In October 1966, [Ray] Bradbury and his daughters sat down together to watch [the first airing of] the Halloween special It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and none of them liked it. They were all disappointed that The Great Pumpkin didn’t show up and felt it wasn’t a proper Halloween film at all. Bradbury complained about it over lunch to his friend, animator Chuck Jones, who agreed with him.
https://www.mouseplanet.com/12510/Three_Disney_Halloween_Treats
Ray Bradbury is one of my all-time favorite writers, but I disagree 100% with his reported opinion of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which was written by one of his cartoonist friends named Charles M. I’m not really surprised that the other Charles M. didn’t care for it but, in my opinion, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is the best of all animated TV specials.
So say we all!
The whole point is that The Great Pumpkin doesn’t shows up in corporeal form, but Linus never loses faith. It’s a parable for not being able to see God, etc. Dozens of authors have written about the religious and spiritual subtext of the body of Schulz’s work as a whole, and I totally agree! Personally, as much as I love Chuck Jones’s cartoons, they are a bit forced and flowery at times. I much more enjoyed Bob Clampett’s presentation at MIT than Jones’s. Jones sort of seemed … well, full of himself. Clampett is humble and lovable. His cartoons are edgy, flawlessly paced, and breathlessly funny. I can’t speak for Bradbury, as I don’t know about him as well.
“Peanuts” was a great comfort to me growing up, as the characters had distinct personalities that I could relate to, especially depressed but intelligent Charlie Brown, and the naive yet wise and ever-hopeful Linus. And I am not ashamed to admit that “The Great Pumpkin” is my personal favorite of all their specials.