In all my research, I've never really figured out just what the business agreements between CBS and United Features Syndicate/Charles Schulz/Lee Mendelson/Bill Melendez were. The creation of A Charlie Brown Christmas is well documented, and everyone involved was so pleased that CBS would air two more Peanuts specials in the next year. But I'm not certain just what each side was expecting. Did CBS have a contract for a certain number of specials, or did Schulz and company turn them out and CBS would just buy them once they were ready? At least by the late 1980s and early 1990s, I'm guessing the latter was the case, as production had slowed way, way down after 1985. Of course, by the early 1990s, CBS had made the decision to no longer buy any animated specials of any kind outside of the holidays, a declaration that Schulz et al. didn't seem to take seriously.
In many ways, It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown seemed tailor made for CBS. It focused on baseball, and in the early 1990s, CBS had national broadcast rights to Major League Baseball. It seemed like the perfect special for the network to run in March, to help promote the new MLB season and the network's coverage of it. But CBS was truly uninterested, and no other network picked up the special. It would sit on the shelf from its completion in 1992 (it was apparently aiming for a spring 1992 premiere) until 1996, when Paramount finally released it on home video as part of a double feature with another baseball-focused special, Charlie Brown's All-Stars.
The special opens with Charlie Brown declaring it was time for spring training, despite the fact that it was still snowing heavily. Since he has, in the past, been unable to understand why a game would be called simply because the entire field was completely flooded, it makes sense that he's not going to let a little blizzard stop him from getting his team into shape. Luckily, the winter sequence only lasts a couple of minutes, and once the snow melts, his team, as inept as always, reports to the diamond. Meanwhile, his team gets a new recruit in Leland, an exceedingly minor character that had previously been seen in the strip and the special It's an Adventure, Charlie Brown. He's determined to make the "big league" team, even though he's only about four or so (why Schulz decided to use him and not Rerun, I'm not sure).
The plot, such as it is, kicks in about seven minutes in, when Charlie Brown reveals that the local hardware store owner would sponsor the team and buy them uniforms if they just won one single game. Given that his team has yet to win one game ever, that seemed like a tall order. If that plot sounds familiar, it's essentially a retread of the plot of All-Stars, only in that one, the hardware store owner would only sponsor the team if they got rid of the girls and the dog. In a sign of progress in the 26 years between the two specials, there at least is no more objection to the team being co-ed (and co-species).
Rather than have their first opponents (who are wearing uniforms) be Peppermint Patty's team (oddly, she does not make an appearance in this special, not even as a cameo), the other team is made up of generic-looking kids. But before the game begins comes the strangest moment in perhaps any Peanuts special to date (with the possible exceptions of the goings-on in It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown), namely Franklin performing a baseball-themed rap while the other characters dance behind him. I'm guessing this is the special's way of acknowledging that it is 1992, but it is so stunningly weird and out of place, as it goes on for two whole minutes. At least the dancing is nicely animated.
So we're more than halfway through this baseball-themed special before there is an actual ballgame. From here, since the team actually has something to play for, they're not their usual completely inept selves. It helps that the other team, despite their spiffy uniforms, turns out to be almost as bad. There is actually a bit of suspense going into the climax about whether Charlie Brown's team can pull off an actual win.
There's some evidence that this was produced before It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown, which would fit the theory that this was meant for Spring of 1992. The music was composed by Judy Munsen, in her last Peanuts special, and direction was by Sam Jaimes, in what would also be his final special as well. Charlie Brown's voice was provided by Justin Shenkarow, who in spring 1992, was co-starring in the cult sci-fi show Eerie, Indiana (and would start a four-year run co-starring on another cult show, Picket Fences, that fall), in his one time in the franchise. Linus would be voiced by John Christian Graas, who also voiced him in Christmastime and You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown. Marnette Patterson voiced Lucy, as she would/did in Christmastime. The rap number was performed by Jessica Nwafor, in her one IMDB credit. The biggest name in the cast, at least by today's standards, however, would be Elisabeth Moss (credited as Elissabeth Moss, as she was several times during the early 90s), who voiced several girl parts in the episode (she would also pop up on several episodes of Picket Fences with Shenkarow).
This would eventually find its way to TV, having its broadcast premiere in 1998, airing on Nickelodeon. The network didn't make any big deal about the premiere, airing it in mid-afternoon on a Wednesday, in the usual slot held by Peanuts programming (the network had acquired the rights to nearly the entire Peanuts special/series output). That seems a fitting fate for this mostly forgettable special. From its thematic similarities to the superior Charlie Brown's All-Stars to that weird rap number that feels like it be more appropriate for a It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown-type special, there's not a ton to like about It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown. It's passable, but if this had never seen the light of day, we wouldn't have missed much.
Next week: Linus falls in love yet again just in time for his big day in It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown.
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