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A Charlie Brown Christmas: Blu ray worth the upgrade?

#1
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10/18/09 at 10:26pm
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Let me start by saying I love A Charlie Brown Christmas but I have thus far held back on buying the Blu-ray because I never think of ACBC as having amazing picture or sound quality.  Part of its charm has always been that it became a classic despite its minimal budget and done-with-a-heart but a bit unrefined animation.

It is not unlike the tree that Charlie picks and everyone
eventually makes beautiful when they endow it with the love it deserves.
But it also is not Snow White and will get no such treatment or restoration from CBS
of the variety that Buena Vista placed in their "fairest one of all."

So, I pause before buying the Blu.

Anyone who has purchased A Charlie Brown Christmas on Blu-ray care to comment?

Edited by Mark Walker - 10/19/09 at 10:58am
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#2
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10/19/09 at 6:37am
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I've watched the HD broadcast version a couple of times, and while it looks very nice, I couldn't justify the Blu-ray price for what seemed to me only a minor upgrade. If I could find the BD for $10, I might spring for it, but right now I'm content with the DVD I already have upconverted.
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#3
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10/19/09 at 11:35am
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Yeah, this is one of the those beloved titles that I too will probably just stick w/ DVD for the forseeable future.  There are more than enough titles to upgrade as it is.

_Man_

Just another amateur learning to paint w/ "the light of the world".

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#4
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10/22/09 at 9:59pm
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While I'll be buying this either way, myself and many others were hoping they'd go the extra mile for this Blu-Ray release and restore the Coca-Cola sponsor segments that have been cut and not seen since the special aired in the mid 1960s.

Linus hits a Coca-Cola sign when Snoopy pulls Charlie Brown and Linus around with Linus' blanket and sends them flying. You're able to see where Charlie Brown lands but the Linus segment has been MIA since the original airing. There's also a segment at the very end with the gang saying something like Merry Christmas to your local Coca-Cola bottlers or something to that effect.

Has the special been restored so it's finally available uncut?
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#5
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10/22/09 at 10:44pm
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Those scenes will probably never be shown again, unfortunately. I wish that WB would have released this with the entire Peanuts '60's collection as a blu ray set. I would have definitely gotten it then. But I have been burned one too many times by countless re-releases of Peanuts specials when they should have been done right the first time. They now have, but the collections are only on dvd. I can see a blu ray release of the collections down the road, so I will wait.
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#6
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10/23/09 at 1:15am
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Probably, but with a little time and effort I'm sure it could easily be restored. Might've even ended up getting paid by Coca-Cola if they had attempted it.

A Amazon review at the product page states it was restored in the excerpts when running a search through Yahoo, but I can't find it among recent reviews when I enter the page. Hope by a small miracle it's correct.
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#7
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10/23/09 at 2:08pm
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Laws were put in place regarding one sponsor for children's specials not many years after this originally aired. This will not be restored.
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#8
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10/23/09 at 3:24pm
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^ I don't know for sure but I think that may only apply to a broadcast rather than a DVD or Blu-ray release.
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#9
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10/23/09 at 4:41pm
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It was always my understanding, as TravisR stated, that that law only applied to broadcast television.

Basically, I knew/know (I've yet to see any definitive answer to if it's been restored) the chances of this being restored are slim at best.

However, it's worth asking because if it was ever going to get restored, it seems logical this release would've been it. It makes sense for a ultimate release of this classic special  to undertake the effort to secure rights, locate those few seconds of footage, and restore them to the level of the rest of the special.

If for nothing else to create a definitive home video release of the special to provide a little extra incentive to fans that already have several versions of the special (For example, I have the Paramount release or whoever did the DVD's before Warner, the Warner deluxe release, the Warner 1960s collection that included it, and the Xbox Live video marketplace release). I suspect many fans are in a similar situation and own more than one version of the special already before this release ever hit the market.
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#10
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10/23/09 at 5:49pm
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I hear you. Other Peanuts specials from the era are also missing the animation surrounding their sponsor plugs. You can view the one for Charlie Brown's All-Stars on YouTube.
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#11
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10/24/09 at 5:35pm
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People at the AVS forums have confirmed that the sponsor segments weren't restored and are just mentioned during the bonus segment, just like the deluxe edition we're all familiar with.

It's unfortunate, it bugs me to know that the special isn't uncut and that there are a few seconds of it that I've never even seen. At least it doesn't do any harm to the special in the very least, so I can't really complain.

Also many complaints about the glitter on the cardboard slipcover, with at least one individual reporting that it had somehow found it's way inside the shrinkwrap and was even inside the case.

Think I'll hold out a while and wait for some price reductions and/or a rerelease version that nixes the glitter on the slipcover. I don't want anything getting inside my Playstation 3's disc drive.

Incidently, did Snoopy's Reunion have a cardboard slipcover? Mine was just the DVD case in shrinkwrap, unlike all the other Warner releases that had a cardboard slipcover over the shrinkwrapped DVD case.
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#12
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10/24/09 at 6:04pm
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Snoopy's reunion had a slipcover. I will wait for a blu-ray that features the specials in collections (i.e. the Peanuts '60's Collection.) There are combing artifacts in several of the dvd versions of these collections right now.
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#13
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10/24/09 at 9:08pm
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I still believe the sponsor tags were cut from the negatives. And they may be contractually unable to include them even if they wanted to.

STOP THE MADNESS! STOP THE BUTCHERING AND ABANDONMENT OF TV SHOWS ON DVD!

My DVD List at DVD Aficionado, Now Featuring Blu-Ray

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#14
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10/25/09 at 1:18am
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Who would they be contractually obligated too to not include them? Doesn't make any sense to me.

I don't think anyone was proposing that they could be restored and included without permission from Coca-Cola, any sponsor agreements they had surely lapsed over 40 years ago with this special. They'd of needed permission to have included those segments again since they can't use something like Coca-Cola's logo or have it appear that Coca-Cola endorses this special without permission.

I suspect that permission wouldn't of been difficult to obtain if they had tried. Coca-Cola might've even paid for it if they had tried. But I suspect no attempts were made since it wasn't going to matter for 99% of those that are going to purchase this.

Wonder why my copy of Snoopy's Reunion from Wal-Mart was lacking the slipcover. That's going to bug me now. Is there a way to get a replacement slipcover from Warner?
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#15
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10/25/09 at 11:30am
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Contact WB. They might send you one.
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#16
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10/25/09 at 12:45pm
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Maybe next year for the 45th Anniversary, they can release this is a Peanuts '60's Blu-Ray Collection with everything restored to the show. This would be a great selling point.
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#17
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10/25/09 at 5:42pm
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Good idea, I just inquired about getting one. Hopefully they'll provide me with one, it looks out of place on my shelf without one with all the other Warner Peanuts releases.

Edit - Warner refused and said I should take it up with the retailer. With the recent luck I had trying to return a set I had ordered online from Wal-Mart at my local store (Wal-Mart apparantly ships DVD season sets in bubble mailers of all things) that had been severely damaged during shipment (Most of the prongs holding the disc stable in each case had been broken), I can just imagine the luck I'd have trying to do that.

Took 45 minutes and a manager to get my money refunded (They didn't carry the set at the store for a exchange) and they refused to refund my shipping cost. I can just imagine the fun I'd have trying to get a piece of cardboard for this DVD there...
Edited by LeoAmes - 10/26/09 at 9:37pm
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