The new generation of DVDs
- By : Nat
- Category : Upcoming releases
The first two of the new Warner Brother Peanuts DVD releases are now available for pre-order… and they look rather familiar. Warners is pairing the same specials on disks as in the previous editions, so that their 
Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown disk also has It’s Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown and You’re in Love, Charlie Brown, while their release of 
It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown also has It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. This is good, because you don’t want to have to buy a disk where you already have the main feature because it has a different additional feature.
Which is not to say that these disks won’t have anything that your earlier disk doesn’t have. Each of these has an added documentary featurette: “Unlucky in Love: an Unrequited Love Story” and “In Full Bloom: Peanuts at Easter”. I’m sure they’re nice. Okay, I hope they’re nice. But they’re not what I’m looking forward to from Warner Brothers.
What I am looking forward to is their plans to do more depth, to issue the less-known animated bits (largely unreleased on DVD in the US) in boxed sets. I expect we’ll see a Charlie Brown & Snoopy Show set, and various of the less-rerun specials, but it would be really nice if they dig really deep… get the short stuff that was not meant for TV, like “It’s Dental Flossophy, Charlie Brown”. Get the ads (perhaps a separate package, so that they’re not getting complaints about putting ads on a regular disk. Sadly, rights clearances would probably keep them for getting all the ads even if they tried.) Even get the film strips done for classroom use. True, they don’t have actual animation, but they have animated-style stills and full voice performances. Yes, yes, I’m asking them to make a set for hardcore Peanuts nerd, but there are more of us out there than they may realize…
(But hey, if you don’t mind getting the earlier versions, well, most of them are now out of print, but you can still get a good deal on this two-DVD bundle.)
Meanwhile, if you just got some Amazon gift certificates that you’re looking to do something with, well, you could do worse than starting by shopping at AAUGH.com…Â and if you’ve got $1500 or so burning a hole in your pocket and you want something special for your Peanuts collection, you’ve got just a few hours left to get in your bid on a copy of Charles Schulz’s high school yearbook, with his signature.
