''It's Magic, Charlie Brown'' is the 21st

prime-time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to b ...

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

based upon the

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...

,'' by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on April 28, 1981.

Plot

Charlie Brown decides that Snoopy needs to educate himself, and gives him his

library card A library card can refer to several Plastic card, cards traditionally used for the management of books and patrons in a library. In its most common use, a library card serves similar functions as a corporate membership card. A person who holds a ...

to check out a few books. Snoopy takes out a book about magic and performs a magic show as "The Great Houndini." He ends the show by making Charlie Brown disappear. A sudden

rainstorm Rain is a form of precipitation where water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. ...

ends the show early, and Charlie Brown is left

invisible Invisibility is the state of an object that cannot be seen. An object in this state is said to be ''invisible'' (literally, "not visible"). The phenomenon is studied by physics and perceptual psychology. Since objects can be seen by light fr ...

. Snoopy tries several ideas to make him visible again, including draping a sheet over him, which only scares Charlie Brown when he looks in the mirror and sees what he thinks is a ghost. Charlie Brown realizes he has a golden opportunity to kick Lucy's football without her knowing. Charlie Brown finally succeeds in kicking the football four times and taunts her about it. Furious, Lucy threatens Snoopy into bringing back Charlie Brown. Snoopy manages to bring Charlie Brown back after blindly shooting his invisibility counter spell in an attempt to find him. Charlie Brown turns back to normal while he attempts to kick Lucy's football again before she pulls it away at the last second. Regardless, Charlie Brown is happy that he finally kicked the football, although Lucy says no one will believe him. Charlie Brown says that Snoopy will believe him since he made it possible for him. When Lucy scoffs at Snoopy, the insulted beagle magically levitates Lucy into the sky, and leaves her stuck there as payback until Linus pulls her down with his blanket during the credits. After being brought down by Linus, a defeated and humiliated Lucy walks home.

Cast

* Michael Mandy as

Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the Protagonist, principal character of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', syndicated in daily newspaper, daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser", Charlie Brown ...

** Peter Robbins as Charlie Brown screaming (archived) * Sydney Penny as Lucy van Pelt * Cindi Reilly as

Sally Brown Sally Brown is a fictional character in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles Schulz. She is the younger sister of main character Charlie Brown. She was first mentioned in May 1959 and throughout a long series of strips before her first appea ...

* Earl Reilly as Linus van Pelt, Franklin * Brent Hauer as

Peppermint Patty Peppermint Patty is a fictional character featured in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip ''Peanuts''. Her full name, very rarely used in the strip, is Patricia Reichardt. She is one of a small group in the strip who live across town from Charlie ...

* Shannon Cohn/Casey Carlson as

Marcie Marcie is a fictional character featured in the long-running syndicated daily and Sunday comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. Marcie is a studious girl who is sometimes depicted as being terrible at sports. She is friends with the ...

* Christopher Donohone as Schroeder *

Bill Melendez José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008) was an American animator, director, producer, and voice actor. Melendez is known for working on the ''Peanuts'' animated specials, as well as providing the voices of Sno ...

Snoopy Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. He also appears in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of ...

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

Home media

''It's Magic, Charlie Brown'' was released on DVD on September 2, 2008, as a bonus feature on

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

's remaster of ''

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown ''It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'' is a 1966 American animated Halloween television special based on the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. The third ''Peanuts'' special, and the second holiday-themed special, to be created, i ...

''.Charlie Brown/Peanuts Specials DVD news: Rear Box Art for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown: Remastered Deluxe Edition , TVShowsOnDVD.com

References

External links

* {{Peanuts television specials Peanuts television specials Television shows directed by Phil Roman 1980s American television specials 1980s animated television specials 1981 television specials 1981 in American television CBS television specials Films about invisibility Films about magic and magicians