It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)

Linus is the eternal optimist. Charlie Brown the eternal pessimist. In this feature, Linus gets center stage. Who knows where this supposed legend of the Great Pumpkin emerging in the pumpkin patch and bringing gifts. It is a kind of convoluted Christmas story (at Halloween) with the same kinds of promises but without the religious implications. Of course, sitting there means that you don't go trick-or-treating with the other kids (though our Charlie ends up with a bag of rocks instead of candy), and so one must take a leap of faith. Sally, who loves Linus, is brought into the fold with dire consequences. This is a nice take on the myth born of Charles Schultz. Where did he come up with the story? We don't know, but the whole Peanuts gang ends up affected by it.

Halloween has been my fourth favorite time of year, I love it because it just has this mischievous and fun charm to it. Not just collecting candy but to me two of my favorite things about it were in wearing costumes pretending for one night to be someone or something else. As well as the amount of scary stories I hear which are always the most colorful and never in short supply.Warning do not read unless you've seen film.This is my fourth favorite Charlie Brown special and yeah another childhood gem of mine, I watched this when I was about six and as an adult I still watch it now and still enjoy it.The story to this one is really odd indeed but fits in with the holiday. It's mainly centered around Linus whom was my forth favorite character in the series. Despite being highly intelligent he wasn't entirely on the level, from his obsession with his blanket which he is clearly too old for. In a way this is actually true about most great minds in history despite their accomplishments and intelligence, some of them had essentricty or were even insane. Here we see even more of Linus's mental state as he is praising The Great Pumpkin whom is a legendary figure that only exists in Linus's mind. It also seems like he might of got his holidays mixed up because he describes the Great Pumpkin as Santa Claws.What I like about this film is that it sort of makes you draw your own conclusions about Linus. On one hand Linus has finally blown a circuit and probably should consider therapy.But on the other hand we're a bit on his side because the guy is really onto something mainly about the concept of belief, hope and dreams. Despite the end results Linus truly stands by his beliefs. As Captain Sisko from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" once said, "You can take the story away but you can't murder an idea, it exists in my mind it's ancient knowledge, it's real." To me that is part of what belief and ideas are, sure they may not be a reality right now but those things exist within us and continue to as long as we keep believing in it. They are also what keep us going in life, despite the idea whether good, bad, or even just flawed it doesn't matter as long as you have something to believe in, it gives us a reason to live as if may'be there really is a purpose were here.And of course the rest of the special is a lot of random fun, it's almost like watching a sketch comedy. From seeing Charlie Brown getting a lot of rocks instead of candy which is both funny and kinda sad (what's everyones problem with Charlie Brown anyway, would it kill them to give him one piece of candy?) however despite this Charlie never lets that get him down, which is something I always admired about the character you can't break his spirit. Some of what happens at the Halloween party mainly that bobbing for apples sequence with both Lucy and Snoopy, where as usual Snoopy exercises his crush for her and Lucy acts with disdain, that just never gets old.But my favorite is of course Snoopy's dog fight (no pun intended) against the Red Baron. It's just so much fun and funny because there is truth to this as we don't see Snoopy use a plane but his own dog house, and I really like the color and sound effects. Even that trek though enemy territory sequence. It's like with all of us when we played pretend as kids whether we imagined ourselves as G.I. Joes fighting against Cobras or whatever else. Or let alone sometimes the daydreaming we do everyday when were walking someplace we sometimes imagine were somewhere else or doing something else.Linus awaits the Great Pumpkin, just as we continue our beliefs in our own hopes and dreams.So Happy Halloween.Rating: 4 stars

A Halloween classic that never gets old. The Peanuts gang goes trick-or-treating while Linus sits in a pumpkin patch, waiting for the Great Pumpkin. All the kids are so adorable in this early special, especially Sally. The script is terrific and full of funny lines ("There are three things that I've learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin."). Fantastic Vince Guaraldi music, Lucy and the football, Charlie Brown's pathetic ghost costume, the WWI flying ace, poison dog lips, and "I got a rock" are among the wonderful things about this timeless gem. I've seen it dozens, if not hundreds, of times since I was a child and it never gets old. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

Halloween is approaching and Linus is convinced that the Great Pumpkin is coming. His sister Lucy is infuriated with him. Even Charlie Brown doesn't believe him. Snoopy laughs at him. Charlie Brown's sister Sally adores Linus and willingly waits with him at the pumpkin patch instead of going on her first trick-or-treating. Charlie Brown is excited to be invited to a party for the first time in his life. Everybody is going to Violet's party after trick-or-treating. Snoopy is his imaginary WWI flying ace alter-ego. Sally's rant at the end is both adorable and hilarious. This is such a sweet Charlie Brown special. It's missing the big compelling message of the Christmas special. Nevertheless, this is just a fun charming Halloween tradition.