A Charlie Brown Christmas
(1965/Warner Blu-ray)
Picture:
B-/C+ Sound: B-/C+ Extras: B- Main Program: B+
I have
been telling people for years that all the classic animation on TV was put on
film and so many of those programs would be great for High Definition and
especially Blu-ray. Animated feature
films get that kind of respect, so TV animation should to and Warner Bros. has
issued the original A Charlie Brown Christmas on Blu-ray and it
instantly becomes one of the best hand-drawn animated releases on Blu-ray yet.
The first
Peanuts TV special is still one of the greatest of so many good ones and as far
as Christmas programming is concerned, it is as important as Miracle On 34th Street and It’s A Wonderful Life or any other
classic of the season. It was also yet
another classic that proved TV was capable early on of making great works of
art (yes, that is what I is) as much as feature films. No, the animation is not great, but for the
time and the budget, it looks very good, is very much up to the look of the
classic comic strip and the Peanuts Specials grew out of this from there.
The
genius Charles Schultz, who created the entire Peanuts universe, was concerned even in the mid-1960s about the
commercial push on the holiday becoming more prominent than the holiday itself
and vowed to make a program that exposed the hypocrisy and pettiness (innocent
and otherwise) that was building around the holiday, then bring the whole
audience back to the original points of why there is a Christmas in a way that
has endured for almost 45 years and is bound to survive for hundreds of years
after.
This even
works down to the gang trying to create a Christmas play that Charlie Brown
will direct, with disastrous results, but this will not go as planned. The same can be said for the holiday. The show remains iconic, vital and since its
first broadcast, no Christmas is truly complete without it. As the holiday was recently radicalized by
certain political forces, turns out Schultz, Producer/Director Bill Melenzez,
Producer Lee Mendelson and the rest of the real life “Chuck’s” creative gang
behind the scenes were more on target than they could have ever imagined. Now, it is the gift to the world that just
keeps on giving.
The 1.33
X 1 image is centered in the 1080p 1.78 X 1 frame and if you have seen the new
Warner DVD (also included here) and were impressed with how much better it
looked versus all the previous tapes, broadcasts and older DVD of the show,
this Blu-ray version often looks like the HD equivalent of an expensive coffee
table book of art from the strips with outstanding color and many fine shots
throughout. The only thing that holds
back the image is one too many instances of image detail fringing, suggesting
that maybe this was printed in three-strip dye-transfer Technicolor and/or some
of the sourcing still needed some work.
Still, has more than enough great moments that prove TV Animation on
Blu-ray should be a big market for 2010 and beyond if the studios are smart
enough to back it.
A brand
new Dolby Digital 5.1 has been created for the Blu-ray and though the mix is
not a lossless audio format, it fares just a little better than the Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo from the DVD, which has Pro Logic surrounds. One DVD version came with a CD with limited
tracks form the original Vince Guaraldi music score. However, Fantasy Records issued a high
definition sound Super Audio CD (SA-CD) of the music and why those tracks are
not used here is unfortunate. The
combination of sound and image is a pleasant surprise, but with more work,
could be even a little better at least.
Extras
include the bonus DVD, Digital Copy for PC & PC portable devices,
lesser-seen sequel It’s Christmastime
Again, Charlie Brown that is worth your time and The Making Of A
Charlie Brown Christmas is a show from several years ago hosted by
Whoopi Goldberg that talks about the unbelievable struggle to get the show made
and aired. Hope we get the entire
Peanuts catalog on Blu-ray soon.
- Nicholas Sheffo
