You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown

You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown is the eighth Prime-time animated TV special produced based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz, and the 10th one to air. It originally aired on CBS on October 29, 1972, right before the 1972 election.

Plot
Sally comes home and tells Charlie Brown that she's never going to school again. After her brother asks many questions on why, she says "I can't get my stupid locker open!" The next day Charlie Brown wakes her up telling her to get ready for school. Sally reminds him she won't go back there, but Charlie Brown promises he'll help with her locker. Charle Brown 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's not the problem, the problem is she can't reach it to open it. He doesn't 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 Brown sees a poster that says "Student Body President Election". Linus thinks that would be a good job for Charlie Brown, but Lucy 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. Regardless, Sally has a fit and accuses him of selling out like all other politicians. She then kicks the bottom of her locker and walks away, not realizing that she has finally opened it.

Voice cast

 * Chad Webber- Charlie Brown
 * Stephen Shea- Linus van Pelt
 * Robin Kohn- Lucy van Pelt
 * Hilary Momberger- Sally Brown
 * Todd Barbee- Russell Anderson
 * Linda Ercoli- Violet
 * Brian Kazanjian- Schroeder
 * Bill Melendez- Snoopy/Woodstock

This special is the first television appearance of Woodstock, whose feature film debut was in Snoopy, also released in 1972. Peanuts musical score composer Vince Guaraldi gave Snoopy a "Joe Cool" theme song, featured on scenes in which he is featured.

Production Credits

 * Created and Written by Charles M. Schulz
 * Directed by Bill Melendez
 * Produced by Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez
 * Executive Producer: David H. DePatie
 * Original Music Composed and Performed by Vince Guaraldi
 * Music Supervision by John Scott Trotter
 * Animators: Bob Carlson, Sam Jaimes, Bill Littlejohn, Don Lusk, Bob Matz, Al Pabian, Jim Pabian, Phil Roman, Rod Scribner, Frank Smith, Hank Smith, Jacques Vausseur, Rudy Zamora
 * Layout: Evert Brown, Bernard Gruver, Ed Levitt, Ernie Nordli
 * Backgrounds: Ellie Bogardus, Bob Singer, Dean Spille
 * Effects Animator: Harry Love
 * Checking: Carole Barnes, Eleanor Warren
 * Ink and Paint Supervisor: Beverly Robbins
 * Ink and Paint: Faith Kovaleski, Joanne Lansing, Adele Lenart, Joice Lee Marshall, Celine Miles, Chandra Poweris, Lou Robards, Dawn Smith, Carla Washburn, Manon Washburn, Debbie Zamora
 * Film Editings: Robert T. Gillis, Charles McCann, Rudy Zamora
 * Camera: Dickson/Vasu
 * Voices - Coast Recorders, Radio Recorders
 * Music - Wally Heider Recording
 * Dubbing - Producers' Sound Service, Don Minkler
 * Production Manager: Robert T. Gillis
 * Production Assistants: Carolyn Klein, Sandy Claxton, Susan Scheid
 * A LEE MENDELSON/BILL MELENDEZ Production
 * In Association With UNITED FEATURE SYNDICATE, INC. and CHARLES M. SCHULZ CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (Warren Lockhart, president)
 * THE END
 * "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown"
 * ©1972 United Feature Syndicate, Inc.
 * All Rights Reserved

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 TV special, Linus' opponent is never seen or mentioned. This special first aired under the title: "You're Elected Charlie Brown".

ABC edits
Starting in October 2006, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown began airing the following of It's the Great Pumpkin on ABC. In order to fit both specials in a one-hour time slot and in order to save room for the Dancing with the Stars results show, the following edits were made to You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown:
 * The opening scene where Sally comes home from school and announces she won't be going back, then takes her brother for show-and-tell, (except for Snoopy preparing breakfast for himself and lunch for Charlie Brown and Sally) was removed entirely.
 * The part when Lucy told Charlie Brown that he'll never be elected the second time was cut.
 * Woodstock walking up and down to get paint was shortened.
 * Linus and Lucy's talk show was shortened.
 * The part where Linus tells the audience during his speech about "across the board wages for custodians, teachers, and all administrative personnel" was removed.
 * The theme song for this special, "You're Elected, Charlie Brown", was replaced by "Linus and Lucy" in the title sequence.
 * In the ending segment, Sally kicked the locker and forced it open. In the ABC version, the locker stayed closed and the ABC credits rolled.
 * Vince Guaraldi stock music was added to scenes (including Charlie Brown being "elected" and a Beethoven speech) without music.

Home video release
On June 25, 1994, it accompanied It Was a Short Summer 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 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.