The success of 1978's What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown, which gave Snoopy his first solo starring role in a special, opened up new storytelling ideas for the brain trust behind the Peanuts series. It was also probably good news to CBS, which undoubtedly desired to give the strip's most popular character plenty more screen time. While a number of specials focused on other characters, shows centered on Snoopy became common during the 1980s, a trend that began with the second Peanuts special of the decade.
While it can't be properly described as a remake or even a retread, Life is a Circus, Charlie Brown does contain quite a few similarities with What a Nightmare. In both specials, Snoopy finds himself separated from not just Charlie Brown, but the rest of the regular cast, under new ownership, and thrust into a radically different situation from which he had been used to, a situation that he at first struggles with before eventually thriving. The major difference is that Circus is considerably lighter than the surprisingly heavy Nightmare, and, unlike its Arctic-based predecessor, Circus takes place at, well, a circus.
In the cold open, Snoopy goes off to investigate the newly arrived circus. While wandering around the lot during setup, a white French poodle, part of a poodle act, catches his eye, and it's love at first sight. Following her, he pauses at the doorway of the tent she went into, before being grabbed and pulled inside.
As we subsequently learn, the girl who grabbed him is Polly, the dogs' trainer, and she inexplicitly decides to include this random, untrained beagle into the poodle act the very next day. This is how Charlie Brown, who is attending the circus with Linus, Lucy, Schroder, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie, discovers what his dog has disappeared to (he didn't seem to register Snoopy was even missing beforehand, though Snoopy being Snoopy, him disappearing unexpectedly for long stretches of time was probably not unusual). Snoopy is terrible, and Charlie Brown is aghast, but the others are all impressed by Snoopy's new "career", proclaiming him a natural clown (though Lucy does lampshade the weirdness of Snoopy joining a poodle act). That may be why Charlie Brown didn't immediately go and claim Snoopy, but instead waited until he didn't show up to dinner, by which point it was too late.
With training, Snoopy, re-christened Hugo the Great, quickly becomes the star of the act, eventually, on the orders of the circus's owner, The Colonel (who is represented by growling noises coming over a phone) eventually not only learns how to ride a unicycle, but also becomes part of a trapeze act (yes, a trapeze act involving dogs), but finally makes one demand too much, which causes Snoopy to abandon his newfound career. Meanwhile, the special cuts to Charlie Brown every so often, lamenting that Snoopy has run away to the circus.
I'm still trying to figure out the character of Polly. She seems to be the same age as the other characters, but again, is a working circus performer. Kids working in circuses wasn't that unusual back in the day, but those kids were usually part of a family of performers. There's no hint of Polly's parents or guardians or how she became a dog trainer or anything.
This special marked the start of a new voice cast for the major characters, with the only holdover from previous specials being Casey Carlson, who had previously voiced Marcie but in this special voices Polly. Peppermint Patty is once again voiced by a boy (Brent Hauer). Most of the cast's entire IMDB credits consist of Peanuts specials, but Earl Reilly, who voiced Linus, would go onto a long career as a boom mike operator. I'm still not a big fan of Ed Bogas and Judy Munson's music in general, but I did like the circus music panache.
Once again, Snoopy could prove he could handle a high-concept solo vehicle with Life is a Circus, Charlie Brown. As the 80s went on, Snoopy would find himself in a variety of wacky adventures, though its hard to think of one more wacky than joining the circus.
Next week: Snoopy apes David Copperfield in It's Magic, Charlie Brown.
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