty is seen hanging out with Roy, a relatively minor character whose major claim to fame is introducing Charlie Brown to Peppermint Patty.

He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown marked the end of a rapid production cycle that saw five specials produced and aired in less than three years.  After this, special production slowed down considerably, as it would be over a year and a half before the next special would premiere, though the team of Schultz, Melendez, and Mendelson were busy preparing for Charlie Brown's feature film debut in late 1969.  The slowdown of the production cycle was probably the best.  He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown is more strange than fun, and Snoopy deserved a prime-time vehicle that didn't make him out to be a jerk.

Next week: The whole gang heads off to camp in It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown (due to next Sunday being the 4th of July, this one will also be published on Monday.  We'll resume Sunday postings in two weeks).