My Experience With... You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown!

***Disclaimer: This was written well over a month ago.
***WARNING: Spoilers
Rating: G, Y
(General Audiences, Kid-friendly)

I would like to offer my sincerest apology for missing last Friday’s post. I was sick all week, and hadn’t given much thought to well, anything.

Anyway, the “holiday” I was referring to in the last post was… you guessed it: Superbowl Sunday!

Now, I’m not much of a football person, but I do enjoy it from time to time. Being in the Marching Band helped me to appreciate it, but I guess it might’ve started with this little video I’ve had since I was a tot.

And yes, this is, in fact, my copy.

Aw, crud, this one has two logos.

Whatever, I didn’t realize it back then.

You’re in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown! was one of those little home videos that was made to keep kids quiet for half an hour, with the most loveable gang of children and animals that family entertainment has ever welcomed into their homes. It was kinda cheap, and not very intelligent, but it was still very kid-friendly. And it was partnered with NFL and... Shell? Okay, whatever.

There are basically two parts to this, and the video switches back and forth between story lines.

The first part is Snoopy coaching an all-bird football team to victory in an animal football championship streak, first against a team of cats, then a team of dogs (odd), then a team of… bison.

This sounds far less ridiculous than my

writing is making it sound, I promise.

That’s pretty much it. The animation loops are basically the same with each football play, just slap a different opposing team character on it. The birds’ names change, though. The first set is a lot of Polish-ish “-ski” names, the second set is what I can only assume are actual contemporary football players’ names (like the target audience would’ve recognized them), and the last set of names is Presidents. Oh, and you can be sure that you’ll hear a ton of animal-related puns.

For the championship game against the bison, Lucy does show up basically to heckle Snoopy. Not that it matters, the birds win anyway. After each victory, the birds dump “Chirpade” on unsuspecting Snoopy, except for the championship, when they dump it on Lucy.

The second story starts off with, what else, Lucy convincing Charlie Brown to kick the football.

Do I even need to explain what happens next?

Anyway, the gang catches up to them, with Peppermint Patty announcing that there’s a children’s contest for punting, passing, and kicking. The winner gets a bike and a ticket to the Super Bowl. Charlie Brown and Linus start practicing, only to run into a cute little redhead named Melody Melody.

Not kidding, that’s her name.

And what’s with this cartoon series and gingers?

The boys get to know Melody and go out to get ice cream sundaes, where they talk about the contest. Melody seems supportive of the boys. Linus falls head over heels for her.

On the day of the contest, Linus seems very confident that he’d win the contest, especially after talking to Melody. The kids all have their turns, and Linus seems to beat out everyone, including Charlie Brown, but then there’s one last contestant: Melody. She beats everyone by a huge margin, much to poor played Linus’s surprise (and chagrin).

After the contest, Linus laments over his betrayal, telling Charlie Brown that he’ll never trust anybody again. Charlie Brown tries to restore Linus’s faith in humanity, but then guess who shows up holding a football.

😊

So that was You’re in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown!, with a not-so-surprising lack of Charlie Brown in the  Super Bowl. This was… cute, and not a total corporate sell-out. It was corporately sponsored, but still very much Peanuts. (They really haven’t gone wrong with Peanuts… yet, anyway.) I hunted it down and watched it while I was sick, so basically my nostalgia was in overdrive. Memories kept flooding back, even to seeing the bird holding a sign saying “Stay in Shape,” even though I originally thought it said “Stay I’m Shape.”

I WAS A TODDLER, OKAY?

Simply put, I love this. It’s cheap, it’s not the best animation, some of the parts were definitely aimed at tiny kids, but I still love it. If you have kids, especially little ones, this is great for them, as it can be hard to find kid-friendly programming that isn’t just educational.

Plugging time! YouTube Page

What’s your favorite sports team? This does not have to be limited to professional and colleges. Bring up you’re old peewee league if you want!