It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Title card.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is a Halloween-themed animated television special based on the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. It first aired in the United States on CBS on October 27, 1966.

Plot

In the opening sequence, Linus van Pelt and his sister Lucy are seen visiting a pumpkin patch, selecting a pumpkin to make into a jack-o-lantern. Lucy chooses the largest one and Linus is forced to roll it home. At home, Lucy begins carving the pumpkin to Linus' obvious disgust. The boy eventually cries, "You didn't tell me you we're going to kill it!"

Later, Linus is seen writing a letter to the Great Pumpkin. The other children and Snoopy the dog make fun of him, but Linus remains firm in his belief that on Halloween night the Great Pumpkin will rise out of the most sincere pumpkin patch and give toys to all the good children of the world.

After Linus mails his letter to the Great Pumpkin (using his security blanket to open the mailbox after Lucy refuses to help), Charlie Brown dances for joy when he receives an invitation to go to the Halloween party of a girl named Violet, who usually treats him meanly. His bubble is quickly burst by Lucy who mentions there were two lists, people to invite and people not to invite; Lucy is certain Charlie Brown's name was on the wrong list.

On Halloween night, the children prepare to go trick-or-treating. Lucy is wearing a witch costume, the other children are dressed as ghosts, but Charlie Brown's ghost costume looks very strange because it has too many eye holes. Charlie Brown says that he had a little trouble with the scissors. Although he is covered by a ghost costume, the constantly dirty boy known as "Pig-Pen" is easily recognizable by his trademark cloud of dust. Before they begin trick-or-treating, the children go to see Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin in the pumpkin patch. Linus asks if they are going to sing pumpkin carols. Most of the other children laugh at him but Linus is able to convince Charlie Brown's little sister Sally to wait with him.

While Linus and Sally wait in the pumpkin patch, the other children go trick-or-treating. Most of the children receive large amounts of candy and other treats but at every house Charlie Brown is given nothing but a rock.

After trick-or-treating, the children enjoy the party at Violet's house, with pumpkin carving, music and apple bobbing, except for Linus and Sally who continue to wait in the pumpkin patch. Linus hears a rustling sound and sees a shadowy figure rise up. He is sure it is the Great Pumpkin and faints with excitement. However, the figure turns out to be Snoopy. When Sally sees that it is just her brother's dog, not the Great Pumpkin, she gets extremely angry and upset about missing both tricks-or-treats and the Halloween party. She storms off with the other children, leaving Linus in the pumpkin patch on his own, still convinced the Great Pumpkin will come. When promising to put in a good word for them, he accidentally says "If the Great Pumpkin comes", instead of When. After he realizes his mistake, he declares that he is doomed and that "one little slip like that can cause the Great Pumpkin to pass you by." The camera then zooms out to reveal the entire pumpkin patch as he calls out, "Oh, Great Pumpkin, where are you?!"

At four o'clock in the morning, Lucy sees that her brother is not in bed. She goes out to the pumpkin patch and, after finding him covered in nothing but his security blanket, brings her brother home and to his room, taking off his shoes and socks. He passes out in his own bed as Lucy puts the covers on him before angrily walking out of his room.

Later in the day on November 1, Linus is disappointed because he spent the whole night waiting outside for the Great Pumpkin who never arrived. Charlie Brown tries to console him by saying, "I've done a lot of stupid things in my life too." This makes Linus extremely angry. He begins shouting that the Great Pumpkin will come the following year and continues to yell at Charlie Broown as the end credits roll.

See also

• The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XIX parodies It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown in the segment "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse"
• Charlie Brown costume
• Linus van Pelt costume
• Lucy van Pelt costume

External links

• Archived ABC feature page for It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
• It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on the Internet Movie Database.

See the article on It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on Fandom's Peanuts wiki.