Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown

1981 television special directed by Phil Roman

It's Magic, Charlie Brown (1981)
A Charlie Brown Celebration (1982)

Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown is the 22nd prime-time animated television special based upon the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz.^[1] It originally aired on the CBS network on October 30, 1981.^[2]

The special was directed by Phil Roman. This is the only time which Charlie Brown was voiced by Grant Wehr and is Wehr's only acting credit. Wehr failed to reprise his role for the subsequent Peanuts cartoons as his voice was reportedly too coarse for the character.^{[citation needed]} Michael Mandy returned as Charlie Brown's voice for the final time in A Charlie Brown Celebration. The special has retrospectively been received negatively.^{[citation needed]}

Synopsis

Charlie Brown is watching a football game on television when he spots a girl in the stands whom he falls in love with. He is then crushed when the game ends, and he feels he may never see her again. Determined to not lose his true love, he enlists Linus to help him find her.

The pair return to the football stadium to try to locate where she was sitting. Charlie Brown remembers she was sitting next to tunnel #13, because that's his lucky number. He has Linus sit where he determined she was sitting to recreate the shot in his head. Charlie Brown and Linus try asking someone in the ticket booth to find out who she is, but no one knows. Someone there suggests they check the season ticket records downtown, and that is where they go. They encounter two girls during the search, but neither are the one they seek.

Finally, they make their way to the Happy Valley Farm, where the third girl lives. Snoopy and Woodstock are already there, and after Snoopy has some major problems getting across the cattle guard at the intersection of the main driveway, he and Woodstock encounter a rather mean bobcat who chases them back across those rollers (where Snoopy has problems again), where they finally meet up with Charlie Brown and Linus. Charlie Brown unwisely dismisses Snoopy's attempts to warn him of the bobcat, and he and Linus walk in past the cat, petting him as they pass. Soon they too are chased by the bobcat.

Linus learns on the phone of another entrance and is warned that the bobcat is actually very sweet but does not like strangers very much. They finally get to the house, where Linus encounters the correct girl, but completely forgets about Charlie Brown and falls for her instead as she carries a security blanket similar to his. She reciprocates his feelings. Linus enters her home, leaving Charlie Brown alone. Charlie Brown, after being chased from the yard by the bobcat, decides to wait for hours.

When Linus returns, he talks about how special she is and how they've decided to spend some time together. He is completely oblivious to Charlie Brown's exasperation. A depressed Charlie Brown returns home. The next day, he meets with Linus at the brick wall, who then leaves, as he has been invited to the farm for a family barbecue. After he leaves, Charlie Brown flips through a book of quotes on love, which he carries with him. However, rather than inspiring him, the sayings he reads only depress him further.

Voice cast

Grant Wehr as Charlie Brown
Earl Reilly as Linus Van Pelt
Bill Melendez as Snoopy and Woodstock
Nicole Eggert as First girl
Jennifer Gaffin as Mary Jo
Melissa Strawmeyer as Teenager

Home media

Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown was released to DVD on January 6, 2004, as a bonus feature with the special A Charlie Brown Valentine, and re-released by Warner Home Video on December 28, 2010. Before that, it was released on VHS by Media Home Entertainment on February 14, 1985, Hi-Tops Video in 1989, and Paramount Home Media Distribution on January 11, 1995, along with There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown.

Critical reception

Mick Martin and Marsha Porter's Video Movie Guide gave this TV special two out of five stars as they described it as a "lamentable tale" and blamed the film's character Mary Jo for substituting the Little Red-Haired Girl as Charlie Brown's crush.^[3]

References

^ Woolery, George W. (1989). Animated TV Specials: The Complete Directory to the First Twenty-Five Years, 1962-1987. Scarecrow Press. pp. 386–387. ISBN 0-8108-2198-2. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
^ Terrace, Vincent (2013). Television Specials: 5,336 Entertainment Programs, 1936-2012 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 92. ISBN 9780786474448.
^ Martin, Mick; Porter, Marsha (1990). Video Movie Guide 1991. Ballantine Books. p. 190. ISBN 0-345-36945-9.