Peanuts

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Revision as of 18:21, 25 July 2013

Decemberween is here. Happiness and cheer.

"Christmas time is here. Happiness and cheer."

In 1950, Charles Schulz created the comic strip Peanuts, focusing on the misadventures of Charlie Brown, his beagle Snoopy, and their friends. A profound depiction of society from children's perspective, the comic continued with new material until shortly before Schulz's death in 2000, and the old strips continue in circulation in many newspapers to this day. Its popularity prompted adaptations into over 40 television cartoons, four movies, and two off-Broadway musicals, among other things. Various aspects of the Peanuts comic strips and television specials have been referenced and parodied by The Brothers Chaps in Homestar Runner cartoons. In particular, the Peanuts' first cartoon, A Charlie Brown Christmas, is often referenced, especially during Decemberween.

References

Toons

• A Holiday Greeting
  • The page title "Sponsored By Dolly Madison!" refers to the snack cake company that sponsored the Peanuts holiday specials.
  • The spinning "SPECIAL" logo is the same one used by CBS at the beginning of the holiday specials.
  • The screen at the end reading "Copyright 1965 Free Country, USA" is a reference to the year in which A Charlie Brown Christmas debuted.
  • Strong Bad says "Lights, please" in a scene almost identical to when Linus van Pelt was in the auditorium in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
• The Best Decemberween Ever
  • Homestar Runner's hat is similar to the one worn by Charlie Brown in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
  • While Homestar and Strong Sad talk, Strong Sad holds his head in his hand in the same manner Charlie Brown and Linus often did while leaning against the wall.
  • One of Marzipan's signs reading that Decemberween is too commercial, also similarly referenced in A Charlie Brown Christmas, in which Charlie Brown constantly worries that Christmas has gone commercial.
  • The main characters singing a song at the end of the toon is a reference to the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas.
• The House That Gave Sucky Treats
  • The Poopsmith holds up a sign saying "Give us something good instead". The font used for the sign is called Peanuts, a font made to look like Charles Schulz's lettering used in Peanuts comics.
  • The viewer has the option to give Strong Mad and The Cheat rocks, which Charlie Brown received from every house he visited in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
• 3 Times Halloween Funjob — Homestar pronouncing "pounds" as "libs" is similar to a comic where Lucy van Pelt informs Charlie Brown she just learned that "there are 16 ozzes in a lib".
• Halloween Fairstival — Marzipan's stall of fruit reading "A Chorus Of Autumnal Vegatables Is In" is a reference to Lucy's psychiatric help booth.
• Bug In Mouth Disease — At one point during the Caleb Rentpayer marathon, the music sounds very similar to the music in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
• Happy Hallow-day — At the very beginning, Strong Bad has a witch mask identical to the one worn by Lucy in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
• Decemberween Short Shorts — When Strong Sad and Strong Bad write letters, the positioning is similar to scenes where the Peanuts characters are shown writing letters.
• Where U Goin' 2? — The song during the short is similar in style and content to "Little Birdie" from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, including a scene where The Cheat flies similarly to the subject of that song, Woodstock.

Strong Bad Emails

• comic — The album on the far right is A Boy Named Charlie Brown by The Vince Guaraldi Trio.
• kids' book — In the DVD commentary, Matt Chapman says that Beth from the book looks similar to Marcie.
• old comics — Mushy Chamberpot from the comic strip Castlefunnies speaks in commas, just like Woodstock spoke in exclamation points in the Peanuts comics.
• do over — Coach Zed looks similar to the dog Spike from the Peanuts comic strips.
• disconnected — Strong Bad's head has a sign that says "THE CAREER ADVISOR IS REAL IN", similar to the "THE DOCTOR IS IN" sign that Lucy has, specifically her "THE DOCTOR IS REAL IN" sign from A Charlie Brown Christmas.
• the paper — Lil' Strong Sad wears a shirt identical to Charlie Brown's.
• your edge — Strong Bad says "Geez, Lucy, hold still!" after his attempt to kick The Cheat is foiled by The Cheat moving out of the way. This is a reference to the running gag in which Lucy pulls away her football right before Charlie Brown can kick it.

Other

• Hairstyle Runner — The description for one of the hairstyles is "marcy from peanuts w/soul patch".
• The Secrets That I Keep — There is a picture of Strong Sad wearing a shirt identical to Charlie Brown's.
• Main Page 16 — Rolling the mouse over Downloads will add decorations to The Stick, a reference to A Charlie Brown Christmas. During the special, a tiny twig of a tree is decorated, similar to The Stick.
• Peasant's Quest — If you type "look tree" at the bale of hay, it says, It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, the title of a 1976 Peanuts TV special.
• Homestar Ruiner — When Strong Bad hides behind the bonsai bush in the King of Town's castle, he says, "It's Arbor Day, Strongly Brown".
• Baddest of the Bands — When Strong Bad toilet papers The Stick, he says, "I never thought it WAS such a bad little The Stick. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love... and toilet paper. Happy vandalism, Strongly Brown!".

General

• In several toons, when different characters get upset, black smoke emerges from the tops of their heads, which is also what happens to Peanuts characters when they get angry.
• Tooty-two is a reference to Sally Brown thinking that "Two times two is tooty-two."
• A. Chimendez is a reference to B. Melendez, the maker of the Peanuts television specials and voice of Snoopy.
• The modern-day stage looks identical to the stage used in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
• Homestar Runner's house resembles the ones in which the Peanuts kids live.
• The brick wall is a reference to the wall where the kids would often have conversations.