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{{quote|''"To take a blank piece of paper and draw characters that people love and worry about is extremely satisfying. It really does not matter what you are called, or where your work is placed, as long as it brings some kind of joy to some person some place."''
|'''Charles M. Schulz'''}}
Charles M. Schulz, the only child of a St. Paul, Minnesota barber, wrote and drew ''Peanuts'' for [[Print Long Runners|49 years, 3 months and 1 day]] (1950-2000). The stars of the strip are Charlie Brown, whom Schulz named for a fellow instructor at the Art School of Minneapolis, and his dog Snoopy.
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Then there was Snoopy, beagle extraordinaire. Nominally Charlie Brown's pet, he actually lived in an incredibly rich world of his own imagination, acknowledging the existence of 'that round-headed kid' only when hungry. Over the years Snoopy would invent literally dozens of alternate personae, the most famous of which is the [[Ace Pilot|WWI Flying Ace]], perpetually locked in combat with the [[Red Baron]]. Attending and often abetting Snoopy in his fantasies was his little yellow bird buddy Woodstock, who took to hanging out at the doghouse while he failed to get the knack of the whole 'migrating' deal.
The strip spawned about 50 animated TV specials over 40 years (starting with ''[[A Charlie Brown Christmas]]'' and continuing through installments such as ''[[It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown]]''; ''He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown''; ''It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown''; and so on, ending with ''He's a Bully, Charlie Brown''), as well as four feature films (''[[A Boy Named Charlie Brown]]''; ''[[Snoopy Come Home]]''; ''[[Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown]]''; and ''[[Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown|Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!)]]''), a [[Saturday Morning Cartoon]] series (''The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show''), not one but two stage [[The Musical|musicals]] (''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' and ''Snoopy!!!''), a few direct-to-video movies, and an eight-episode [[Miniseries]] (''This Is America, Charlie Brown''). The ''Peanuts'' characters also appeared in TV commercials for the Ford Motor Company, Cheerios and Chex cereals, Dolly Madison snack cakes, a few regional brands of bread and Met Life Insurance, and believe it or not, [[No Problem With Licensed Games (Sugar Wiki)|a]] [[Video Game]] [[Snoopy Flying Ace|series]]. Since Schulz's death ([[Retirony|the night before his final strip was published]]), the comic has kept a place in many newspapers by way of reruns. Specials occasionally keep being produced, such as a series of Flash shorts in 2009, the hand-drawn ''Happiness Is A Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown'' in 2011, and a [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1FNL_iIp5c feature-length CGI movie] released in 2015. Japanese animation studio [[Madhouse]] [http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2012/02/18-1/studio-madhouse-makes-charlie-brown-anime announced in 2012] that it had acquired the rights to make ''Peanuts'' anime shorts, but despite their claims that at least one such film is "out there" (at [http://www.snoopy.co.jp/ http://www.snoopy.co.jp/] or in the [https://web.archive.org/web/20181001095323/http://www.snoopymuseum.tokyo/en/ Snoopy Museum], perhaps?), there is no evidence that anyone has ever seen it.
See also the [http://www.peanuts.com/ official Peanuts web site].
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* [[Through a Face Full of Fur]]
* [[Security Blanket]]
*
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{{tropelist|''Peanuts'' has its own internal tropes:}}
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{{tropelist}}
== A-E ==
* [[Aborted Arc]]: Frieda's cat Faron only appeared for a few strips before Schulz realized that since Snoopy didn't speak in words, the only way to have him interact with Faron would be to have them ''think'' at each other. (Also, by his own admission, Schulz looked at his drawings of Faron and realized uncomfortably that he couldn't draw cats very well.)
** What had been intended as a lengthy—possibly months-long—arc with Linus and Lucy's family moving away came to a very sudden end because fans objected.
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* [[The Ace]]: Peppermint Patty was introduced as baseball phenom who manages five home runs in her first game, after offering her services to Charlie Brown's team. But she quickly became a [[Small Name, Big Ego]] with subsequent appearances.
* [[Acid Reflux Nightmare]]: The special ''What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown'' is all about one of these suffered by Snoopy.
* [[Actually Pretty Funny]]:
** Joe Gargiola has spoken highly of the comic and wrote the forward to at least one collection of strips, despite frequent pot-shots taken at him by the characters, [https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1976/03/09 like this one.]
** Two years after Schulz's death,[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christo_and_Jeanne-Claude Christo Vladimirov Javacheff] built a model of Snoopy's doghouse wrapped up the way it is [https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1978/11/20 in this strip] and donated it to the Schulz Museum.
* [[Adaptational Jerkass]]: Some of the ''Peanuts'' characters are a little meaner in the animated specials than they are in the comics, which is saying something.
** Peppermint Patty can be a little abrasive, but she's generally not that demanding on holidays. ''A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving'' is about her inviting herself to Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving plans, as well as Franklin and Marcie. When Linus suggests explaining that the Browns are going out of town, Charlie Brown points out that Peppermint Patty doesn't let you get a word in and talks over you. Then she proceeds to complain about the snacks that Charlie Brown, Linus, and Snoopy prepare for the afternoon meal, asking "Chuck" if he knows anything about Thanksgiving dinners. Marcie has to point out that it was rather rude of Peppermint Patty to act this entitled.
** Snoopy has his moments. In the comics, he and Charlie Brown have an understanding where Charlie Brown tolerates his dog's imaginings, and Snoopy is happy to greet his human. During a brief falling-out where Charlie Brown accidentally cost Snoopy a world record during a baseball game, they agreed to a truce when Charlie Brown offered to make Snoopy the team manager. Some of the cartoons have moments where Snoopy is more disparaging of Charlie Brown and less than emotionally supportive. Charlie Brown also offered Snoopy the manager position when the latter was upset about another baseball game lost, making the grievance pettier.
* [[Adults Are Useless]]: "Useless"? Try [[Invisible Parents|non-existent]].
** There was ''one'' animated special, ''Snoopy's Reunion'', where there are not only adults seen, they can be heard. It's the one where Charlie Brown gets Snoopy for the first time. We see the puppy farm owner and he even talks.
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** This also took place in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RArIy_SNgM ''It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown''] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5H9CNxbMUY ''Charlie Brown's All Stars''], and the jump cuts that stripped out the Coca-Cola and Dolly Madison placements are '''very''' noticeable. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11y35JvbC9E Especially at the end.]
* [[The Coconut Effect]]: The characters were originally voiced in the animated specials by ''actual kids'' - young kids who couldn't even read well and so had to learn their lines phonetically and recite them one line at a time, giving their readings a curiously stilted quality. This unique style became part of the ''Peanuts'' tradition, and continued even as the voice actors grew older (and were eventually replaced by a new set of kids).
* [[Collectible Cloney Babies]]:
** Charlie Brown in the 1950s got into a variant, a Davy Crockett phase thanks to the Disney miniseries of the same name. He got a hat, records, and the lot. In the end, he gave it up, asking when the fad would end.
** It's revealed in a later arc that Charlie Brown has a huge collection of comic books. He sells them all to buy a nice pair of gloves for Peggy Jean... just as she encounters him in the store and reveals a pair that she got as a gift. Charlie Brown can't return the gloves, so he gives them to Snoopy instead for Christmas.
* [[Collective Groan|Collective AUGGH!!!]]: From Linus' campaign team, Charlie Brown and Lucy. He is ''almost'' about to be elected Class President, when the day before the election, he addresses the student body...
{{quote|'''Linus:''' ...Now I'd like to take a moment to talk to you about the Great Pumpkin...}}
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* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Lucy, Linus, Schroeder (usually to Lucy's attempts to flirt with him), but Snoopy most of all.
* [[Decided by One Vote]]: The class election in ''You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown''.
* [[Defictionalization]]: As of the late 2010s, it has become possible to buy an artificial "Charlie Brown Christmas tree", complete with single ornament and blue felt "blanket" to wrap around its base of crossed wooden boards.
* [[Determinator]]: No matter how many times he loses, Charlie Brown simply refuses to give up.
** Which is basically [[An Aesop|the Aesop for the entire run of the comic.]]
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* [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: In the early years, the art was different, Charlie Brown was a lot more confident and aggressive, Snoopy was a normal dog, and Schroeder, Linus and Lucy were babies.
** The first pulling-the-football-away strip had Violet instead of Lucy, and she pulled it away from Charlie Brown out of fear he'd kick her hand rather than malice.
* [[Easter Egg]]: [[
** Another [[Easter Egg]] was when Snoopy was dictating to Woodstock, who snickered, and Snoopy said "Never dictate a love letter". The shorthand that appeared in the first panel read "To my dearest darling precious sweetie."
* [[Epic Fail]]: Charlie Brown's curse.
* [[Hair Decorations]]: The original Patty wore a bow in her hair. So did Sally early in the strip.▼
* [[Everything's Better with Princesses]]: Lucy ''almost'' believes this trope, except she's aiming for the higher title of ''[[God Save Us From the Queen|queen]]''.
* [[Everything's Better with Rainbows]]: Linus uses this to assure Lucy that the world won't flood—sound theology does tend to put your mind at rest.
* [[Everybody Do the Endless Loop]]: The famous dance sequence in the Christmas special.
== F-J ==
* [[F Minus Minus]]: Frequently invoked. Peppermint Patty frequently received Z's for a time in the mid-1970s strips, and the teacher sarcastically admitted her to the "D Minus Hall of Fame" in 2000. After Sally rehearsed her report on [[Abraham Lincoln]]:
{{quote|'''Sally:''' Do you think I'll get an "A"?
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* [[Four-Girl Ensemble]]: While the four main female characters aren't really that much of an ensemble, they still fit this trope with Sally (the sweet, naive one), Peppermint Patty (the mannish one), Marcie (the smart one) and Lucy (the glamorous, bossy one... kind of).
** They weren't an ensemble in the strip itself, but merchandising sometimes paints them as such, probably due to this trope.
* [[Free Prize At the Bottom]]: One [[Story Arc]] concerned getting one free marble in a box of Snicker-Snacks cereal. In [https://web.archive.org/web/20111209081600/http://www.comicscommunity.com/boards/tony/?frames=n;read=227734&expand=1 one strip] Charlie Brown found that the packing center made an error - there were 400 marbles and one Snicker-Snack.
* [[Free-Range Children]]
* [[Freudian Excuse]]: Lucy's mistreatment of Charlie Brown suddenly makes a lot more sense when you look at the [http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1952/10/30/ early strips.]
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* [[Girl Posse]]: Lucy, Patty, Violet, and occasionally Frieda.
* [[Girlish Pigtails]]: In the early '50s strips, Violet often wore her hair in pigtails - and the pigtails made a return in Violet's cameo appearance in one 1989 strip.
* [[Gretzky Has the Ball]]:
** Marcie is prone to this. For example:{{Quote|'''Marcie:''' What if I get put in the penalty box?
'''Peppermint Patty:''' There's no penalty box in baseball.
'''Marcie:''' I forgot to ask if we're playing nine holes or eighteen.}}
:* Rerun too. In the arc where he plays for Charlie Brown's sandlot team, he wonders if they're playing for the Stanley Cup. Justified as he's still a toddler.
:* Even Peppermint Patty, the sports prodigy, has goofed at least once. When she and Marcie become golf caddies: {{Quote|'''Marcie:''' I can't tell a par from a birdie, sir.
'''Peppermint Patty:''' Those are bowling terms, Marcie. Don't embarrass me.}}
▲* [[Hair Decorations]]: The original Patty wore a bow in her hair. So did Sally early in the strip.
* [[Hair Flip]]: Done by Frieda, whenever she needed to show off her "naturally curly hair". And no, she doesn't have [[Princess Curls]].
* [[He Who Must Not Be Seen|He/She Who Must Not Be Seen]]: The adult characters, plus The Little Red-Haired Girl (in the strip, although she did appear onscreen—much to Schulz' vocal dismay—in the special ''It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown'').
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* [[Head Desk]]: Charlie Brown does this in ''You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown'', during the song "Little Known Facts".
* [[Heroes Want Redheads]]
* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Marcie and Peppermint Patty. Not too surprisingly, comedians and wiseacres like to inflate this to [[Les Yay]],
* [[Hidden Badass]]: Linus, of all people. This troper remembers when Charlie Brown was crying that a bully was attacking The Little Red-Haired Girl, then we see Linus using his blanket as a whip in the air, he goes off-panel and we see the same sound effect of the blanket-whip. Poor bully...
* [[Honorable Enemy Ace]]: "CURSE YOU, RED BARON!" Snoopy as the World War I Flying Ace respects the [[Red Baron]], as much as he hates the guy for shooting down his doghouse on a regular basis. While shaking his fist in the air, occasionally he accepts his crash landings with grace.
* [[Hurricane of Excuses]]: Lucy, after [http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1962/04/27 striking out] for Charlie Brown's baseball team.
* [[Hypocritical Humor]]: All the time.
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** Lucy also has a good relationship with her youngest brother Rerun. Charles M. Schulz himself commented on how this came as a surprise to him.
** In ''It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown'', Lucy wakes up in the middle of the night, and - finding that Linus hasn't come home - puts on a coat over her nightgown, goes out to the pumpkin patch, brings her exhausted and shivering brother back to the house, takes off his shoes and socks, and carefully tucks him into bed.
* [[Kafka Komedy]]: Oh boy howdy.▼
== K-O ==
▲* [[Kafka Komedy]]: Oh boy howdy.{{context}}
* [[Karma Houdini]]: Lucy, in ''It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown''. Pulling the football away from Charlie Brown is one thing. Causing their football team to lose the game because of it, then managing to convince everyone it was Charlie Brown's fault, is another.
* [[Know-Nothing Know-It-All]]: Lucy often makes wild, ridiculous claims and then laughs Charlie Brown to scorn for talking sense. This bothers him to the point of feeling terribly ill.
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** In ''A Boy Named Charlie Brown'', they take a bus trip to New York City, which suggests that they possibly reside in the mid-Atlantic region, or perhaps the lower reaches of New England.
* [[Noodle People]]: Spike [http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1975/08/13 in his earlier appearances]. As the [[Art Evolution]] grew, Spike appeared less thinner, but still thinner than Snoopy.
* [[Number One Dime]]: Linus' blanket
* [[Oblivious to Love]]: See ''All Love Is Unrequited'', above.
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* [[Opaque Lenses]]: Marcie. She sometimes [[Glasses Pull]]ed to indicate that she was rolling her eyes, perhaps as a subtle [[Lampshade Hanging]] of this trope.
* [[Out of Focus]]: This started to happen to Schroeder sometime in the '80s. Also, Sally and Linus fell victim of this trope in the '90s, when Rerun gained more prominence.
== P-T ==
* [[Painting the Medium]]: In one late '80s strip, Lucy, frustrated over Schroeder's lack of interest in her, grabbed the musical notation, crumpled it up into a ball, and threw it on the ground before storming away. Schroeder un-crumpled the notation and placed it back in its proper place. Charlie Brown then commented as he was listening to Schroeder play, "Maybe it's none of my business, but your music sounds kind of wrinkled."
* [[Panty Shot]]: Lucy, Violet and Patty in early strips; Peppermint Patty(!) in ''She's A Good Skate, Charlie Brown.''
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* [[Precocious Crush]]: Linus had one on his teacher, Miss Othmar.
* [[Prehensile Hair|Prehensile Blanket]]: Linus, of course, as required by either the [[Rule of Cool]] or the [[Rule of Funny]].
* [[Product Placement]]: Reversed - the characters appeared in Ford Falcon ads and showroom brochures from [http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php?g2_itemId=43051 1961]{{Dead link}} through [http://www.oldcarbrochures.com/main.php?g2_itemId=43548 1965]{{Dead link}}.
** The first couple animated specials had product placement for Coca-Cola, forcing certain scenes to be excised after the initial network airings.
** Snoopy also seems to be a mascot for MetLife insurance, to the point of being in their commercials and much of their merchandise.
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* [[Surprise Jump]]: Charlie Brown and Sally are walking to school. While waiting for the bus, Charlie Brown tells Lucy that Sally is so scared about her first day of kindergarten that if someone even mentions kindergarten while she's around, she'd jump 30 feet in the air. Putting this theory to the test, Lucy says "Kindergarten" to Sally, who then promptly jumps up into the air in fear. Lucy then muses, "Only 10 feet. I knew you were exaggerating."
* [["Take That!" Kiss]]: Snoopy uses this fairly frequently.
* [[Thanksgiving Episode|Thanksgiving Balloon]]: Snoopy most likely holds the record for number of individual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
** In the movie ''[[Tower Heist]]'' (which took place on Thanksgiving Day), the characters rode on a large Snoopy balloon to reach the top of a building.
* [[That Cloud Looks Like...]]
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* [[Tsundere]]/[[Yandere]]: Lucy is sweet ("deredere") when it comes to Schroeder, her love interest, but she's mean and crabby ("tsuntsun") when it comes to everybody else. And when it comes to her "competition" for Schroeder (namely, his piano), then it's a [[Murder the Hypotenuse|completely different story]].
** Peppermint Patty is also a bit more ''tsuntsun'' towards Charlie Brown than she is towards anyone else. Then again, she isn't [[Comedic Sociopathy|too particularly nice to other people sometimes.]]
== U-Z ==
* [[Umpteenth Customer]]: In one Sunday strip, Charlie Brown goes to the movie theater because they're offering free candy bars to the first 500 children in line. He lets Lucy ahead of him, and she's the 500th child.
* [[Unintentional Period Piece]]: Many strips refer to real world events, but these were rarely reprinted (precisely because they were dated) until ''The Complete Peanuts''. Occasionally some slipped through when the reference was sufficiently obscure: for example, a series of strips in which Snoopy observes birds having furious (but unintelligible) political arguments while holding signs depicting different punctuation marks. This accompanied the bitter polarised political discourse in the US in the run-up to the 1964 election.
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{{reflist}}
{{Best in TV: The Greatest TV Shows of Our Time}}
[[Category:Prime Time Cartoon]]
[[Category:The Kiddie Ride]]
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[[Category:The Millennium Age of Animation]]
[[Category:Saturday Morning Cartoon]]
▲[[Category:Madhouse]]
[[Category:Print Long Runners]]
[[Category:Boom Kids]]
[[Category:The Fifties]]
[[Category:Trope Overdosed]]
[[Category:Nickelodeon]]
[[Category:Kid Com]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1960s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1970s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Newspaper Comics of the 2000s]]
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