You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown

Plot

Sally Brown comes home and tells Charlie Brown that she is never going to school again out of frustration with opening her locker ("I can't get my stupid locker open!") The next day Charlie promises he will help with her locker. He tells her that some lockers are a little difficult and touchy, and she needs to make sure the numbers are just right. But Sally tells him that is not the problem, the problem is she cannot reach it to open it. He does not know what to say so Sally brings him into her classroom for something else: to use him as her show-and-tell presentation, much to his embarrassment. After this, Charlie sees a poster that says "Student Body President Election". Linus van Pelt thinks that would be a good job for Charlie, but Lucy van Pelt thinks Linus would be the better candidate. Also running is a student named Russell Anderson. Linus runs for the office with a vigorous and enthusiastic campaign, taking an early lead in the polls.

Unfortunately, he suffers a setback when, during his last address to the student body, he decides to ad lib a mention of The Great Pumpkin. Nonetheless he wins the election by one vote–84 to 83–the deciding vote cast from Russell, who has decided that Linus is, in fact, better for the job. Following his victory, Linus goes to the principal with the intention of keeping his campaign promises and laying down the law, only to be taken aback with the realization that he is still strictly subordinate to the faculty and in fact, like most student government positions, has no real power. After he reveals this to Sally then walks away sheepishly, Sally has a fit and accuses him of selling out like all other politicians. She then kicks the bottom of a locker and walks away, just to have it open and be Charlie Brown's.

Voice cast

This special marks the debut television appearance of Woodstock, whose feature film debut was in Snoopy, Come Home, also released in 1972. Snoopy scenes are accompanied by a "Joe Cool" theme song — written, played, and sung by Peanuts musical score composer Vince Guaraldi.

Origins

The plot from You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown was taken from a story that ran in the comic strip in October 1964, in which Linus runs for school president with Charlie Brown as his running mate. In the original storyline, Linus blows the election (and Charlie's bid for Vice President) after bringing up The Great Pumpkin in his final speech and being laughed off stage–again after leading in the polls at the time. Unlike the television special, Linus' opponent is never seen or mentioned. This special first aired under the title You're Elected Charlie Brown. It was subsequently changed because Charles Schulz realized that not only is Charlie Brown not elected, he does not even run. This explains why there is a caret between the words "You're" and "Elected" on the chalkboard.

ABC edits

In October 2006, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown began airing the following of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on ABC. In order to fit both specials in a one-hour time slot, the following edits were made to You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown:

Home video release

The special was first released on home video in the 1980s by Hi-Tops Video. On June 25, 1994, it accompanied It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown on a Snoopy Double Feature release from Paramount Home Entertainment. It has been released on DVD twice, first as a "bonus feature" on the September 12, 2000 It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown DVD then on its own as part of Warner Home Video's "Remastered Deluxe Edition" line of Peanuts specials on October 7, 2008.

Warner Bros. remake

In 2008, iTunes released a quasi-remake of You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown from Warner Bros. as the first of the Peanuts Motion Comics series. The two-part webisode, entitled "Linus for President/The Election," followed the original comic strip segments rather than the TV special. It was released under the permission of Charles Schulz's wife Jeannie. Rather than the traditional Peanuts special animation, Warner Bros. used the original comic segments and used the latest technology to move the characters body parts.